Amazon is gradually rolling out its next-generation Alexa assistant within its own product ecosystem, but the latest recipient of Alexa+ is BMW. Amazon has announced the latest version of Alexa Custom Assistant, the platform that allows companies (including BMW) to build their own AI assistants that leverage Alexa tech, which will be powered by Alexa+ going forward.

With Alexa+ architecture working under the hood, drivers will benefit from a more natural, conversational style of in-vehicle interactions, while making use of the assistant’s more comprehensive agentic capabilities and ability to deal with more complex instructions than it could previously. Alexa+ can access more than 70 large language models (LLM), and Amazon has promised that any conversation you’ve had with one of its home devices can be continued in the car.

BMW was already using Alexa Custom Assistant as the foundation of its in-vehicle voice assistant tech, which it calls the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA), and it’ll be the first car manufacturer to get access to Alexa+. At CES 2024, the two companies also debuted a new feature that effectively allows Alexa to absorb the driver’s manual so it can answer any question about your car in real-time.

BMW has gone all in on Amazon’s ecosystem, with its connected features also powered by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform. The new Alexa Custom Assistant will come to select BMW models soon, but we don’t currently have any specifics as to the exact date or which vehicles will get it. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-is-coming-to-bmw-vehicles-161455252.html?src=rss

An anonymous reader shares a report: US software company SAS Institute has withdrawn from mainland China and dismissed its local staff, according to a Beijing-based employee affected by the move, as the analytics specialist ended more than two decades of operations amid intense domestic competition and geopolitical tensions. The company on Thursday announced the lay-offs via an email and hosted a short video call, in which executives thanked local employees for their contribution and cited “organisational optimisation” for the exit, according to the employee.

“SAS is ceasing direct business operations in China,” an SAS spokeswoman said on Friday in response to the Post’s inquiry. “This decision reflects a broader shift in how we operate globally, optimising our footprint and ensuring long-term sustainability.” The company would continue having a presence on the mainland via third-party partners, according to the spokeswoman.

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Pennywise is back, baby, and pop culture’s favorite freaky clown is going back in time to kill the kids of Derry, Maine, in 1962, with future seasons (should they materialize) visiting other time periods. If my hometown saw mass slaughterings of children every generation or so, I might be tempted to pick up stakes and head on out—but the Stephen King IP train must keep rolling, and so here we are.

So far, the show isn’t hitting the heights of previous It adaptations, but it’s shown an admirable willingness to shock—the opening scene includes an impressively graphic and rather unconventional birthing sequence, and the show has quickly made clear that no characters are safe from the dark deeds of Pennywise. While you’re waiting for new episodes to drop, you might enjoy these other horror series (including other King adaptations) that hit some of the same notes.

Castle Rock (2018 – 2019)

Castle Rock, canceled after two (rather excellent) seasons, was a victim of failed marketing. The show was promoted as a dive into some kind of Stephen King connected universe, promising Easter eggs without suggesting much by way of storytelling. And yet! There are actual stories here, with real dramatic heft—the first season’s “The Queen,” told from the unstable perspective of a character (played by Sissy Spacek) with worsening dementia, was one of the best, and most existentially horrifying, things on television that year. The second season introduces young Annie Wilkes, (Lizzy Caplan), the Kathy Bates character we know from Misery. The cast across the two seasons is stellar, and includes Bill Skarsgård, a creepy character not named Pennywise. There’s plenty of stuff for King fans to sink their teeth into as we dive into the backstory of a different Stephen King town, but it all works rather well on its own, as well. Stream Castle Rock on Hulu.

Castle Rock

at Hulu

at Hulu

Talamasca: The Secret Order (2025 – )

The third series in what AMC is calling its Immortal Universe of shows based on the works of Anne Rice, this one stars Nicholas Denton as Guy Anatole, a new recruit to the title organization of supernatural spies and watchers, William Fichtner as a vampire making a play for control of the organization, all while Downton Abbey‘s Elizabeth McGovern brings us yet another delightfully confusing accent playing the leader of the Talamasca’s New York motherhouse. The show is impressively spry and lively—a bit of a surprise, given the heavy emo vibes of Interview with the Vampire and The Mayfair Witches. We’re only a couple of episodes in, but the show kicks off with a rather brutal dismembering in the style of It. Stream Talamasca on AMC+.

Talamasca: The Secret Order (2025 – )

at AMC+

at AMC+

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023 – )

This is more of an action thriller than a gloopy It-style horror show, but the shows still have a couple of things in common. First, they both provide previously uncharted backstories for popular film properties; second, they’re both full of monsters. Monarch does a surprisingly effective job of telling its own story within the universe of all the American Godzilla movies of the past decade or so, bringing the bigger stories back down to Earth while building out an entire decades-long monster-verse mythology in the process. Anna Sawai stars as a young teacher searching for her father, missing since Godzilla’s attack on San Francisco (depicted in the 2014 film), and who finds herself drawn into the past and present of a secret government agency. Wyatt and Kurt Russell play the past and present incarnations of the Army colonel who helped set the whole thing in motion way back in 1959. Stream Monarch on Apple TV+.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

at Apple TV+

at Apple TV+

Dark (2017 – 2020)

Dark began as a mystery involving a missing child and evolved, over its three seasons, into a wildly complex narrative: a time travel-driven story that explores dark family secrets over the course of several generations. If it’s not quite as bloody as Welcome to Derry, it shares with that show a willingness to put kids and teens through the wringer. Youth may be a sort of protection in some horror stories, but not here—not even a little tiny bit. The German import has a striking look and incredibly atmospheric feel, with an ensemble cast of teens and adults whose narratives are deftly intertwined across decades in a story that starts when a child goes missing (one of the least bad things that happens to the people of fictional Winden, Germany). Stream Dark on Netflix.

Dark (2017 – 2020)

at Netflix

at Netflix

The Outsider (2020)

The premise here is brutal, and, to the everyone in the narrative, impossible: A kid is horrifically murdered (even Pennywise might be shocked), and the evidence decisively points to Little League coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman). It’s an open-and-shut case—except that he was out of town at a conference while the murder was occurring, and even appeared on the news in another town. The tragedies pile up, and the threat isn’t entirely natural. Without giving too much away, it’s among the most disturbing of King adaptations (it’s also incredibly engaging). There are great performances here from Bateman, as well as from Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney, one of King’s recurring characters. HBO declined to renew the show, but it adapts the entire book and ends fairly decisively. Stream The Outsider on HBO Max.

The Outsider (2020)

at HBO Max

at HBO Max

Channel Zero (2016 – 2018)

A mind-bending and occasionally gruesome expansion of various online creepypastas, Nick Antosca’s series takes the form of four season-long storylines. While the tone is far from juvenile, the vibe here is childhood-nightmares-come-to-life: The show’s first season anticipates I Saw the TV Glow with a story about a half-remembered TV series linked to the disappearances of several children; the second sees a group of friends trapped in a tourist-attraction haunted house that exits into a disturbing alternate reality. It’s all smart and genuinely freaky, existential dread blending with memorable visuals such as a child made entirely of human teeth. Stream Channel Zero on Shudder.

Channel Zero (2016 – 2018)

at Shudder

at Shudder

Lovecraft Country (2020)

A Black family sets off on a road trip across Jim Crow America. Matt Ruff’s novel, on which the show is based, is one of a handful of impressive books written over the past decade or so that attempt to reconcile the unabashedly racist outlook of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft with the power and appeal of his creations, and so the series unearths some of the darkest terrors of 20th century America, and places them alongside, and inside, a Lovecraftian universe of elder gods and dark dimensions. Much of ’50s period horror, like It, relies on a twisted white suburbia as a setting, while Lovecraft Country turns that on its head—none of these characters is surprised to learn that there’s darkness at the heart of the mid-century American dream. The great Michael K. Williams appears here in one of his final performances. Stream Lovecraft Country on HBO Max.

Lovecraft Country (2020)

at HBO Max

at HBO Max

The Mist (2017)

While its extended runtime robs this TV version of The Mist of some of the punch and immediacy of the film version, it nevertheless nails a “hell is other people” vibe with which I can’t argue. The setup is basically the same, though the setting now encompasses an entire town: A mysterious mist surrounds the town of Bridgeville, Maine, and the near-impenetrable fog contains various gloopy and vicious Lovecraftian horrors. Some people respond with courage, but most are focused on saving themselves, while others approach the danger with extremely unhelpful religious mania of the kind that does more harm than even the monsters. Afew hours with these people and I’d take my chances outside. The Gilded Age‘s Morgan Spector leads the cast. Purchase The Mist on Apple TV+ and Prime Video.

The Mist (2017)

at Apple TV+

at Apple TV+

Them (2021 – 2024)

Starting off in the 1950s, Them takes a stab at The Second Great Migration, when millions of Black people left the South for northern cities and suburbs; seeking opportunity and escaping overt racism in favor of slightly more veiled racism. The Emory family (led by Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas) move from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in East Compton, each family member eventually haunted by a different ghost. The smiling white faces concealing vicious intent are far more frightening than any specters. The second, and final, season moves forward to LA of 1991, much as Welcome to Derry promises time jumps in future seasons, should they materialize. Stream Them on Prime Video.

Them (2021 – 2024)

at Prime Video

at Prime Video

The Midnight Club (2022)

The Midnight Club, based on a few different YA Christopher Pike novels, involves a group of eight terminally ill young patients at a bucolic hospice home run by a secretive and mysterious doctor (A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Heather Langenkamp). Each night the kids meet secretly to share scary stories, with each also promising to return from beyond the grave when their time comes. It’s spooky and often moving without ever being schmaltzy or precious—and, while the tone is a bit more ruminative than in Welcome to Derry, it shares with the more recent series a willingness to put these kids through it. The show was planned as more than a miniseries, so the cancellation leaves several questions unanswered—but that works OK in terms of the show’s overall tone, which had to do with unanswerable mysteries about life and death. Stream Midnight Mass on Netflix.

The Midnight Club (2022)

at Netflix

at Netflix

From (2022 – )

For residents of The Town (we never get a name), the feeling of being trapped in your small hometown is literal: Once you set foot there, you can never leave. Oh, and did I mention that creatures come from the woods and kill anyone found outside after dark? Doesn’t sound quite as bad as the town where I grew up, but nevertheless: concerning. In the first couple of episodes, the Matthews family learn all about this firsthand when they roll into town in their RV and find themselves trapped alongside the local sheriff (Harold Perrineau)—and it’s getting dark. The show’s monsters aren’t just mindlessly hungry, they’re cunning and sadistic, and more than capable of killing residents in impressively gory ways. Stream From on MGM+.

From (2022 – )

at MGM+

at MGM+

Haven (2010 – 2015)

Another Stephen King adaptation that takes the source material and runs away with it, this one comes from the short mystery novel The Colorado Kid. Emily Rose stars as Audrey Parker, an FBI Special Agent sent to the titular small town of Haven, Maine on a routine case, and who gets drawn into “The Troubles,” a series of harmful and often violent supernatural events that have recurred throughout the town’s history. A supernatural-case-of-the-week format gives way to a bigger mystery when Audrey comes to learn that this isn’t her first time in Haven, nor the first time she’s encountered the Troubles, even if she doesn’t have much memory of her time there. While mostly set in the present, the show masters the “small towns are weird” vibe at which King excels. Stream Haven on Tubi, Peacock, and Prime Video.

Haven (2010 – 2015)

at Peacock

at Peacock

Feria: The Darkest Light (2022)

Dark deeds and supernatural forces from the past haunt multiple generations—this time, in 1995 Andalusia. This import finds teenage sisters Sofia and Eva caught in a nightmare when their parents go missing while being implicated in a cult ritual that’s left 23 people dead, including a woman who’d been missing for years. Tying back to 1975 and, implicitly, the fall of Francisco Franco, Feria shatters this small town’s sense of community and security while calling into question the value of the organizations—including government and church—that everyone holds dear. Kids getting caught up in generational cycles of violence and shame is an extremely recognizable vibe. Stream Feria on Netflix.

Feria: The Darkest Light (2022)

at Netflix

at Netflix

Blue Origin has announced a target date for New Glenn’s second launch: November 9. This time, the mission will deploy real payloads, not just carry a technological demo for the company. Specifically, the spacecraft will be carrying the NASA Escapade mission’s twin satellites, which are headed to Mars. New Glenn, Blue Origin’s heavy-lift launch vehicle that was designed to be reused for a minimum of 25 flights, had its maiden flight in January. While the rocket made it to space, the company failed to land its first stage on its recovery ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

In a tweet, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said it won’t be a problem if it fails to stick the landing again. “We’ve got several more New Glenn boosters already in production,” he said. The mission’s primary goal, he clarified, is to get the Escapade satellites safely into orbit.

Mars missions typically launch during a narrow window of time when the red planet and the Earth are aligned. It’s a phenomenon that only happens once every two years. Colorado aerospace company Advanced Space designed Escapade’s trajectory for Mars missions that do not launch within that timeframe. The satellites will linger in the L2 Lagrange point between the sun and the Earth for a year. In November 2026, they will do a slingshot around our planet in order to reach Mars sometime in 2027 during that once-in-every-two-year alignment. “Can we launch to Mars when the planets are not aligned? Escapade is paving the way for that,” said Jeffrey Parker of Advanced Space.

New Glenn will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36. The company is aiming for a 2:45 PM Eastern time launch on November 9. As SpaceNews notes, the US government shutdown could limit NASA’s coverage, though the agency is still expected to livestream the event.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/blue-origins-second-new-glenn-launch-will-carry-real-nasa-satellites-153000627.html?src=rss

The government shutdown-spurred airport chaos is about to get a whole lot worse. From a report: The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it will reduce flight volumes by 10 percent across 40 major airports in response, a move that could threaten 3,000 to 4,500 flights daily. The cuts will affect “high volume” markets, including in Atlanta, Dallas, New York City and Los Angeles, according to CBS. The FAA has not formally announced which airports will have their capacity cut.

“I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said at a news conference, according to the AP. The government shutdown, which is now the longest in US history, has already been causing thousands of delays each day, as well as long waits at airport security. Some major airports have even been forced to operate without air traffic control for hours at a time.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Peloton is recalling 833,000 units of the original Bike+ over a safety issue related to the seat post. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said the company received three reports of the seat post breaking during use, including two reports of injuries sustained “due to a fall.”

The CPSC said owners of the original Bike+ should stop using the device immediately and contact Peloton for a free replacement seat post that they can install themselves. You can identify whether your Bike+ is part of the recall if you see a serial number that starts with “T” — for instance, TABCSSXXXXX — inside the front fork, behind the front fork or behind the flywheel.

The recall affects all of the original Bike+ units that Peloton sold in the US. The company said it had not received reports of a seat post breaking on any of the 44,800 units it sold in Canada. Peloton made the original Bike+ between 2019 and 2022. CNBC notes that the company was still selling those bikes until April this year.

Peloton also had to recall 2.2 million base Bike units in May 2023 over a seat post issue. At the time, the CSPC said there were 35 reports of the seat post breaking during use, with 13 reports of related injuries. 

The company refreshed its lineup last month, adding new features such as an AI-powered camera that’s designed to check users’ form. The new Cross Training versions of Peloton’s exercise machines came with a price hike. The company increased subscription prices too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/peloton-recalls-833000-bike-units-after-reports-of-seat-posts-breaking-151324141.html?src=rss

Ring is today announcing Single Event Alert, the company’s new approach to cutting down on unnecessary notifications. Rather than a ping every time the camera watches something unfold, the system uses generative AI to group recurring events together.

Historically, whenever your Ring camera detected something happening in its field of vision, it’d let you know. Hell, in the earliest days of Ring’s doorbells, you’d get a little tinkling motion alert even if a sufficiently big truck went past your door enough to change the light levels.

The company uses the example of your kids playing in the back yard, which would previously trigger an alert every time it detected motion. Now, once it’s identified that it’s just your kids playing, it’ll tell you once and then let you get back to whatever else you were doing.

This is the latest in a series of turns toward AI Ring has enabled in the last year or so, including Smart Video Search and AI Video Descriptions. Like those features, Single Event Alert is rolling out to Ring Protect Home subscribers in the US (except IL) and Canada from today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/ring-uses-generative-ai-to-cut-down-on-unnecessary-alerts-150033561.html?src=rss