Monthly Archives: February 2025

YouTube Plans Lower-Priced, Ad-Free Version of Paid Video Tier

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According to Bloomberg, YouTube plans to introduce a lower-priced, ad-free version of its paid video service. From the report: The package, dubbed “premium lite,” will be announced soon in the US, Australia, Germany and Thailand, according to a person familiar with the plans. The service will target viewers who primarily want to watch programs other than music videos. While YouTube may be best known for the free videos uploaded by users, the company also offers a variety of paid services. YouTube Premium is a $13.99-a-month package in the US that lets subscribers watch everything on the service, including music videos, without ads.

“As part of our commitment to provide our users with more choice and flexibility, we’ve been testing a new YouTube Premium offering with most videos ad-free in several of our markets,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. “We’re hoping to expand this offering to even more users in the future with our partners’ support.”

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Netflix To Invest $1 Billion In Mexico Over Next 4 Years

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The chief executive of streaming giant Netflix on Thursday announced a $1 billion investment to produce some 20 films and TV series in Mexico annually over the next four years. Speaking at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference in Mexico City, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said he looked forward to entering more partnerships with producers in the Latin American nation. Sheinbaum said the investments in the film industry should produce many jobs beyond immediate production needs, such as hospitality for actors and crew members, fashion designers and also spur tourism. “It’s an industry that gives a lot of mileage to the economy,” Sheinbaum said. “It’s not only important for Mexico to be seen in the world, but also because of the economic development and jobs generated by a production.”

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Apple Is Bringing Visual Intelligence To the iPhone 15 Pro

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Apple’s Google Lens-like took called Visual Intelligence is coming to the iPhone 15 Pro, according to John Gruber of Daring Fireball. It’s unclear which update will offer the feature but Gruber speculates it could arrive with iOS 18.4 in April. From a report: Visual Intelligence was originally introduced with the initial iPhone 16 lineup in September, and Apple showed it off as a feature that you launched from the Camera Control button. But yesterday, Apple announced that Visual Intelligence would be available on the iPhone 16E, which does not have the Camera Control button, through its Action Button.

That suggested that the feature could technically work with the iPhone 15 Pro, which also has an Action Button, and now Apple is confirming that Visual Intelligence will indeed come to that phone and be available via the Action Button. You’ll also be able to launch Visual Intelligence from the Control Center on the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple told Gruber.

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Netflix hops aboard Sifu movie adaptation, assigns a screenwriter

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We learned in December 2022 that a production company had signed on to turn Sloclap’s excellent martial arts game Sifu into a film. Today, the news dropped that Netflix is involved with the project, which seems to have caused some personnel shuffling behind the scenes.

The initial announcement saw Story Kitchen, which has since amassed a huge catalog of video game adaptations, securing a treatment of Sifu with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad attached as the writer. Story Kitchen is still working on the film, but Kolstad is no longer serving as the screenwriter and T.S. Nowlin has instead been tapped for that role. Nowlin’s past credits include the screenplays for the Maze Runner adaptations and most recently he was a writer for Netflix’s splashy Ryan Reynolds vehicle The Adam Project.

However, there is still a John Wick connection with Sifu. The director for all four John Wick films, stunt performer Chad Stahelski, has joined the producer team, as have members of Stahelski’s 87Eleven Entertainment company. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/netflix-hops-aboard-sifu-movie-adaptation-assigns-a-screenwriter-225324526.html?src=rss

ChatGPT Reaches 400 Million Weekly Active Users

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ChatGPT has reached over 400 million weekly active users, doubling its count since August 2024. “We feel very fortunate to serve 5 percent of the world every week,” OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said on X. Engadget reports: The latest milestone for the AI assistant comes after a huge uproar over new rival platform DeepSeek earlier in the year, which raised questions about whether the current crop of leading AI tools was about to be dethroned. OpenAI is on the verge of a move to simplify its ChatGPT offerings so that users won’t have to select which reasoning model will respond to an input, and it will make its GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 models available soon in the chat and API clients. With GPT-5 being made available to OpenAI’s free users, ChatGPT seems primed to continue expanding its audience base in the coming months.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft’s new AI agent can control software and robots

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On Wednesday, Microsoft Research introduced Magma, an integrated AI foundation model that combines visual and language processing to control software interfaces and robotic systems. If the results hold up outside of Microsoft’s internal testing, it could mark a meaningful step forward for an all-purpose multimodal AI that can operate interactively in both real and digital spaces.

Microsoft claims that Magma is the first AI model that not only processes multimodal data (like text, images, and video) but can also natively act upon it—whether that’s navigating a user interface or manipulating physical objects. The project is a collaboration between researchers at Microsoft, KAIST, the University of Maryland, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Washington.

We’ve seen other large language model-based robotics projects like Google’s PALM-E and RT-2 or Microsoft’s ChatGPT for Robotics that utilize LLMs for an interface. However, unlike many prior multimodal AI systems that require separate models for perception and control, Magma integrates these abilities into a single foundation model.

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What’s New on Max in March in 2025

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Max’s March slate includes the fourth and final season of original comedy series The Righteous Gemstones (March 9), featuring Danny McBride, Adam Devine, John Goodman, and Edi Patterson, among others, as members of the famous televangelist Gemstone family. Episodes will debut weekly on Sundays.

At the end of the month, Max Original reality series Paul American (March 27) will premiere, with weekly episodes stretching into April and May. The eight-installment show gives an inside look into the lives of Jake and Logan Paul. HBO is also releasing a nine-part sports documentary, Celtics City (first episode premieres on March 3), about the NBA franchise from its origin to its 2024 championship.

There are three A24 films slated for Max in March: Queer (March 28) stars Daniel Craig as an American expat who develops a relationship with a younger main (played by Drew Starkey). The film is based on a William S. Burroughs novella, and Craig was nominated for Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and Screen Actors Guild awards. Heretic (March 7) is a horror film about two Mormon missionaries attempting to convert a reclusive man played by Hugh Grant, who also received numerous award nominations for his performance. Finally, Sing Sing (March 21) stars Oscar nominee Colman Domingo as an inmate imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit who joins a theater group with other incarcerated men—the film is based on a true story.

Max will also have live sports in March, including NBA and NHL games, 3×3 women’s basketball, and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament from the first round through the Elite 8.

Here’s everything else coming to Max in March.

What’s coming to Max in March 2025

Available March 1

  • A Lost Lady (1934)

  • A Woman’s Face (1941)

  • AEW Special Events, 2020A (2020)

  • AEW Special Events, 2021A (2021)

  • AEW Special Events, 2022A (2022)

  • AEW Special Events, 2023A (2023)

  • AEW Special Events, 2024A (2024)

  • Along the Great Divide (1951)

  • Arrow in the Dust (1954)

  • Assassin’s Creed (2016)

  • Away We Go (2009)

  • Big Eyes (2014)

  • Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)

  • Carrie (1976)

  • Carrie (2013)

  • Child’s Play (1988)

  • Child’s Play (2019)

  • Executive Suite (1954)

  • Ghostbusters (1984)

  • Ghostbusters II (1989)

  • Goodbye, My Fancy (1951)

  • GoodFellas (1990)

  • Jeopardy (1953)

  • Ladies They Talk About (1933)

  • Maggie (2015)

  • Massacre River (1949)

  • Men in Black (1997)

  • Men in Black II (2002)

  • Men in Black III (2012)

  • My Reputation (1946)

  • Night Nurse (1931)

  • Paddy Chayefsky: Collector of Words (2024)

  • Stand By Me (1986)

  • Susan and God (1940)

  • The Babe Ruth Story (1948)

  • The Best Man Holiday (2013)

  • The Burning Hills (1956)

  • The Damned Don’t Cry (1950)

  • The Descendants (2011)

  • The Forger (2015)

  • The Mad Miss Manton (1938)

  • The Man with a Cloak (1951)

  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

  • The Purchase Price (1932)

  • The Secret Bride (1934)

  • The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)

  • The Women (1939)

  • This Woman Is Dangerous (1952)

  • To Please a Lady (1950)

  • When Ladies Meet (1941)

  • White Chicks (2004)

  • White Chicks: Unrated (2004)

  • Why Him? (2016)

Available March 3

  • Celtics City (HBO Original)

  • The Nut Job (2014)

  • The Nut Job 2 (2017)

  • Tournament of Champions, Season 6 (Food Network)

Available March 4

  • Smallfoot (2018)

Available March 5

  • Jay & Pamela, Season 1 (TLC)

  • Road Rage, Season 3 (ID)

Available March 6

  • Dylan’s Playtime Adventures, Season 1A (Max Original)

  • Jellystone, Season 3B (Max Original)

Available March 7

  • Heretic (A24)

  • When No One Sees Us (Cuando Nadie Nos Ve), Season 1 (Max Original)

Available March 9

  • The Righteous Gemstones, Season 4 (HBO Original)

Available March 10

  • Home Town Takeover, Season 3 (HGTV)

  • Naked and Afraid, Season 18 (Discovery)

  • Oh My God…Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances, Season 1 (Adult Swim)

  • YOLO: Rainbow Trinity, Season 3 (Adult Swim)

Available March 11

  • Kobe: The Making of a Legend (CNN Original Series)

  • Spring Baking Championship, Season 11 (Food Network)

Available March 12

  • Constables On Patrol, Season 1 (Discovery)

Available March 13

  • Battle of Culiacán: Heirs of the Cartel (Culiacanazo: Herederos del Narco) (Max Original)

  • Expedition Bigfoot, Season 6 (Discovery)

  • Married to Real Estate, Season 4 (HGTV)

  • The Parenting (Max Original)

Available March 14

  • Beau Is Afraid (A24)

Available March 15

  • Bugs Bunny Builders, Season 2C (Cartoon Network)

  • Ready to Love, Season 10 (OWN)

Available March 17

  • A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read, Season 1 (ID)

  • A Clean Sheet: The Return of Gabe Landeskog, Season 1 (TNT Sports)

  • TNT Sports Conversations, Season 1 (TNT Sports)

Available March 19

  • House of Knives, Season 1 (Food Network)

Available March 21

  • A Decent Man (Porządny Człowiek), Season 1 (HBO Original)

  • Sing Sing (A24)

Available March 22

  • Tiny Toons Looniversity, Season 2C (Cartoon Network)

Available March 23

  • Girl Meets Farm, Season 14 (Food Network)

Available March 24

  • Signs of a Psychopath, Season 9 (ID)

Available March 25

  • Lockerbie: The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Season 1 (CNN Original)

Available March 26

  • Naked and Afraid: LatAm, Season 3 (discovery+)

Available March 27

  • Help! My House is Haunted, Season 5 (Travel Channel)

  • Paul American, Season 1 (Max Original)

Available March 28

  • Bargain Mansions, Season 6 (Magnolia Network)

  • Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives, Season 50 (Food Network)

  • Queer (A24)

  • Reformed (Le Sens Des Choses), Season 1 (Max Original)

Available March 29

  • The Pioneer Woman, Season 38 (Food Network)

Available March 31

  • Amityville: Where The Echo Lives (2024)

  • Camp Hell (2010)

  • Enter Nowhere (2011)

See a garbage truck’s CNG cylinders explode after lithium-ion battery fire

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Garbage truck fires are never ideal, but they are usually not catastrophic. When a fire broke out on December 6 in the back of a garbage truck making its Friday rounds through the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, the fire department responded within five minutes. Firefighters saw flames shooting five feet into the air out the back of the truck, and they prepared to put the fire out using hoses and water. Four minutes after their arrival on scene, however, the garbage truck exploded in rather spectacular fashion, injuring several firefighters and police officers, damaging several homes in the vicinity, and scattering debris through the neighborhood.

The truck, it turned out, was powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), stored in five carbon-fiber-wrapped cylinders on the roof. The cylinders had pressure relief valves installed that should have opened when they reached a temperature between 212° and 220° Fahrenheit (100°–140° Celsius). This would vent (flammable) methane gas into the atmosphere, often creating a powerful flamethrower but keeping the tanks from exploding under the rising pressure caused by the heat. In this case, however, all the pressure relief devices failed—and the CNG tanks exploded.

Fire officials now believe that the whole incident began when a resident improperly disposed of a lithium-ion battery by placing it in a recycling bin.

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What’s New on Paramount+ With Showtime in March 2025

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Paramount+’s March slate is anchored by a new original crime series Happy Face (March 20), which tells the true story of Keith Jesperson, a serial killer known as Happy Face. The drama stars Dennis Quaid as Jesperson and Annaleigh Ashford as his daughter, who discovered his identity at age 15 and must decide if she wants a relationship with him after decades of no contact.

Also in true crime is a three-part docuseries Sin City Gigolo: A Murder in Las Vegas (March 4) about the criminal investigation into a former reality TV star arrested in 2020 for murder.

March brings a handful of music features to Paramount+, including a remastered version of the 80s film Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party Extended (March 11), which originally debuted on MTV, as well as the two-hour taped special Ringo & Friends at the Ryman (March 10) featuring performances from Ringo Starr and guests ranging from Sheryl Crow to Emmylou Harris.

Here’s everything else coming to the service in February. Note that titles with an asterisk are exclusive to Paramount+ With Showtime; everything else is also available to subscribers on the ad-supported plan. Those with two asterisks are available to Paramount+ With Showtime users streaming live on CBS and to all subscribers the following day.

Paramount+ Originals and premieres coming in March 2025

Available March 1

  • Strange Darling*

Available March 3

  • Rumours*

Available March 4

  • Sin City Gigolo: A Murder in Las Vegas, premiere

Available March 10

  • Ringo & Friends at the Ryman,** special

Available March 11

  • Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party Extended, premiere

Available March 20

  • Happy Face, series premiere

TV shows coming to Paramount+ in March 2025

Available March 5

  • The Amazing Race (season 37 premiere)**

  • The Fairly OddParents: Abra-Catastrophe Special

  • The Surreal Life (season 2)

Available March 12

  • Air Disasters (season 20)

  • The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish (season 1)

Available March 19

  • Teen Mom: The Next Chapter (season 2)

Available March 26

  • Basketball Wives (season 11)

Movies coming to Paramount+ in March 2025

Available March 1

  • A League of Their Own

  • Annihilation

  • Becoming Jane

  • Blue Crush

  • Boys on the Side

  • Cloud Atlas

  • Continue

  • Crawl

  • Dune (1984)

  • Edge of Tomorrow

  • Elizabethtown

  • Ex Machina

  • Face/Off

  • Failure to Launch

  • Foxcatcher

  • Foxfire

  • Frozen River

  • Good Will Hunting

  • Harlem Nights

  • Inglourious Basterds*

  • Julie & Julia

  • Jungleland

  • Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

  • Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

  • Love, Rosie

  • Marie Antoinette

  • Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life*

  • Million Dollar Baby

  • Motherhood*

  • Mulholland Drive

  • Only the Brave

  • Pan’s Labyrinth

  • Practical Magic

  • Pulp Fiction

  • Rat Race

  • Room

  • Run All Night

  • Searching For Bobby Fischer

  • Serpico

  • Shutter Island

  • Sicario: Day of the Soldado

  • Sleepy Hollow

  • Snake Eyes

  • Son of a Gun

  • Staying Alive

  • Sugar & Spice

  • The Abandon

  • The Fifth Estate*

  • The Glorias

  • The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

  • The Hurt Locker

  • The Ides of March

  • The Kite Runner

  • The Lodge*

  • The Machinist

  • The Manchurian Candidate

  • The Other Boleyn Girl

  • The Queens of Comedy

  • The Sum of All Fears

  • The Terminal

  • The Virgin Suicides

  • The Warriors

  • The Way Of The Dragon

  • The Weekend

  • The Women

  • There Will Be Blood

  • Trail of Justice

  • Up In The Air

  • Wayne’s World

  • Wayne’s World 2

  • Witness

Available March 3

  • The House with a Clock in Its Walls*

Available March 8

  • Babylon

  • India Sweets and Spices*

Available March 16

  • Bridge of Spies*

Available March 18

  • The Last Manhunt*

Available March 21

  • The Hunting Party*

Available March 23

  • The Free World*

Available March 26

  • Mass*

Available March 31

  • American Psycho*

  • American Psycho II: All American Girl*

ISP Must Unmask 100 Alleged BitTorrent Pirates In RIAA Lawsuit

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Altice, parent company of Internet provider Optimum, must disclose the personal details of a hundred alleged music pirates. The request comes from a group of prominent record labels and is part of an ongoing copyright infringement liability lawsuit (PDF). Altice, meanwhile, will receive anti-piracy information, including that related to a letter the RIAA previously sent to BitTorrent Inc., the owner of popular torrent client uTorrent. […] Details are scarce, but the group will likely consist of subscribers who were repeatedly warned over alleged piracy activity. The music labels could use this information to gather further evidence to support their allegations. For example, subscriber testimony could help to strengthen the argument that the ISP failed to take effective measures against repeat infringers.

There’s nothing to suggest that these people will be approached with any claims directly. The names, emails, and addresses of the subscribers are marked as “highly confidential” and can only be viewed by attorneys acting for the music companies. The subscribers will be informed about the forthcoming disclosure of their personal details and any objections will be heard by the court. […] Subscriber details are just a fraction of the information requested by the parties during discovery. Altice, for example, will also gain access to some non-privileged documents and communications between the music companies and their anti-piracy partners, including the RIAA, OpSec, and Audible Magic.

This includes information regarding a letter (PDF) the RIAA sent to the company behind the uTorrent and BitTorrent clients in 2015. […] The nature of information sought by Altice isn’t clear. The company previously said that if music labels are concerned about piracy, they are free to go after developers of ‘piracy’ software. While neutral torrent clients don’t fall into that category, the ISP will be interested in any related legal considerations that took place behind the scenes.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Milky Way’s Central Black Hole Just Put On A Cosmic Disco Party For NASA

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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a product of over two decades of collaboration between NASA, CSA, and ESA, has made a remarkable discovery. From its home in a stable orbit in Lagrange point 2, the JWST captured a dazzling display of flaring activity from the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way. These findings have

Cozy Lord of the Rings game Tales of the Shire is delayed to July

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Samwise Gamgee said, “It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.” But then, he hadn’t been exposed to the world of video game development. Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, a cozy take on the most idyllic pocket of Middle Earth, has been delayed. The new launch date is July 29. According to a post from the devs at Wētā Workshop Game Studio, this delay is about ensuring that all the project’s supported platforms “can enjoy the same cozy experience.” It is currently slated to launch on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Steam and Xbox Series X.

This project has taken a couple tough hits over the past several months. The release date had already been pushed back in September, and it was axed from Netflix’s planned game lineup earlier this month. Will there be more hurdles before we can finally enjoy our happy hobbit alternate lives? As a wise wizard once said: “Who knows? Have patience.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/cozy-lord-of-the-rings-game-tales-of-the-shire-is-delayed-to-july-213500109.html?src=rss