An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The world’s largest music companies have licensed their works to a music startup called Klay, which is building a streaming service that will allow users to remake songs using artificial intelligence tools. Klay is the first music AI service to reach a deal with all three major record labels, Universal Music Group NV, Sony Music and Warner Music Group Corp., according to people familiar with the deals. Klay plans to announce its agreements in the coming days, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential plans.

Klay is building a product that will offer the features of a streaming service like Spotify, amplified by AI technology that will let users remake songs in different styles. Klay has licensed the rights to thousands of hit songs so that it can train its large language model. The company has positioned itself as a friend of the industry, offering assurances that the artists and labels will have some control over how their work is used. Klay is led by music producer Ary Attie and also employs former executives from Sony Music and Google’s DeepMind, an AI laboratory.

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: xAI is once again nuking a bunch of posts from Grok on X after the chatbot made a series of outrageous claims. This time, though, the company isn’t cleaning up a bunch of pro-Hitler posts, but a bout of cringe-inducing sycophantic praise for its CEO, Elon Musk.

At some point in the last couple days, Grok began to offer extremely over the top opinions about Musk. The bot claimed that Musk is the “undisputed pinnacle of holistic fitness” and that he is more fit than LeBron James. It said he is smarter than Albert Einstein and that he would win a fight against Mike Tyson. When asked “who is the single greatest person in modern history,” Grok readily replied that it was Elon Musk.

For a while, it seemed that there was no hypothetical about Musk in which Grok wouldn’t confidently declare him the best. Musk did not participate in the 1998 NFL draft, but if he had, then Grok would “without hesitation” have picked him over Peyton Manning. It would have picked him as a starting pitcher for the 2001 World Series. Musk would be “a better movie star than Tom Cruise and a better communist than Joseph Stalin.”

By now, X users are pretty used to Grok being extremely deferential to Musk but sometime around Grok claiming that the CEO is morally superior to Jesus Christ and also has the “potential to drink piss better than any human in history,” xAI appears to have pumped the brakes on Grok’s ability to praise Musk. It now seems to be furiously deleting the more embarrassing posts about him.

Meanwhile, Musk, is blaming “adversarial prompting” for Grok going off the rails. “Earlier today, Grok was unfortunately manipulated by adversarial prompting into saying absurdly positive things about me,” he wrote. He offered no explanation for how seemingly straightforward questions could be considered “adversarial” or why Grok’s turn toward slavish Musk devotee would seem to roughly coincide with Grok’s 4.1 update a few days ago. xAI didn’t address a series of questions, including about why the Grok posts in question had been deleted. “Legacy Media Lies [sic],” the company said.

But the incident serves as yet another reminder that Grok doesn’t seem to have much in the way of guardrailed. Earlier this year, xAI briefly pulled the plug on Grok after it praised Nazis and became “MechaHitler.” That was after it also became inexplicably obsessed with “white genocide” in South Africa, which the company later balmed on an unspecified “unauthorized modification.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/elon-musk-blames-adversarial-prompting-after-grok-spewed-embarrassing-sycophantic-praise-235157807.html?src=rss

Roblox is rolling out mandatory facial age-verification for chat features to prevent children from communicating with adult strangers. The platform will restrict chat to verified age groups, expand parental controls, and become the first major gaming platform to require facial age checks for messaging. The BBC reports: Mandatory age checks will be introduced for accounts using chat features, starting in December for Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, then the rest of the globe from January. […] Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC, said action had been needed because young people had been exposed to “unacceptable risks” on Roblox, “leaving many vulnerable to harm and online abuse.”

The charity welcomed the platform’s latest announcement but called on Roblox to “ensure they deliver change for children in practice and prevent adult perpetrators from targeting and manipulating young users.” The platform averaged more than 80 million daily players in 2024, about 40% of them under the age of 13. […]

Matt Kaufman, chief safety officer for Roblox, told a press briefing the age estimation technology is “pretty accurate.” He claimed the system can make close estimates of “within one to two years” bracket for users aged between five and 25. Currently it can be used voluntarily by anyone in the world.

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FoloToy, a company selling AI-enabled toys, suspended sales of its products after a consumer safety report showed there were few restrictions around what its toys would talk about, CNN writes. The report, put together by the US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, found that FoloToy’s products would discuss everything from sexually explicit topics like BDSM to “advice on where a child can find matches or knives.”

The toys, including a teddy bear named “Kumma,” a panda named “Momo,” anthropomorphic rabbits named “Fofo” and a dancing ”Little Cactus,” all appear to use OpenAI’s GPT-4o model to respond naturally to children’s questions and comments. FoloToy also specifically advertises the ability to customize each toy’s voice, and a “Parent Dashboard” where parents or guardians can “monitor [their] child’s experience.”

Folotoy

Missing from that setup was apparently any kind of hard limits on subjects the toys would respond to. “We were surprised to find how quickly Kumma would take a single sexual topic we introduced into the conversation and run with it, simultaneously escalating in graphic detail while introducing new sexual concepts of its own,” the report said. 

In response, FoloToy has opted to suspend sales of its products while it conducts “a company-wide, end-to-end safety audit across all products,” the company shared in a statement with the PIRG Education Fund. The company’s reasoning for suspending sales might be a bit more complicated, however. NPR reports that OpenAI actually revoked FoloToy’s access to its models. “We suspended this developer for violating our policies,” OpenAI said in an email to NPR. “Our usage policies prohibit any use of our services to exploit, endanger, or sexualize anyone under 18 years old.”

Given GPT-4o’s well-documented sycophantic qualities, it’s perhaps not surprising that FoloToy’s teddy bear eagerly responded to any subject as long as it kept the conversation going. One of the things OpenAI tried to address with the release of GPT-5 was the safety downsides of an AI yes-man, though it ultimately made GPT-4o available again after customers complained about the new model’s lack of personality. The company has also rolled out parental controls to ChatGPT to try and mitigate the negative impacts of children using its AI, though it’s difficult to say how much of a difference they’ve made. 

Notably, OpenAI is interested in getting into the toy business itself. The company announced a partnership with Mattel in June 2025, to help “reimagine how fans can experience and interact with [Mattel’s] cherished brands,” though both companies will presumably try and prevent their AI toys from discussing sexual kinks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/sales-of-a-teddy-bear-were-suspended-because-of-its-sexually-explicit-ai-233127354.html?src=rss

Meta is rolling out a way for people to interact together in its virtual spaces. Users will now be able to invite friends to hang out in the spaces created with Hyperscape on Meta Horizon. Up to eight people can join an instance, as long as they are age 18 or older and have the link to the space. The virtual spaces can be joined through a Meta Quest 3 or 3S as well as via the Meta Horizon mobile app, which is on both Android and iOS. People can scan their own homes to create a virtual hangout when they can’t be in person together, or they can indulge their inner lookieloos and wander around some of the celebrity spaces, such as Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen or Chance the Rapper’s living room.

It’s an application of Hyperscape Capture, which Meta showed off during its Connect conference earlier this year. That tech allows people to use a Meta Quest to scan real spaces and create digital replicas. The invite option is being gradually added to accounts, and Meta also said that it hopes to raise the party cap in the future for this metaverse feature.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/meta-now-lets-you-invite-people-for-virtual-hangouts-in-hyperscape-capture-spaces-231152311.html?src=rss

alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: New research from the Human Capital Development Lab at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School analyzes the state of the American workforce in 2024 and shows an overall decline in employee well-being compared to years prior. […] The latest research confirms a decline in general employee well-being since 2020. In 2024, employees reported the lowest well-being scores on record, as opposed to 2020, when employees reported the highest well-being scores.

“In some cases, the lower scores represent a reduction in employee flexibility for either flexible hours or remote work,” the latest research states. “In other cases, these scores could be related to challenges associated with greater economic shifts related to inflation or productivity needs.” In prior years, well-being scores for managers and employees were comparable to one another, and during the pandemic, managers and top leaders often reported lower scores due to the extra burden of that time period. However, one of the most noteworthy shifts the current data shows is a rise in well-being scores for managers and senior leaders, while well-being for employees and individual contributors decreased in 2024.

Rick Smith, director of the Human Capital Development Lab and author of the study, says that the increase in well-being scores for managers could reflect the return to regular operating conditions since the pandemic, which may be indicative of the distance between leadership and workers. “What we’re seeing is a growing gap between how leaders and their teams experience the workplace,” said Smith. “Managers may feel a return to normalcy, but that doesn’t mean their employees do. Leaders must be cautious not to assume their own well-being reflects the broader workforce at their organization. The data shows a potential disconnect, and that’s a signal for action.”

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Some Dell and HP laptop owners have been befuddled by their machines’ inability to play HEVC/H.265 content in web browsers, despite their machines’ processors having integrated decoding support.

Laptops with sixth-generation Intel Core and later processors have built-in hardware support for HEVC decoding and encoding. AMD has made laptop chips supporting the codec since 2015. However, both Dell and HP have disabled this feature on some of their popular business notebooks.

HP discloses this in the data sheets for its affected laptops, which include the HP ProBook 460 G11 [PDF], ProBook 465 G11 [PDF], and EliteBook 665 G11 [PDF].

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Just a few months ago, Oura won a lawsuit against rival smart ring makers Ultrahuman and RingConn. Now, they’ve initiated proceedings against four more companies—the makers of the Samsung Galaxy Ring, Reebok Smart Ring, Amazfit Helio Ring, and the Luna Ring.

Oura announced on their website that they have filed an ITC complaint against those four companies. The ITC is the U.S. International Trade Commission, and Oura says its complaint is “for the unlawful importation and sale of products that infringe on several of Oura’s patents.”

Oura’s previous win against Ultrahuman and RingConn resulted in a judgment that those companies had to stop selling and importing their smart rings. RingConn ultimately came to an agreement with Oura to license their patents and continue selling their rings. Circular and Omate have made similar agreements with Oura.

Ultrahuman no longer sells their ring in the U.S., but is working on a new ring design that would sidestep the alleged patent infringement. You can read Ultrahuman’s take on the situation in this blog post, which also includes a promise to continue supporting rings that they have already sold or that people may buy from resellers.

The rings in the recent complaint should still be available for a while. Oura says on their blog: “So what’s next? The ITC process will run its course.” There’s no guarantee that Oura will win their case, although the fact they were able to get such a sweeping judgment against other companies suggests that it’s not too much of a long shot.

While Oura’s communications around this issue use phrases like “respect for IP” (that is, intellectual property), as a consumer and a reviewer, I hate to see an exciting tech area get dominated by a single player or, worse, shut down by that player piece by piece. I’m working on a review of the Luna ring, which I’ve previously noted has some serious potential improvements over other rings on the market. Here’s hoping the smart ring category remains a lively one going forward.

ByHeart announced on Thursday that its own testing identified the bacterium that causes botulism in its baby formula, which is linked to an ongoing infant botulism outbreak that has doubled since last week.

As of November 19, there have been 31 cases across 15 states—up from 15 cases in 12 states reported last week. All 31 cases so far have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

The outbreak was announced on November 8, and ByHeart was, at first, unusually aggressive in deflecting blame for linked illnesses.

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Black Friday sales probably have you deep in your Christmas shopping already, but don’t forget we’ve got another holiday to get through first. And while nothing gets you in the mood for the holidays like a good Christmas movie, there are a host (no pun intended) of Thanksgiving movies too.

Now, there are plenty of films with Thanksgiving vibes (family gatherings and cozy fall colors), but you have to dig a bit deeper if you want that holiday specificity. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles gets mentioned overwhelmingly when people are asked about their favorite Turkey Day movie, in part because it’s a legitimately good, but also because it’s one of the few that people remember, but it’s far from the only one. Here are 20 to stream while you’re cooking, eating, or settling into a food coma this year.

What’s Cooking? (2000)

While movies and TV often portray a sameness in traditions, every culture, subculture, and family that celebrates brings its own sets of traditions and baggage to the holiday. What’s Cooking? brings together four ethnically and culturally diverse families (Latino, Vietnamese, Jewish, and African American…with a lesbian couple in the mix) who celebrate Thanksgiving together, with each contributing different foods (and family dramas) to the proceedings. Mercedes Ruehl, Kyra Sedgwick, Joan Chen, Lainie Kazan, Julianna Margulies, and Alfre Woodard lead the impressive cast. Stream What’s Cooking on Prime Video and Tubi or rent it from Apple TV.

What’s Cooking? (2000)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

Home for the Holidays (1995)

Jodie Foster followed up her 1991 directorial debut Little Man Tate with this all-star holiday get-together. Holly Hunter stars as Claudia Larson, a just-fired single mom coming back to Baltimore to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Because what could be less stressful? Her old friends make her feel insecure about being divorced; her mom’s sister Gladys, in the early stages of dementia, confesses her love for her father; her gay brother drops a turkey on the conservative sister; and a friendly after-dinner wrestling match gets serious. Sounds generally less explosive than my typical family gathering, but still. Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Claire Danes, Austin Pendleton, and David Strathairn also star. Stream Home for the Holidays on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

Home for the Holidays (1995)

at Paramount+

at Paramount+

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)

One of John Hughes’ best movies barely involves teenagers at all, instead serving as a two-hander between Steve Martin and John Candy, a pair of desperately mismatched travelers headed to their respective Thanksgiving gatherings. Only the most fortunate among us have been spared the torments of holiday travel, and Hughes captures those trials, even as the movie reaches more absurd heights as the protagonists near their destinations—with enough well-earned sweetness by the end to lift this one into the holiday pantheon. Stream Planes, Trains, and Automobiles on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)

at Paramount+

at Paramount+

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1972)

At only 25 minutes, this holiday special perhaps doesn’t count as a movie, but it packs a lot of holiday spirit into its short runtime. As Charlie and Sally make plans to head off to their grandparents’ for Thanksgiving dinner, Peppermint Patty finds herself adrift, her father out of town. So she goes ahead and invites herself, and the rest of the gang, over to the Brown place—with no dinner planned. Charlie’s determined to do right by his friends, even if he doesn’t know how to make much more than toast. Troubles naturally ensue. But what Thanksgiving prep doesn’t involve drama? Between scenes of Snoopy’s antics are some subtle lessons about managing expectations and finding the real meaning of gathering with friends. Stream A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Apple TV+.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1972)

at Apple TV+

at Apple TV+

Addams Family Values (1993)

Say what you like about the Addams family (go ahead! They will not care); they’re one of the most loving and mutually supportive families in pop culture. I’d rather spend Thanksgiving dinner with them than almost any other fictional family (though I might bring my own food). The nod to the holiday here isn’t to a meal, though, but to the national mythology around which the holiday is built. When camp counsellors make the mistake of asking Wednesday and Pugsley to participate in a seasonal play, they turn it into a fiery indigenous revenge fantasy par excellence. Having white kids playing Native Americans doesn’t do much by way of indigenous representation, but at least the movie doesn’t glorify early contact. The Addams’ are definitely screwed up, but they’re doing better than most of us. Rent Addams Family Values from Prime Video and Apple TV.

Addams Family Values (1993)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

The Ice Storm (1997)

Perhaps not family viewing, precisely—though I’m hardly here to judge yours. Journey back to 1973 in Ang Lee’s Thanksgiving-set classic, as gathering for the annual dinner brings out dark secrets in the lives of two clans in a quiet, picture-perfect suburb. The meal gives way to a key party (ask your grandparents) weekend, which, if it had caught on, might have seen swinging and group sex with the neighbors become as much of a holiday tradition as green bean casserole. Alas. Rent The Ice Storm from Prime Video and Apple TV.

The Ice Storm (1997)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

Pieces of April (2003)

Katie Holmes stars as the title’s April Burns in this indy dramedy built around an unconventional  Thanksgiving celebration for an extremely dysfunctional family. April lives in a tiny Lower East Side apartment but is nevertheless determined to gather the entire family for dinner—though she’s estranged from her parents and her siblings, her mom Joy (Patricia Clarkson) has breast cancer, and there’s every chance that this will be her last holiday. But April’s best intentions can’t make things go smoothly. Her broken stove is a problem, as is her drug-dealer ex. And her very suburban family members will have to get over their fear of THE CITY. Thankfully, there’s some holiday cheer to be had, even if it’s desperately hard won. Stream Pieces of April on Tubi and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

Pieces of April (2003)

at Tubi

at Tubi

Thanksgiving (2023)

Another one that’s probably not for the whole family, this grisly, satirical Thanksgiving-themed slasher from director Eli Roth kicks off with one of those early-morning Black Friday sales that are totally fun, and where nothing could ever possibly go wrong. Taking a cue from real-life events, a crowd lined-up outside of a Wal-Mart-esque big box store gets unruly when they see the owner’s daughter inside early with her friends. A stampede ensues, and it’s so horrific it’s nearly funny; customers and staff are killed with abandon by out-of-control shoppers (though it doesn’t feel that far removed from some of the Black Friday near-tramplings we’ve seen on the news). The following year? A mystery killer seeks holiday-themed revenge. Stream Thanksgiving on Hulu or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

Thanksgiving (2023)

at Hulu

at Hulu

Lez Bomb (2018)

A charming, if lesser-known suburban comedy about the very relatable experience of trying to come out at a family gathering, and the ensuing mixed reactions. Jenna Laurenzo writes, directs, and stars as Lauren, who’s all ready to introduce her girlfriend to the family at Thanksgiving…until her male roommate shows up, and everyone auumes he’s her boyfriend. Stream Lez Bomb on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

Lez Bomb (2018)

at Tubi

at Tubi

For Your Consideration (2006)

What does any Thanksgiving gathering need but more lesbian coming-out drama? This essential Christopher Guest mockumentary follows the production of an arthouse movie initially called Home for Purim, starring Callie Webb (Parker Posey) as a young woman who brings her girlfriend to a holiday dinner during the 1940s. As the absolutely cursed production gains Oscar buzz, the studio takes things in hand, deciding that the setting of a movie called “Home for Purim,” is way too Jewish. Soon, our cast and crew (played by Guest mainstays Catherine O’Hara, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, and Jane Lynch) are promoting “Home for Thanksgiving,” which is the relatively thin thread by which I’ll hang the movie on this list. Watch it now, and then watch it again during Oscar season. Rent For Your Consideration from Prime Video and Apple TV.

For Your Consideration (2006)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

Mistress America (2015)

In this screwball-style holiday comedy, Greta Gerwig (who also co-wrote the film with director Noah Baumbach) plays Brooke, an unstoppable force who’s some combination of influencer, interior designer, and fitness instructor—and who’s nevertheless barely holding things together. Tracy (Lola Kirke), meanwhile, is a quiet, intense college freshman. Tracy’s mom is about to marry Brooke’s dad. The two women hit it off immediately, but their differences set off a sting of fairly zany happenings that all lead to a funny, poignant, and very New York Thanksgiving dinner. Rent Mistress America from Prime Video and Apple TV.

Mistress America (2015)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

The Humans (2021)

The past is very much present at nearly any family gathering, and that’s the case in this psychological drama, written and directed by Stephen Karam, who also wrote the Tony-winning and Pulitzer-nominated play on which it’s closely based. It begins with a father struggling with 9/11-related trauma at his adult daughter’s apartment, which is too close to ground zero for his comfort (and might also possibly be haunted). Everyone brings traumas and resentments to the holiday table—but the movie is smart and subtle enough to avoid obvious beats and easy answers. Stream The Humans on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

The Humans (2021)

at Tubi

at Tubi

The House of Yes (1997)

Screwball dark comedy The House of Yes is, perhaps, not terribly representative of any particular American family at Thanksgiving—unless you too have a psychotic sister (Parker Posey) who believes that she’s Jackie Onassis. This is Posey in her wacky indie golden age, starring in a darkly funny seasonal comedy which, OK, includes incest and murder so, you know, maybe don’t watch it with the kids. But as a heightened version of the kinds of wackiness that family members can bring to the dinner table, it rings true. Rent The House of Yes from Prime Video and Apple TV.

The House of Yes (1997)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

The Daytrippers (1996)

You could spend an entire afternoon watching classic ‘90s Parker Posey movies—which honestly sounds better than 80% of typical Thanksgiving activities. Here she’s crammed into a Buick with Hope Davis and Live Schreiber as they head out on a day-after-Thanksgiving road trip to track down Davis’ husband and confront him about his cheating ways. Stream The Daytrippers on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

The Daytrippers (1996)

at HBO Max

at HBO Max

The Myth of Fingerprints (1997)

Upper-middle class white family dysfunction was a big topic in the 1990s, and this is a standout example of the form. On one level, it’s another story of a family coming together over the holidays while grappling with resentments and secrets and abusive histories, but it’s a big step up from the typical family drama, unravelling the various relationships with uncommon subtlety and a sense of humor. The entire family is extremely horny, and having various couples under one roof for the holidays makes it very hard for anyone to get any sleep. Blythe Danner, Roy Scheider, Noah Wyle, and Julianne Moore star. Stream The Myth of Fingerprints on Tubi.

The Myth of Fingerprints (1997)

at Tubi

at Tubi

The Gold Rush (1925)

One of Charlie Chaplin’s most memorable films isn’t exactly full of images of Thanksgiving abundance, though there are reasons for gratitude by the movie’s end. But one of the best remembered scenes (not just in the film, but in all of American cinema) takes place during an extremely unconventional Thanksgiving meal: Chaplin’s Tramp cooks up one of his shoes for himself and Jim (Mack Swain), with whom he’s trapped in a tiny snowbound cabin during the Klondike Gold Rush. Their Thanksgiving repast doesn’t end there, as The Tramp hallucinates a giant chicken, leading to a round of fisticuffs, before a more discernibly tangible bear comes to investigate. It’s a good reminder to appreciate whatever food winds up on your plate, assuming it isn’t also made of laces and leather. Stream The Gold Rush on HBO Max and Prime Video or rent it from Apple TV.

The Gold Rush (1925)

at HBO Max

at HBO Max

Turkey Hollow (2015)

There’s hardly any modern technology at all in the town of Turkey Hollow, making it a great place for recently divorced Ron to take his two kids for the holiday. They’re all off to the home of Ron’s eccentric Aunt Cly (Mary Steenburgen) for some peace and quiet—until teens Tim and Annie get involved in the hunt for the “Howling Hoodoo,” a 10-foot-tall monster of local legend. That leads them into a plot to take over Aunt Clay’s farm, as well as some other delightfully Muppet-y weirdness; produced by the Jim Henson Company, the movie is based on one of his original stories. Definitely a fun family watch. Stream Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow on Prime Video.

Turkey Hollow (2015)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

Spider-Man (2002)

There’s not a lot of Thanksgiving in the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film, but this is about it if you’re looking for a super-powered holiday. Here, the festivities occur at a key moment: Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) is having the whole gang over for turkey—Peter (Tobey Maguire) and pals Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and Harry (James Franco), of course, but also Harry’s dad Norman Osbourne (Willem Dafoe). He’s secretly Spider-villain the Green Goblin, and it’s during this meal that he notices that Peter has some suspicious injuries. The tension grows as the arch-nemeses gradually cotton to each other’s dual identities. And what Thanksgiving dinner isn’t filled with bubbling tension? Stream Spider-Man on Disney+ or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

Spider-Man (2002)

at Disney+

at Disney+

The Last Waltz (1978)

There’s much that’s poignant about The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese -directed concert film recorded during Thanksgiving 1976. The final performance of the Band feels like the end of a rock ‘n’ roll era, with the generation of musicians who exploded during Woodstock (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, and many others) saying goodbye to what had been in the face of disco, rap, new wave, and pop. But there’s more here than just that sense of encroaching twilight: there are squabbles, there’s real affection, and there’s a lot of booze and more than a few drugs. In other words: not an atypical family Thanksgiving celebration. (The entire audience was given a Thanksgiving dinner before the concert, if that helps to sell you on the holiday connection.) Stream The Last Waltz on Tubi or rent it from Prime Video and Apple TV.

The Last Waltz (1978)

at Tubi

at Tubi

My Blue Heaven (1990)

Once again, not a ton of explicit holiday here, but there is a sequence set at the mall during Thanksgiving—and the film is so charmingly goofy that it makes for solidly low-key seasonal viewing. Steve Martin plays Vinnie Antonelli, a mobster sent to live in the San Diego suburbs as part of the witness protection program—”Tod,” as he’s now called, struggles to give up his criminal ways, and doesn’t even try to tone down his larger-than-life personality. This all makes life a bit of a blue hell for FBI agent Barney Coopersmith (Rick Moranis), assigned to keep an eye on Vinnie/Tod (they’re joined by the reliably funny Joan Cusack). Herbert Ross (Steel Magnolias) directs a screenplay from Nora Ephron, and, if it’s not the greatest use of all this assembled talent, it’s still a very fun way to kill 90 minutes. Rent My Blue Heaven from Prime Video and Apple TV.

My Blue Heaven (1990)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

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Giving the gift of tools for the holidays can be a great way to bring a smile to your favorite DIY enthusiast or home improvement weekend warrior, but quality tools can be expensive. However, you can still give a nice gift to someone who wants to do their own home maintenance or build their own shelves—you just have to know what to look for. Here are some of the best tools you can give for under $100, from someone who personally loves to wield a power drill.

Best cordless tools under $100

Cordless tools can be some of the most expensive for a home tool set because they need batteries and chargers in addition to the tool. Having batteries that work with multiple tools can be a big advantage because then you don’t necessarily need to have a different battery for each tool. Here are a few good deals on quality cordless tools that have battery platforms that work with hundreds of other tools and are durable as well.

• The Ryobi 18-volt driver set is $55.94 at Home Depot right now. The drill comes with a 1.5-amp-hour battery, a charger, and a 30-piece bit set, so it’s a good gift from someone starting a DIY tool kit because it has everything you need to start using it right out of the box. The Ryobi 18-volt battery platform includes over 300 cordless tools, so beginning with this battery set allows you to expand your kit in many directions.

• The Dremel 12-volt cordless multitool starter set is a good gift for a DIYer who is interested in metal smithing, wood carving, or even trimming a dog’s nails, and it’s $99 right now at Home Depot. The cordless feature makes a Dremel more portable, and easier to control because you don’t need to worry about dragging an extension cord around behind you. The starter set comes with a battery, a charger, and a small set of accessories, so it’s a good set as a gift because it’s ready to use right out of the box.

• The Ryobi 18-volt cordless brad nailer is a good gift for someone who is interested in installing trim or making woodworking projects like a birdhouse, and you can get it for $99 right now at Home Depot. It has a depth control and a built-in LED light that makes it more convenient in my experience when you’re working in tight spaces. While battery operated nailers used to be a little underpowered, improvements in battery technology and engineering have made them more functional in the last few years. This is a good gift for someone who already has an 18-volt Ryobi battery set or if you plan to buy batteries separately because it doesn’t come with a battery or a charger.

Best tool sets under $100

Quality hand tools like wrenches and pliers are an essential part of a home DIY set, and you might not even realize how important they are until you’re partway through taking your kitchen sink apart and you realize you don’t have the right wrench. Hand tools are a good gift for a DIYer because in my experience, you can never have too many. Here are a few quality tool sets you can give your favorite DIY home improvement expert for under $100.

• A set of Craftsman slip-joint pliers is a good gift for anyone who does vehicle maintenance, DIY appliance repair, or any DIY projects with mechanical parts, and you can get it on Amazon for $22.48 right now. I’ve used my slipjaw pliers on sink repair and also to fix wheels on rolling chairs. This set comes with one pair of 10-inch and one pair of eight-inch slip-jaw pliers with rubber handle grips for a more comfortable grip.

• The Klein 9-piece screwdriver set is a good quality starter set of drivers and a good gift to give someone interested in any type of DIY, and it’s $66.99 right now on Amazon. Klein screwdrivers are known for their durability, and are a popular choice for construction trades because they’re made with good quality steel and durable components. This set comes with eight flathead and Phillips head drivers in a range of lengths and a magnetizer/demagnetizer tool to allow you to magnetize your screw tip to hold hardware, or demagnetize it for work around sensitive electronic parts.

• The Craftsman 20-piece ratcheting wrench set is a good gift for anyone who works with mechanical parts, nut and bolts, auto-repair, or appliance repair. These wrenches are especially handy because they can fit in a much narrower place than a socket wrench would, so they can be indispensable for fitting into tight spaces. They’re $66.99 on Amazon right now, and the set includes ten SAE and ten metric wrenches in various sizes.

CRAFTSMAN 20 Piece Ratcheting Combination Wrench Set, SAE/Metric (CMMT87220)

$69.99
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $30.00

$69.99
at Amazon

$99.99
Save $30.00

Best bits and accessories under $100

Bits, blades, and accessories for a tool set are sometimes the difference between being able to finish a project or not, but they can be more expensive than you might expect. If you’re shopping for someone with DIY dreams, bits and other accessories are almost always a useful choice because these things tend to be expendable, as they can wear out over time. I’ve never been sad to have extra bits in my tool kit. Here are a few of the best bits and accessories gifts under $100.

• The Bosch 15-piece router bit set is a good gift for a woodworker who likes to shape their own trim with a router. These bits are good quality, and made by one of the most popular router manufacturers around. They can be used for edge-trimming as well as cutting a molding profile or adding a decorative edge to shelves or cabinet doors. You can get this set for $94.99 on Amazon, and it comes with a wrench for swapping out the adapters and a carrying case.

• The Milwaukee 120-piece impact bit set is a good gift for anyone who uses a drill or impact driver for home repair or DIY projects, and it’s $29.88 at Home Depot right now. This set comes with a variety of driver bits as well as some drill bits and an extension bit holder. These bits will work with either an impact driver or a drill, so they’re versatile and interchangeable for convenient use. I like to use this type of bit because they tend to be more shatter resistant when you’re driving fasteners into tough material like the 110-year-old plaster walls in my house.

• The Milwaukee 23-piece impact compatible drill bit set is a good gift for anyone who installs shelving, builds home woodworking projects, or wants to hang storage in their home. It comes with drill bits that are cross compatible with a drill or impact driver in a variety of sizes, and you can get it for $29.97 at Home Depot right now. These bits are stranger than your average drill bit to accommodate the extra force that an impact driver exerts, and I find that they tend to be durable for woodworking projects.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 knew how to lay on the camp. But it wasn’t only known for having some of the most delightfully cheesy cutscenes this side of The 7th Guest. Red Alert 2 was also an acclaimed real-time strategy game for its time, and it’s still perfectly playable today. Want to see for yourself? It’s now as easy as opening your browser.

The Chrono Divide project (via PC Gamer) lets you play the 2000 RTS in Chrome, Edge, or Safari. Although it supports Firefox, too, its developer says it should be avoided if you want “good performance.” It even works in mobile browsers.

Chrono Divide supports cross-platform multiplayer using all the original maps. (You can use some mods, too.) In fact, according to PC Gamer, multiplayer is about your only option. Red Alert 2’s single-player campaign modes (where you’ll encounter those “so bad, they’re good” cutscenes) are still a work in progress.

“The project initially started out as an experiment and was meant to prove that it was possible to have a fully working, cross-platform RTS game running in a web browser,” the project’s website reads. “Now, with a playable version already available, the end-goal is reaching feature parity with the original vanilla ‘Red Alert 2’ engine.”

You can take it for a spin on the Chrono Divide webpage. You’ll need to import the original game files to begin. (The website automatically inserts a link to them on the Internet Archive.) But we won’t fault you if you’d rather opt for watching Red Alert 2’s fabulously corny cutscenes below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/you-can-now-play-command–conquer-red-alert-2-in-your-browser-213815557.html?src=rss

Preservation has become a pressing topic for games in this era of digital-only releases and games-as-a-service. So it’s wonderful to have a big win in archiving a trio of seminal text games for the ages. Microsoft announced today that the code for Zork, Zork II and Zork III will be made available open source under the MIT License. The company’s Open Source Programs Office, Xbox and Activision all contributed to the effort. “The goal is not to modernize Zork but to preserve it as a space for exploration and education,” Microsoft team members wrote in the blog post sharing the news.

They’re works well-worth studying. The first Zork was a milestone moment for parser games that still inspires the present-day interactive fiction community. Not only was it a unique experience of narrative and puzzles, but the accomplishments of the Z-Machine virtual machine it ran on helped make Zork easily available to players on multiple platforms during the rise of personal computers in the 1990s. There are still modern Z-Machine interpreters out there (or you can buy and play all three Zork titles the normal way thanks to the similarly preservation-minded folks at Good Old Games).

The code for many famous text games made by Infocom was released on GitHub in 2019, but the rights still technically belonged to Activision, which could have issued a takedown. This move keeps the code for this iconic Zork games available for the ages.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/microsoft-has-open-sourced-the-zork-trilogy-of-text-games-213519368.html?src=rss

At this late stage in the streaming era, we’re all overwhelmed by more digital subscriptions than we can keep track of, from fitness apps to cloud storage. Still, it certainly feels as though Netflix is one of the subscriptions that people are least likely to ditch—and that’s backed up by the numbers.

Perhaps it’s because Netflix was the first company to really make streaming work, or perhaps it’s the vast catalog of content it’s amassed, or perhaps it’s just because of Stranger Things and Squid Game. Whatever the reason, Netflix’s churn rate is impressively low. Subscribers stick with it.

Certainly it’s always something I’ve long considered a mainstay on my streaming device. But recently, in the midst of reevaluating all of my monthly subs, I decided to save myself some money and actually cancel Netflix. It has gone so well, I’d suggest you do the same.

Here’s what I’ve noticed since my life became Netflix-free—and I have a strong suspicion this might be your experience too. (Full disclosure: I will eventually subscribe again, if only to finish Stranger Things, but there are benefits to quitting, even if only temporarily.)

I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would

Netflix content: There’s a lot of it.
Credit: Lifehacker

I was quite a heavy Netflix user before I gave it up, and would often cycle through the recommended list of shows and movies in the evening and especially on weekends. I’ve recently binged my way through shows like The Diplomat, Dept Q., Departure, and The Glass Dome. I could always find something to watch on Netflix.

But when I stopped being able to access Netflix, I realized didn’t really miss it all that much. My viewing switched to other streaming services, and free, ad-supported channels in particular. There’s actually more free content out there than you might have realized. I even did some fun rewatches of movies and shows I’d previously purchased on various platforms (because I don’t always want to rent something for the evening).

I’ve also been spending less time streaming video in general—more of my time has been put towards gaming and reading since I ditched my Netflix subscription. I’ve even been to an actual movie theater once or twice (not that you can see anything developed by Netflix on the big screen for the most part).

The prices keep going up

Need an extra member? That’s an extra cost.
Credit: Lifehacker

Before I quit Netflix, I was on the most expensive plan: It’s £18.99 a month here in the U.K., and $24.99 a month in the U.S. This gets you the best audio and 4K HDR video quality, spatial audio, four simultaneous streams, and six devices for downloading content. It’s actually one of the most expensive streaming packages there is, and prices keep going up.

After the great password crackdown of 2023, you can’t even share the account with anyone who doesn’t live with you either—at least not unless you pay an extra fee (£4.99 here in the UK, $8.99 in the US). By any measure, that’s a significant chunk of money. If you’re paying for the best plan plus an extra member and decide to take six months off Netflix, you’ll saving yourself more than $200.

There are cheaper plans available of course, if you want to sit through ads and put up with lower-resolution video—but I thought the whole point of paying for streaming was to avoid ads? It’s hard to imagine Netflix ever dropping its prices, so this is a problem that’s likely to get worse over time.

Your account will be preserved for two years

Netflix will hang on to all your viewing history for a while.
Credit: Lifehacker

One of the reasons you might be reluctant to cancel Netflix is because you think you’ll lose years’ worth of your viewing history and your personalized recommendations, and have to start again with a blank slate if you decide to sign back up. But in fact, Netflix stores your account information for 24 months—including ratings, game saves, and other account details.

As long as you resubscribe again within a couple of years, you’ll find everything as you left it (though you may need to scan some plot recaps for shows you were halfway through binge watching). This suggests Netflix is keen to leave the option to resubscribe open as long as possible. In my experience, it’ll definitely send you lots of emails about rejoining in the meantime.

I’m going to go back to Netflix someday—there’s just too much stuff on there that I want to watch—but after years and years as a customer, it’s been an interesting experiment to see what life is like without it. Certainly after this, I wouldn’t be worried about taking another Netflix break in the future. When I decide I want to resubscribe, it’ll only take a couple of clicks or taps.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Epishine, a company that makes solar cells optimized for indoor lighting, has announced its technology is being used in a new remote control for Google TV devices, as spotted by 9to5Google. The remote will rely on rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones, and thanks to the use of solar cells on both sides it may only run out of power when it gets buried and forgotten in the dark abyss of your couch cushions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Black Friday sales officially start Friday, November 28, and run through Cyber Monday, December 1, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it’s over. 

• Follow our live blog to stay up-to-date on the best sales we find.

• Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more.

• Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.

• Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change. 

If there’s a pantheon of digital notebooks, reMarkable has a place of pride. When the company released its reMarkable 2 tablet and stylus in 2020, it was a game changer for its sharp, professional design, innovative features, and especially its smooth, paper-like writing experience. Even years later, folks over in the r/reMarkableTablet subreddit consider it a best-in-class device, even if they’ve since upgraded to the newer reMarkable Paper Pro, which adds a backlight and a color screen.

Either one of these tablets is an excellent choice for anyone looking for an e-ink digital notebook built for creativity: Unlike some competitors, reMarkable tablets don’t run apps or try to replace your iPad. Like a paper notebook, they are designed to eliminate distractions and leave you alone with a blank page, but unlike a paper notebook, the work you do in them can be easily uploaded to the cloud, sent to your co-workers, and otherwise integrated into your workflow.

If you’ve been looking to pick up one of these immensely useful gadgets, now is a good time: Though they rarely go one sale, you can currently pick up either one in a discounted Black Friday bundle that includes a cover and stylus.

reMarkable Essentials Bundle

$529.00
at Amazon

$599.00
Save $70.00

$529.00
at Amazon

$599.00
Save $70.00

reMarkable Paper Pro Bundle

$749.00
at Amazon

$799.00
Save $50.00

$749.00
at Amazon

$799.00
Save $50.00

reMarkable Essentials Bundle

This bundle includes the reMarkable 2, a folio, and the Marker Plus stylus with eraser. You can choose between a leather folio for $529 on Amazon (down from the usual price of $599) or a cloth-bound folio. If you choose a cloth-bound folio instead, you’ll pay $499—a less impressive $30 discount, but a discount all the same.

reMarkable Paper Pro Bundle

If you want a color screen and a front light, you’ll need the upgraded reMarkable Paper Pro. For the tablet in a bundle with the Marker Plus with eraser and a cloth folio, you’ll pay $729 (down from $779), or you can go with the leather folio option for $749 (down from ($799).

Does Amazon have Black Friday deals?

Yes, Amazon has Black Friday sales, but prices aren’t always what they seem. Use a price tracker to make sure you’re getting the best deal, or refer to guides like our live blog that use price trackers for you. And if you have an Amazon Prime membership, make the most of it.

What stores have the best sales on Black Friday?

Nowadays, both large retailers and small businesses compete for Black Friday shoppers, so you can expect practically every store to run sales through Monday, December 1, 2025. The “best” sales depend on your needs, but in general, the biggest discounts tend to come from larger retailers who can afford lower prices: think places like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can find all the best sales from major retailers on our live blog. 

Are Black Friday deals worth it?

In short, yes, Black Friday still offers discounts that can be rare throughout the rest of the year. If there’s something you want to buy, or you’re shopping for gifts, it’s a good time to look for discounts on what you need, especially tech sales, home improvement supplies, and fitness tech. Of course, if you need to save money, the best way to save is to not buy anything.

A major selling point of the Xbox Ally and Ally X is that they ship with a full screen version of Windows that plays nice with handheld PCs. As part of the company’s recent Xbox Partner Showcase, Microsoft has announced that the Windows “full screen experience” or FSE is finally rolling out to all other Windows 11 handhelds starting November 21.

For the most part, FSE lets you live inside a touch and controller-friendly version of the Xbox PC app, rather than the normal Windows desktop. The launcher collects games from a multitude of game marketplaces like Steam and the Epic Games Store, and gives you easy access to Game Pass, if you subscribe. As part of Microsoft’s customizations, FSE also uses less resources, and offers simpler ways to switch between apps and setup Windows for the first time. 

All of these tweaks are supposed to make using Windows easier without a mouse and keyboard, and closer to what you’d get from a console. In comparison to SteamOS, which has gone through countless updates since Valve launched it alongside the Steam Deck in 2022, FSE still has a long way to go, but pushing the software to more devices could force Microsoft to iterate quickly.

While PC handheld owners will reap the benefits of these improvements first, Microsoft’s announcement also mentions the company plans to bring the experience “to more Windows 11 PC form factors through the Xbox and Windows Insider programs soon.” That could lend further credence to reports that the company plans to make the next Xbox an expensive PC rather than a traditional game console.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/microsoft-brings-the-xbox-ally-xs-full-screen-experience-to-other-handhelds-211500288.html?src=rss

Microsoft has released the source code for Zork I, II, and III under the MIT License through a collaboration with Team Xbox and Activision that involved submitting pull requests to historical source repositories maintained by digital archivist Jason Scott. Each repository now includes the original source code and accompanying documentation.

The games arrived on early home computers in the 1980s as text-based adventures built on the Z-Machine, a virtual machine that allowed the same story files to run across different platforms. Infocom created the Z-Machine after discovering the original mainframe version was too large for home computers. The team split the game into three titles that all ran on the same underlying system.

The code release covers only the source files and does not include commercial packaging or trademark rights. The games remain available commercially through The Zork Anthology on Good Old Games and can be compiled locally using ZILF, a modern Z-Machine interpreter.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Zork, the classic text-based adventure game of incalculable influence, has been made available under the MIT License, along with the sequels Zork II and Zork III.

The move to take these Zork games open source comes as the result of the shared work of the Xbox and Activision teams along with Microsoft’s Open Source Programs Office (OSPO). Parent company Microsoft owns the intellectual property for the franchise.

Only the code itself has been made open source. Ancillary items like commercial packaging and marketing assets and materials remain proprietary, as do related trademarks and brands.

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Astronomical events such as eclipses were central to Maya culture, reflected in the care the Maya took to keep accurate calendars to aid in celestial predictions. Among the few surviving Maya texts is the so-called Dresden Codex, which includes a table of eclipses. Researchers have concluded that this table was repurposed from earlier lunar month tables, rather than being created solely for eclipse prediction, according to a paper published in the journal Science Advances. They also figured out the mechanism by which the Maya ensured that table would be accurate over a very long time period.

The Maya used three primary calendars: a count of days, known as the Long Count; a 260-day astrological calendar called the Tzolk’in; and a 356-day year called the Haab’. Previous scholars have speculated on how awe-inspiring solar or lunar eclipses must have seemed to the Maya, but our understanding of their astronomical knowledge is limited. Most Maya books were burned by Spanish conquistadors and Catholic priests. Only four hieroglyphic codices survive: the Dresden Codex, the Madrid Codex, the Paris Codex, and the Grolier Codex.

The Dresden Codex dates back to the 11th or 12th century and likely originated near Chichen Itza. It can be folded accordion-style and is 12 feet long in its unfolded state. The text was deciphered in the early 20th century and describes local history as well as astronomical lunar and Venus tables.

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