The live-action adaptation of the classic shonen manga and anime YuYu Hakusho is hitting Netflix on December 14, and the streaming service has given fans some idea of what they can expect in a short teaser video. Live-action adaptations of anime shows are a hit or miss. Some, like Netflix’s Death Note, were generally panned and poorly received, while others like the Rurouni Kenshin movies starring Takeru Satoh and Netflix’s One Piece had managed to win over existing fans and new audiences alike. 

As a long-time fan of Yoshihiro Togashi’s YuYu Hakusho, I have witnessed fellow fans dread its arrival after the streaming service published the first posters for the series. Certain actors were a miscast, they said, and even the actors in YuYu Hakusho’s stage production had better costumes and styling. The teaser, however, actually looked pretty good, and fans seem to be hopeful that the show will end up becoming of the better anime adaptations out there. 

When Netflix announced the series’ streaming date, it hinted that it will not be an exact copy of the manga and the anime. “The series breathes new life into the story, and fans old and new can expect to encounter their favorite characters in ways that have never been seen before,” it said. The teaser’s too short to reveal most of the changes the show has made, but eagle-eyed viewers might find some in the video below. 

Netflix has given The Witcher fans their first look at a new animated film that’s set to hit the streaming service in late 2024. The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is based on A Little Sacrifice, a short story written by the universe’s creator Andrzej Sapkowski. It will have Geralt of Rivia investigating a series of attacks in a seaside village in the midst of rising conflict between its human inhabitants and merpeople from the ocean. Netflix says the film is set between episodes 5 and 6 of the live-action series’ first season, and it does show: The Geralt in the film resembles original Witcher actor Henry Cavill more than the Geralt in the games. 

The live action’s stars Anya Chalotra and Joey Batey will also be reprising their roles as Yennefer of Vengerberg and Jaskier in the animated film. But Geralt will be voiced by Doug Cockle, who’s known for voicing the White Wolf in the Witcher games. The movie is directed by Kang Hei Chul, who served as a storyboard artist for The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, which featured the story of Vesemir before he became Geralt’s mentor. It was also animated by Studio MIR, the same South Korean studio that worked on Nightmare of the Wolf. 

The film may be the last time those who were particularly fond of Cavill as Geralt can see, well, a version of him play the role. He left the live-action show after its third season and is set to be replaced by Liam Hemsworth. 

NVIDIA really, really doesn’t want to lose access to China’s massive AI chip market. The company is developing three new AI chips especially for China that don’t run afoul of the latest export restrictions in the US, according to The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Last year, the US government notified the chipmaker that it would restrict the export of computer chips meant for supercomputers and artificial intelligence applications to Russia and China due to concerns that the components could be used for military purposes. That rule prevented NVIDIA from selling certain A100 and H100 chips in the country, so it designed the A800 and H800 chips specifically for the Chinese market. 

However, the US government recently issued an updated set of restrictions that puts a limit on how much computing power a chip can have when it’s meant for export to the aforementioned countries. The A800 and the H800 are no longer eligible for export under the new rules, along with NVIDIA’s other products, which include its top-of-the-line RTX 4090 consumer GPU. Some reports even suggest that the company could end up canceling over $5 billion worth of advanced chip orders in China. 

The new chips meant for the Chinese market are called the HGX H20, the L20 and the L2, based on the specs sent to distributors. While the H20 is supposed to be the most powerful model out of the three, all of them don’t go beyond the computing power threshold set by the US government’s new export rules. That means customers using them for AI applications may need more chips than they would if they had access to higher-spec models. 

Chinese companies, including Baidu, Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo, have already started designing their own semiconductor to prepare for a possible future wherein they could longer be able to import chips from the US and other countries. Old NVIDIA customers may prefer sticking to the company’s components, however, due to its reputation and its software, which The Journal says is some of the most robust for AI development. NVIDIA, according to the source, may announce the new chips as soon as November 16 and start selling them before the year ends. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-may-soon-announce-new-ai-chips-for-china-to-get-around-us-export-restrictions-100509873.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – NVIDIA may soon announce new AI chips for China to get around US export restrictions

Amazon gives Apple’s product pages the special treatment and keeps them relatively clear of unrelated ads, signifying an arrangement between the companies, according to Insider. When the Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce retailer in September, it accused Amazon of “deliberately increasing junk ads that worsen search quality.” However, Insider found that the pages for Apple products, such as “iPhone” and “iPad,” show a clean page layout with no ads or recommendation. Meanwhile, products from rival brands, including Samsung Galaxy and Microsoft Surface, show multiple banner ads and several sponsored recommendations from other brands. 

We tried it out ourselves and did find that Apple’s product pages do look cleaner. Microsoft Surface Pro’s, however, showed a carousel of sponsored listings “4 stars and above,” along with products related to the specific item and multiple banner ads. Insider says Apple asked Amazon to keep its product pages free of ad clutter back in 2018, based on an email shared by the House Judiciary Committee. “We understand that Apple does not want to drive sales to competing brands in search or detail pages,” Jeff Wilke, who was then Amazon’s retail CEO, reportedly wrote. 

Apple has admitted to the publication that it has some sort of an agreement with Amazon that prevents other companies from buying ads for “specific Apple-related brand queries” on the latter’s marketplace. They can still buy ads for key phrases with an Apple name, say “iPad keyboard case,” but not for “iPad” itself. “Apple’s goal for the Agreements was to create the best possible customer experience, and others are free to do the same,” Apple’s representative said in a statement. They added that the deal was also meant to address the company’s issues with counterfeit products on the platform, because it used to send Amazon “hundreds of thousands of take-down notices” before then. 

While it’s not clear whether money exchanged hands between the two companies, the email shared by the House talked about a potential financial deal. Amazon reportedly turned down Apple’s request at first, but Wilke wrote in the email: “We cannot alter our organic search algorithm to return only Apple products in the search results when an Apple team is searched… Apple would need to purchase these placements or compensate Amazon for the lost ad revenue.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-reportedly-blocks-junk-ads-on-apple-product-pages-045018125.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Amazon reportedly blocks ‘junk ads’ on Apple product pages