Wednesday 8th May 2024

The Hazards of Putting Ethics on Autopilot

The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.

The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.

The generative AI boom is unleashing its minions. Enterprise software vendors have rolled out legions of automated assistants that use large language model (LLM) technology, such as ChatGPT, to offer users helpful suggestions or to execute simple tasks. These so-called copilots and chatbots can increase productivity and automate tedious manual work. But if they are not thoughtfully implemented, they risk diminishing employees’ decision-making competency, especially when ethics are at stake.

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A Simple Chemical Reaction May Have Wiped Out Venus's Once Watery Clouds

A recent study suggests that weird chemistry in Venus's upper atmosphere may explain why the once-steamy planet has so little water today.

Venus used to be a lush, watery world like Earth, until a runaway greenhouse effect dried up its surface, leaving the planet shrouded by steamy clouds that used to be seas. Today, most of that steam is also gone, leaving behind sulfuric acid clouds that contain only microscopic traces of water. Learning exactly how Venus lost all its water could be the key to understanding how the planet became the hellscape it is today, and whether life, in some form, might have had a chance to adapt and survive in the airborne desert of the acid clouds.

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'Attack of the Clones' Has the Best Opening Scene of the Prequel Trilogy

If there's one thing Star Wars' Prequel Trilogy lacks, it's atmosphere. This is partly due to the trilogy's overreliance on bland digital effects, most of which have aged poorly and make it difficult to ever become fully immersed in its glossy, pre-Fall of the Republic era. There are, however, moments of graphic beauty littered throughout the Prequel Trilogy, including the opening scene of 2002's Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.

The film opens with Senator Padmé Amidala's (Natalie Portman) ship arriving on Coruscant — the planet's metropolitan lights reflecting off the vessel's silver surface as it approaches. Director George Lucas then shows Padmé's ship soaring above the clouds of Coruscant and past the tops of its tallest skyscrapers before descending into the fog that awaits below. It's a sequence ripe with mood and eerie tension, the latter of which explosively paid off when Padmé's ship is bombed in an assassination attempt that claims the life of her decoy, Cordé (Veronica Segura).

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The 50 Best Sci-Fi Horror Movies, Casually Ranked

The line between science fiction and horror is not always clear-cut. It is, after all, all too common for a sci-fi plot to reveal a horror of our own making (“I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that”) or the frightening limitations of our understanding — like the unpacking of an alien language in Arrival (“We don’t know if they understand the difference between a weapon and a tool!”).

But for science fiction to be considered real horror, it needs to do more than just shed light on the science-based terror that is existence — it needs to give us a nice big dose of Hollywood-sanctioned danger. Whether it’s a jump-scare or five, some oozing body horror, or even a classic chase scene, when a sci-fi movie embraces tried-and-true horror devices, the resulting thrill is one no other subgenre can match.

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Could Bird Flu Finally Destroy Dairy Milk's Bygone Health Halo?

Nobody seems to be crying over how far milk has fallen. Once considered a beacon of health, dairy milk now contends with abundant plant-based milks that offer a similar creamy taste and a hearty dose of vitamins and minerals. On top of that, cow’s milk in the United States is now at the center of a highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, outbreak.

Often fatal in poultry, bird flu was first detected by state and federal officials in dairy cows in March. The Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture have maintained that the country’s dairy supply is safe, even in light of the announcement that one in five milk samples from grocery store shelves contained genetic traces of the virus. However, they emphasize that pasteurization — the process of rapidly heating and cooling milk to kill bacteria — is effective in inactivating bird flu. The FDA strongly advises against consuming and selling raw, unpasteurized milk.

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Google's New $499 Pixel 8a Has a Fingerprint-Resistant Design

In exactly one week, on May 14, Google will host its annual I/O developer conference to talk — you guessed it — all about AI. So instead of squeezing in hardware announcements during what will surely be a jam-packed keynote touting the wonders of generative AI and how it’ll transform our lives through Google services, we’re getting the new Pixel 8a debut early.

The Pixel 8a has no surprises, except maybe the green “Aloe” colorway. As an A-series Pixel phone, it comes with a more affordable price, starting at $499, compared to the Pixel 8 (starting at $699) and Pixel 8 Pro (starting at $999).

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The Decade's Most Innovative Thriller Franchise Could Spawn a Creepy Cinematic Universe

Ti West’s collaboration with Mia Goth continues to bear fruit. After delivering back-to-back slashers with X and Pearl, the director and actress are teaming up for yet another thriller. This year’s MaXXXine will bring the X saga to the ‘80s; just as X itself spliced the gore of Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the pulp of ‘70s adult film, its sequel will bring neon-drenched paranoia back to the noir.

MaXXXine takes place roughly six years after X and follows Goth’s final girl, Maxine Minx, as she tries to break into Hollywood. Since we last saw her, Maxine has peaked in Hollywood’s adult film industry and is looking to make “real movies,” starting with a studio horror: The Puritan II.

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Apple Gives New iPad Air a 13-Inch Display and Doubles the Base Storage

At its “Let Loose” virtual event, Apple upgraded the iPad Air lineup with the first-ever 13-inch model, along with a refresh to the classic 11-inch size. It’s been a long time coming for an iPad Air refresh since the last models were released more than two years ago. Now with the availability of a more affordable 13-inch model, Apple customers aren’t forced to shell out more for an iPad Pro if they want a bigger display.

Apple also proved it’s listening to its customers: the base iPad Air starts at 128GB, compared to the previous base model’s 64GB starting storage. When you add up the larger display, the better storage options, and the upgrades throughout, the latest iPad Air feels like a much better value, starting price of $599.

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Marvel's New Release Plan Proves It Learned the Wrong Lessons From Its Streaming Experiment

Marvel is very aware of “superhero fatigue,” the persistent term referring to the exhaustion fans have about the onslaught of comic book movies and TV shows. For years, executives have teased the future of the franchise lies in focusing on “quality over quantity,” and while that means more care and focus poured into fewer projects, it does mean that many ideas won’t see the light of day.

But in a recent earnings call, Disney CEO revealed in hard numbers what “quality over quantity” means, and while the movie slate seems to be on track, the TV series scale-down proves the best parts of Marvel television have been completely overlooked.

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Xbox Paradoxically Shuts Down The Studio Behind Its Best Exclusive in Years

Microsoft has announced another round of layoffs, this time shutting down three studios in the process: Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and Alpha Dog Studios. A fourth studio, Roundhouse Games, is being folded into Zenimax Online Studios to support development of The Elder Scrolls Online.

Last year Tango released the critically-acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush, the most vibrant and stand-out exclusive Xbox had seen in years. Take one look at the Tango Gamework’s X account, and you’ll see the last two posts are winning a BAFTA for best animation last month, followed by the announcement of the closure. It’s a grim reminder of the reality of massive multi-billion dollar acquisitions, and the state of the video game industry. If the studio that made a multi-award winning exclusive for Xbox gets shut down, what vision is the company even serving?

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