Podcasts about Gizmodo

In Episode 134, hosts Alyce and Laura are back* with more absurd segues to discuss all the ongoings in the world of Star Wars!Is it still fancy if the debutante ball is BYOB?Pedophile is out, Meemaw is in. This is about eyewear. More tales to come! Tales of the Underworld means more Asajj Ventress and more Asajj Ventress means more happy fans (it's us, we're the happy fans).Rogue One was almost ten years ago. That sentence sucks, right? Time is crazy. Credit where credit is due: we have a lot of Star Wars content - including Andor - because of The Mandalorian (via Empire Magazine)Disney went full HBO-mode with the episode lengths for Andor season 2 (via Bespin Bulletin) Sorry, Matt Damon is not going to be in Star Wars. But Not-Matt-Damon is maybe going to be in Star Wars? Publishing is out here giving away their pie with breakfast (is that SNL reference too old?) (via starwars.com)Star Wars is just messing with us now with all these Vader stories. It's starting to feel like a personal attack. Something, something Plagueis theoryDon't you love it when we talk about an event that is happening soon but forget to say WHEN and WHERE during our discussion? We never claimed to be pros at this. Fortunately, Gizmodo has the details about the original Star Wars screening. Recap on Tap: Alyce shares a brief, spoiler-free review of Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear, then Alyce and Laura share some initial thoughts on The High Republic: Into the Light and its… uh… let's say, interesting early tone shift. Star Wars has a weird obsession with giving women metal mid-sections, and for that we ask… why? Interpol may have an APB out on Laura. So if you see her, no you didn't. Twitter: @forcetoastpod | @sLeiaAllDay | @ShutUp_LauraInstagram: @forcetoastpodBluesky: forcetoastpod.bsky.socialEmail: forcetoastpod@gmail.comWebsite: forcetoastpod.com*This podcast contains a sh!t ton of profanity and boozin. You can find a bleeped version of this podcast absolutely nowhere. Cheers!

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, April 8: There's defiance, anger and determination from the Chinese press, which react to Donald Trump's threats to impose up to 104 percent tariffs on Chinese goods. Opinions say China has the upper hand in this war of words. Also: Trump's Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is forced to endorse the measles vaccine after the death of a second child in Texas. Plus: scientists say they've created a version of the dire wolf – a canine that went extinct 9,000 years ago! The trade war of words continues to dominate the press, especially in China. In response to Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff hikes last week, China has said it will impose duties of 34 percent on US goods. In retaliation to China's retaliation, Trump has promised fresh tariff hikes, which would bring these to a total 104 percent on Chinese goods. There's no word yet on whether China will react once again, but the game of one-upping is putting the world economy through the grater, as we see in a China Daily illustration by Song Chen.There are also some stern words in the China Daily. One opinion writer argues that Washington must learn that arrogance does not pay, adding: "What is unfolding in the United States today is the sad story that the country has become increasingly authoritarian, and more and more like a centrally planned economy. Private enterprises are now at the behest of the all-powerful president."There is also lots of talk about Black Monday. Markets tumbled across the board amid news of Trump's fresh tariffs. The Global Times, the Chinese government's official paper, quotes the foreign ministry spokesperson as accusing the US of economic bullying, unilateralism and protectionism. There are stern warnings from the Global Times' editor that China is not one to be messed with. The paper tries to take the moral high ground, defending its countermeasures as necessary not just for China but to actively "uphold a fair and free world trading system."The opinion pages also appear to feel that China is prepared for this trade war. The Global Times quotes Bloomberg as saying that China has already "trade war-proofed" its economy. Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald notes that China could emerge the winner from this trade war. Under Biden, it says, the US and its allies were united against China. Now, those allies have no choice but to turn towards China and the result will be an isolated and poor US and a new world order with China at the helm. The editors of The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, have an unorthodox suggestion to those countries affected by Trump's tariffs: call his bluff and offer zero tariffs on all bilateral goods and services. A long shot, no doubt, it admits!Staying in the US, there's a flurry of contradicting statements from the man in charge of health, Robert Kennedy Jr. As The Washington Post reports, it comes in the wake of a measles outbreak in Texas. A second child died there this weekend, bringing to the total death toll to three. The Washington Post reports that some unvaccinated children hospitalised in late March with measles had signs of vitamin A deficiency. This then led to a surge in demand for vitamin A-rich supplements like cod liver oil, which Kennedy touted last month as a potential remedy for measles. Neoscope, a science and tech website, reports that Kennedy has now been forced to endorse the measles vaccine as being most effective against what the website calls a "dire and entirely preventable situation".In an interview with the Associated Press, Dr Peter Marks, a former vaccine chief of the Food and Drug Administration, speaks of an extraordinary struggle with Kennedy's team. He agreed to grant access to Kennedy's associates to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, containing reports of potential vaccine-related issues. But he refused to let them edit the data because "frankly we don't trust them". Marks then resigned, or rather was forced to resign.We end on some positive news for science: the return of an extinct wolf! The company Colossal Biosciences says its team have brought back a version of a dire wolf – a canine that roamed the Americas during the Late Pleistocene era and went extinct 9,500 years ago. Time Magazine was able to meet the three pups born at the end of last year and early this year. It explains that scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common grey wolf to match it and used domestic dogs as surrogate mothers to bring into the world Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi. It's certainly a feat for genetic engineering – Gizmodo notes that the company also successfully genetically engineered the woolly mouse recently. Its ultimate project: resurrecting the woolly mammoth!You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comNick is an entrepreneur and journalist. He was the founder of Gawker Media, the publisher of Gizmodo, and the editor of Valleywag. He began his career as a journalist with the Financial Times — as a derivatives and tech correspondent — and later founded a Silicon Valley news aggregator called Moreover Technologies. He's now working on Maze.com, which hosts a network map of near-future timelines.For two clips of our convo — on the growing global dominance of China, and the Chinese outcompeting Elon Musk — pop over to our YouTube page.Other topics: raised in Hampstead in the lower-middle class; a Jewish mom who fled the Communists in Hungary; growing up on sci-fi; Asimov's Foundation; attending Oxford like his father; game theory; being a young reporter in London, Hungary, Romania, and Singapore; pioneering the internet in the ‘90s; Foundation parallels with Singapore; Lee Kuan Yew; Chinese pragmatism; Taiwan; EVs in China; Musk's companies; tech theft between the US and China; DOGE and Trump reigning in Musk; Peter Thiel; Andy Grove; Uber's Travis Kalanick; Kara Swisher; Oculus' Palmer Luckey; how Silicon Valley is PR obsessed; Zuckerberg; David Sacks and crypto; Andreessen; drones; Ukraine; Thatcher; housing crisis in the UK; Orbán; the German Greens; Russian expansionism; the Poles and nukes; Trump's tariffs; Tucker's interview with Putin; the growing US-Europe rift; Greenland; AI and DeepSeek; and Nick's predictions as a futurist.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Douglas Murray on Israel and Gaza, Evan Wolfson on the history of marriage equality, Francis Collins on faith and science and Covid, Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee on Covid's fallout, and Paul Elie on his book The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

  The Friday Five for March 14, 2025: Design Overhaul Coming to Apple OS? Google, Chrome & uBlock Origin Content Marketing Gamification Ritter Roadshows are Back for 2025! CMS 2025 Marketplace Integrity & Affordability Proposed Rule   Design Overhaul Coming to Apple OS? Clark, Adam. “Apple Plans Major Software Overhaul, Says Report. Why the iPhone Maker Needs a Change.” Barrons.Com, Barron's, 11 Mar. 2025, www.barrons.com/articles/apple-price-stock-iphone-ios-update-10249921. Mehta, Ivan. “Apple's next Major OS Updates Will Bring the Biggest Design Overhaul in Years.” Techcrunch.Com, TechCrunch, 11 Mar. 2025, techcrunch.com/2025/03/11/apples-next-major-os-updates-will-bring-the-biggest-design-overhaul-in-years/. Jackson, Fiona. “iPhone 17 Leaks Show Off Groundbreaking Designs.” Techrepublic.Com, TechRepublic, 10 Mar. 2025, www.techrepublic.com/article/apple-iphone-17-leaks/. Barr, Kyle. “Your iPhone Home Screen Could Look Entirely Different Very Soon.” Gizmodo.Com, Gizmodo, 11 Mar. 2025, gizmodo.com/your-iphone-home-screen-could-look-entirely-different-really-soon-2000574330.   Google, Chrome & uBlock Origin: Weatherbed, Jess. “Google's Chrome Extension Cull Hits More uBlock Origin Users.” Theverge.Com, The Verge, 3 Mar. 2025, www.theverge.com/news/622953/google-chrome-extensions-ublock-origin-disabled-manifest-v3. Maxwell, Thomas. “Google Is Hobbling Popular Ad Blocker uBlock Origin on Chrome.” Gizmodo.Com, Gizmodo, 4 Mar. 2025, gizmodo.com/google-is-hobbling-popular-ad-blocker-ublock-origin-on-chrome-2000570878. Wallen, Jack. “Once uBlock Origin Stops Working on Chrome, You Have 2 Options.” Zdnet.Com, ZDNET, 4 Mar. 2025, www.zdnet.com/article/once-ublock-origin-stops-working-on-chrome-you-have-2-options/. Yee, Alaina. “Ublock Origin Is Officially Dead for Chrome, but Ad Blockers Live On.” Pcworld.Com, PCWorld, 25 Feb. 2025, www.pcworld.com/article/2595287/ublock-origin-is-officially-dead-for-chrome-but-ad-blockers-live-on.html.   Content Marketing Gamification: Sadick, Barbara. “6 Most Expensive Medical Procedures, Ranked.” Health.Usnews.Com, U.S. News & World Report, 3 Mar. 2025, health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/most-expensive-medical-procedures-ranked.   Ritter Roadshows are Back for 2025: Learn More About the 2025 Season of Ritter Roadshows: https://ritterim.com/roadshows/   CMS 2025 Marketplace Integrity & Affordability Proposed Rule: “2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule.” CMS.Gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 10 Mar. 2025, www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2025-marketplace-integrity-and-affordability-proposed-rule. “CMS Takes Aim to Reduce Improper Enrollments and Promote More Affordable Health Insurance Marketplaces for Millions of Consumers.” CMS.Gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 10 Mar. 2025, www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-takes-aim-reduce-improper-enrollments-and-promote-more-affordable-health-insurance-marketplaces. “Enhanced Premium Tax Credits for ACA Health Plans: Who They Help, and Who Gets Hurt If They're Not Extended.” Commonwealthfund.Org, Commonwealth Fund, 18 Feb. 2025, www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2025/feb/enhanced-premium-tax-credits-aca-health-plans. “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Marketplace Integrity and Affordability .” Cms.Gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 10 Mar. 2025, www.cms.gov/files/document/MarketplacePIRule2025.pdf.   Resources: Clarification on HHS Proposed Rule Comment Periods: https://lnk.to/asgf20250307 CMS Finalizes Improvements to Marketplace Plan Selection with 2026 Final Rule: https://lnk.to/asg652 Diversify Your Insurance Portfolio & Reap Real Rewards: https://lnk.to/asg651 On the Road with Damon Logan: https://lnk.to/FCJ7Mg On the Road with Jason Meyers: https://lnk.to/j6QzBq   Follow Us on Social! Ritter on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/RitterIM Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ritter.insurance.marketing/ LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/ritter-insurance-marketing TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@ritterim X, https://x.com/RitterIM and Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/user/RitterInsurance     Sarah on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjrueppel/ Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/thesarahjrueppel/ and Threads, https://www.threads.net/@thesarahjrueppel  Tina on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-lamoreux-6384b7199/   Contact the Agent Survival Guide Podcast! Email us ASGPodcast@Ritterim.com or call 1-717-562-7211 and leave a voicemail. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency.

Bringing the band back together, Pol returns from his lower body injury, and the quorum geeking resumes. Now. LEAVE POL ALONE with your movie! Bud’s Weekly Geek-out 18:10 – Flow and Blender Coming Soon 26:05 – The Last of Us (HBO series, S2, April 13) 27:59 – Lilo & Stitch (in theatres May 23) 30:27 – Kevin Smith Says DOGMA 2 Will Bring Back Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Doomed Angels Geek News Proper 35:10 – Gene Hackman and wife Betsy’s causes of death revealed (heart disease and Alzheimer’s after death from Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome a week earlier) 39:48 – Disney confirms animation studio layoffs in Vancouver 41:51 – The Electric State promo: Chris Pratt tests Millie Bobby Brown’s knowledge on ’90s tech – ANSWERING MACHINE OGMs 45:03 – James Cameron confirms Avatar 3 will be long as hell proof: his wife cried through the whole thing

Microsoft is planning 3D gaming experiences for Copilot. What would that look like? Niantic announces it has agreed to sell Pokemon Go to Saudi Arabia based Scopely. Gizmodo thinks ChatGPT short stories are terrible despite what Sam Altman says, and are you pulling back your online footprint and how? Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe. To read the show notes in a separate page click here! Support the show on Patreon by becoming a supporter!

Germain Lussier from Gizmodo.com joins the show for a lively discussion covering a range of entertainment and tech topics. He shares his thoughts on the passing of legendary actor Gene Hackman, highlighting some of his most iconic roles. As Oscars night approaches, Germain gives his take on the frontrunners, including why Dune: Part Two may struggle to take home major awards. He also discusses Lanterns, the upcoming Green Lantern TV series from DC, set to debut on Max in 2026. From film to streaming to the latest in geek culture, it's a fast-paced conversation you don't want to miss.

Rowan Zeoli and Caeylin Ellis of the independent tabletop gaming news site Rascal join Jordan to chat about the founding of the site, taking games journalism seriously, and the future of gaming.Rascal News was founded a year ago by 3 tabletop journalists who had worked for Polygon, Dicebreaker, Gizmodo, and I09. As those organisations have been shuttering their tabletop news coverage and firing professional journalists Rascal has sought to create an online space that is tackling major news stories across the tabletop industry.From the major business moves of massive companies like Hasbro Wizards of the Coast and Games Workshop to the smaller scale stories like union workers striking at Vallejo paints, and plenty of stuff in between, Rascal is looking to become a bastion of independent, honest journalism.[RASCAL NEWS]https://www.rascal.news/#RascalNews #Rascal #TTRPG #RPG #gaming _____________________________ [ ELEMENT GAMES AFFILIATE LINK ]https://elementgames.co.uk/?d=11216[ PATREON ]https://www.patreon.com/jordansorcery[ KO-FI ]https://ko-fi.com/jordansorcery[ YOUTUBE CHANNELS ]History & Editorial: https://youtube.com/ @jordansorceryLongform Conversation: https://youtube.com/ @JordanSorceryPods  [ WEBSITE ]https://jordansorcery.com/_____________________________ Art, Music, and Copyright: Images used belong to their respective copyright owners Jordan Sorcery Theme by Joylin Music Jordan Sorcery Heraldry by Becka Moor Jordan Sorcery Heraldry and Theme copyright @jordansorcerySupport the show

Just Bud and Art this week (missing Bryan for our full Asian triumvirate) with a short cuesheet covering AI, Odysseus, falling asleep on rides, and some pretty okay reviews & recommendayshes. Bud’s Weekly Geek-out 03:42 – responsibly-trained AI Coming Soon 7:42 – G20 (Viola Davis, Antony Starr, Angela Sarafyan, Prime movie, April 10) 10:39 – Matt Damon’s role in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey revealed with first-look photo (spoiler: Odysseus) (repost) Geek News Proper 13:01 – It’s a Small World . . . extended RE-RE-REMIIIX! RUMOURS and HEARSEY 15:37 – A new feature film about paranormal radio pioneer Art Bell MAY BE on the horizon (source: Boing Boing) 17:56 – Robert Pattinson finally gives an update on when The Batman Part II starts filming (”I THINK at the end of the YEAR?”) (source: Gizmodo) 20:29 – HBO boss Francesca Orci has said The Last Of Us will PROBABLY run for four seasons (source: NME) Reviews and Recommendayshes 21:56 – Love Hurts (Bud) 26:48 – The Gorge (Art) 30:49 – tabled: The White Lotus S03E01 32:03 – tabled: Captain America: Brave New World ($89M opening weekend tho’) 33:36 – Severance S02E05: Trojan’s Horse (Bud and Art) Join The Geek-out Podcast’s Facebook page (where we’ll release new episodes, and where you can talk with us) and Facebook group (where fans of the podcast can gather and talk geeky stuff)! Questions? Comments? Corrections? Suggestions? e-mail geekout@TheZone.fm Subscribe to The Zone’s Geek-out Podcast on Apple Podcasts. Or, copypasta this link to subscribe using your podcatcher of choice: https://omny.fm/shows/the-geek-out-podcast/playlists/podcast.rss And, get more Zone podcasty goodness at TheZone.fm/podcast

In this segment, recorded live from Burbank Airport, Germain Lussier of Gizmodo shares his candid thoughts on 'Captain America: Brave New World,' expressing disappointment over its convoluted plot and lackluster character development, despite Anthony Mackie's commendable performance. He also praises the 'Cobra Kai' finale for its satisfying conclusion and character arcs. Additionally, Lussier offers a brief review of 'The Gorge,' recommending it for Apple TV+ subscribers, though noting some minor flaws. Tune in for Germain's unfiltered insights, delivered amidst the bustling backdrop of airport announcements and boarding calls.

This week Rory Carroll joins on the show to talk about his life in the automotive industry. From his early days at the New York Times all the way to Jalopnik and Gizmodo and beyond, Rory has driven, written about, and tested some of the most interesting cars to ever exist. We loved making this episode and we know you're going to love listening to it! 

Humanity May Reach Singularity By 2030 Darren Orf 11/30/2024 By one unique metric, we could approach technological singularity by the end of this decade, if not sooner.A translation company developed a metric, Time to Edit (TTE), to calculate the time it takes for professional human editors to fix AI-generated translations compared to human ones. This may help quantify the speed toward singularity.An AI that can translate speech as well as a human could change society. In the world of artificial intelligence, the idea of “singularity” looms large. This slippery concept describes the moment AI exceeds beyond human control and rapidly transforms society. The tricky thing about AI singularity (and why it borrows terminology from black hole physics) is that it's enormously difficult to predict where it begins and nearly impossible to know what's beyond this technological “event horizon.” However, some AI researchers are on the hunt for signs of reaching singularity measured by AI progress approaching the skills and ability comparable to a human. One such metric, defined by Translated, a Rome-based translation company, is an AI's ability to translate speech at the accuracy of a human. Language is one of the most difficult AI challenges, but a computer that could close that gap could theoretically show signs of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). “That's because language is the most natural thing for humans,” Translated CEO Marco Trombetti said at a conference in Orlando, Florida, in December 2022. “Nonetheless, the data Translated collected clearly shows that machines are not that far from closing the gap.” The company tracked its AI's performance from 2014 to 2022 using a metric called “Time to Edit,” or TTE, which calculates the time it takes for professional human editors to fix AI-generated translations compared to human ones. Over that 8-year period and analyzing over 2 billion post-edits, Translated's AI showed a slow, but undeniable improvement as it slowly closed the gap toward human-level translation quality. On average, it takes a human translator roughly one second to edit each word of another human translator, according to Translated. In 2015, it took professional editors approximately 3.5 seconds per word to check a machine-translated (MT) suggestion—today, that number is just 2 seconds. If the trend continues, Translated's AI will be as good as human-produced translation by the end of the decade (or even sooner). “The change is so small that every single day you don't perceive it, but when you see progress … across 10 years, that is impressive,” Trombetti said on a podcast. “This is the first time ever that someone in the field of artificial intelligence did a prediction of the speed to singularity.” Although this is a novel approach to quantifying how close humanity is to approaching singularity, this definition of singularity runs into similar problems of identifying AGI more broadly. And while perfecting human speech is certainly a frontier in AI research, the impressive skill doesn't necessarily make a machine intelligent (not to mention how many researchers don't even agree on what “intelligence” is). Whether these hyper-accurate translators are harbingers of our technological doom or not, that doesn't lessen Translated's AI accomplishment. An AI capable of translating speech as well as a human could very well change society, even if the true “technological singularity” remains ever elusive. Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.

Entertainment expert Germain Lussier from Gizmodo joins the show to discuss the latest buzz in movies and TV. We dive into the confirmation of Dune 3: Dune Messiah, its timeline, and what it means for the franchise. Plus, we explore the newly surfaced audition tape of Henry Cavill for James Bond—what if he had landed the role instead of Daniel Craig? Germain also breaks down the first look at the mutant dinosaur in Jurassic World Rebirth and previews which movie trailers are making headlines ahead of the Super Bowl.

Germain Lussier from Gizmodo.com joins the show to discuss the latest in movies, TV, and awards season drama. From the impact of wildfires on L.A. productions to the buzz surrounding the Oscars, Jermaine breaks down the notable snubs, including Nicole Kidman and Denzel Washington, and reflects on the surprising nominations for Demi Moore and Isabella Rossellini. He also delves into the reception of Wicked, the enigmatic Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, and Timothy Chalamet's unique double role as host and musical guest on SNL. Plus, get exclusive highlights from Germain's conversation with the Severance showrunner. A must-listen for entertainment enthusiasts!

On this week's show we rundown the “Best of CES” as reported by the tech sites. We also read your emails and take a look at the week's news. News: Disney, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery say Venu Sports won't launch DirecTV Launches ‘MySports' Streaming Package Other: Samsung Display CES 2025 showcase: All the cool tech we saw - SamMobile Star Wars Kid Star Wars kid Drunken Jedi Best of CES On this week's show we rundown the “Best of CES” as reported by the tech sites. Engadget LG OLED evo M5 - the company managed to further improve its most premium displays, adding the latest α (Alpha) 11 AI processor Gen2 to improve the look of lower-resolution content and power advanced features. Technics EAH-AZ100 earbuds ($300) - Technics' new Magnetic Fluid drivers have garnered a lot of headlines this week, but all you really need to know about the EAH-AZ100 earbuds is that the sound quality is massively improved. Powered by those new components, there's more clarity, detail and bass, all of which are upgrades from the already impressive AZ80 CNET LG G5 OLED TV - After seeing the picture quality, TV expert David Katzmaier singled this out as one of his favorite TVs of the show; he traditionally finds LG's OLED quality best-in-class (as do I for its monitors), and this year's is brighter with better contrast in ambient light. Xgimi Ascend - It's not the LG OLED rollable screen of your dreams, but the Ascend may be more within your grasp. It's a retractable, ambient light-rejecting screen with built-in speakers and an ultra short-throw projector that looks like a piece of furniture when the screen withdraws. TV tech guru Geoffrey Morrison has been an ultrashort throw skeptic, but thinks this pair may solve some of the issues he's had with them. There's no pricing yet for the screen (the projector is $2,700), but it's  bound to be less than models like the LG.  The Verge Awards at CES (Full List) Best TV Panasonic Z95B OLED - At CES 2025, it's the Panasonic Z95B OLED that I keep circling back to as my favorite. After a long hiatus from the US TV market, Panasonic is coming back for its crown. Like the G5, it features a new four-layer tandem OLED display that boosts brightness to new highs — this time without the micro-lens array technology that LG Display spent the last two years hyping. It also includes an impressive Dolby Atmos speaker array (tuned by Technics) that will rule out any need for a soundbar for many buyers. That audio hardware results in this being a thick TV by today's standards: Panasonic obviously favored nailing the picture and sound aspects over a thin design. And you know what? I'm here for it. Most no one asked for this, AI in TVs - AI is worming its way into everything, and at CES this year, it crawled into TVs and remotes. Naturally, that includes new sets from LG and Samsung, which are deploying AI to futz with your picture and sound settings and let you talk to a chatbot or analyze what's on your screen. Over at Hisense's “AI Your Life” booth, the company touted its AI Engine X that “optimizes every frame” with adjustments to color, brightness, and audio. Best smart home device Switchbot K20 Plus Pro - Switchbot's K20 Plus Pro is a robot vacuum that can have different devices strapped to its head using the company's modular “FusionPlatform.” As well as being able to deliver items around your home, it can have various SwitchBot products attached to it to perform tasks autonomously: purify your air, be a mobile home security camera, and carry your tablet around for you. They've even made an attachment to put a mini fridge on top. (So, yes, it can bring you a beer.) What intrigues me the most here is that its FusionPlatform is completely open; you can plug any device into its various power ports and customize this robot to do what you need. That's smart. Gizmodo's Best of CES 2025 Awards (Full List) Aurzen Zip Projector - The Aurzen Zip is the tiniest 720p projector I've ever seen. When folded, the $200 Zip is about the size of half an iPhone, making it the perfect on-the-go projector. The trifold projector can wirelessly mirror whatever is on your phone without a wifi connection. Two of the best features: it's MagSafe-compatible and has a 90-minute battery life. TCL QM6K TV - When it comes to TVs, bigger is always better—and it always comes with a higher price. But that's not the case with the TCL QM6K TV, with the 55-inch model costing $749 and the 98-inch version topping out at $3,499. Before you write the QM6K off as a no-frills budget brand, check out some of the specs. As a QD mini-LED device, the QM6K can give some of the pricier heavy hitters a run for their money in the color and brightness categories. In fact, the QM6K is 53% brighter than previous models and 10% more light efficient. Plus, it has a host of powerful tech onboard to make its case, including HDR10, HDR+, and Dolby Vision. You get integrated Onkyo speakers, which should produce solid audio. However, the screen's the star here, serving up captivating colors with deep blacks and sharp details. It's an absolute beauty of a TV that brings all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a premium television at a fraction of the price. Technics EAH-AZ100 Earbuds - It takes a lot to stand out in the crowded field of wireless earbuds, but Panasonic's new flagship Technics EAH-AZ100 manage to do just that. Panasonic claims its $300 earbuds, available now, can offer reference class HiFi audio without needing large wired cans, thanks to “magnetic fluid drivers.” The buds' sound quality was impressive, especially with the world snuffed-out with ANC mode turned on. The sound resolution and bass were especially surprising, even while surrounded by noisy throngs of CES goers.The brushed steel case design makes the buds feel as premium as their $300 price tag. XGIMI Ascend - The Xgimi Ascend is a gorgeous 2-in-1 prototype ALR (Ambient Light Rejection) projector screen with a powerful soundbar. The Ascend houses a 100-inch motorized floor-rising screen for an immersive home theater experience. We've seen rollup displays before, but none of them match the style of the Ascend. The screen is adjustable, allowing it to be partially lowered for ambient modes, like a cozy fireplace display or a music visualization. Though still a prototype, the Ascend has the potential to attract anyone who wants a pop-up movie theater without spending tens of thousands of dollars. AVS Forum Best of CES 2025 (Full List) Valerion VisonMaster Max Lifestyle Projector - This was easily one of the most anticipated booth visits for both us and our readers. When we tested the Valerion Pro2, we were impressed by its performance, but it lacked some key features you'd want for a fully dedicated home theater system. Enter the Valerion Max, the flagship model that was teased during the brand's Kickstarter campaign. It promised to deliver everything the Pro2 was missing, including a dynamic iris, and we finally got to see it in action. LG G5 OLED - It's easily one of the most impressive TVs we've seen at the show. Available in sizes ranging from 48 inches all the way up to 97 inches, the G5 is packed with features. All sizes (except the 48- and 97-inch models) include LG's Brightness Booster Ultimate. LG also gave the remote a much-needed makeover. it's now slimmer with fewer buttons, which is a welcome change. TCL QM6K Mini LED TV - TCL is taking a different approach this year with a phased rollout of their TV lineup, starting with the QM6K, the first model in their new Precise Dimming series. As an entry-level option, the QM6K brings a surprising amount to the table. It features 500 dimming zones, a 144Hz refresh rate (boosted to 288Hz with Game Accelerator), and TCL's AiPQ Pro Processor, carried over from last year's QM8 series. TCL 115QM7K - This one's a bit tricky. TCL is keeping most of the details about the QM7K under wraps for now, but from what we saw, it's shaping up to be a strong addition to their lineup. What we did find out is that the 115” model will have 25,000 dimming zones and 3000 nits of brightness. It's available in sizes up to 115 inches, this model expands on what was previously only offered in the QM8 series. The move could mean more affordable options for larger screens, which is always exciting. Onkyo Icon Series - The P-80 which is priced at $1,999, is a two-channel network preamplifier. It includes HDMI ARC, Dirac Live Room Correction, a phono output, and a fanless design to keep noise levels down. The build quality is sturdy as well, with a 5mm aluminum front panel and three-piece housing. The M-80 is also priced at $1,999, and is a two-channel power amplifier delivering 150 watts into 8 ohms or 200 watts into 4 ohms. It uses a Class AB 3-stage Inverted Darlington design, offering high current drive and low distortion. Focal DIVA Wireless Active Loudspeakers - The Focal DIVA speakers were announced about a month ago, and seeing them at CES 2025 confirmed they're as impressive as they sound on paper. These wireless active loudspeakers feature a 3-way bass reflex design and are surprisingly easy to set up. They support Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, Google Cast, and work with the Focal Naim app. Each speaker is equipped with its own DAC and DSP, delivering 75 watts to the midrange, 75 watts to the tweeter, and 125 watts to each bass driver. That's a total of 400 watts RMS powered by four Class AB amplifiers. At $39,999 a pair, the Divas aren't for everyone, but they began shipping during the show for those ready to invest in high-performance audio. LG CineBeam S Ultra Short Throw Projector - LG revealed their solution: the CineBeam S, an ultra short throw version of the projector. It retains all the features we liked from the CineBeam Q, including an RGB laser with native 4K resolution, 500 ANSI lumens of brightness, and auto screen adjustment. But the big update here is the ultra short throw design, making it much easier to fit into a variety of setups. Nexigo Aurora Pro MKII Ultra Short Throw Projector XGIMI Ascend 100-Inch ALR Motorized Screen Honorable Mentions Samsung Premiere 8K Ultra Short Throw Projector TCL's X11K Premium QD-OLED Mini LED TV

Join Dave and Germain Lussier of Gizmodo as they tackle the entertainment headlines making waves. With the TikTok ban potentially going into effect on January 19th, they dive into its implications for users, content creators, and ByteDance. Is Elon Musk eyeing TikTok for purchase? What might a post-TikTok social media landscape look like? Then, the conversation shifts to the highly anticipated Season 2 debut of Severance on Apple TV+, dissecting its impact on Apple's streaming catalog. Plus, which franchise reigns supreme: Minions or Shrek? Dive into tech, TV, and movies in this engaging segment!

Hey smarties! We're on a break for the holidays and revisiting some of our top episodes from 2024. We can't do this show without you and we still need your support. If you can, donate today to keep independent journalism going strong into 2025 and beyond. Give now to support “Make Me Smart.” Thank you so much for your generosity, happy holidays and we'll see you in the new year. Anime seems to be just about everywhere these days: film, music videos, the NFL and big streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. “Anime is colossal. In terms of raw revenue, anime and the NLF are tied at about $20 billion in [annual global] revenue,” said Chris Plante, editor in chief and co-founder of Polygon at Vox Media. “When you think of anime, it can be seen as niche, but the reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth.” On the show today, Plante explains anime economics, what's behind the rise of anime in the United States and some of the problematic aspects of the medium. Later, we'll discuss how climate change is impacting cherry blossom season and why the commercial real estate crisis could be a big problem for regional banks. Later, one listener calls in on a landline about landlines. And, this week's answer to the Make Me Smart question comes from a digital illustrator based in Long Beach, California. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Who watches anime? Polygon surveyed more than 4,000 people to find out” from Polygon “Anime Market to Reach USD 62.7 Billion by 2032” from Yahoo Finance “Anime Is Booming. So Why Are Animators Living in Poverty?” from The New York Times “Sony Jacks Up Prices for Crunchyroll and Kills Funimation” from Gizmodo “From Niche To Mainstream: The Unstoppable Global Popularity Of Anime And How It Happened” from BuzzFeed “Streaming and covid-19 have entrenched anime's global popularity” from The Economist “Naruto Movie in the Works With Destin Daniel Cretton” from The Hollywood Reporter “Cherry blossom forecast: We predict peak bloom in D.C. around March 21” from The Washington Post “Early jacaranda bloom sparks debate about climate change in Mexico” from Reuters “Commercial Real Estate Market Plunge Has Lenders Facing a Brutal Reality” from Bloomberg “Comic: Tienes economic anxiety? Artist Julio Salgado reflects on changes in creative industries” from the Los Angeles Times Are you a fan of anime? Tell us about your favorite anime series! Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Hey smarties! We're on a break for the holidays and revisiting some of our top episodes from 2024. We can't do this show without you and we still need your support. If you can, donate today to keep independent journalism going strong into 2025 and beyond. Give now to support “Make Me Smart.” Thank you so much for your generosity, happy holidays and we'll see you in the new year. Anime seems to be just about everywhere these days: film, music videos, the NFL and big streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. “Anime is colossal. In terms of raw revenue, anime and the NLF are tied at about $20 billion in [annual global] revenue,” said Chris Plante, editor in chief and co-founder of Polygon at Vox Media. “When you think of anime, it can be seen as niche, but the reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth.” On the show today, Plante explains anime economics, what's behind the rise of anime in the United States and some of the problematic aspects of the medium. Later, we'll discuss how climate change is impacting cherry blossom season and why the commercial real estate crisis could be a big problem for regional banks. Later, one listener calls in on a landline about landlines. And, this week's answer to the Make Me Smart question comes from a digital illustrator based in Long Beach, California. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Who watches anime? Polygon surveyed more than 4,000 people to find out” from Polygon “Anime Market to Reach USD 62.7 Billion by 2032” from Yahoo Finance “Anime Is Booming. So Why Are Animators Living in Poverty?” from The New York Times “Sony Jacks Up Prices for Crunchyroll and Kills Funimation” from Gizmodo “From Niche To Mainstream: The Unstoppable Global Popularity Of Anime And How It Happened” from BuzzFeed “Streaming and covid-19 have entrenched anime's global popularity” from The Economist “Naruto Movie in the Works With Destin Daniel Cretton” from The Hollywood Reporter “Cherry blossom forecast: We predict peak bloom in D.C. around March 21” from The Washington Post “Early jacaranda bloom sparks debate about climate change in Mexico” from Reuters “Commercial Real Estate Market Plunge Has Lenders Facing a Brutal Reality” from Bloomberg “Comic: Tienes economic anxiety? Artist Julio Salgado reflects on changes in creative industries” from the Los Angeles Times Are you a fan of anime? Tell us about your favorite anime series! Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Hey smarties! We're on a break for the holidays and revisiting some of our top episodes from 2024. We can't do this show without you and we still need your support. If you can, donate today to keep independent journalism going strong into 2025 and beyond. Give now to support “Make Me Smart.” Thank you so much for your generosity, happy holidays and we'll see you in the new year. Anime seems to be just about everywhere these days: film, music videos, the NFL and big streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. “Anime is colossal. In terms of raw revenue, anime and the NLF are tied at about $20 billion in [annual global] revenue,” said Chris Plante, editor in chief and co-founder of Polygon at Vox Media. “When you think of anime, it can be seen as niche, but the reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth.” On the show today, Plante explains anime economics, what's behind the rise of anime in the United States and some of the problematic aspects of the medium. Later, we'll discuss how climate change is impacting cherry blossom season and why the commercial real estate crisis could be a big problem for regional banks. Later, one listener calls in on a landline about landlines. And, this week's answer to the Make Me Smart question comes from a digital illustrator based in Long Beach, California. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Who watches anime? Polygon surveyed more than 4,000 people to find out” from Polygon “Anime Market to Reach USD 62.7 Billion by 2032” from Yahoo Finance “Anime Is Booming. So Why Are Animators Living in Poverty?” from The New York Times “Sony Jacks Up Prices for Crunchyroll and Kills Funimation” from Gizmodo “From Niche To Mainstream: The Unstoppable Global Popularity Of Anime And How It Happened” from BuzzFeed “Streaming and covid-19 have entrenched anime's global popularity” from The Economist “Naruto Movie in the Works With Destin Daniel Cretton” from The Hollywood Reporter “Cherry blossom forecast: We predict peak bloom in D.C. around March 21” from The Washington Post “Early jacaranda bloom sparks debate about climate change in Mexico” from Reuters “Commercial Real Estate Market Plunge Has Lenders Facing a Brutal Reality” from Bloomberg “Comic: Tienes economic anxiety? Artist Julio Salgado reflects on changes in creative industries” from the Los Angeles Times Are you a fan of anime? Tell us about your favorite anime series! Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Gizmodo reporter Matt Novak takes us inside the social media reaction to the assassination of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson and breaks down the dangers facing the tech industry under a Trump/Elon Musk administration.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.

In Episode 127, hosts Alyce and Laura don't know* what their friends, family or each other do in their corporate jobs. Nor should they. It's none of their business. The Bear's Jeremy Allen White is allegedly joining the Star Wars universe (Variety via The Kristian Harloff Show)Go, Skelly Crew, go! Critics and audiences are really enjoying the new Star Wars series (via Forbes) Collectors, rejoice! There are new toys, I mean, collectible action figures, coming soon! (via SWNN)We feel you, Gizmodo, we're also obsessed with Neel and his Millennial Side Part™Fans are having mixed reaction to the news that Dave Filoni will be the sole writer of Ahsoka season 2 (Comicbook.com via this YouTube interview)A tangent on The Penguin and Southern Louisiana tchotchkes (ever seen that word spelled out before?)With the cold weather and holidays comes more expensive Star Wars apparel for your bougie Vader-loving ass A dramatic reading of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew opening crawlIn Recap on Tap, it's all about the Skelly Crü, skeletonization and Space Grass! Alyce and Laura discuss highlights from episodes 1 and 2 and get into a more thorough recap/review of episode 3 #LetSM33wearapiratehatAre we the only freaks that actually enjoy Order 66 content? Helpful links referenced in this episode:Alyce and Laura joined Sal Perales on the Rogue Rebels podcast for a Spoiler Review and recap of The High Republic: Tears of the Nameless. Find it wherever you get podcasts now (Apple, Spotify)! Speaking of The High Republic, check out Laura's spoiler-free review of the new audio drama, Tempest Breaker on the Force Toast website Kevin Smets, John Rocha and Laura Kelly are reviewing Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on The Jedi Way! Find reviews of Eps 1 and 2 here and the Episode 3 review here!  Twitter: @forcetoastpod | @sLeiaAllDay | @ShutUp_LauraInstagram: @forcetoastpodEmail: forcetoastpod@gmail.comWebsite: forcetoastpod.com*This podcast contains a sh!t ton of profanity and boozin. You can find a bleeped version of this podcast absolutely nowhere. Cheers!

Chaque jour, en moins de 10 minutes, un résumé de l'actualité du jour. Rapide, facile, accessible.

  The Friday Five for November 15, 2024: FOMC November 2024 Meeting Bluesky, Threads, X App Downloads vs. Site Traffic 2025 Medicare Part A/B Premiums & Deductibles NordPass Top Passwords of 2024 List Halfway Through AEP 2025   Contact the Agent Survival Guide Podcast! Email us ASGPodcast@Ritterim.com or call 1-717-562-7211 and leave a voicemail.   FOMC November 2024 Meeting: “Consumer Price Index - October 2024.” Bls.Gov, Bureau of Labor & Statistics, 13 Nov. 2024, www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf. “Consumer Price Index Summary - October 2024.” Bls.Gov, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10 Oct. 2024, www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm. “Meeting Calendars and Information.” Federalreserve.Gov, The Federal Reserve, www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024. “Personal Income and Outlays, September 2024.” Bea.Gov, Bureau of Economic Analysis, 31 Oct. 2024, www.bea.gov/news/2024/personal-income-and-outlays-september-2024. “Transcript of Chair Powell's Press Conference November 7, 2024.” Federalreserve.Gov, The Federal Reserve, www.federalreserve.gov/mediacenter/files/FOMCpresconf20241107.pdf. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.   Bluesky, Threads, X App Downloads vs. Site Traffic: “Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) on Threads.” Threads, Meta, 3 Nov. 2024, www.threads.net/@mosseri/post/DB6zNlQSsJN?xmt=AQGzC2OVsSCAHSwTsMzAMlVJzFvTppOz8Np1TG7sEIM3bA. “Bluesky Announces Series A to Grow Network of 13M+ Users.” Bsky.Social, Bluesky, 24 Oct. 2024, bsky.social/about/blog/10-24-2024-series-a. “Social Media Fact Sheet.” Pewresearch.Org, Pew Research Center, 13 Nov. 2024, www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/. “Top Websites in United States - October 2024 Most Visited & Popular Rankings.” Semrush.Com, Semrush, www.semrush.com/website/top/united-states/all/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024. Kirshner, Alex. “Sick of X and Elon Musk? This App Might Be for You.” Slate.Com, Slate, 12 Nov. 2024, slate.com/technology/2024/11/bluesky-app-twitter-exodus-x-elon-musk.html. Holtermann, Callie. “With Surge in New Users, Bluesky Emerges as X Alternative.” Nytimes.Com, The New York Times, 14 Nov. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/style/bluesky-users-election.html. “Top Apps & Games for Iphone on the IOS App Store in the United States.” Appfigures.Com, Appfigures, appfigures.com/top-apps/ios-app-store/united-states/iphone/top-overall. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024. “Top Apps for Android on Google Play in the United States.” Appfigures.Com, Appfigures, appfigures.com/top-apps/google-play/united-states/top-apps. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024. Tenbarge, Kat, and Kevin Collier. “X Sees Largest User Exodus since Musk Takeover.” NBCNews.Com, NBC Universal News Group, 13 Nov. 2024, www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/x-sees-largest-user-exodus-musk-takeover-rcna179793.   2025 Medicare Part A/B Premiums & Deductibles: “2025 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles.” CMS.Gov, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 8 Nov. 2024, www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2025-medicare-parts-b-premiums-and-deductibles. 2025 Medicare Part A and Part B Premiums and Deductibles: Episode | Post   NordPass Top Passwords of 2024 List: Novak, Matt. “Americans Are Using the Dumbest Possible Passwords (2024 Edition).” Gizmodo.Com, Gizmodo, 14 Nov. 2024, gizmodo.com/americans-are-using-the-dumbest-possible-passwords-2024-edition-2000524147. Kan, Michael. “Here Are 2024's Most Used (and Worst) Passwords: Is Yours on the List?” Pcmag.Com, PCMAG, 14 Nov. 2024, https://www.pcmag.com/news/most-common-worst-passwords-2024-nordpass-is-yours-on-the-list . Hill, Allan Rose. “Here Is the Latest List of Passwords You Should Never Use.” Boingboing.Net, Boing Boing, 13 Nov. 2024, boingboing.net/2024/11/13/here-is-the-latest-list-of-passwords-you-should-never-use.html. Wong, Abel. “The Most Used Passwords of 2024 Are out - and It's 123456 Again.” Technave.Com, TechNave, 14 Nov. 2024, technave.com/gadget/The-most-used-passwords-of-2024-are-out-and-it-s-123456-again-40655.html. Roth, Emma. “These Are the Passwords You Definitely Shouldn't Be Using.” Theverge.Com, The Verge, 13 Nov. 2024, www.theverge.com/2024/11/13/24295543/most-common-passwords-list-2024. “Top 200 Most Common Passwords.” NordPass.Com, NordPass, nordpass.com/most-common-passwords-list/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.   Resources: 5 Ways to Generate ACA Leads: https://link.chtbl.com/ASG6287 2025 Medicare Part A and B Premiums and Deductibles: https://link.chtbl.com/ASGN20241113 Apps to Stay Productive This AEP! https://link.chtbl.com/ASGA20241106 Halfway Through AEP: Reflect & Renew Your Medicare Sales Strategies: https://link.chtbl.com/ASG630 How Ask Integrity Can Streamline Your Medicare Sales Appointments: https://link.chtbl.com/ASG6255 How to Check Medicare Extra Help Eligibility for Your Client: https://link.chtbl.com/ASG630R5 How to Survive AEP: Wellness Tips for Insurance Agents: https://link.chtbl.com/ASG553 KFF 2025 ACA Open Enrollment Report & Tools: https://link.chtbl.com/ASGF20241108 Staying Motivated Amidst Change & Disruption: https://link.chtbl.com/ASGM20240710 You're Not Alone This AEP! https://link.chtbl.com/ASGM20241104   Follow Us on Social!  Ritter on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/RitterIM Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/ritter.insurance.marketing/ LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/ritter-insurance-marketing TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@ritterim X, https://twitter.com/RitterIM and Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/user/RitterInsurance     Sarah on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjrueppel/ Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/thesarahjrueppel/ and Threads, https://www.threads.net/@thesarahjrueppel  Tina on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-lamoreux-6384b7199/   Not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency.  

HOUR ONE: An eerie tombstone stands watch over one of Portland Oregon's oldest cemeteries. And the story behind that tombstone is a strange one. (The Guardians of Lone Fir Cemetery) *** Don't take a gift from Little Gracie's grave... or her life-like statue might cry tears of blood. (The Ghost of Gracie Watson) *** When it came to her daughter's Elsa doll, one mom was eager and ready to “Let It Go”. But the doll supernaturally refused to be let go! (Haunted Elsa Doll) *** An ancient stone cross is said by locals to be cursed, and the curse infects anyone who dares to disrespect it. (Curse of the Saxon Stone Cross) *** Christopher Slaughterford was seemingly a completely ordinary young Englishman – but he has earned an unenviable place in the legal books. (T
he Trials of Christopher Slaughterford) *** Two authors reported a very strange encounter with a mysterious entity they believed was not of this world. What did they see and why were they under the impression this being was not of this world? (An Author's Encounter With A Not-Of-This-World Entity)==========HOUR TWO: A 178-year-old mystery comes to the surface in a Philadelphia suburb. (Grandfather's Ghost Story Leads to Mass Grave) *** Recently a wrecking crew began tearing down and old building in Rhode Island. But the big burly men on the crew got so frightened they refused to continue the work. Does reconstruction of a home or building anger the souls who once lived there? (Does Remodeling Your Home Disturb The Spirits Who Died There?) *** The way life has grown on our planet requires that all living things feed off each other and must kill others in order to survive.  That's the way of the world if you want to live for any more than a few days. But some people are now claiming they can live without food at all… indefinitely. (Life Without Food) *** Three men were in a shed selling gardening supplies when some strange powder suddenly hit the ceiling. Before they had time to react, a small jug on a shelf abruptly flew across the room. One man picked up the jug and placed it a covered box. Instantly, the jug was...somehow...back on the floor. And that was just the beginning of the strange haunting of a community's garden shed. (The Poltergeist In The Allotment Shed) *** In the movie Salt, Angelina Jolie plays a double-agent who is mind-controlled by scary remnants of the USSR secret service. And in real life, the 1940s bombshell Candy Jones was apparently brainwashed with drugs and used as a CIA covert operative.  (The Supermodel Who Was Brainwashed Into Becoming a Spy) *** No one knows exactly when she was born. Some think, maybe, she was a gypsy. Others say she was the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. The life of Elizabeth Barnes is a mysterious one, filled with many loves, losses, and prognostications. (The Witch of Plum Hollow) *** Some travelers, arriving late at night to board Oliver's Ferry the next day, stayed at Oliver's house. But they were never seen making the ferry crossing the next morning. Is it possible that the rumors are true – that they never left the house alive? (The Frights of Oliver's Ferry)==========SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME: For Allen Taylor, January 15, 1919 was just another day on his farm near Prescott, Iowa. That is, until his 15-year-old neighbor Irene Hoskins came stumbling down the lane with a gash in the side of her head.  (The Hoskins Family Murders) *** How did someone get the job of an executioner in medieval times? We'll find out! (To Become An Executioner) ==========SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT'S SHOW:“Schoolhouse Demon Attack” from Paranormality Magazine“Grandfather's Ghost Story Leads to Mass Grave” by Meghan Rafferty for CNN: https://tinyurl.com/ravfceh“Does Remodeling Your Home Disturb The Spirits Who Died There?” by Kelly Roncace for NJ.com: https://tinyurl.com/sn7vpsg“Life Without Food” by Michael Grosso for Consciousness Abound: https://tinyurl.com/r38yxh6“The Poltergeist In The Allotment Shed” from Strange Company: https://tinyurl.com/vzlgcj9“The Supermodel Who Was Brainwashed Into Becoming a Spy” by Annalee Newitz for Gizmodo: https://tinyurl.com/sgh73da“The Witch of Plum Hollow” by James Morgan for North Country Public Radio: https://tinyurl.com/u3x3sxu“The Frights of Oliver's Ferry” by Ken Watson for Rideau-Info: https://tinyurl.com/vj96awj==========(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for material I use whenever possible. If I have overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it immediately. Some links may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)=========="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46==========WeirdDarkness®, WeirdDarkness© 2024==========To become a Weird Darkness Radio Show affiliate, contact Radio America at affiliates@radioamerica.com, or call 800-807-4703 (press 2 or dial ext 250).

On today’s show: Texas is set to execute a man even as the lead detective on his case is convinced he got it wrong. USA Today reports. In-person early voting starts in North Carolina today, weeks after Hurricane Helene ravaged the state. Sarah Michels, elections reporter for Carolina Public Press, spoke to voters and election officials in the battleground state. A federal judge has temporarily blocked an effort by Alabama’s secretary of state to purge people from voter rolls. NPR has the story. From the catwalk to the spacewalk: Gizmodo explains how astronauts are going to the moon in designer spacesuits. Finally, as early voting gets underway in states around the country, check out this state-by-state voter guide. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.

Germain Lussier (head movie nerd writer at Gizmodo and I09) joins Vespe and JRT for a wide-ranging discussion on Steven Spielberg's Hook starring Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and a very pissed off Julia Roberts. How much does nostalgia come into play when discussing this film? Did everybody who was a child when they saw it love it and all the adults hated it? Or is the answer more complicated than that? We cover that, plus go into the troubled production and where Hook falls in Spielberg's overall body of work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode:Hurricane Milton-via AP News, AP News, Gizmodo, and CNNSign up for Democracy Everyday at democracyeveryday.comRegister to vote, or check your registration at wearevoters.turbovote.orgTake the pledge to be a voter at raisingvoters.org/beavoterdecember. - on AmazonSubscribe to the Substack: kimmoffat.substack.comA full transcript (with links) is available at kimmoffat.com/hwh-transcriptsAs always, you can find me on Instagram/Twitter @kimmoffat and TikTok @kimmoffatishere

Today on the 5: I know that the website Gizmodo has had a rocky past, but I still enjoyed visiting the site fairly often. That changed this week when I noticed that in the "Latest" feed ads had tipped the 50% point.

How much of our news is AI-generated right now and how might that change? With more and more misinformation posing as news, how can we sort out fact from fiction? And, in the face of falling revenue, can AI help save the news industry?Robert Quigley is a professor of practice in UT Austin's Moody College of Communications where he teaches digital journalism and podcasting. As the director of media innovation for the college, he focuses on artificial intelligence and journalism. He leads a group of educators from across campus who share best practices for AI in the classroom. He's a co-host of Check Out This Podcast, a show that helps you discover your next favorite podcast. He led a project where students used AI to generate news stories, called The Future Press.Dig DeeperWyoming reporter caught using artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories, Associated Press (Aug. 2024)Redefining news with AI, Moody College of Communications at UT Austin (Jan. 2024)How an AI-written Star Wars story created chaos at Gizmodo, Washington Post (July 2023)How Will Artificial Intelligence Change the News Business?, The Intelligencer (Aug. 2023)Google is testing an AI tool that can write news articles, TechCrunch (July 2023)Can AI help local newsrooms streamline their newsletters? ARLnow tests the waters, Nieman Lab (May 2023)Episode CreditsOur co-hosts are Marc Airhart, science writer and podcaster in the College of Natural Sciences and Casey Boyle, associate professor of rhetoric and director of UT's Digital Writing & Research Lab.Executive producers are Christine Sinatra and Dan Oppenheimer. Sound design and audio editing by Robert Scaramuccia. Theme music is by Aiolos Rue. Interviews are recorded at the Liberal Arts ITS recording studio.Elements of the cover image for this episode were generated using Midjourney and Photoshop's generative AI tools. About AI for the Rest of UsAI for the Rest of Us is a joint production of The University of Texas at Austin's College of Natural Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. This podcast is part of the University's Year of AI initiative. The opinions expressed in this podcast represent the views of the hosts and guests, and not of The University of Texas at Austin. You can listen via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, RSS, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You can also listen on the web at aifortherest.net. Have questions or comments? Contact: mairhart[AT]austin.utexas.edu

In this episode of Our Big Dumb Mouth (OBDM), Midnight Mike and the team dive into various conspiracy and paranormal topics. The episode kicks off with a lighthearted conversation about personal updates, followed by discussions about cloning, strange AI voice simulations, and werewolves. A humorous segment involves Midnight Mike exploring an alternate reality where clones of himself and Jeff Goldblum make peculiar appearances, setting the tone for the usual blend of absurdity and paranormal intrigue that fans of the show enjoy. Moving into the political and current events segment, the hosts cover developments involving Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, and his work on defense contracts that aim to create cybernetic enhancements for soldiers, drawing parallels to "super soldiers." The conversation spirals into discussions of AI, technology, and governmental partnerships, critiquing the potential ethical issues raised by these advancements. The show also takes jabs at mainstream media, with references to Gizmodo's coverage of the topics discussed, and brings up the ongoing tensions surrounding military innovation and surveillance technologies. The episode concludes with phone calls from listeners and a rundown of strange news. Listeners contribute their own paranormal experiences, including one about a Mandela Effect involving crocodiles. Other strange news topics include a bizarre deepfake video involving exploding goats in Hezbollah and an update on Microsoft's plans for a nuclear power initiative to support AI infrastructure. As usual, the episode is filled with wild theories, tech conspiracies, and plenty of humor that make for an entertaining ride. Creepy iPhone AI https://x.com/hartgoat/status/1836521480965800409 Microsoft Is Getting Into Bed With Palmer Luckey to Make Super Soldiers https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-is-getting-into-bed-with-palmer-luckey-to-make-super-soldiers-2000500977 Lawyer explains what's really happening behind the scenes of Diddy's arrest https://x.com/mymixtapez/status/1837169246109061398 Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Phone: 614-388-9109 ► Skype: ourbigdumbmouth ► Website: http://obdmpod.com ► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/obdmpod ► Full Videos at Odysee: https://odysee.com/@obdm:0 ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/obdmpod ► Instagram: obdmpod ► Email: ourbigdumbmouth at gmail ► RSS: http://ourbigdumbmouth.libsyn.com/rss ► iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-big-dumb-mouth/id261189509?mt=2  

Disinformation has a long history in the United States—often taking the form of storytelling. Best-selling author Annalee Newitz explains how stories have been weaponized—historically and today—and charts a path to a more peaceful future for all Americans. Newitz writes fiction and nonfiction about the intersection of science, technology and culture. Their first novel, “Autonomous,” won the Lambda Literary Award and was nominated for the Nebula and Locus Awards. Newitz' book, “Scatter, Adapt, and Remember” was nominated for the LA Times Book Award. They are currently a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times. Previously, they were the founding editor of io9, and served as the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo and as the tech culture editor at Ars Technica. They have also written for publications including Wired, Popular Science, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Slate, Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and more. Newitz is the co-host of the Hugo Award-winning podcast, “Our Opinions Are Correct.  They were the recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT, worked as a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a classic episode all about Android as we welcome back Florence Ion to take a trip to hardware leak city with Jason Howell and Ron Richards!Hey! We'll be at Droidcon NYC this September!Also hey! You can get Android Faithful merch for up to 40% off at Threadless!Note: Time codes subject to change depending on dynamic ad insertion by the distributor.NEWS0:05:47 - Big day for Android with the release of Android 15 and the September feature drop0:20:53 - The date has been set for the Samsung Developer Conference!0:24:03 - Patrons picked hearing about how Google Messages will handle media with RCSHARDWARE0:29:27 - The Motorola Edge 50 Neo is here and the colors are fantastic0:33:47 - We enter LEAK CITY with the Oppo Find X8 with a similar looking feature to the iPhone 160:37:13 - The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition gets new dimensions0:39:51 - Exciting news of Huawei's TRI-FOLD Foldable coming September 100:42:53 - Xiaomi checks in with a leak of a button-less phone0:47:00 - As we leave Leak City we get news of the Pixel 9A's modemAPPS0:53:01 - Gemini brings new features to your inbox0:55:24 - After demos, Circle to Search gets new features0:59:15 - Google adds live translation for Translate to foldablesCOMMUNITY1:01:20 - VinkyPoo from the Netherlands has a tip for fingerprint scanning1:02:48 - Dustin shares Fi pricing1:05:00 - Damon is back on Android!1:08:12 - Baldwin asks to revisit the chain link fenceThanks to Florence Ion for joining! Read her at Gizmodo and listen to Material! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 121, hosts Alyce and Laura welcome* you to Middle Earth (just for a little bit) for some Who's Hot and Who's Not, Lord of the Rings and 9/11, and built-in bathroom breaks for Alyce.Then it's back to Star Wars!More LEGO Star Wars is coming soon! Check out the trailer hereCheck out People Magazine's feature on Skeleton Crew. And yes, we've already decided we are head over heels for NEEL Speaking of, the Skeleton Crew trailer didn't come out until AFTER we recorded, but watch it here and let us know what you think! Catching up on the publishing portion of the Star Wars panel at SDCC (via Collider)It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's A NEW STAR WARS TRILOGY OF NOVELS! Reign of the Empire, or as we have christened it, the Aftermath of Andor. Learn more about it from this Gizmodo article.Oh hey, we found the preorder link for the Kelnacca one-shot!  Recap on Tap is another High Republic comic catch-up! It's our spoiler-filled discussion on The High Republic Phase III comics issues #8, #9 and #10. If you're avoiding spoilers for these issues, skip 42:20-1:07-34. Boolan is Daddy and to that we ask… why This episode includes a preview of our SPOILER discussion on The High Republic: Temptation of the Force with Sal from the Rogue Rebels Podcast! Find the full episode in the Rogue Rebels feed on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! (Skip 1:12:08-1:17:05 in this Force Toast episode to avoid Temptation spoilers)Helpful links referenced in this episode:Follow Rogue Rebels Podcast on twitter and Facebook  On the August 9th episode of The Jedi Way, John Rocha, Kevin Smets and Laura discuss what's to come at D23 and new Skeleton Crew footage Twitter: @forcetoastpod | @sLeiaAllDay | @ShutUp_LauraInstagram: @forcetoastpodEmail: forcetoastpod@gmail.comWebsite: forcetoastpod.com*This podcast contains a sh!t ton of profanity and boozin. You can find a bleeped version of this podcast absolutely nowhere. Cheers!

Jason Howell sits down with Florence Ion to discuss her evolution in tech journalism, from early writings for Mac|Life to organizing Tamagotchi meetups. They discuss virtual pets, Pokemon, and the future of tech writing using AI.

HOUR ONE: A 178-year-old mystery comes to the surface in a Philadelphia suburb. (Grandfather's Ghost Story Leads to Mass Grave) *** Recently a wrecking crew began tearing down and old building in Rhode Island. But the big burly men on the crew got so frightened they refused to continue the work. Does reconstruction of a home or building anger the souls who once lived there? (Does Remodeling Your Home Disturb The Spirits Who Died There?) *** The way life has grown on our planet requires that all living things feed off each other and must kill others in order to survive.  That's the way of the world if you want to live for any more than a few days. But some people are now claiming they can live without food at all… indefinitely. (Life Without Food) *** Three men were in a shed selling gardening supplies when some strange powder suddenly hit the ceiling. Before they had time to react, a small jug on a shelf abruptly flew across the room. One man picked up the jug and placed it a covered box. Instantly, the jug was...somehow...back on the floor. And that was just the beginning of the strange haunting of a community's garden shed. (The Poltergeist In The Allotment Shed) *** In the movie Salt, Angelina Jolie plays a double-agent who is mind-controlled by scary remnants of the USSR secret service. And in real life, the 1940s bombshell Candy Jones was apparently brainwashed with drugs and used as a CIA covert operative.  (The Supermodel Who Was Brainwashed Into Becoming a Spy) *** No one knows exactly when she was born. Some think, maybe, she was a gypsy. Others say she was the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. The life of Elizabeth Barnes is a mysterious one, filled with many loves, losses, and prognostications. (The Witch of Plum Hollow) *** Some travelers, arriving late at night to board Oliver's Ferry the next day, stayed at Oliver's house. But they were never seen making the ferry crossing the next morning. Is it possible that the rumors are true – that they never left the house alive? (The Frights of Oliver's Ferry)==========HOUR TWO: An eerie tombstone stands watch over one of Portland Oregon's oldest cemeteries. And the story behind that tombstone is a strange one. (The Guardians of Lone Fir Cemetery) *** Don't take a gift from Little Gracie's grave... or her life-like statue might cry tears of blood. (The Ghost of Gracie Watson) *** When it came to her daughter's Elsa doll, one mom was eager and ready to “Let It Go”. But the doll supernaturally refused to be let go! (Haunted Elsa Doll) *** An ancient stone cross is said by locals to be cursed, and the curse infects anyone who dares to disrespect it. (Curse of the Saxon Stone Cross) *** Christopher Slaughterford was seemingly a completely ordinary young Englishman – but he has earned an unenviable place in the legal books. (T
he Trials of Christopher Slaughterford) *** Two authors reported a very strange encounter with a mysterious entity they believed was not of this world. What did they see and why were they under the impression this being was not of this world? (An Author's Encounter With A Not-Of-This-World Entity)==========SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME: For Allen Taylor, January 15, 1919 was just another day on his farm near Prescott, Iowa. That is, until his 15-year-old neighbor Irene Hoskins came stumbling down the lane with a gash in the side of her head.  (The Hoskins Family Murders) *** How did someone get the job of an executioner in medieval times? We'll find out! (To Become An Executioner) ==========SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT'S SHOW:“Schoolhouse Demon Attack” from Paranormality Magazine“Grandfather's Ghost Story Leads to Mass Grave” by Meghan Rafferty for CNN: https://tinyurl.com/ravfceh“Does Remodeling Your Home Disturb The Spirits Who Died There?” by Kelly Roncace for NJ.com: https://tinyurl.com/sn7vpsg“Life Without Food” by Michael Grosso for Consciousness Abound: https://tinyurl.com/r38yxh6“The Poltergeist In The Allotment Shed” from Strange Company: https://tinyurl.com/vzlgcj9“The Supermodel Who Was Brainwashed Into Becoming a Spy” by Annalee Newitz for Gizmodo: https://tinyurl.com/sgh73da“The Witch of Plum Hollow” by James Morgan for North Country Public Radio: https://tinyurl.com/u3x3sxu“The Frights of Oliver's Ferry” by Ken Watson for Rideau-Info: https://tinyurl.com/vj96awj==========(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for material I use whenever possible. If I have overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it immediately. Some links may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)=========="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46==========WeirdDarkness®, WeirdDarkness© 2024==========To become a Weird Darkness Radio Show affiliate, contact Radio America at affiliates@radioamerica.com, or call 800-807-4703 (press 2 or dial ext 250).

OA1057 We're giving ourselves a break this week from Trump, the Supreme Court, and all things 2024 to indulge in one of Matt's all-time favorite subjects: CIA mind control experiments! In this extra-carefully-researched episode, Matt breaks down the history of the federal government's MKULTRA  program to fund research in brainwashing, mind control, and LSD on unsuspecting U.S. and (for some reason) Canadian citizens, as well as the inherent legal issues in trying to sue the CIA for something you can't remember and for which most evidence has been destroyed. Why was the CIA funding a sadistic mad scientist in Montreal, and is there any hope of justice for the families of his victims today?  BOOKS Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control , Stephen Kinzer (2019) The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: the CIA and Mind Control, John Marks (1979)(link goes to full text on CIA website) The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government: David Talbot (2016) CHAOS: The Truth Behind the Manson Murders, Tom O'Neill (2020) LEGAL PROCEEDINGS Orlikow v. United States, 682 F. Supp. 77 (D.D.C. 1988) CIA v. Sims :: 471 U.S. 159 (1985) “PROJECT MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification,” (transcript of joint Senate hearing)(8/3/1977) Judgment dismissing former Deputy U.S. Marshall Wayne Ritchie's claims against the CIA in Ritchie v. U.S. (N.D. CA 2005) ARTICLES ANATOMY OF A PUBLIC INTEREST CASE AGAINST THE CIA, Joseph Rauh and Jim Turner, Hamline Journal of Law and Public Policy (Fall 1990) MK-ULTRA: Quebec high court says U.S. has immunity in Canada | Montreal Gazette (10/3/23)  CIA Denies Conspiracy Theory That It Used MKUltra on Trump Shooter, Gizmodo.com (7/28/24) “After Learning of Whitey Bulger LSD Tests, Juror Has Regrets,” PBS  (2/18/2020) “Before He Was the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski was a CIA Mind Control Test Subject,” Washington Post (6/11/2023) PODCASTS & DOCUMENTARIES Brainwashed, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (2024) Madness, WBUR (2020) The Sleep Room: CIA-funded experiments on patients in Montreal hospital (1998) - The Fifth Estate (CBC) Wormwood, Errol Morris, Netflix (2017)

We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Amazon is responsible for dangerous products sold on its site, federal agency rules https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/amazon-responsible-dangerous-products-sold-site-federal-agency-rules-rcna164309 Etsy Is Getting Loyalty Program for Its Most Dedicated Shoppers https://gizmodo.com/etsy-is-getting-loyalty-program-for-its-most-dedicated-shoppers-2000481536 AWS Outage Hits Amazon Services, Ring, Whole Foods, Alexa https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/2024/aws-outage-hits-amazon-services-ring-whole-foods-alex Amazon looks to reduce costs to compete more aggressively on price as consumer habits shift https://www.geekwire.com/2024/amazon-looks-to-reduce-costs-to-compete-more-aggressively-on-price/ Dozens of angry Chinese suppliers swarmed Temu's office, saying they're tired of giving Westerners refunds without returns https://www.businessinsider.com/temus-office-besieged-chinese-suppliers-protesting-refund-policy-2024-7 New landing page in Sponsored Brands Grow brand impression share goal https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/grow-brand-impression-share-with-new-landing-page/ Scale your message with priority delivery using Prime Video programmatic guaranteed deals https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/scale-your-message-using-prime-video-programmatic-guaranteed-deals/ Harvest high performing targets with Target Promotion, now available for Sponsored Products advertisers in UCM ads console https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/target-promotion-for-sponsored-products/ This episode is jam-packed with news and insights to help you stay ahead in the competitive world of selling on Amazon, Walmart, and ecommerce! In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 00:50 - Amazon Recall Change 02:40 - New Bullet Point Rules 06:23 - Etsy Prime? 07:01 - Amazon Outage 07:43 - New Amazon Fees 09:50 - Amazon Cost Cutting 11:30 - Product Images Update 13:22 - On Time Delivery Policy 15:42 - Temu Sellers Gone Wild 17:38 - Labor Day Sale 18:16 - FBA Capacity Fees 19:51 - New Sponsored Brand Page 21:24 - Prime Video Ads 22:03 - Keyword Harvesting 24:04 - Sellerfest Online Event ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Amazon is changing its bullet point requirements. There is yet another new fee that Amazon sellers are going to have to pay. Temu sellers in China storm the Temu offices in protest. This and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Series Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. Today might be a first. There's so much news today. I think there might be a total of 14 or possibly more news articles that affect e-commerce sellers out there. So a very abnormal week. Let's go ahead and hop right into it. Bradley Sutton: The first news story that we're going to talk about today is from NBC News and it is entitled Amazon is responsible for dangerous products sold in its site. Federal agency rules, all right. So the Consumer Product Safety Commission is classifying Amazon, it says, as a distributor of the product and therefore bears legal responsibility for a recall. You know, in the past Amazon kind of like had this stance where they're like hey, we're not the sellers. It's third party sellers. You know like we'll do what we can to keep customers safe, but we're not the ones who are responsible for it. But now this ruling says that Amazon has to notify customers about and remove products deemed dangerous that it sells through its website. Federal regulators ruled on Tuesday, all right. So basically it's saying that, hey, amazon bears legal responsibility for product recalls, even if they are sold by us. You know, third party sellers. I guess there was a few years ago, three years ago, there was about 400,000 products sold that had faulty carbon monoxide alarms and and flammable children's pajamas, that's. I shouldn't laugh at that. But that's like who? Who is selling flammable children's pajamas? Like what kind of quality control are you guys doing? And flammable hairdryer, and they're subject to this order. But you know Amazon says it's already removed and notified customers about it. But anyways, you know like this might seem like, hey, we're not selling flammable pajamas, what does this have to do with me? But you know if this requires a lot more procedures or things that Amazon is going to have to do, well, you know there's costs that come with that and we might see some of the cost of that. Now, on the flip side. You know, let's say, there are sellers from other countries, like factories that are are selling, you know, not high quality things that are dangerous. Now it looks like maybe Amazon might take a more proactive approach and so you know, hey, this could help Amazon sellers long term. Bradley Sutton: Next article is going to Seller Central. Spend a little bit of time on this one because this is interesting. I think a lot of sellers are going to find this important and it's entitled Review Updated Bullet Point Requirements to Optimize your Listing. All right, so effective in a couple of weeks, on August 15, 2024,. It says Amazon is updating its bullet point requirements. All right, so we announced this a long time ago, actually, where it was for hardline. Now it says here that the main points is restriction of special characters, emojis and some phrases such as refund related guarantees. Now, supposedly, you know like Amazon a while back said no more emojis, but we haven't seen that policed too much. So now that it's kind of like coming out with it a little bit in a more official capacity, perhaps like could this mean that you know, listings might start getting suppressed, or things like that. Well, let's read on here. Other thing is it says is that one change is you're going to have guidance to help you create high quality bullet points that are clear and concise. Bradley Sutton: All right, now here's the thing. They're going to use AI to help optimize listing quality. They're going to remove non-compliant content and use AI to generate compliant, high quality bullet points. Supposedly they're going to share these with you for review before published. But again, this is kind of like something like before. We talked about how Amazon has image requirements, we're going to talk about that later and then, if you're not meeting the requirements, amazon could go in there and change your images. They can go in there and change your title, and then you're kind of stuck with that. So, buyer beware now, hey us. Or seller beware. I guess I should say, if you're a seller, who's kind of like towing the line and then using emojis or using things that you shouldn't. Potentially this kind of like policy might state that, hey, you're giving Amazon the right to go in there and put some AI thing or put what it thinks is valid, and in the past, when Amazon does that, you know, be it with images or be it with titles, once that happens, it's like you can't change it back, right. So it's kind of a serious thing Now that article that was in your seller central dashboard. Bradley Sutton: It says hey, don't put a sense, don't put N a or not applicable or not eligible or TBD or copy pending. Don't do any of that. It says don't use phrases such as eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, ecologically friendly antibacterial made from bamboo I didn't realize. Made from bamboozle. I have a bamboo brand. I didn't realize. Made from bamboo. I have a bamboo brand. I didn't realize that that's not allowed. Made from soy or contained soy. You can't say hey, if not satisfied, send it back. Full refund, unconditional guarantee with no limit, not allowed to say those things. Obviously no company information there, no repetition. Bradley Sutton: It says and then you have to include at least three bullet points as far as character limits, as hey, uh, use more than 10 characters but less than 255, uh characters. So something to think about. Like, uh, you might want to do an audit on your listings. Make sure that you're compliant instead of like just taking the chance that you know Amazon might just slap you on the wrist and you can just remove your emojis or something later on. So curious, what do you the wrist and you can just remove your emojis or something later on. So I'm curious, are you guys going to just take this seriously, or maybe think that's kind of like their image requirements where Amazon doesn't enforce it too much, or hey, they've been saying bullet points, no emojis for years and I've been able to get away with it. What are you going to do? Are you going to keep going or are you going to actually change it this time? Let me know in the comments below. Bradley Sutton: Next article is from Gizmodo and it's entitled Etsy is getting a loyalty program for its most dedicated shopper. So this is going to be an invite only closed beta. It's going to cost $5 a month and kind of like. Makes me think of Walmart plus. You know Amazon prime target three, 60, where it's a membership buyer called Etsy insider. So it's not called Etsy Prime, but it's called Etsy Insider and it's going to offer exclusive benefits to buyers. So something very similar perhaps to what you guys know about Amazon Prime is now coming to Etsy. So is that going to increase sales, increase loyalty on the Etsy platform? Will be interesting to find out. Bradley Sutton: Next article is from CRN.com and it's entitled AWS outage has Amazon services, ring, whole foods and Alexa. Um, you know a lot of stuff in this article. Maybe doesn't, you think doesn't apply. But this is maybe what happened. Like how many of you guys out there, I saw a lot of message boards and groups where, talking about a few days ago, the seller central dashboard was glitching like crazy, you couldn't even get into your Amazon advertising, et cetera. So it probably is related to this. So I saw some people saying, hey, is it just me or you're not able to get your data? Well, it's no, it wasn't just you. There was this big outage that even affected whole foods, uh, supermarkets from Amazon. So don't worry, it looks like everything's back to normal. Uh, but you weren't the only one affected, if that was affecting you. Bradley Sutton: Next article, back to Seller Central Dashboard, and it's entitled Digital Service Fees Effective October 1st. So guess what, guys? We have got yet another set of fees, but it's not anything huge and it's because of some kind of regulation. So it says the Canadian government recently implemented a DST Digital Services Tax similar to those of the UK, France, Italy and Spain, and so on October 1st, we're going to start introducing a digital services fee to account for DST. Now, who does this apply to? All right, well, this DST rate is 2% in the UK, 3% in Canada, France, Italy and Spain. But it depends on the location of the buyer, the location of your business, et cetera. Bradley Sutton: So if you are a USA seller and you only sell in US, all right, so you're a US-based company and you're selling Amazon USA, you're not going to have to worry about any of this. All right, it's not going to apply. But if you sell in Amazon USA but your business is established in a country in which DST has been introduced UK, France, Spain, Canada now the sales in your Amazon USA store is going to apply to this DST fee. All right, so it is a 3% fee in the US store. Now you might be thinking 3%, good grief. Now that's crazy. If I'm already paying 15%, what? It's 18%? No, it's 3% of your Amazon seller fees. So if your seller fee is $2.25, like it is on a $15 item, you're paying only 7 cents more because it's 3% of that 225, as opposed to 3% of the 15. All right. And another example they gave here is if your product is in the UK, uh, that's going to be a 2% fee based on the Amazon fee, all right. So, so make sure to check your dashboard If you're not sure. Hey, is this going to apply to you? Um, you know, if you're outside of Canada and these other places, check the fee schedule in your dashboard for more information. But hey, it's not going to be a surprise if something is coming months from now and Amazon is giving everybody a heads up on it. Bradley Sutton: The next article here is from CRN.com and it's entitled Amazon looks to reduce costs to compete more aggressively on price as consumer habits shift. All right, so a lot of this was on their Q2 report. You know they actually had some. The shares of Amazon went down. But whenever you have these reports there's always some interesting tidbits that Amazon kind of like not leaks but mentions, and it kind of can give you insights into what their plan is in the future. And then one thing that Andy Jassy was saying is they're trying to make cost improvements, all right. And the thing that I thought affected sellers is. It says here Jassy said that the company will expand its use of automation and robots, continue to build out its same day delivery network Okay, great so far further regionalize its inbound network and strive for better inventory placement. He says it's going to enable faster speeds, more orders per box, and then here we go Fewer inventory transfers once items hit fulfillment centers. So that's the part that I liked. The other stuff, whether Amazon's using robots or not I don't know how that's going to affect me, but how many times have you had some inventory and all of a sudden it goes into transfer status or reserve status and then a lot of times that's because Amazon's having to move it around to different warehouses. Well, I think this is definitely going to help because the less you know, the more it kind of like you know distributes your inventory in a correct way and doesn't have to redistribute. Well, that's going to. That's going to help. You know your, your buyability, in my opinion, and how much you know units you have available to sellers or to buyers, and then you then it's going to help the shipping times as well. So let's see how this works out, if sellers are going to have an advantage because of these changes. Bradley Sutton: Our next article is going back to the Seller Central dashboard and it's entitled Update to how Product Detail Page Images Are Selected. So back in January on the Weekly Buzz, we had talked about how product details pages for hard lines product types are going to start displaying, potentially, images from multiple sellers. All right, now, in the coming months, this article says it's going to now include both soft lines and consumable products types. All right, and supposedly this is going to help increase sales. Um, but you know the they made a couple of tweaks to it since January. All right, they're going to prioritize brand owner images, thank goodness. All right. So if you're a brand registered owner, it's not like you're just going to automatically get your images removed. Um, and they're only going to use Amazon or brand registered sellers content If the required images are missing in the product detail page or to upgrade low quality content. Bradley Sutton: So this is what I talked about a little bit earlier, about what's going on, where sometimes, if Amazon says, hey, if you're not hitting our requirements on images, on title, on bullet points, we're going to step in and make necessary changes that we see fit. Now, again, this is the thing that I brought up like seven months ago, back in January. That I thought was super noteworthy, and they're reiterating it here. It says, as a reminder, each product detail page must have at least three required images one with the product on white background main image. One with a product in an environment that's what we call lifestyle images and one with product information such as dimensions or nutritional facts. This is an infographic. January was the first time I ever saw this where Amazon is basically saying you need a white background image, you need an infographic. January was the first time I ever saw this where Amazon is basically saying you need a white background image, you need an infographic and a lifestyle image. So they're reiterating that requirement. Now, you know, like three years ago you never, you only saw the white background image and the rest of the images could be whatever you wanted it. So, so make sure your images, guys, are in compliance. Bradley Sutton: All right, the next article back to the seller central dashboard. I mean, it seems like they they just seems like they just spit all these things out back to back to back 're going to have to maintain a 90% OTDR on time delivery rate. All right, I don't know what it was before. I mean, 90% seems pretty reasonable, like I thought it was a hundred percent that you pretty much had to do, but it's recommending that you actually do 95% according to this article. And obviously this does not apply at all to FBA, you know, because sellers aren't responsible for on-time delivery promises. Okay, now another thing is transit time settings. Now, before this September 25th date, on August 25th, the transit time requirements are going to be updated to match delivery capabilities of shipping services. So if you're shipping within the continental US you know that means that's not including Puerto Rico and Hawaii and Alaska you have to have a maximum transit time of only five days for standard and eight days for free economy shipping. Now this is interesting to me because I know some sellers who are doing FBM. You know, including myself. Bradley Sutton: You know maybe your initial reaction is like oh, this is going to be a pain in the neck. But remember what was announced in the Weekly Buzz a few weeks ago by Carrie about how Amazon might have like a Teemu-ish kind of like setup where Chinese sellers can ship directly within like eight to 10 days. Well, if that happens, who knows, maybe this is kind of like a protection for those of you shipping for full but fulfilled by merchant domestically, where you're going to have a guaranteed advantage over those Chinese direct shipping where you know the buyer is going to see five days delivery time, all right. So this five day delivery time, it's because Amazon's going to be displaying this as the as the shipping time for the product. And then if the Temu ish ones have like eight to 10 days, well, you, the Temu-ish ones have like eight to 10 days. Well, you know, this might help you know the buyability of your products. There's a lot more information here in this detailed article on your Seller Central dashboard, so make sure to check it out when you can. If you are an FBM seller, if you do 100% FBA, you can just go ahead and forget about that article, as it doesn't apply to you. Bradley Sutton: Now, speaking of Temu, this next article is kind of funny. Like sometimes, I think, amazon sellers, you know, like, especially when I read message boards, they get on the same page. They want to complain about the same thing of Amazon. Have you guys ever fantasized about or like thought about, let's all get together and let's like storm Amazon's headquarters not storm it, but, like you know, let's go there and let Bezos or let Jassy know how we feel and see if we can get up a meeting. Well, that might seem comical and like not realistic, but that is like literally what happened in Temu last week. All right, so this is an article for Business Insider and it says dozens of angry Chinese suppliers swarmed Temu's office saying they're tired of giving Westerners refunds without returns. Now, 80 people got in the building. There's like 300 people this article says was protesting and then 80 of them actually were able to storm the building here and they're disgruntled. So I know we're kind of jealous of what's going on with Temu sellers. Man, how could we ever match the prices? But not all is rosy over there. So these Temu suppliers are upset that Temu is trying to recruit US-based sellers and they're also upset about the refund policy. Bradley Sutton: So if they ship something from China to the customer and the customer says you know what, I don't like this product, it looks like I didn't realize this. I've never bought one thing from Temu myself, but Temu just returns the money and they don't even have to return the product to the, the product to the customer. So, like the sellers are up in arms about this. One merchant said told this Chinese newspaper that he lost almost all of his profits when he was fined $400,000 for customer refunds and complaints. First of all, holy crap, if he profited $400,000, how much did he actually sell in the last you know a few months? But anyways, this is what's going on in Temu. Don't get any ideas, guys. I don't think if 300 of you tried to storm Amazon Seattle offices that 80 are going to get through. Pretty sure Amazon has got some pretty tight security over here. Bradley Sutton: All right. Next article, again going back to Seller Central. It's not necessarily a prime day, but there is going to be a special Labor Day sale that Amazon is going to have. All right, it's actually entitled Labor Day sale and this is going to begin August 26th and runs through September 3rd. All right, so right. There's going to be deals that you can offer and these are time bound promotional offers and go to advertising, go to deals hit, create new deals and then select the week of the 26th and then that's going to go ahead and see if you're eligible to be able to have a special Labor Day sale deal. All right, the next article is for the last time, I believe again going back to Seller Central Dashboard, and this is an article about peak readiness and timelines for FBA capacity limits. Bradley Sutton: Now a couple important things. Number one a date that you have to keep in mind. It says if you want to guarantee you're going to have the prime badge for black Friday we're looking way ahead you have to have your inventory in the fulfillment centers by October 19th. So set a reminder for yourself. However you ship your inventory to Amazon, you've got to have it in the fulfillment centers by October 19th. Now that's kind of crazy if you think about it. When is Black Friday? Isn't that like November? You got to get your stuff. Don't think that you're going to send it in the beginning of November. You got to get your stuff in there pretty early. And one more thing here about fees and actual elimination of a fee. You know for once. Isn't that nice. It says additionally, to help you simplify operations and manage inventory more efficiency during peak, we have eliminated this overage fee for storage effective July 1st 2024. So if your on-hand inventory exceeds your capacity limit, you are not going to get this overage fee. All right. So that's, how often is it that there's a reduction or elimination of fees? Usually the announcements we we give her are about new fees that Amazon is charging. So that's a nice little welcome surprise from Amazon this week. If you want more information on that, make sure to check that news article in your dashboard. Bradley Sutton: All right, now we've got a few Amazon ads announcements, all right. So for those of you who are doing PPC, we have got some advanced ones, some beginners ones. Let's go ahead and hop into that. The first one from Amazon advertising. They announced new landing page in sponsored brand grow brand impression share goal Right. So what is this? That launch says the sponsored brand grow brand impression share campaign now allows advertisers to utilize a new landing page option in the product collection ad format. So you can select three products to advertise and then that's going to lead shoppers from a top of search ad to a new brand landing page containing these products. Bradley Sutton: All right. So one of the differences is now this is a new type of landing page that Amazon creates that buyers can land on. So sellers who even don't have a formally prerequisite Amazon store brand store which hopefully you guys have, but that used to be a requirement to be able to advertise some of your top of search ads Well, now you don't need that prerequisite stores to say you can just start this campaign super quick and ensure the brand product discovery experience. So where this is is under your goals when you set up a new sponsored brand campaign, one of the goals is grow brand impression share and now you can choose, once you, if you select that one, the product collection ad format, and then there's a brand new section right here that says new landing page and says pick products to advertise and we'll create a landing page for you here. For those of you watching on YouTube, I'm showing an example of the shoe brand. Who's got one of these set up right now and where this is now available. It's across the board North America, south America, Europe, middle East and Asia Pacific East and Asia Pacific. Next news article from Amazon advertising. Bradley Sutton: It says scale your message with priority delivery using Prime Video programmatic guaranteed deals. I'm not going to go too much into details because probably not that many of you are using Prime Video ads, but basically they launch programmatic guaranteed deals for Prime Video so you can have run of service deals, contextual deals that can go on, like you know top best of TV shows, page best of movies, best of Prime Video originals, et cetera, and then audience based deals. Check the link in the comments below or the description below If you want, if you're somebody who uses Prime Video ads and you can get a little bit more information on this. Last article of the day is an announcement from Amazon Advertising says on this last article of the day is an announcement from amazon advertising says harvest high performing targets with target promotion now available for sponsored products advertisers. So this is kind of like funny. It's like like very similar to what like atomic and another you know PPC software does where you can supposedly harvest keywords from like auto campaigns and move it to a manual. Now I tried to test this in my account and it wasn't working. So like just got a bunch of error messages. But for those of you who aren't using software, you know this is a potential option for you. Um, I'm not sure I can suggest using it yet because I got to see first how the suggestions work. You know, like if Amazon's algorithms was perfect in advertising, they wouldn't we wouldn't even have to negative match keywords because once we get like 30, 40 clicks they would start negative matching itself. But no, if we don't do anything, amazon's still going to keep charging us. So you know that in mind, like I'm not sure if we can, you know, quote unquote just trust this Amazon suggestion thing to move keywords in the right way. But who knows, maybe it's going to be pretty cool thing to move keywords in the right way. But who knows, maybe it's going to be pretty cool. Bradley Sutton: But for me it doesn't affect me much because I've been doing keyword harvesting for four years using Helium 10 Atomic. I set my rules and I say, hey, if one of my auto or broad campaign gets two orders at this ACoS or less, I want you to go ahead and move it to this campaign and I could exactly set up the flow. So there's nothing that is coming out here that is going to really affect the way I do things, but maybe for those of you who are just trying to eyeball your Amazon advertising and not even using the search term reports and not making pivot tables and not using software or whatever, maybe this might be a feature that can help you a little bit. So check out your advertising console, go to one of your auto campaigns, go to the ad group, go to the search terms page and take a look there. Does it show you something that? Uh? Does it give you suggestions on what you can move? Uh, it did it on mine because it was broken, but maybe it's working on yours. Let me know what you think and I'll leave a message in the comments below. All right, that's finally it for the news this week. Bradley Sutton: One last thing I wanted to give you a heads up. I'm going to be giving some cool strategies at the Seller Fest online next week. So if you want to get free tickets. I think it's free. I'm not sure if it's free or not but for more information, go to h10.me/sellerfest. Even if you have to pay, it'll be worth it. There's going to be tons of great speakers uh, other than myself as well, so I'm sure you're going to get a lot of value. h10.me/sellerfest for more information. All right, guys who that literally made a record? We've been doing Weekly Buzz for four years and this was the most articles, the most news stories in one week that we have ever had. So thank you, guys. For those of you who stuck to the end, let's see what's going to happen next week. Make sure to tune in next Thursday or Friday to see what's buzzing.

We're diving into the season finale of the The Acolyte, "The Acolyte," directed by Hanelle. Culpepper and written by Jason Micallef. We discuss why we're desperate for this story to continue with a second season, Osha's emotional retribution, Oshamir thumb touches, the rule of two, Vernestra's secrets, and more. Check out the interviews we referenced at StarWars.com, Collider, Entertainment Weekly, Vulture, & Gizmodo. Website: http://www.friendsoftheforcepod.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/FriendsOfForce Linktree: https://linktr.ee/friendsoftheforce Thank you to all of our Patrons, including our Luminous Beings: Brian, Emma, Jenn, Lee-Ann, Lucy, Ruth, Travis, and Tom. #StarWars #TheAcolyte #RenewTheAcolyte

This week on the show we are joined by two returning special guests. First up we will welcome back Germain Lussier, Senior Reporter covering entertainment for Gizmodo and io9. We'll talk about the movies of San Diego Comic-Con; which ones may show up, or won't, and more. Then Tom Vargas from Factory Entertainment will join us to talk about their exclusives, exhibiting at SDCC over the years, and more. We'll also cover all the latest SDCC news and exclusives. Join us for a fun and informative show.

We did it Android fam! 50 episodes of Android Faithful and to celebrate, Florence Ion returns to join Huyen Tue Dao and Ron Richards discuss the upcoming events and latest in the world of Android.Running Time: 01:17:35Note: Time codes are subject to change depending on dynamic ad insertion by the distributor.NEWS00:04:23 - Google announced the next Made By Google Event and we got a date for Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 00:13:47 - Gemini and Google Assistant STILL can't handle reminders00:16:50 - Flo weighs in on Android 15 and we get some more upcoming features00:25:45 - RIP VPN by Google One00:29:45 - The patrons picked the news of OnePlus' battery improvementsHARDWARE00:40:47 - The new Motoroloa Razr and Razr+ are here. So is the MotoTag!00:52:27 - Flo was hands on with the new Lenovo Tab Plus00:56:37 - Some tablet leaks with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 and the OnePlus Pad 2APPS01:01:20 - The Blackmagic Camera app is out and it's free but it's only on Pixels and Samsung Galaxys01:06:12 - There's a constant stream of updates from YouTube coming outCOMMUNITY01:09:41 - Kevin has a simple phone approach solutionThanks to Florence Ion for joining us! Read her work at Gizmodo and listen to Material! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Roy is a well-known thought leader and expert in the mobility space. He joins to explore what's real in the autonomy space, the importance of effective strategy and discernment, the challenges of effectively communicating and marketing new technologies, and more. Links: Show notes: http://brandonbartneck.com/futureofmobility/alexroy Edison Manufacturing Exchange: https://brandonbartneck.substack.com/publish/home https://www.johnson-roy.com/ https://x.com/AlexRoy144 Takeaways To determine the maturity of autonomous vehicle technology, it is important to go and see for oneself how the technology performs in real-world conditions. Strategic thinking and discernment are crucial in separating the good ideas from the bad ones and focusing on what truly matters in a given scenario. Building a good product that meets customer needs and creates trust is essential for success in the mobility industry. Navigating regulatory environments and cultural attitudes towards automation can present significant challenges for companies in the mobility space. Understanding culture is essential for success in the autonomous vehicle industry. Simulation should consider the political environment of the markets where deployment is planned. Identify potential risks that could kill the business and proactively prevent them. The quality of people and their ability to work together is crucial for success. The future of autonomous vehicles depends on market forces, capital markets, and regulatory regimes. Alex Roy Bio: Former self-driving technology executive, automotive journalist and race driver, Alex Roy is best known for leading the first team in 23 years to break the Cannonball Run driving record, crossing the USA in 31 hours and 4 minutes. He has also broken the EV record 3 times, and still holds the Tesla Autopilot and 3-wheeled ICE records, the latter in a Morgan 3-Wheeler. Alex is also co-founder of the Autonocast and The Drive, founder of the Human Driving Association, author of The Driver, producer of APEX: The Secret Race Across America, and Chairman Emeritus of The Moth storytelling series. As Director of Special Operations at Argo.AI, Roy pioneered concepts like Universal Basic Mobility and Roy's Razor—the litmus test for autonomous systems. Roy has written for Bloomberg, Road & Track, and Jalopnik, has appeared on CNN, NBC, Fox News, Cheddar, and TF1, and has spoken at the FBI, SXSW, TedX, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Carnegie Mellon. Johnson and Roy: Joel Johnson and Alex Roy met in 2005 in Lower Manhattan as Alex prepared to break the Cannonball Run driving record. From a love of speed, science fiction, Sondheim and Opeth, they collaborated across digital media, establishing and expanding technology and mobility brands such as WIRED, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, The Drive, Wirecutter, Autonocast, and more. Passion for technology and mobility brought them from media and manufacturing to robotics, self-driving and AI, first individually with clients such as General Motors and Argo AI; then together in shared practice, based on the belief that the only way to predict the future is to drive towards it. Future of Mobility: The Future of Mobility podcast is focused on the development and implementation of safe, sustainable, effective, and accessible mobility solutions, with a spotlight on the people and technology advancing these fields. Edison Manufacturing and Engineering: Edison is your low volume contract manufacturing partner, focused on assembly of complex mobility and energy products that don't neatly fit within traditional high-volume production methods. linkedin.com/in/brandonbartneck/ brandonbartneck.com/futureofmobility/

Why is it so important that we share the science of fiction, and what do we do with it once we have it? That's today's big question, and my guest is Maddie Stone. Maddie is a prolific science journalist. She is a doctor of earth and environmental sciences. She's the former science editor of the technology website Gizmodo, which I love, and the founding editor of Earther, Gizmodo's climate focused vertical, which I love.Maddie has edited articles for The Verge, Polygon, and Grist, and her original and award winning journalism has appeared in National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Grist, Vice, MIT Technology Room, Technology Review, and Drilled, and many other outlets we love and link to basically every day.An avid science fiction fan like me, Maddie runs one of my favorite blogs called The Science of Fiction, an email newsletter and a blog, if you're old, that explores the real world science behind fictional monsters and alien planets and stuff like that (which checks all of my boxes). -----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.-----------INI Book Club:Not The End of The World by Hannah RitchieThe Right to Repair by Aaron PerzanowskiFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Subscribe to The Science of FictionKeep up with Maddie's writing, including her recent story holding Microsoft accountable to their sustainability pledgesCheck out the Climate Reality Check report from Good EnergyFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comSupport our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgradeGet our merchFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpFollow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportantSubscribe to our

When Peter Sciretta won the Summer Movie Wager last year, we committed to watching any movie he wanted. He chose Neil Breen's Fateful Findings. In this episode of the Filmcast: After Dark, we try figure out what the heck we just watched. Germain Lussier joins us from io9/Gizmodo. To get more episodes of The Filmcast: After Dark, become a Patron.

Ralph welcomes Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs to discuss what's motivating anti-Palestinian extremism in Israel, how the U.S. has been complicit in Israel's theft of Palestinian territory and genocide against the Palestinian people, and what the United Nations can do to help achieve a lasting peace. Plus, we share Ralph's recent column: "Israeli Leaders' Objective All Along Has Been the Expulsion of Occupied Palestinians and Seizure of Their Remaining Land."Jeffrrey Sachs is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, where he holds the rank of University Professor (the university's highest academic rank) and he served as Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University from 2002 to 2016. Mr. Sachs has also served in numerous positions at the United Nations, including as President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.The reason that diplomacy is not happening is perfectly obvious. Which is that the core of this government does not want diplomacy, even if it were to deliver security. Their aim is not security through diplomacy. Their aim is “Greater Israel.”Jeffrey SachsI have lived through…watching the U.S. government abandon so many projects, from Southeast Asia through the Americas—these have been terrible projects often—but the U.S. loses interest, it moves on. And Israel needs to actually live in its neighborhood if it's going to survive. And counting on military might to do that is a profound mistake. It's eating away at its own fundamental capacity to act as a society—the idea that you can stand alone in the world community and have no one support you. This is a huge mistake. So I've tried to say to my counterparts in Israel…that this path is not only wrong and immoral, but doomed to fail as well.Jeffrey SachsThe Palestinians have one of the highest literacy rates—97 % — in the world. Under dire conditions, they have accomplished farmers, physicians, scientists, engineers, poets, musicians, novelists, artists, and a deep entrepreneurial tradition carried on by the Palestinian diaspora around the world. It is no accident that Israeli bombers directly target Palestinian cultural and educational institutions in their recurrent assaults on Gaza. Israeli militarists have to degrade all Palestinians… to expel them from their ancestral lands.Ralph NaderIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantisNews 4/10/241. An unsettling story in Business Insider recounts how the Israeli military uses an AI system – chillingly called “Where's Daddy?” – to track Hamas militants to their homes. As one IDF officer put it, “We[‘re] not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they…[are] engaged in a military activity…On the contrary, the IDF bomb[s] them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It's much easier to bomb a family's home.” This policy of bombing family homes “as a first option” is a major factor in why so many Palestinian families have lost unimaginable numbers of relatives in Israeli strikes. IDF officers added “human input in the target identification process…[is] essentially [to] ‘rubber stamp' the machine's picks after little more than ‘20 seconds' of consideration — which was largely to double-check the target is male.”2. As we know from the recent polling on the issue, only 22.5% of Democrats now support military aid to Israel, while 83% want a permanent ceasefire. More surprising is that only 41% of Republicans want  the U.S. to send military aid to Israel, and 58% want a permanent ceasefire. This poll is now joined by a similar poll from the United Kingdom, showing 56% of the British public – including 74% of Labour Party voters – support their government refusing to sell more weapons to Israel, with only 17% in support of continuing such sales. Pressing on this issue, progressive members of Congress Mark Pocan and Jan Schakowsky have penned a letter to President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken “strongly urg[ing them]…to reconsider [their] recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the [World Central Kitchen] airstrike is completed…to continue withholding these transfers until those responsible are held accountable [under U.S. or international law and]…to withhold these transfers if Israel fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, including aid workers, and if it fails to facilitate – or arbitrarily denies or restricts – the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.” This letter was signed by 37 additional Democratic members of Congress – mostly the typical progressives, though with one extremely notable addition: Nancy Pelosi, signifying how mainstream this position has become.3. In yet another sign of the shifting political winds, Delaware Senator Chris Coons – a consummate moderate and perhaps President Biden's closest ally in the Senate – has come out in favor of conditioning military aid to Israel, Axios reports. Coons added “I've never said that before, I've never been here before.”4. Yet even as the Democratic Party shifts., Biden has continued his blind support for Israel – resulting in continued success for the “Uncommitted” electoral protest movement. In Wisconsin, the “uninstructed delegation” option won nearly 50,000 votes statewide – over 8% of the vote – and over 30% of votes in the precincts representing the University of Wisconsin-Madison. And it hasn't stopped with Wisconsin. In Connecticut, “uncommitted” won over 11%; in New York, blank ballots accounted for 12%; and in Rhode Island, “uncommitted” won a whopping 14.5% of primary voters statewide. John Nichols at the Nation tabulates that as of now, over half a million Democratic primary voters have given Biden a clear message: “Save Gaza!”5. The controversy surrounding Oscar-winning Zone of Interest Director Jonathan Glazer's acceptance speech continues to drag on. This week, over 150 major Jewish creatives signed an open letter supporting Glazer, per Variety. These signatories include many household names, such as Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Joel Coen, David Cross, Amy Berg, Boots Reilly, Hari Nef, Ilana Glzazer, Wallace Shawn, and many, many more. This letter states “We are Jewish artists, filmmakers, writers and creative professionals who support Jonathan Glazer's statement from the 2024 Oscars. We were alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks…Their attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel's escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation. We grieve for all those who have been killed in Palestine and Israel over too many decades...We honor the Holocaust by saying: Never again for anyone.”6. In some positive news, the National Labor Relations Board reports union election petitions are up 35% in the first half of Fiscal Year 2024, with unfair labor practice charges up 7%. The NLRB is quick to note that this increased caseload coincides with a long-term funding crunch that has seen their offices shrink by 50% over the past 20 years. NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo writes “Congress needs to fully fund the NLRB to effectively and efficiently comply with our Congressional mandate when providing quality service to the public in conducting hearings and elections, investigating charges, settling and litigating meritorious cases, and obtaining full and prompt remedies for workers whose rights are violated.”7. In Ecuador, a diplomatic crisis is unfolding with Mexico after Ecuadorian forces stormed the Mexican embassy to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought – and been granted – asylum at the Mexican embassy. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, decried this as a “flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico.”  CNN reports this provocation prompted AMLO to suspend diplomatic relations with Ecuador and pursue a case against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice. For its part, the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying “The United States condemns any violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and takes very seriously the obligation of host countries under international law to respect the inviolability of diplomatic missions.”8. NBC4 Washington is out with a blockbuster report on gun running within the D.C. Metro police department. Put simply, “For at least seven months in 2020 and 2021, the D.C. area's largest police department was…the only place D.C. residents could legally get a handgun.” Incredible as that may seem, that much was already public knowledge. Now, federal documents have been uncovered showing that a remarkable number of these guns ended up at crime scenes. In fact, “So many guns [were] recovered at crime scenes, in such a brief period, that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives placed D.C. police into a program designed to give extra scrutiny to dealers with higher levels of so-called crime guns.” In other words, D.C. cops, far from getting guns off the street, were in fact releasing so many guns on to the street that federal firearms regulators had to step in. So much for police improving safety.9. According to CNBC, “Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes initiated an investigation into tech magnate Elon Musk on Sunday…concern[ing] possible obstruction of justice by Musk, who said over the weekend that he would defy the court's orders to restrict or suspend some popular accounts on its platform.” This comes as part of a larger investigation into “so-called digital militias, a term applied to people accused of spreading misinformation online to attack democratic institutions in Brazil.” While the list of accounts flagged by the Brazilian government is not public, Wired reports this list includes “the fugitive far-right influencer Allan dos Santos, a supporter of president Jair Bolsonaro. (Dos Santos fled the country in 2020 to avoid investigation for disseminating disinformation.)… [and] right-wing YouTuber Bruno Aiub, known as Monark, who has over 1 million followers on X and has argued that Brazil should recognize the Nazi party, and Brazilian billionaire and Bolsonaro-supporter Luciano Hang.”10.  Finally, you might have heard that Amazon is shutting down the “Just Walk Out” technology at its grocery stores. This technology supposedly relied on an entirely automated system of cameras and sensors to track what people picked up at the stores and charge that to their Amazon accounts. Yet, Gizmodo reports “Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.” This genre of story has become all too common – companies trumpeting ‘automation' when in fact all they're doing is outsourcing with extra steps. Just another reminder to remain skeptical of claims by big corporations. Often flashy new tech is just a smokescreen for regular old labor exploitation.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Humane's AI pin has arrived! Apple is expanding repair options with support for used genuine parts. The FCC is rolling out 'Consumer Broadband Labels'. And former CEO Marissa Mayer has a new photo app called Sunshine, powered by AI. Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch joins Mikah to talk about Humane's AI Pin, now available for purchase, along with a slew of reviews and hands-on with the device. Mikah Sargent discusses Apple's announcement of expanding repair options for its devices, including support for used genuine Apple parts. Kyle Barr of Gizmodo stops by to discuss the FCC's rollout of 'Consumer Broadband Labels' and where you might be able to find them listed with ISPs. Finally, Reed Albergotti of Semafor chats about Sunshine, the AI-powered photo app started by former CEO Marissa Mayer. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling Guests: Kyle Barr and Reed Albergotti Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: wix.com/studio mylio.com/TWIT25

Humane's AI pin has arrived! Apple is expanding repair options with support for used genuine parts. The FCC is rolling out 'Consumer Broadband Labels'. And former CEO Marissa Mayer has a new photo app called Sunshine, powered by AI. Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch joins Mikah to talk about Humane's AI Pin, now available for purchase, along with a slew of reviews and hands-on with the device. Mikah Sargent discusses Apple's announcement of expanding repair options for its devices, including support for used genuine Apple parts. Kyle Barr of Gizmodo stops by to discuss the FCC's rollout of 'Consumer Broadband Labels' and where you might be able to find them listed with ISPs. Finally, Reed Albergotti of Semafor chats about Sunshine, the AI-powered photo app started by former CEO Marissa Mayer. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling Guests: Kyle Barr and Reed Albergotti Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: wix.com/studio mylio.com/TWIT25

Anime seems to be just about everywhere these days: film, music videos, the NFL and big streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. “Anime is colossal. In terms of raw revenue, anime and the NLF are tied at about $20 billion in [annual global] revenue,” said Chris Plante, editor in chief and co-founder of Polygon at Vox Media. “When you think of anime, it can be seen as niche, but the reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth.” On the show today, Plante explains anime economics, what's behind the rise of anime in the United States and some of the problematic aspects of the medium. Later, we'll discuss how climate change is impacting cherry blossom season and why the commercial real estate crisis could be a big problem for regional banks. Later, one listener calls in on a landline about landlines. And, this week's answer to the Make Me Smart question comes from a digital illustrator based in Long Beach, California. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Who watches anime? Polygon surveyed more than 4,000 people to find out” from Polygon “Anime Market to Reach USD 62.7 Billion by 2032” from Yahoo Finance “Anime Is Booming. So Why Are Animators Living in Poverty?” from The New York Times “Sony Jacks Up Prices for Crunchyroll and Kills Funimation” from Gizmodo “From Niche To Mainstream: The Unstoppable Global Popularity Of Anime And How It Happened” from BuzzFeed “Streaming and covid-19 have entrenched anime's global popularity” from The Economist “Naruto Movie in the Works With Destin Daniel Cretton” from The Hollywood Reporter “Cherry blossom forecast: We predict peak bloom in D.C. around March 21” from The Washington Post “Early jacaranda bloom sparks debate about climate change in Mexico” from Reuters “Commercial Real Estate Market Plunge Has Lenders Facing a Brutal Reality” from Bloomberg “Comic: Tienes economic anxiety? Artist Julio Salgado reflects on changes in creative industries” from the Los Angeles Times Are you a fan of anime? Tell us about your favorite anime series! Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Anime seems to be just about everywhere these days: film, music videos, the NFL and big streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. “Anime is colossal. In terms of raw revenue, anime and the NLF are tied at about $20 billion in [annual global] revenue,” said Chris Plante, editor in chief and co-founder of Polygon at Vox Media. “When you think of anime, it can be seen as niche, but the reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth.” On the show today, Plante explains anime economics, what's behind the rise of anime in the United States and some of the problematic aspects of the medium. Later, we'll discuss how climate change is impacting cherry blossom season and why the commercial real estate crisis could be a big problem for regional banks. Later, one listener calls in on a landline about landlines. And, this week's answer to the Make Me Smart question comes from a digital illustrator based in Long Beach, California. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Who watches anime? Polygon surveyed more than 4,000 people to find out” from Polygon “Anime Market to Reach USD 62.7 Billion by 2032” from Yahoo Finance “Anime Is Booming. So Why Are Animators Living in Poverty?” from The New York Times “Sony Jacks Up Prices for Crunchyroll and Kills Funimation” from Gizmodo “From Niche To Mainstream: The Unstoppable Global Popularity Of Anime And How It Happened” from BuzzFeed “Streaming and covid-19 have entrenched anime's global popularity” from The Economist “Naruto Movie in the Works With Destin Daniel Cretton” from The Hollywood Reporter “Cherry blossom forecast: We predict peak bloom in D.C. around March 21” from The Washington Post “Early jacaranda bloom sparks debate about climate change in Mexico” from Reuters “Commercial Real Estate Market Plunge Has Lenders Facing a Brutal Reality” from Bloomberg “Comic: Tienes economic anxiety? Artist Julio Salgado reflects on changes in creative industries” from the Los Angeles Times Are you a fan of anime? Tell us about your favorite anime series! Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Anime seems to be just about everywhere these days: film, music videos, the NFL and big streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. “Anime is colossal. In terms of raw revenue, anime and the NLF are tied at about $20 billion in [annual global] revenue,” said Chris Plante, editor in chief and co-founder of Polygon at Vox Media. “When you think of anime, it can be seen as niche, but the reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth.” On the show today, Plante explains anime economics, what's behind the rise of anime in the United States and some of the problematic aspects of the medium. Later, we'll discuss how climate change is impacting cherry blossom season and why the commercial real estate crisis could be a big problem for regional banks. Later, one listener calls in on a landline about landlines. And, this week's answer to the Make Me Smart question comes from a digital illustrator based in Long Beach, California. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Who watches anime? Polygon surveyed more than 4,000 people to find out” from Polygon “Anime Market to Reach USD 62.7 Billion by 2032” from Yahoo Finance “Anime Is Booming. So Why Are Animators Living in Poverty?” from The New York Times “Sony Jacks Up Prices for Crunchyroll and Kills Funimation” from Gizmodo “From Niche To Mainstream: The Unstoppable Global Popularity Of Anime And How It Happened” from BuzzFeed “Streaming and covid-19 have entrenched anime's global popularity” from The Economist “Naruto Movie in the Works With Destin Daniel Cretton” from The Hollywood Reporter “Cherry blossom forecast: We predict peak bloom in D.C. around March 21” from The Washington Post “Early jacaranda bloom sparks debate about climate change in Mexico” from Reuters “Commercial Real Estate Market Plunge Has Lenders Facing a Brutal Reality” from Bloomberg “Comic: Tienes economic anxiety? Artist Julio Salgado reflects on changes in creative industries” from the Los Angeles Times Are you a fan of anime? Tell us about your favorite anime series! Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Shannon's guest for this week's episode is Sam Yo! Sam Yo, is a Peloton instructor, speaker, ex-monk, and actor who has been featured on BroadwayWorld, People, Stylist, Today, and Gizmodo to name a few.  Show notes and more episodes at Brucelee.com/Podcast