Last year, we announced the evolution of the device inventory view in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. The revamped device inventory view gave SOC analysts visibility into all discovered devices, counts and functional features (such as, search) that enhanced the overall user experience. To build on top of this work, we are expanding our device discovery capabilities through our existing network telemetry and RiskIQ integration. We’re thrilled to announce the ability to discover internet-facing devices is now in public preview.

 

Threat actors are constantly scanning the internet to identify exposed devices, whether it’s part of an opportunistic malicious activity or a wider targeted campaign. These devices serve as highly accessible entry points to an organization’s environment. Mapping your organization’s external attack surface is a key part of security posture management. However, security teams are faced with the challenges of identifying and prioritizing exposed devices to address the greatest threats on their most critical devices.

 

To help organizations extend their threat protection across internet-facing devices, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint will automatically map and flag onboarded devices that are exposed to the internet in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, providing more context to security teams and deeper insights into device exploitability.  By providing a view into internet-facing devices, security teams can better prioritize alerts, recommendations and incidents as internet-facing devices oftentimes become an adversary's entry point into the corporate network.  

 

New capabilities to map internet-facing devices

Mapping internet-facing devices is often challenging since there is not a single indicator or logic used to determine that a device is accessible from the internet. With many organizations using public IP ranges, numerous data sources, and classification logics to cross-reference their devices, these varying methodologies make it more difficult for admins to gather the visibility and verify the accuracy of the insights generated across their digital estate. With the new capabilities in Microsoft 365 Defender, we can leverage our existing Microsoft Defender for Endpoint telemetries and integration with RiskIQ to map internet-facing devices through a standardized approach that helps gather these insights with precision and less manual effort.

 

Integration with RiskIQ

RiskIQ has catalogued the services, applications, and devices exposed on the IPv4 Internet. By leveraging the integration within Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, administrators are able to identify the exact devices that are internet facing. In addition to gaining visibility into internet-facing devices, the RiskIQ integration works hand-in-hand with Defender for Endpoint’s network traffic parsing capability, to provide concrete evidence of network exposures through the obscured view of the NAT.

 

Relying on Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Signals

The device network connections captured as part of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint signals help to identify internet-facing devices. Using this information, we can identify which external, incoming connections indicate a machine to be facing the internet.

 

To identify the external IPs that are communicating with internal devices, we need to determine which subnets are part of the corporate network. We can see subnets for machines that are protected by Defender for Endpoint. This information helps to determine whether a connection captured by Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is internal, or external.

 

Let’s take a look at the user experience

 The classified internet-facing devices will appear with the corresponding tag in the device inventory and will also be available via Advanced Hunting.

 

 

 

Notice how the internet-facing devices which were publicly scanned and masked behind the NAT configuration, can now be observed as part of the below query results.

 

 

 

Figure 2 - Querying for internet facing devices via Advanced Hunting

 

The device pane now shows the internet-facing properties:

 

 

Figure 3 - Device pane

 

Try this for yourself by using this example query which returns the latest results on internet-facing devices:

 

 

DeviceInfo 
| where Timestamp > ago(7d) 
| where IsInternetFacing 
| extend InternetFacingInfo = AdditionalFields 
| extend InternetFacingReason = extractjson("$.InternetFacingReason", InternetFacingInfo, typeof(string)), InternetFacingLocalPort = extractjson("$.InternetFacingLocalPort", InternetFacingInfo, typeof(int)), InternetFacingScannedPublicPort = extractjson("$.InternetFacingScannedPublicPort", InternetFacingInfo, typeof(int)), InternetFacingScannedPublicIp = extractjson("$.InternetFacingScannedPublicIp", InternetFacingInfo, typeof(string)), InternetFacingLocalIp = extractjson("$.InternetFacingLocalIp", InternetFacingInfo, typeof(string)), InternetFacingTransportProtocol=extractjson("$.InternetFacingTransportProtocol", InternetFacingInfo, typeof(string)), InternetFacingLastSeen = extractjson("$.InternetFacingLastSeen", InternetFacingInfo, typeof(datetime)) 
| summarize arg_max(Timestamp, *) by DeviceId

 

 

The results here will provide streamed instances of the internet-facing devices with their aggregated evidence in the “AdditionalFields” column.

 

For example:

InternetFacingLastSeen – last time the device was updated as internet facing.

InternetFacingReason – the detection method used to identify internet facing.

InternetFacingPublicScannedIp – what the external address is, in case NAT was detected.

 

Resources

For those looking to learn more about device discovery, here are some additional resources you can explore.

1. Learn more about Investigating internet-facing devices
2. Learn more about Microsoft Defender Device Discovery
3. Learn more about Network Device Discovery

This article contains spoilers for "Barry" season 4 episode 1. "Barry" just entered its final season, and it's going out with a bang. A lot of mysteries still loom in the air and almost every character is floating, with their every attempt to reach out to one another thwarted at every turn. Will Barry make it out of prison? Will the other shoe drop for Cousineau? Will NoHo Hank make it out of season 4 alive? So much happens in the season premiere that one suspenseful moment almost slips through the cracks. When NoHo Hank calls Barry's phone, someone else picks up. Who is it, and how do they have it?

The most natural conclusion would be that the police have it. Barry is in prison for murder, so it's only natural that a branch of the police would take possession of his phone. Barry's ex-mentor/tormentor, Fuches, strikes a deal with the FBI to help take down Berkman. He reveals that his old partner-in-crime has connections to organized crime, which would incentivize the government to pry information about the gangs he worked with from his phone and anyone that tries to contact him.

Even though the feds are probably the ones who have Barry's phone, it might have fallen into civilian hands before it made its way to the police. The serial killer was finally cornered in season 3 for the murder of police officer Janice Moss by an unlikely duo — Barry's acting teacher and Janice's boyfriend, Gene Cousineau, and the late officer's father, Jim Moss. Gene and Jim both meddled in Barry's case for their own reasons — Gene wanted to blackmail Barry and then conceal this blackmail from Jim, while Jim just wanted plain old revenge. Could either of them be the one on the other end of Barry's phone?

Is Jim Moss Doing More Vigilante Work?

Jim Moss took on Barry's arrest as his own personal vigilante mission. Like Barry, Jim is a veteran who has seen combat, making him a perfect foil for Barry — Moss has bent the inescapable violence in his life into serving justice, while Berkman uses it to commit unspeakable crimes.

Janice's father clearly didn't trust the police to solve his daughter's murder, and rightfully so. If he couldn't trust the cops to catch Barry, why would he trust them to keep him prisoner? Might he be screening the hitman's calls himself to see if anyone else was involved in Janice's death or other killings? Or maybe he's trying to intercept any potential plans to break his daughter's murderer out of jail?

It's an interesting theory, but it just doesn't sound like Jim is on the other end of the line with NoHo Hank. Moss has a distinctly deep voice that doesn't match the one that claims to be Barry. It's possible that Moss was using a voice modulator or had hired someone to pretend to be Barry, but that seems a bit far-fetched. However, Jim wasn't the only one that knew Barry was guilty before he was handed to the police — and he wasn't the only one with an agenda, either.

Could It Be A Cousineau On The Other End Of The Line?

Gene Cousineau, Barry's former acting teacher, might have had his own reasons for holding onto Barry's phone. Maybe he wanted to see if someone else would get in touch about Barry so that he could use it to tell the story. Or, in an unexpected stroke of genius, perhaps he wanted additional leverage with the police in case they found him guilty of accepting money from Barry to keep quiet about Janice's murder.

Like Jim, Gene has a fairly distinct voice, and it doesn't sound like him on the other end of the line. However, Gene also has an adult son, Leo, who knew about Barry before his father turned him into the police. It's possible that Leo got a hold of Barry's phone, either with or without Gene's knowledge, and held onto it as collateral. Maybe he wanted to protect his father, or maybe he sought to take him down with the help of one of Barry's dangerous contacts. Leo has a complicated relationship with his father, but he is ultimately a kind-hearted guy, so it's hard to see him pulling such a duplicitous move.

If Leo got his hands on Barry's phone, it's possible that it landed in the hands of an even more unlikely suspect — Gene's grandson. He wouldn't have anything to gain from getting involved in the case, but the morbid curiosity of a young teenager might just be enough of a motive in itself.

The Journalist Might Be Pulling The Strings

There's one final suspect for the person that impersonates Barry over the phone, and he just might be the dark horse of the season. Against his lawyer's wishes and Jim's advisement, Gene spills his guts to a reporter for Vanity Fair journalist, Lon Oneil. Lon might seem unsuspecting, but he could have an ace up his sleeve. As a true crime reporter, it's possible that he fancies himself a vigilante detective like Jim. Maybe he managed to bribe an officer into letting him field Barry's incoming phone calls. Only time will tell if Lon is secretly an evil (crime-solving) genius.

Even though it's possible that the police were bribed into giving away Barry's phone, or failed to collect it with the rest of their evidence, it's most likely that the cell found its way into police custody along with its murderous owner. The person on the other end of the line was probably one of the federal agents that were alerted to Barry's organized crime connections by Fuches. After Barry starts working with the feds and has admitted to having contacts in gangs, his phone becomes all the more valuable.

It might seem like a tragically simple answer to a potentially exciting mystery, but this also opens up a lot of new dramatic questions for the series. Even if NoHo Hank was only on the line for a minute, is it possible that the FBI was able to trace him? Could it be that the feds are already on his tail? If they are, he better hope his hit on Barry is a success, because otherwise, Hank might have to get out of the dodge — and fast. 

Read this next: The 18 Best Crime Dramas In TV History

The post Barry Season 4's Mysterious Phone Call Sets Up a New Mystery — Let's Investigate appeared first on /Film.

"Star Wars" is full of memorable and instantly recognizable villains. As relatable as the heroes are, it is the villains who often steal the show. Whether it's a Sith like Darth Vader or Darth Maul, or even a non-Force user like Boba Fett or Captain Phasma. Indeed, there is no shortage of great villains with distinct personalities in the "Star Wars" galaxy.

Then there's Moff Gideon, the main antagonist of the three seasons of "The Mandalorian" to date. When we first meet him, he is a combination of Grand Moff Tarkin and Grand Admiral Thrawn, a calculating but not entirely cold and detached Imperial officer who is ruthless, ambitious, and fairly successful in his work. He is also a psycho who wants to hurt Baby Yoda.

But after being defeated twice in the first two seasons, Gideon returned for the season three finale of "The Mandalorian," where he tried to eradicate the Mandalorians once and for all. The problem is that any sense of menace or threat he gave off is gone. Instead, Moff Gideon is just a massive dweeb that makes Kylo Ren and Syril Karn look cool by comparison.

He Is Just A Cosplayer

You remember Kylo Ren, right? Not the nuanced and conflicted villain of "The Last Jedi," who was disillusioned with the way his parents sent him off to boarding school cause they were scared of him, or who hated his uncle and master for trying to kill him rather than teach him to be good. No, Kylo Ren the collector of Darth Vader memorabilia, the dude who tried so hard to be the new Sith Lord that he even fashioned a little mask for himself despite not needing it to breathe -- something his grandfather would have found amusing, no doubt.

The Moff Gideon we see in the season 3 finale of "The Mandalorian" puts Kylo's hobbies to shame. First off, he appropriates Mandalorian culture and makes a beskar armor for himself, even boasting about the shiny new cosplay that he made adjustments to because he just knows how to work the metal better than the people who have used it for millennia.

Gideon doesn't stop there, he also adds highly unnecessary blinking buttons and a circuit panel to his beskar armor, mimicking Vader's chest plate (which he needed for, you know, breathing), as well as Maul-like horns to his helmet. This makes his obsession with gaining the Darksaber even dumber, because he did not want to prevent Mandalorians from rising up against the Empire, maybe he simply wanted a lightsaber to complete his Sith cosplay!

Gideon The Collector

Not only is Gideon a dork who likes to cosplay, but apparently the reason why he was doing horrible experiments on Grogu way back in season one was not to clone him, or even to help bring back Palpatine through Project Necromancer, but to make clones of his own egomaniac self. 

Granted, that is a good way of ensuring you (sort of) live forever, but Gideon has other things in mind. He specifically wanted Grogu to make Force-sensitive clones of himself. That's right, because dressing up as Vader isn't enough, Gideon was ensuring some version of himself could Force choke people like he always dreamed of.

And because this is grand dork Gideon we're talking about, he keeps his clones in pristine condition inside vacuum-sealed containers, freaking out when Din Djarin breaks the case, almost as if he was a kid who saved all his money from his newspaper round to buy the figures and is mad because they aren't worth as much outside of their original packaging.

"Star Wars" is a vast franchise with a place for all kinds of characters and villains, even dumb ones like Gideon. Maybe when Gideon inevitably returns he will start cosplaying as someone else, perhaps Captain Phasma.

Read this next: The Most Brutal Moments In The Star Wars Franchise, Ranked

The post The Mandalorian Season 3 Finale Proves Moff Gideon Is the Biggest Nerd appeared first on /Film.

If there was anything about "Renfield" worth getting excited for, it was Nicolas Cage playing Dracula. Though the movie sadly sucks, he's genuinely good. It's not even an out-there performance destined to be made into memes like the kind Cage has become infamous for. Cage is the only one in "Renfield" acting like he's in a horror movie and is thus the only one with a compelling screen presence. Frankly, I'd rather see a straightforward Dracula movie starring him than have him stuck in the confused schlock that is "Renfield."

Cage is the latest in a long line of silver-screen Draculas, so how does he stack up? Ranking Count Dracula performances can be difficult because different actors and storytellers interpret the character differently. Depending on the movie, he can be a hero or a villain. Is Dracula a foreign invader, a tragic romantic, or a bloodthirsty monster? Let's look at the different answers offered by decades' worth of movies and TV.

The Shadow Of Bela Lugosi

The defining Dracula performance is without a doubt Bela Lugosi's, originating with the 1931 Universal Horror "Dracula." Directed by Tod Browning, the film was made only three decades after Bram Stoker wrote the original novel. For the vast majority of Dracula's history, Lugosi has been what people picture when they envision the character.

Lugosi first played the Count on Broadway; he was a Romanian immigrant — born in Transylvania, no less — so his natural accent added authenticity. Lugosi's voice is smooth but never sleazy. Between that, his hungry smile, and his piercing eyes (which the film often literally spotlights), it's hard not to be hypnotized — and plenty of the audience was. Lugosi's sex symbol status went to his head, so much so it's believed to be one reason he turned down the part of Frankenstein's Monster.

Lugosi's performance is such a cultural fixture, and so subject to caricature, that it's hard to judge on its own terms. Take a moment and just think of all the bad "I vant to suck your blood" impressions you've heard from lesser actors. What remains striking is the way Lugosi melds scariness and sex appeal. The way he holds his clawed arm out is like a predator, both ravenous and lascivious. Subsequent Draculas would usually choose one side over the other.

The Romantics

Vampires are inherently sexual creatures; their way of biting their prey's neck is often conflated with a different kind of carnal penetration. Some "Dracula" adaptations understand this all too well and wind up so enamored with the Count, they make him more man than monster. Foremost is John Badham's 1979 "Dracula" starring Frank Langella.

Langella has said he resisted pressure to add the more violent aspects of Dracula to his performance — no bloodstains or fangs for this Count. Langella explained, "I just wanted to play what I believed was a lover, not a killer."

The result is the most human Dracula, one with a kind face and wide eyes. Unlike Lugosi, there's never a hint of insincerity in Langella's politeness or smile and he lacks the evil twinkle in his eye. When Dracula enters the Van Helsing household, he works the room like a gentleman. He does say the famous, "I never drink ... wine" line, but gone is any hint of him toying with his prey. In short, you'd never guess that Langella's Dracula is a bloodsucking fiend — which makes it all the scarier that he is.

Gary Oldman's Tragic Hero

My favorite Dracula film is the 1992 "Bram Stoker's Dracula," directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The Count is played by Gary Oldman, who is the most complete and multi-dimensional Dracula. Indeed, his appearance literally transforms over the course of the film; he goes from long-haired prince to old crone and back again.

This adaptation, otherwise rather faithful to the book, adds a prologue showing Dracula's mortal life as Vlad Tepes. After defeating an invasion by the Ottoman Empire, Vlad's enemies send false word to his bride Elisabeta (Winona Ryder) that her knight died in battle; she throws herself to her death. Outraged that this is his reward for defending Christendom, Vlad renounces God, vowing to rise again and do the Devil's work.

Oldman adopts a Romanian drawl when playing the Count. No matter whether he's acting scary or seductive, there's a ping of sadness in his voice. Then he meets Mina Murray, the reincarnation of Elisabeta (also played by Winona Ryder). In the novel, Dracula's wooing of Mina was simply a predator stalking his natural prey, but here it's a genuine and reciprocated romance. "Prince Vlad," says Mina, "I have crossed oceans of time to find you," one of the purest declarations of love I've ever heard, straight from the mouth of a blackhearted demon. 

When Dracula receives word that Mina has married Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves), he does something no previous onscreen Dracula had done; he cries, his face turning monstrous as tears of blood fall down it. Dracula is a man who cannot die yet is always stuck in the past.

Buffy's Dracula

"Buffy The Vampire Slayer" featured the Count as a guest villain in its season 5 premiere, aptly titled "Buffy vs. Dracula." This Dracula, played by German actor Rudolf Martin, has powers no other vampire in the series does; like in Stoker's novel, he can hypnotize his prey or shapeshift into mist, a bat, or a wolf. He puts the former skill to work on Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon), turning him into a new Renfield (complete with a craving for bugs).

Though unmistakenly a villain, Martin's Dracula feels influenced by Oldman's, from the flowing hair to the romantic bent. He's in Sunnydale to win the heart of the Slayer (Sarah Michelle Gellar), and thanks to his "dark, penetrating eyes," he just might succeed. The episode even does its own spin on a classic Dracula scene; he sneaks into a woman's bedroom at night and seduces her until she offers her neck for him to bite. Even Buffy's willpower isn't enough to resist.

With about 15 minutes of screentime, Martin's Dracula doesn't get enough focus to be one of the best — he's competing with some bona fide acting legends too. However, as a villain of the week in what's essentially a cover tribute, he gets the job done. And he is genuinely alluring, so you understand why he gets inside Buffy's head.

The Monsters

The runner-up to Legosi for the most famous Dracula actor is Sir Christopher Lee. He played the Count in Hammer Films' mid-20th century revival of the "Dracula" film series. Lee's Dracula was more a silent creature of the night; he let his physical presence define the role.

With a narrow 6'5 frame, Lee was often taller than his co-stars, which added to his menace. When Dracula stands still in perfectly shadowed frames, his cape engulfing his body, he looks more like a shadow than a person. Low-angle shots add to his already imposing height too.

Then, he starts to move, usually slowly backing his prey into a corner until he towers over them. Lee's stare is chilling and the lighting is always sure to let the shadows bring out his eyes. Take the terrifying close-up in the original "Horror of Dracula," where the Count bares his blood-soaked fangs with a hiss. With that one image, Lee's Dracula was more savage than Lugosi's ever was.

Lee's Dracula doesn't lack sexuality — take the scene in "Dracula: Prince of Darkness" when he bares his chest, draws blood from it, and almost makes female lead Diana (Suzanne Farmer) drink from the wound. Still, he's so spine-chillingly scary that fright overpowers desire. You can understand being ensnared by Christopher Lee's Dracula, yet you never forget that if you do, it'll be your end.

Nosferatu

In 1922, German filmmaker F.W. Murnau directed the silent film "Nosferatu," an authorized adaptation of "Dracula" with the character names changed: Max Shreck played the vampire, Count Orlok. Despite legal action from the Stoker estate, the now-century-old "Nosferatu" remains an influential vampire movie classic. It was even remade in 1979 by Werner Herzog, with the proper character names restored. Hutter was again Harker (Bruno Ganz), Ellen was again Lucy (Isabella Adjani), and Orlok was again Dracula (Klaus Kinski).

Despite being called Dracula, the character in Herzog's film keeps Shreck's look as Orlok; bald, grey-skinned, and with pointed ears. This makes him look far more monstrous than other Draculas, yet he's actually a pitiable character. Kinski's Dracula is the most pathetic one; his appearance isn't intended to make him look scarier but emphasize his distance from humanity. The film recreates the original moment of him invading Lucy's bedroom, but here it's because he's desperate for a connection with another person. Being a monster didn't devour this Nosferatu's soul, but chipped away at it.

Two Performances, Same Character

Not all Dracula performances are in live-action. The anime "Hellsing" (that "Renfield" wishes it was) stars Alucard, a tamed version of the Prince of Vampires who now serves the Church of England. Alucard is a monster — he'd be the first to admit it — it's just that he's been directed to fight even greater evils. That's the irony; "Hellsing" is the rare story where Dracula is the outright hero, yet it never downplays how vile he can be.

In the original Japanese, Alucard is voiced by Jouji Nakata, while in the English dub, Crispin Freeman filled in. The differences in their performances and vocal timbre are a further testament to how flexible the character Dracula is. Nakata's voice is older, calmer, and booming; Alucard sounds like a bemused immortal who never loses his cool. While Freeman has a baritone too, his mellifluous voice is younger and sexier, meaning his Alucard is more seductive than Nakata's. Both Alucards are scary, but while Freeman sounds crazy, Nakata always sounds totally in control. No matter the medium a story is told in or the language its performers speak, the power of Dracula shines through.

Where Does Cage Fall?

Nicolas Cage's Dracula definitely falls into the "monster" category. He's evil, no two ways about it, and doesn't bother with any pretense of politeness. He's rude, sadistic, and above all hungry. As a result, Cage is the least sexy Dracula next to Kinski — his trying to seduce Rebecca (Awkwafina) is his weakest moment.

The whole point of the film is to illustrate that Renfield (Nicolas Hoult) is in a toxic relationship with his master, so playing up Dracula's bad side makes sense. The portrayal also fits with Cage's inspiration for the role. "Renfield" is supposedly a sequel to the 1931 "Dracula" — an early black-and-white sequence even recreates Lugosi's introduction with Cage swapped in. However, Cage has said Christopher Lee is the Dracula he pulled the most from. Much like the diminishing returns of the Hammer Dracula sequels, the film doesn't do enough to service Cage's performance.

Christopher Lee had one of the most powerful voices ever bestowed upon a mortal man, yet Hammer's "Dracula" movies rarely let him speak. In "Horror of Dracula," his dialogue is all in the first scene where he meets Harker (John Van Eyssen). He's a perfect gentleman which makes his silence all the more striking. According to Lee, he wished to perform Stoker's dialogue but was often dismissed by the studio. So, he just said nothing at all.

Cage honors Lee's Dracula legacy by elevating a thin villain with pure menace. If only "Renfield" let him be as scary as he's capable of being, then he might be one of the greatest onscreen Draculas. As it stands, he'll probably have to sit at the bottom of the top 10.

Read this next: The 30 Scariest Horror Movie Monsters Ranked

The post How Does Nicolas Cage's Dracula Measure Up? A Horrifying Investigation appeared first on /Film.

Sometimes it’s helpful to create a bootable clone of your Mac, such as for testing software or implementing system changes. Here's how to do it.

The post How to Create a Bootable Clone of Your Mac Running macOS Ventura appeared first on Rocket Yard.

The last couple of years have been difficult, with many organizations operating in a response mode. From a global pandemic to an economic downturn to increasing security risks, teams are under more pressure than ever to deliver greater cyber security and do more with less. 

This responsive approach has resulted in many organizations falling behind on long-term projects, with transformation projects losing funding and getting put on the shelf (understandably so). Yet it has now become clear that the fire-drill operations of the pandemic are not only here to stay but are accelerating and becoming more impactful. As you will read in more detail below, IT teams are becoming burned out, security attacks are increasing and employees are expecting more from their endpoints and IT as remote and hybrid work become the norm. The stakes are higher than ever before, and these trends will require a new approach. Addressing these challenges will require us to shift our focus from being responsive to truly transforming the user digital landscape through consolidation and automation.  

What if you could deliver a new security model that enables people to work how and where they want without jeopardizing their digital experience? What if you could free your IT and security teams to focus on more strategic items and reduce operational complexity? I want this blog post to trigger the most transformational project your team conducts this year; namely, setting your team’s vision for enabling the people in your organization with the best possible digital experience, complete with a first-class security model. This transformation will not be easy, but by following a central theme of simplification it can be achieved. Simplification of your endpoint management approach will enable more productive IT staff, better employee experiences, a better security posture and ultimately better business outcomes. It allows IT and security teams to move from complex to streamlined, from manual to automated, and also deliver significant financial benefits, which I discuss in the next section.  

The prize—consolidated, automated, and secure endpoint management

“Simplification” needs greater explanation if we are to understand the potential benefits.

In the short term, simplification means removing the challenges that come from having too many endpoint management tools. A recent survey showed that two-thirds of respondents were using more than 10 tools to manage and protect their endpoints.¹ This is understandable given the plethora of new dimensions administrators have had to face, from new mobile endpoints to hybrid work to bring your own device (BYOD). Yet 10 or more tools for endpoint management means potentially 10 panes of glass, 10 vendor contract renewal conversations, 10 different training sessions, and significant integration requirements—all which can contribute to disparate experiences for employees, too. Addressing endpoint scenarios with multiple point solutions to fill the gaps ultimately adds complexity and increases costs and security risks.

Consolidation has two financial benefits.

First, consolidation means more time. A Forrester study has estimated that by moving to a suite of endpoint tools (such as the Microsoft Intune Suite), technicians who manage endpoints could save at least 10 percent of their time per year in the first year of use, and, in some cases, even more.²

Second, consolidation delivers a single pane of glass, thus freeing up your staff’s time from the complexity of managing many unified endpoint management (UEM) solutions, from selecting the vendor to training and onboarding each incremental solution.  

The next, more exciting part of simplification is greater automation. As with the introduction of Microsoft Security Copilot, Microsoft is committed to increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of IT and security professionals. Consolidation is an important pre-requisite here: Automation yields better results when it pulls from a central pool of data, which requires consolidation.

What could automation deliver in terms of benefits?

First, automation will improve security. For example, by using best practice data automatically applied rather than manual processes, vulnerabilities caused by human error will be reduced. There were 106 publicly disclosed incidents in February 2023 accounting for 29.6 million breached records.³ Even a five percent reduction means almost 1.5 million fewer records would have been breached in that month alone.

Second, automation saves time for existing workers. There were about 4.7 million workers globally in cybersecurity at the end of 2022.⁴ Roughly speaking, if the industry saved even five percent of the approximately 9.4 billion hours of work done by those workers, that’s 470 million hours per year saved through automation. It’s time to help IT admins refocus on the strategic, not the tactical elements of security.

So, simplification is not just a buzzword. It requires consolidation to then deliver automation, and it can deliver benefits both in terms of saved time for your staff and better security for your organization.

The five-step process to simplify endpoint management

Simplifying your endpoint management is a process, not a single event. I would identify five separate steps:

1. Refine the vision and create a plan. In this stage, work with a small team to paint a picture of the future and build buy-in to the journey. To do this, identify the key stakeholders that will benefit from the simplification, and what they need. Gain a deep understanding of their existing tool sets, processes, and, most importantly, the problems they need to solve. Bring outside experts in to talk about the journeys they have taken or plan to take. And get your team comfortable with the idea of change: Some IT admins and specialists may have invested time and effort in learning previously cutting-edge tools that you are planning to upgrade. Be cautious not to fall into the trap of replicating previous solutions with traditional approaches; instead, focus on the problem and how to best solve with a modern approach. Help the broader team get excited about the new direction, and see the benefit of evangelizing change, not blocking it.
2. Consolidate endpoint management tools to drive more efficiency for IT and security operations teams, delivering a more unified employee experience. To make space for new initiatives, it helps to stop doing things that unnecessarily add to your team’s workload. So, freeing up your team’s time by reducing the number of endpoint tools they have to oversee and manage will help you move towards more strategic automation. Execute against an incremental plan that shows progress along the way and puts points on the board as you go. Pick an on-ramp to get started—Windows 11 is a great opportunity to move to cloud-native Windows management; Microsoft 365 has powerful new security protections to mitigate against modern threats; and Mac and Linux devices are now ready to be brought under management with a modern cloud-native approach. These are all great on-ramps that will help progress your endpoint management consolidation journey. Most importantly, show progress and build confidence as you go.
3. Create tight integration between your management, security, and help desk tools to drive further simplification. Simplification does not end with consolidation of your endpoint management tooling. Automate key processes such as procurement, help desk experience, software and hardware asset management, and vulnerability management by tightly integrating your management tool with your help desk and security tooling. By connecting your management tooling data directly to your help desk tool, you can simplify further with a management-powered remote help experience. Streamline your spend analysis and asset management by integrating management endpoint analytics and your service management tool. Bring your IT and security teams together by integrating Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to automate patching and vulnerability remediation. Connecting these assets will drive further simplification with broader process automation.
4. Make use of your data. Data is a powerful asset that is often underutilized. By simplifying and consolidating your endpoint approach you will have access to new data that can be used to understand your endpoint landscape end-to-end. Your journey to data consolidation will likely be incremental as well. Start with visibility. With endpoint analytics, gain visibility into your device estate to understand how users are interacting with your digital services. Leverage this data to understand further best practices and your areas of opportunity. Use this data to help define your incremental consolidation plan. With this data foundation in place, you can begin to explore how to best use generative AI. Begin identifying scenarios where AI can help you better understand your environment, including trends, best practices, and simplified troubleshooting.  
5. Intelligently automate your common endpoint and security tasks. By bringing together rich data, advanced endpoint management capabilities, and dynamic orchestration, you can now radically transform your approach to delivering IT services and increasing security through rich and extensible automation. With turnkey in-product functionality, you can move away from complex scripting workloads and instead focus on creation of simplified workflows to handle cumbersome administrative tasks. Intelligent orchestration can elevate the employee lifecycle experience, optimize license or hardware spend, and increase your security posture in a world that is rapidly changing—with intelligent automation you can embrace the complexity of modern IT challenges and unlock the simplicity within.

What’s next?

So, how do you take the first step? I would encourage you to get your team together and discuss the general direction you want to take. Focus on the destination, not the steps at this point. Every vision will be slightly different based on your company’s situation. For example, in what order would you consolidate your endpoint tools, given your current resourcing and licensing contracts? How would you introduce a consolidated suite of endpoint tools? And who else do you need to work with in other departments to sell the investment rationale?

And I encourage you to read more about the Microsoft Intune Suite and review the Intune roadmap to provide a better sense of how consolidation could progress. Finally, please experiment with advanced endpoint analytics in the Intune Suite to get a sense of what automation can do (even if it is just the tip of the iceberg for insights data and analytics).

It’s encouraging to be able to move our eyes toward the horizon again and think in timeframes longer than a week or a month. I invite you to seize the opportunity that creating a simplification-centric vision offers.

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and Twitter (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

---

¹Managing the Endpoint Vulnerability Gap, Enterprise Strategy Group. February 2023.

²New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact™ Of The Microsoft Intune Suite, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting. March 2023. Results are for a composite organization based on interviewed customers.

³Monthly Breach Report: March 2023 Edition, PKWARE. March 9, 2023.

⁴The cybersecurity talent shortage: The outlook for 2023, Sue Poremba. January 5, 2023.

The post Simplified endpoint management with Microsoft Intune Suite: Adopting a long-term approach with intelligence and automation appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

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From Cinedigm and Screambox comes the horror legend documentary HOLLYWOOD DREAMS & NIGHTMARES: THE ROBERT ENGLUND STORY. Check out the trailer below.

A classically trained actor and director, Robert Englund has become one of the most revolutionary horror icons of our generation. Throughout his career, Englund starred in many well-known movies, but shot to super-stardom with his portrayal of supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. This unique and intimate portrait captures the man behind the glove and features interviews with Englund and his wife Nancy, Lin Shaye, Eli Roth, Tony Todd, Heather Langenkamp, and more.

The film which was shot over the course of two years highlights the life and career of the classically trained actor and director.

The documentary follows Englund’s career from his early days in Buster and Billie and Stay Hungry (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) to his big break in the 1980s as Freddy Krueger to his directorial debut with the 1988 horror film 976-EVIL to his iconic acting status in current roles such as the hit TV series “Stranger Things.”

HOLLYWOOD DREAMS & NIGHTMARES: THE ROBERT ENGLUND STORY features Robert Englund, Nancy Englund, Eli Roth, Adam Green, Tony Todd, Lance Henriksen, Heather Langenkamp, Lin Shaye, Bill Moseley, Doug Bradley, and Kane Hodder

The documentary is directed by Gary Smart and Christopher Griffiths. It is written by Gary Smart and Neil Morris.

HOLLYWOOD DREAMS & NIGHTMARES: THE ROBERT ENGLUND STORY will be available on Screambox and Digital on June 6, 2023.

The post [News] Trailer for HOLLYWOOD DREAMS & NIGHTMARES: THE ROBERT ENGLUND STORY appeared first on Nightmarish Conjurings.

Just as Gates McFadden makes her triumphant return to Star Trek screens in Star Trek: Picard Season 3, the twisted doppelganger of her iconic character, Dr. Beverly Crusher, is appearing for the first time in Star Trek Online as part of the Refractions update! This Terran version of Dr. Crusher has never been voiced by Gates McFadden before, and she delivers a deep and dark performance in the quest to rescue her son, the Terran Emperor himself, before he can destroy both universes.

The last time McFadden and Wil Wheaton, who portrayed Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, shared a screen together as these characters was decades ago, in a deleted scene from Star Trek: Nemesis. Star Trek Online Design Lead, Al Rivera, worked closely with McFadden and Wheaton to craft a story that tells their twisted family backstory.

“One of the things we try to do with our stories is we try to end our story arcs, not with pew pew, and not with just murdering the bad guy. But we always like to end our stories in a very Starfleet way. How can you solve this problem, often a universe threatening problem, in a way that is becoming of Starfleet? In a peaceful way, in an emotional way. And so we said, how would you defeat Emperor Crusher, who has this traveler power as well as this merged power from V’ger? His mom.

“So his mother, both as a doctor and a scientist, and as a mother, could really connect with him. It was a logical choice to choose her. And Gates came in and, she’s a wonderful person. Her character is a beloved character, and I was so excited that we got to work with her while she’s coming back. And we see her again in Picard, and it’s so great to see her perform again. If we ever have an opportunity to bring her back again, I would really welcome it.”

“If we ever have an opportunity to bring her back again, I would really welcome it.”

For her part, McFadden stepped right back into the shoes of her previous character, something Rivera has come to expect: “What I find is that most of the actors have played these characters for years, they really know their characters, and they have no trouble turning it on. And sometimes it’s really uncanny how you’ll be talking to them in the recording studio, and talking to them like a normal person would talk. And then when they go into character it’s like flipping a switch, and all of a sudden you’re listening to an episode of Star Trek.”

We hope you enjoy the new update, Star Trek Online: Refractions, now live on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One! The game is completely free to play, and it’s free to access all of this story content. We aim to create the best place online to celebrate your Star Trek fandom, so come and join us if you can. Your Captain, your Trek story.

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"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" was a warm, exciting surprise addition to the "Star Trek" franchise, reintroducing fans to new versions of old favorites from the original series and telling the story of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). The first season was a total blast with a little something for every kind of "Star Trek" fan, and now the trailer for season 2 is here and it looks even better than the first. That's right, the Enterprise is back, bringing Pike, Una (Rebecca Romijn), Spock (Ethan Peck), and the rest of the courageous and charismatic crew. We already know about some of what we're going to see in season 2, like the "Star Trek: Lower Decks" crossover episode directed by Jonathan Frakes and an episode giving Ortegas the starring role, but the trailer gives us even more of an idea of what the upcoming season will hold. 

Part of what makes "Strange New Worlds" so great is its willingness to go boldly in a variety of directions, from shore-leave silliness and body swaps to horror-tinged episodes that feel more like Ridley Scott's "Alien" than any "Star Trek" we've seen before, and this trailer has just about every flavor of Trek imaginable. I wish we had time-travel tech now so I could jump to June already, because season 2 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" will premiere on June 15, 2023 on Paramount+. 

Our First Look At The New Engineer

Near the end of last season, Chief Engineer Hemmer (Bruce Horak) died in the line of duty, leaving an engineer-shaped hole in the crew of the Enterprise. Last autumn, the "Strange New Worlds" team revealed that the new Chief Engineer will be Pelia, played by the inimitable Carol Kane. Carol Kane joining Star Trek is pretty stinking cool, and fans might recognize her from roles in "The Princess Bride," "Dog Day Afternoon," and "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." Kane has both serious comedy and dramatic acting chops, which means she'll be a perfect fit for "Strange New Worlds." Hemmer will be deeply missed and we're all curious to see young Montgomery Scott (played by James Doohan in the original series), but Pelia looks like she'll be a lot of fun to spend time with in the meantime. 

Ortegas Pilots; Spock Doubts

As Pike's Number One, Una, gives a voiceover explaining the diversity of the crew of the Enterprise and why their differences make them stronger as a team, we see some quick shots around the ship, including one of Una talking to someone just offscreen. Una was arrested by the Federation at the end of last season for lying about her Illyrian heritage, which should ban her from Starfleet, but it looks like she'll be back without too much fuss. There's sure to be some repercussion for her deceit, but with Pike on her side, she should be able to make Starfleet understand why their ban of bio-engineered people in the fleet is bogus. 

We also get to see Ortegas doing some fancy piloting and shooting her way through an asteroid, while Spock looks extremely dubious that they're going to survive. It's the kind of fun moment that feels authentic to the original series where the crew play against one another, and Spock's concerned face alone makes me excited for the new season. 

Some Potential Pairings

When Ortegas blasts through the asteroid, a bouncy version of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" kicks in and we get to see a few more clips of various characters in all kinds of situations, and some of them are paired in ways that seem to hint they might have a romantic arc. The one that seems the most out of left field (but totally works in the trailer) is Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), who had a friendly relationship in season 1 that looks a bit more intense here. There's also a shot of Chapel and Spock, who had a potential romance teased throughout the first season, so who knows? 

This Effin' Guy

At the end of season 1, Captain Pike saw an alternate version of the future caused by his attempts to alter his own fate, and in that future was a version of James Tiberius Kirk (Paul Wesley), but now it looks like we're going to get to meet the actual Jim Kirk! It was only a matter of time, given that Kirk will eventually take control of the Enterprise in ten years when Pike is the victim of a horrible accident that will nearly kill him and will destroy his ability to walk, talk, or really do much at all besides exist inside of a sort of futuristic iron lung, but it's kind of neat that we're getting to meet Kirk already in season 2. La'an (Christina Chong) seems a bit flustered when he arrives and tries to hide it, but Una comments on the whole thing and makes it just that much more awkward. Crewmates making one another uncomfortable by pointing out the obvious? Ahhh ... now that's what I call Star Trek.

Qapla'!

In the trailer, we see Spock sharing bloodwine and a toast with some Klingons, even giving his best version of a Klingon grunt, and it's a thing of beauty. The Klingons actually look like Klingons, too, not the TOS versions where they were pretty much human or the "Star Trek: Discovery" versions that I simply refuse to acknowledge. This is also still well before the Khitomer Accords that brought peace between the Federation and the Klingons, so Spock is potentially sharing a drink with the enemy, which makes this quick moment all the more interesting. If we get to see Spock do a Klingon headbutt, I can die happy. 

Not All Fun And Games

It's not all celebrations and hijinks, however, as we also see what looks like the return of the mysterious, murderous Gorn, who terrorized the crew in season 1. Far from being the funny green guy that the original Kirk (William Shatner) battled on TV in the 1960s, the new Gorn are a lot more like the Xenomorphs of the "Alien" franchise, complete with parasitic reproduction and acid blood! La'an is the most experienced with the Gorn, having survived a Gorn attack when she was a child, but the rest of the crew got a chance to get up close and personal with the nasty extraterrestrials and learned that they're nothing to be trifled with. The Gorn killed Hemmer, for Spock's sake! Here's hoping they don't take out any other major characters in season 2 and we get another fun, horror-filled episode.

Make Ship Go

It also looks like Spock will take command of the Enterprise at some point this season, which means that both Una and Pike are elsewhere and cannot captain themselves. Ortegas and Uhura want to know what his catchphrase will be and he's very typically Spock about the whole thing, and the levity of the scene leads me to believe that Una and Pike aren't in terrible danger. There's a lot of little jokey stuff in the trailer that might not work for all fans, but it definitely harkens back to the banter of the original series and works because of this cast's chemistry. There are some very dark themes and plotlines in "Strange New Worlds," but the comedic moments help keep it feel balanced, and that's represented pretty well in the trailer. 

Starfleet's Future Greatest Captain Vs. 20th Century Technology

Captain Kirk cannot operate revolving doors. I repeat: Captain Kirk cannot operate revolving doors. In fact, instead of going all the way around and coming back through, he forces the door the wrong direction in order to get his way. If ever there was a more succinct way of summing up his whole stubborn, headstrong personality in one single moment, I sure haven't seen it. 

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 2 will premiere on June 15, 2023 exclusively on Paramount+.

Read this next: 20 Movies About Aliens That You Definitely Need To Watch

The post Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Trailer Breakdown: It's Time to Go Boldly and Have a Blast Doing It appeared first on /Film.

The mythology and chronology of the "Insidious" film series can be a little difficult to follow, and might require a careful walkthrough leading into the forthcoming "Insidious: The Red Door," due in theaters on July 7, 2023. 

In James Wan's 2011 original, a married couple named Josh and Renai (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) found their young son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) stalked by scary, supernatural forces. When Dalton falls into a coma, Josh and Renai call in a trio of paranormal investigators in the form of Elsie Rainier (Lin Shaye) and her two nerdy assistants, Specs and Tucker (screenwriter Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson). Elsie explains that Dalton has the ability to astrally project, sending his disembodied consciousness out into the world while he sleeps. Dalton, however, unwittingly sent his mind into a purgatorial afterlife realm called The Further (the italics are part of the film's established lore). While inside, Dalton attracted the ghosts that live there, and now they're eager to return with him. The ghosts are essentially drawn to Dalton's thoughts, making their presence, well, insidious. 

As it so happens, Elsie also knew Josh as a boy, and previously helped him deal with a similar ghostly/astral projection issue when he was being stalked by a wicked ghostly woman. Elsie used hypnosis to repress Josh's memories, lest he accidentally invoke further ghosts. She was ultimately unsuccessful, and a ghost, possessing Josh's body in 2011, kills her.

Josh's repressed memories are a vital part of 2013's "Insidious: Chapter 2," and seem to be the central crux of "The Red Door," a film that catches up with Josh, Renai, and Dalton in the present day. It's been a decade since their first haunting, and the timeline seems to be finally sorting itself out. Let's take a closer look at the newest trailer.

Behind The Red Door

Because Elsie died in the first film, Wan and Whannell had to find clever ways to bring back the film's most exciting character. Portions of "Chapter 2," as a result, take place in 1986, when Josh was a young boy. Thankfully, time has no meaning in The Further, allowing Josh to travel to his own past. "Insidious: Chapter 3," meanwhile, took place in 2007, a few years before the events of the first film, and told the story of how Elsie first began working with Specs and Tucker. "Insidious: The Last Key" ties events to the 1950s in flashbacks, but then fast-forwards to 2010, immediately before the events of the first film. 

"Insidious: The Red Door," directed by Patrick Wilson in his directorial debut, will be the first "Insidious" film since the original to take place in the modern day. 

As seen in the new trailer, both Josh and Dalton are struggling with repressed, sometimes-ghostly memories. Neither recalls anything about The Further or their unusual astral projection powers. An astute viewer will likely guess that "The Red Door" will be about how, even after a decade, The Further can still worm its way back into their minds, attracting the usual retinue of ghosts and demons. 

Dalton is now old enough to move away to art school (Simpkins is 21), and Renai suggests that Josh drive Dalton to college in an attempt to reconnect after a between-films alienation. It also seems that Dalton's creative process is intense enough to unlock deep wells of ghostliness in his mind, and his etchings will resurrect some familiar faces. Remember the Lipstick-Face Demon from the first film? He'll be back.

Tiptoe Through The Tulips

Elsie may have died a decade before the events of this film, but she will appear, seemingly on an old VHS cassette, to explain certain plot points. It may be a contrived way to resurrect the character, but one must accept any excuse to get Lin Shaye back on camera; her presence and charisma are appreciated. However, Specs and Tucker do not seem to appear in this film, which is a pity. 

Props to the music supervisor who selected the 1968 Tiny Tim novelty classic "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" to underscore the preview's scarier moments. Yes, it's a cliché to include lighthearted or upbeat pop music during a film's more harrowing horror scenes, but as this trailer proves, it can still be effective. Let's hope modern kids will discover the glories of Tiny Tim as a result. 

Another Familiar Face Returns

The demons and ghosts throughout the "Insidious" movies each seem to operate by slightly different rules. The monstrous Keyface from "The Last Key," for instance, kidnaps souls and locks them up in a spectral prison. The Man Who Can't Breathe from "Chapter 3" encourages people to take their own lives. The Lipstick Face Demon, meanwhile, is a devil keen on bodily possessing the living. Seeing as Lipstick was initially drawn by Dalton's mind, it stands to reason that it will return in "The Red Door" when Dalton's repressed memories resurface.

Even though "The Red Door" is set in the present, it appears to be looking back at the first film more heavily than any of the other sequels. In terms of "Insidious" homework, intimate familiarity with the series' byzantine timeline may not be as important as merely catching up with the 2011 original. This will be, as the chyrons say, about a family's secrets coming to light.

Read this next: 12 Underrated Slasher Movies You Need To Check Out

The post Insidious: The Red Door Trailer Breakdown: Back to the Further One Last Time appeared first on /Film.

An anonymous reader shares a report: You know that you're supposed to wipe your smartphone or laptop before you resell it or give it to your cousin. After all, there's a lot of valuable personal data on there that should stay in your control. Businesses and other institutions need to take the same approach, deleting their information from PCs, servers, and network equipment so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. At the RSA security conference in San Francisco next week, though, researchers from the security firm ESET will present findings showing that more than half of secondhand enterprise routers they bought for testing had been left completely intact by their previous owners. And the devices were brimming with network information, credentials, and confidential data about the institutions they had belonged to. The researchers bought 18 used routers in different models made by three mainstream vendors: Cisco, Fortinet, and Juniper Networks. Of those, nine were just as their owners had left them and fully accessible, while only five had been properly wiped. Two were encrypted, one was dead, and one was a mirror copy of another device. All nine of the unprotected devices contained credentials for the organization's VPN, credentials for another secure network communication service, or hashed root administrator passwords. And all of them included enough identifying data to determine who the previous owner or operator of the router had been. Eight of the nine unprotected devices included router-to-router authentication keys and information about how the router connected to specific applications used by the previous owner. Four devices exposed credentials for connecting to the networks of other organizations -- like trusted partners, collaborators, or other third parties. Three contained information about how an entity could connect as a third party to the previous owner's network. And two directly contained customer data.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

If your Wi-Fi isn't giving you excellent coverage with consistent and reliable speeds, you're missing out. Even one of the best Wi-Fi routers can struggle on its own if you have thick walls or a big house. Mesh systems can work around these obstacles with multiple nodes instead of having to use brute force in every direction.

Dead Island 2, the long-awaited sequel to 2011's Dead Island, is releasing later this week across PC and consoles. We now have the first comparison videos, showing the game running on last-gen consoles, current-gen consoles, and PC.

As most of you will know, the game has been long-overdue with it being delayed, and even canceled, at different development studios altogether. Luckily, we finally received a release date earlier this year. With this in mind, we didn't expect that Dambuster Studios' sequel would turn out decently enough, but as can be read in our review, we're quite pleased with Dead Island 2. "For being a game that has been in development hell for over ten years, Dead Island 2 turned out alright, thanks to the wacky atmosphere and characters, fun combat, and acceptable quest quality", Francesco de Meo wrote in his review.

But how does this game look and perform on the different platforms? What about the current-gen consoles versions versus the last-gen console versions, and how do console versions stack up against the PC version? YouTuber 'ElAnalistaDebits' put the game to the test on each platform and going by these comparisons, we're looking at a solidly optimized Unreal Engine 4 title across all platforms, despite offering some subpar reflections and lacking ray tracing.

We've included all three comparison videos below for you to check out with the first one being the PC vs current-gen consoles comparison video. The second video is the PlayStation comparison video, and the last comparison is the Xbox comparison.

On PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, Dead Island 2 runs in 1800p resolution at 60FPS, whereas the Xbox Series S version runs in 1080p at 60FPS. Meanwhile, the PC version runs in 4K resolution at 60FPS and benefits from slight visual improvements. Interestingly, there's only one display mode for all console versions.

As expected, the PS5 version benefits from enhanced visuals compared to its PS4 and PS4 Pro counterparts. Also, the old-gen PS4/PS4Pro versions run in 1080p and 1440p respectively at 'only' 30FPS. Despite some minor framerate drops on PS4/PS4 Pro, the old-gen PlayStation versions run pretty great and show impressive visuals.

What we wrote about the PlayStation 4 versions, also applies to the Xbox versions of Dead Island 2. There's a difference in resolution, however, on Xbox One as this version runs in 900p, whereas the base PS4 version runs in 1080p. Comparing the Xbox Series S version to the game running on Xbox Series X, we see somewhat lower texture resolutions on the Series S and the lack of dynamic shadows generated by light sources.

Dead Island 2 launches later this week on April 21 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.

NVIDIA has seen an impressive surge in its stock after HSBC upgraded the company's position due to the massive demand for its GPUs in AI.

NVIDIA AI GPUs Selling For 20 Times Higher Price Compared To Gaming GPUs, Stock Boosted By Rollercoaster Climb

HSBC has upgraded NVIDIA citing its strong position in the AI market and its highly capable line of chips that are accelerating the framework across multiple fields, reports Yahoo Finance. Currently, HSBC has raised the stock prices for NVIDIA (NVDA) from $175 per share to $355 per Share which is a 30% increase compared to what it was being traded at on Tuesday.

In a statement by HSBC's Head of Technology, Frank Lee, it is reported that while NVIDIA's Data Center revenue hasn't seen a significant climb over the last two quarters which can turn into an excess inventory situation, the demand for GPUs within the AI segment can offset the difference.

HSBC Head of Technology Frank Lee wrote in a note that he had concerns over Nvidia's declining data center revenue through the last two quarters as well as itsrising inventories. But he believes the pricing of A.I. chips counteracts those headwinds and changes the revenue model for Nvidia.

"In particular, we’re shocked by Nvidia’s pricing power on AI chips that we see driving earnings upside, higher valuation," Lee wrote.

via Yahoo Finance

Furthermore, the reason why the demand for GPUs in the AI segment can offset the difference is that these chips are being sold 10 to 20 times higher than the traditional gaming GeForce GPUs so the company doesn't have to push for increased sale volumes as each chip makes a huge return, reports HSBC Analysts.

The NVIDIA A100 and H100 accelerators can range in price from anywhere around $10,000 US and up to $40,000 US. Meanwhile, NVIDIA's top gaming GPU, the GeForce RTX 4090, starts at $1599 US and has also recently been selling below that.

NVIDIA is without a doubt the leader in the AI segment and it is reported that the green team will amount to 9% of the market share in AI by FY 2024. Although competitors such as Microsoft have started researching and putting vast amounts of money into their own chip design which will be launched in the coming years and target the same AI segment. But once again, NVIDIA has had its head start way ahead of its rivals.

“While the overall [total addressable market] of generative AI still remains difficult to forecast, Nvidia has the highest potential leverage from a hardware perspective,” Lee wrote.

Since the beta launch of ChatGPT in late November, investors have rewarded companies attaching themselves to the A.I. hype train and looked down on those that appear behind the eight ball.

via Yahoo Finance

More recently, Elon Must has started investing in a new AI project known as TruthGPT. Elon has hired engineers from Alphabet’s subsidiary, DeepMind, and already purchased around 10,000 GPUs to run a new AI project that involves a Large Language Model (LLM). While the report does not specify, the GPUs are likely to be NVIDIA’s A100 or H100 units. Rival, OpenAI's ChatGPT, also runs around 30,000 NVIDIA GPUs with more on the way.

NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, has called ChatGPT as one of the greatest things ever done for computing and called it the iPhone moment of AI. The Santa Clara-based GPU powerhouse saw a 40% boost in the company stock a few months ago thanks to the surging demand for its AI GPUs and also used the term "AI" 75 times in its previous earnings call.

Safe Security, a startup building technology to help organizations manage cyber risk, has secured a $50 million Series B funding round.

The post Investors Bet Big on Safe Security for Cyber Risk Management appeared first on SecurityWeek.

This article contains spoilers for the season 3 finale of "The Mandalorian."

Moff Gideon has been the villainous hand pulling the strings in every episode of the first three seasons of "The Mandalorian." His machinations set Din Djarin on his journey that brought him together with Grogu, it put him on a path of reuniting the Mandalorians, and they culminated in the season 3 finale -- wherein Gideon finally revealed his grand plan. He wanted to create an army of Moff Gideon clones, taking the best aspects of every being he could find and imbuing them with the Force. Then, he wanted to put them in beskar alloy armor modeled after the Mandalorians, making his army all but unstoppable.

Sadly (for him, that is), all of the wheels and gears Gideon turned in his plot only served to strengthen the Mandalorians he sought to eradicate. Ultimately, they were able to defeat him in a fiery explosion thanks to Axe Woves, who crashed a cruiser into Gideon's base on Mandalore and Gideon himself with it. But is this the last we've seen of Moff Gideon and, more especially, Giancarlo Esposito in "Star Wars"?

It's doubtful.

Beskar Super Armor

Moff Gideon spent years working on Death Troopers, the elite robotic storm troopers that were vital to his plans in the second season of "The Mandalorian." When he set up his secret base on Mandalore and combined their technology with the stolen Mandalorian beskar, he created a nearly impenetrable augmented suit for himself. Mandalorian armor can hold tight against the vacuum of space, it's fireproof, and it can even stop a lightsaber blade.

All we saw in the show's season 3 finale were the flames of the explosion from the downed cruiser consuming Moff Gideon. Was he obliterated? Was he annihilated completely? Or is it possible he could have escaped?

Remember, this is "Star Wars," a world where Darth Maul once survived his bisection and became a pivotal player in the future of the galaxy. With no body to speak of, Moff Gideon could have very well survived this explosion and may yet return to haunt the Mandalorians and Din Djarin another day.

The Clones

We finally got a good look at the clones that Moff Gideon was growing on Mandalore and they looked very much like him. He explained that he wanted to empower them with the Force and create a super-army composed of their ranks. Din Djarin may've destroyed the Gideon clone batch on Mandalore, but we've already seen other batches elsewhere in the context of "The Mandalorian." The first cloning containers we glimpsed were on Nevarro, in the secret Imperial installation there. We saw even more on Moff Gideon's cruiser. Are those the same ones Djarin demolished in the season 3 finale or are they still out there?

If the creatives behind "The Mandalorian" wanted to bring Giancarlo Esposito back as Moff Gideon, it wouldn't be a stretch to have him return in the form of a clone. With as meticulous a planner as Moff Gideon is, it's not unreasonable to assume he had many contingencies in place and didn't put all of his clone eggs in one -- or even three -- baskets, so to speak. 

Can you imagine how cool it would be to see multiple Moff Gideons running around, doing their best to destroy Mandalore and bring back the glory of the Empire? That would truly be a threat worthy of "Star Wars" and a brilliant acting challenge for one of the finest actors working today.

Have we seen the last of Moff Gideon?

I would doubt it.

"Star Wars: The Mandalorian" is streaming only on Disney+.

Read this next: 11 Villain Origin Stories We Want Next From The Star Wars Universe

The post Has The Mandalorian Seen The Last Of Moff Gideon? appeared first on /Film.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been out of the U.S. for a few days, as he has his peripheral vision set on India. The Chief Executive recently opened the first-ever Apple Store outlet in the country, and to say that the response was ecstatic would be a massive understatement. The CEO also received a massive surprise when a customer approached him with a vintage 1984 Macintosh SE computer during the official launch of the outlet.

Tim Cook greeted the Macintosh owner with disbelief; CEO later told him that he could not believe he had kept the computer with him for this long

In an interview with ANI News, Sajid Moinuddin said that he had been waiting in line since six in the morning outside of the Apple Store outlet in Mumbai, likely so he could show Tim Cook that he was in possession of the near 40-year-old machine. In the video below, Apple’s CEO was pleasantly surprised when he took a gander at the off-while colored enclosure and greeted Moinuddin.

When asked what Cook said to him after he saw the Macintosh SE, Moinuddin told ANI News that he could not believe the customer had kept this model with him for such a long time. Moinuddin claims to be an avid Apple enthusiast, stating that he has been using the company’s products since 1984. The customer also said that Cook was extremely humble and gracious, and looking at Moinuddin’s dedication for having to wait three hours, Cook signed the Macintosh computer.

On April 18, the CEO opened the gates of India’s first Apple Store at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, also known as BKC. Cook has intended to expand in this region for a long time, believing India to be a key market for Apple. The technology giant has previously opened up manufacturing facilities in the country, with Foxconn overseeing operations, which also granted employment to India’s workforce.

In 2020, Apple opened its first online store in India, and it plans to open a second physical outlet on Thursday at a mall in Delhi’s Saket. Apple originally planned to expand to India much sooner, but COVID-19 stalled those goals temporarily.

From China to the U.S. to the European Union, rice production is falling and driving up prices for more than 3.5 billion people across the globe, particularly in Asia-Pacific -- which consumes 90% of the world's rice. From a report: The global rice market is set to log its largest shortfall in two decades in 2023, according to Fitch Solutions. And a deficit of this magnitude for one of the world's most cultivated grains will hurt major importers, analysts told CNBC. "At the global level, the most evident impact of the global rice deficit has been, and still is, decade-high rice prices," Fitch Solutions' commodities analyst Charles Hart said. Rice prices are expected to remain notched around current highs until 2024, stated a report by Fitch Solutions Country Risk & Industry Research dated April 4. The price of rice averaged $17.30 per cwt through 2023 year-to-date, and will only ease to $14.50 per cwt in 2024, according to the report. Cwt is a unit of measurement for certain commodities such as rice. "Given that rice is the staple food commodity across multiple markets in Asia, prices are a major determinant of food price inflation and food security, particularly for the poorest households," Hart said. The global shortfall for 2022/2023 would come in at 8.7 million tonnes, the report forecast. That would mark the largest global rice deficit since 2003/2004, when the global rice markets generated a deficit of 18.6 million tonnes, said Hart. Further reading: There is a Global Rice Crisis.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Though I tend to keep an open mind with regards to gaming news, I have to admit, when I came into work this morning I didn’t expect that Postal 2, the sweary, gory, altogether crude FPS game from all the way back in 2003, would end up on my to-do pile. Then again, this is gaming - if you can make a shooter featuring Gary Coleman, exploding cats, and the ability to interactively deploy human waste fluids, there’s no reason that after two decades we shouldn’t get a new Postal 2 update, bringing the bad taste classic to Valve’s Steam Deck.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best PC FPS games, Best old games, Best Steam Deck games

Generative AI is a tool, which means it can be used by cybercriminals, too. Here’s how to protect yourself.

The latest version of MSI Afterburner has landed, bringing in stable support for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 & AMD Radeon RX 7900 GPUs.

The Latest Version of MSI Afterburner Is Now Available To Download With Various New Features, GPU Support & More

MSI Afterburner is without a doubt one of the most popular GPU diagnostic and tuning utilities out there. It's been widely used by enthusiasts and overclockers to fine-tune their GPUs for benchmark and other purposes.

The latest MSI Afterburner 4.6.5 version comes out several months after the previous update which was due to the developer not receiving funds in a timely fashion due to the Russia & Ukraine war. It was revealed by the developer of MSI's Afterburner utility, Alexey Nicolaychuk aka "Unwinder", over at Guru3D Forums, the project ran into a funding issue due to the ongoing war and the political turmoil in Russia. International banks have seized SWIFT operations in Russia & US (plus its allies) have proposed a tech ban on Russia.

We asked MSI for an update back in January and the company stated to us that they are keeping in touch with Unwinder and trying their best to figure out this issue. With this recent update, it looks like the payment issue might have been resolved and the developer has resumed his work on his Afterburner project for MSI.

MSI Afterburner v4.6.5 Download Link

It is definitely a big relief and great to hear that MSI Afterburner is now back in action again and the new stable update brings more than just support for the AMD Radeon RX 7900 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 GPUs as can be seen in the changelog below (via Guru3D):

MSI Afterburner Version 4.6.5

• Added NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40×0 series graphics cards support
• Added voltage control support for GA103 and GDDR6X-based versions of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
• Added AMD RADEON RX 7900 series graphics cards support
• Added total board power monitoring support for AMD RADEON RX 7900 series graphics cards
• Added some future AMD and NVIDIA GPU PCI DeviceIDs to the hardware database
• Added Intel Arc GPU support to the hardware monitoring module. Please take note that Intel Arc GPU overclocking and tuning is currently not supported due to Intel hardware control API support limitation to x64 applications only
• Added experimental support for Intel 13th generation CPUs
• Added experimental support for AMD Ryzen 7xxx CPUs
• CPU usage data sources in the hardware monitoring module have been switched to an alternate implementation based on NtQuerySystemInformation(SystemProcessorIdleInformation), because traditional legacy idle time reporting in NtQuerySystemInformation(SystemProcessorPerformanceInformation) is broken in current Windows 11 22H2 builds
• Added workaround for broken fixed fan speed programming API (Overdrive 5 compatible fallback path) for old Overdrive 7 GCN GPUs on 22.5.2 and newer AMD drivers
• Added config file switch for disabling native reliability voltage control API on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 9×0 series graphics cards and forcing legacy P-state 2.0 voltage control API usage on such hardware. Power users may use this switch to bypass the voltage control lock on NVIDIA Maxwell series graphics cards on release 515 and newer drivers families
• Improved correction formula parser with data format conversion, rounding, and min/max functions support
• Added OCMailbox-based bus clock frequency monitoring for Skylake and newer Intel CPUs. Unlike traditional legacy timestamp clock-based bus clock frequency estimations, OCMailbox provides support for overclocked BCLK monitoring. Please take note that access to OCMailbox is blocked by the design of OS when HVCI is enabled
• Improved SMART.dll monitoring plugin. Added temperature monitoring support for NVMe devices, including the secondary controller temperature for some Samsung NVMe drives
• The default clock frequency limit of the voltage/frequency curve editor window has been extended to 3.5GHz. Please take note that you may still customize the limits via the config file if necessary
• Update server location changed to new URL inside update checking system. The old update server location reached EOL

Wherein we discuss the Super Mario Bros. Movie, Star Trek: Picard, Succession, the console release of Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, and Meanwhile... A Comic Shop Anthology (Higgins' new comic anthology!). Starring Ryan Scott, Justin Haywald, and Ryan Higgins.

(And go support Meanwhile... A Comic Shop Anthology while you're at it!)

Back in early 2022, Gary Bowser, a member of the hacking team known as Team Xecuter, was sentenced to 40 months of prison for providing and selling together with the team means to circumvent the Nintendo Switch's security systems and allow usage of pirated software. The Team Xecuter member is about to be released from prison, but he is apparently not done paying the cost of his actions.

As reported by TorrentFreak, Gary Bowser is about to be released from prison earlier than intended in part due to his good behavior, and is now waiting to be returned home to Canada. However, he was also sentenced to pay ten million dollars back to Nintendo, which he has yet to do and will highly unlikely ever be able to.

In a recent interview with Nick Moses, Gary Bowser confirmed that he was able to pay back $175 thanks to his prison job. If he will manage to get a stable source of income once back in Canada, the Japanese company will be able to take between 25 and 30 percent of the gross monthly income as part of the agreement, essentially meaning that Gary Bowser will have to pay Nintendo for the rest of his life.

Gary Bowser's role in the Team Xecuter operation was far from being central, as he was the man behind the MaxConsole website, which primarily focused on reviewing Team Xecuter hacking tools. French citizen Max Louarn, who was reportedly the leader of the entire operation, had a much bigger role in the operation but somehow managed to stay ahead of the authorities and avoid getting extradited to the United States, where he would face charges possibly worse than those that Gary Bowser did, as he apparently helped Team Xecuter make millions of dollars, way more than the "measly" $320,000 that Bowser made during his time with the operation.

Nintendo, like every other company, has never hesitated to go after people who hack their systems and try using its properties for their own personal gain, as it has demonstrated time and time again over the years. Will such a harsh sentence be a warning for other people in the future who may attempt to do the same in the future? Probably not, but only time will tell.

Shinji Mikami is one of those game-makers who, whatever they’re working on, I’ll basically always be interested. Creator and director on the original Resident Evil, Mikami also directed Dino Crisis, The Evil Within, and, of course, the 2005 RE4. Mikami has a pretty strong horror game pedigree, is what I’m saying - I trust the guy. And now he’s officially finished playing Resident Evil 4 Remake and offered his opinion. What does the master make of the apprentice?

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Resident Evil 4 Remake review, Resident Evil 4 Remake system requirements, Best Resident Evil 4 remake weapons

If you're a movie or TV viewer, you've seen Chris Diamantopoulos. Probably many times. If you're an animation nerd, you've heard Chris Diamantopoulos. Again, probably many times. Anyone who is pop culture-literate in the year 2023 has encountered the actor in some capacity -- even if you don't know his name, you know his face. But you can be forgiven for not recognizing his voice, because his chameleonic voiceover work suggests the work of a dozen different actors. 

After cutting his teeth on the Broadway stage, Diamantopoulos smashed into film and television and has seemingly never stopped working. You may know him from roles on major TV series like "CSI," "24," "The Sopranos" and "Arrested Development," where he eased into those shows' distinct tones with ease. He was the sound guy who tempted Pam away from Jim in the final season of "The Office." He was that guy from the horse scene (you know the one) in "Hannibal." He was Russ Hanneman, the memorably egocentric billionaire from HBO's "Silicon Valley." In the voiceover booth, he has played various characters across the DC Universe: Steve Trevor, Green Arrow, and the egocentric Aquaman of "Harley Quinn." Roles in adult-skewing animated shows like the "Beavis and Butt-Head" reboot and "Family Guy" don't keep him from being the modern voice of Mickey Mouse in Disney's brilliant animated short films, a role he reprised in the theme park attraction Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.

In short, Chris Diamantopoulos is everywhere. And he can do anything. And quite frankly, he's one of the best and most versatile actors working today, and one whose range and depth of talent has led to an IMDB page more full of "Oh, yeah! I remember that!" characters and moments than you can count.

This week, Diamantopoulos can be seen in "Mrs. Davis," Peacock's new head-spinning sci-fi series that defies casual explanation, but does feature the actor as JQ, a buff, enthusiastic Australian meathead working to battle an oppressive artificial intelligence sweeping the globe. As you'd imagine, he vanishes right into the part. 

I recently spoke with Diamantopoulos over the phone for an extended conversation that took us from "Mrs. Davis" to '30s cartoons to Moe Howard and that 2012 "Three Stooges" movie that Diamantopoulos stands by, mixed reviews be damned. And yes, he knows exactly which Marvel character he wants to play, and yes, he's not shy about wanting to let you know.

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

'I Had A Ball. It Was A Really Big Character Swing For Me'

When I told everybody at my site that I was talking to you, everybody had a different role to bring up.

Oh, that's so sweet, man. Well, dude, listen, I've been lucky enough to be doing ... I was on a plane flying into LA yesterday, and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hey, are you an actor?" I said, "Yeah, I am." They said, "What do I know you from?" I was like, "Oh gosh." It's like, "I don't know. Tell me what you watch." They rattled off a hundred shows. It's just so funny. I've been lucky enough to be able to be doing this nonsense for so many years, and it just never gets old, man. I'm always pleasantly surprised.

Just when I feel like maybe there's a genre or a tone or something that maybe I've experienced, I do something like "Mrs. Davis," and I'm like, "Well, this is f***ing brand new. I didn't even know something like this existed." I don't know how you would categorize it. I should ask you, Jacob, have you seen anything other than the teaser or the trailer? Have you watched any of the show yet?

I watched the first two episodes at the SXSW Film Festival.

Okay, so we can chat a little bit about this, and maybe you can give me your opinion. Have you ever seen anything like this show before?

No, I haven't. People keep asking me to describe it, and I keep on ... my obtuse way of telling people to watch it is it's like Monty Python doing Neal Stephenson.

My God! Dude! Dude, Jacob, that's exactly ... it's funny because I say it's like if Tarantino decided to make a TV show and he hired the Coen brothers to show run it.

I interviewed Michael Emerson a few years ago. I asked him about working on "Lost" and working on a project where Damon Lindelof was a writer-producer [Tara Hernandez is the showrunner on "Mrs. Davis," even though Lindelof is a writer, producer, and co-creator]. He said that part of the fun and part of the dance of being an actor on that show was trying to play a complete character, even though you never quite knew what was coming next and never knew what the revelations would be. With "Mrs. Davis," how far in advance did you know? How much of the mystery did you have to play up and how much were you let in on in advance?

What an excellent question. Excellent question to ask him, too, because it's interesting, it's Michael Emerson in "Lost" that first put Damon Lindelof on my radar. Look, I'm not any sort of in-depth cinephile or anything like that, but I remember seeing Emerson's performance and then getting into "Lost." It literally gave me a goal way-back-when that I needed to work with Damon Lindelof because this type of storytelling is so compelling. It was particularly that. I knew for a fact, because I'd been working in network television for so long, there was no way for the actors to be privy to what these story arcs were going to be because I know that the writers were probably working feverishly to figure them out themselves.

So there's something, I think, very freeing in putting your hands in the skilled hands of a craftsman like Lindelof and Hernandez and being able to say, "Hey, here's the clay, mold away."

So to answer your question, when I had the meeting with Tara and Damon, the character wasn't fully formed. They had some abstract ideas. Some of them were actually just physical ideas, like this idea that [my character, JQ] wanted to be Tyler Durden from "Fight Club" or Bruce Willis' character from "The Fifth Element," the idea that the character had an aggrandized notion of himself.

There was also at that first meeting -- right before we decided, yeah, I want to do it, and, yeah, they want me to do it -- just this notion of maybe he's Australian. It was like, "Wait, really?" They're like, "Yeah, what if he's Australian?" It was just this thing that was born out of conversation. I don't know, but I'm positive that Tara and Damon had a full idea of what this arc was, but I only started ... I read episode 1 and 2 before I signed on, but I hadn't looked at anything else. I was figuring stuff out as we went along. There was something very refreshing about it because it's like, Jesus, take the wheel. Hands off the wheel and then just go. It really gave me a chance to play with great aplomb. I had a ball. It was a really big character swing for me.

'I Would Say With JQ On Mrs. Davis, Those Are The Strangest Shoes I've Ever Put On. It's A Really Big, Big, Big Swing'

My literal next question was going to be, was that accent in the script or not? Because it's one of those accents that walks the line between being realistic enough, but also being outrageous. How do you find that voice?

I actually think the script ends up lending itself to that determination. In the second episode, which is the first episode that JQ appears, his presence is a massive enigma and his origin story, what he is, what he stands for, this resistance movement ... it's kind of a big giant question mark. I think the accent adds to that. I think in the conversation with Damon and Tara, the notion was, what they've done very, very well on this show, and with my character not excluded, is they poke fun at certain pop culture and cinematic tropes, right? Things that we've come to expect in certain action movies, certain sci-fi things, and there's this great mashup or an amalgamation of some of these tropes. 

I think that my character is no exception. One of the reasons that the accent ends up veering toward this outrageous Australian is just hearkening to certain actors, certain performances, certain characters that we feel like we know, and it adds a level of bravado. I had a ball doing that. I'd never done that accent before, and it was certainly really, really fun to jump into it and find it. It was great, great fun.

As someone who's done a lot of voice work, did you find yourself treating your voice as a shield? Do you see yourself being able to vanish behind it and be maybe the number one key to transforming? I mean, you're not Christian Bale, gaining 100 pounds for a role, but your voice changes are as extreme, in a way.

Listen, I try not to take myself seriously at all, but I do take the work very seriously. For me, in my little career, what I have found is that, if I can find the way that the character sounds and the way the character stands, and if that can be just slightly off or bent away from where my normal north in my body is, and that gives me a chance to step into some shoes that aren't mine. It's very, very few and far between, almost never, that I have a character that sounds just like me and stands just like me and looks just like me. So, for me, I'd say 90% of the fun is being able to disappear into somebody else's shoes. I would say with JQ on "Mrs. Davis," those are the strangest shoes I've ever put on. It's a really big, big, big swing.

My voice work and my Broadway work definitely help with regard to finding [the character]. Because it's not just a regional accent, it's also where the voice is placed, how it resonates. That is affected by how I'm standing and how I'm carrying myself. I know it sounds silly and there are a lot of actors that don't want to talk about that sort of thing, but I frankly find it fascinating, because I work with my voice so much and I use my voice as probably one of my main tools with which I can emote. This was a really great challenge for me, because I find that accent exceptionally difficult and it's not one that I was used to doing before or had ever even attempted before. Yeah, finding the voice really helped me find the character. Once I found the voice, I figured out how he walked around and what his vibe was, and then it was off to the races.

Does this apply to your voiceover work, too? Does Mickey Mouse stand the same way as Green Arrow or Steve Trevor do when you're recording?

No, Mickey is completely different. Oh, no. I mean, when I'm doing Mickey ... it's funny, my son really was part of the first inspiration for Mickey. When I first started doing those shorts for Paul [Rudish] and the boys at Disney, we were doing a throwback to Walt Disney's Mickey. I'm talking about Walt's Mickey from "Brave Little Tailor," and from those early Walt Disney shorts. There was a simultaneous timidity and bravado. It's like Mickey's soul was this sweet, warm, almost timid little creature, but then occasionally he would have bouts of being Errol Flynn. My son really ended up being a highlight for me just in terms of his stature. When I was figuring out Mickey, I found myself in the booth emulating the way my son stood and the way my son moved his arms and stuff, because there was this free abandon. No, very different than what I would say Oliver Queen ... I think Oliver Queen and Steve Trevor are a blend of closer to Chris versions. But I do find that I assume different postures when I'm finding these voices and doing these voices.

'I Stepped Into A Very, Very Beautiful And Warm Environment'

One thing I really appreciate about your Mickey is that there was this decades-long period where Disney was so afraid to let Mickey be a character. They let him become a mascot for so long, they didn't know who he was anymore. These shorts come along and you reinvent them as this brave, but neurotic, character. Can you talk about reclaiming Mickey?

Well, that's very kind to you say. I would give all that credit to Paul Rudish and Darrick Bachman, and all of those brilliant writers, directors, and animators over at Disney, to Dave Wright over at Disney TV and to the whole team over there, because they really were the ones who reconceived Mickey as this three-dimensional character and brought him back to his roots of who he originally was when he first popped onto the screen. So, I stepped into a very, very beautiful and warm environment. I think one of the things that I was really lucky with was they allowed me to explore and to use some of my comedy tools and some of my lexicon of emotions with regards to what I would infuse in Mickey. There was just something very freeing about being able to realize that, no, no, Mickey is just like us, and sometimes he gets frustrated and sometimes he gets really scared, and he's neurotic. He might be a little bit of a hypochondriac occasionally. There was something really beautiful about that.

I have an affinity for 1930s and 1940s cinema and culture, and so there was something great about being able to utilize that lilt, the way that people spoke back then, certainly on screen, and being able to bring that to Mickey, which again, was a throwback to what Walt was simply doing intrinsically because he was of that era. So, when you heard Walt on "Brave Little Tailor" go [enters Mickey Mouse voice] "Huh? Yes, your Honor. And how! I was all alone. I heard them coming, I looked up, they were here, there, everywhere, a whole bunch of them. They came at me from the left, from the right, left, left, right, right, and then I let them have it." [exits Mickey Mouse voice] When I go back to those and I'm like, "Oh yeah, man, I mean, Mickey had all of the stuff that I was allowed to do." It's just somewhere along the way, like anything in life, we like to compartmentalize. It's like, "No, Mickey Mouse is for children, so he only goes from A to B." But no, he's for children and he goes from A to Z, because so do kids. So, it's really nice.

I'm one of those guys who likes exploring old 1930s, '40s, '50s Disney comics. You see in the old Mickey Mouse comics and the old Donald Duck and Scrooge comics, they go on adventures, they have relationships with one another.

There you are. My son's got all those old comics, the Donald Duck comics from the '40s and the Mickey Mouse comics from the '40s. Exactly, the subject matter wasn't treated with any kid gloves. It was like any other hero or leading character on an adventure, on a weekly adventure. They allowed those characters -- Mickey, in particular -- to run the gamut within what was in the confines of him being able to come back to neutral so they could do another strip the next week or the next day or whatever it was.

As somebody who grew up going to Disney theme parks, I've got to ask about your work on Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, and the process of recording for a theme park attraction, as opposed to an animated short. Was that a different process?

Have you been on the ride?

No, I live in Texas, so I haven't been able to get to either coast yet.

I haven't been able to get to it either. I was supposed to go when it opened, but it was just shortly before Covid hit and we weren't able to go. They've been wanting me to go now that it's open here in California, and I really want to take my kids. As I say, I've got four kids, so that'll be a fun one to do. Boy, was that a real honor to be able to voice this ride that people are enjoying daily, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people are enjoying daily. I had a ball recording it. I can't say that I took any different approach with regard to doing the voice.

I think I was aware of the fact that it was going to live on as long as the ride is there, and that because the character speaks in the ride, at least in my understanding, you can hear Mickey while you're waiting in line, and then Mickey also takes you through the whole ride. There's a beautiful song that brilliant Chris Willis did. So for me, it was really just a matter of bringing my best Mickey, you know what I mean? Making sure that the kids and the families that were in line waiting for the ride just felt like they were in Mickey's presence. I couldn't believe that I was being asked to do it, and I can't wait to see it. I hear it's just terrific.

There's this long history of incredible voice actors being the voices of Disney theme parks. I'm thinking of Thurl Ravenscroft being one of those voices that I just know from Disney. He's so identifiable to Haunted Mansion. There must be a point of pride where you think you get to be on the same level as someone like that now.

Oh my goodness. I would never, ever deign to put myself on the same level as someone like that. I mean, these people were legends, right? Here's what I'll say. I'm the luckiest guy alive. I get to work in a medium that brings me so much joy, because it reminds me of how much joy I got being an audience of that same medium, and I still get. So, the fact that I get to be able to do some of this stuff, it really still astounds me, and I feel so grateful. If I can entertain some of these kids and some of these families, and some of these audience members, some grown-ups as well, in any of the stuff that I do, and make them step away from themselves a little bit or laugh a little bit, if it gives them a chance to feel like they feel fulfilled by virtue of some performance of mine, then jeez Louise, man, that's not a bad way to make a living. Truthfully, I really do feel lucky. It's a pretty neat gig, man. I know nothing lasts forever, so I'm just going to enjoy it while it's happening.

'I Love When Something That We Expect Is Flipped On Its Head'

I want to talk about another one of your voiceover performances. I think it's one of the funniest scenes I've seen in the past few years, which is your entire Aquaman scene from "Harley Quinn." Everything about that scene is funny. Every character in it is hilarious. How did that scene read on paper and how did you chose to play that scene?

Oh, that's so sweet of you to say. I mean, look, I do have to say, it might be a boring answer, but it really is true, and I think you know this Jacob, because you're a writer, it begins and ends with the writing, doesn't it? You know what I mean? I can be good, I can be a good performer, I can add an element of maybe some charisma or something there, who knows? But the truth of the matter is, if it's not on the page, it's not going to do what it did for you, which is make you remember it and make you laugh. So, it was all on the page. When I read it, that's why I was like, "Yes, I have to do this," because the reaction that you had to the finished product was the reaction I had to the script. It's just brilliantly conceived.

I love when something that we expect is flipped on its head, and it gives us a chance to look at it from a completely different angle. I think much in the way where my Mickey has been allowed to explore Mickey in a more three-dimensional or humanistic way, this Aquaman, you got to wonder, what is it like to be a royalty from another realm under the sea? Got to have some insecurities here and there. You may get a little seaweed in your ear or whatever. I just love the idea that he's this petulant ... I don't know, there's something really, really neat about, yes, he's got superpowers and he can talk to fish and he can breathe underwater, but he's also just a little douchey once in a while and maybe not in a great mood or whatever. I love that.

I know it's not your line, but think about Bane stomping on Aquaman's fish about once a day.

Exactly. It's very, very funny. Now, they're so clever, man. I talk with some people that are like, "Oh gosh, borrowing from the DC and the Marvel Universe and utilizing those storylines, isn't that going to get old?" My answer is, "Well, not if you can find new ways to tell it." I mean, if you're going to go by that standard, all the stories have been told. They finished being told back in ancient Greece, right? We're just revising and adapting them. As long as you can find a new way in, as long as you can find a way to be clever and to keep people engaged, just go for it, man. Wave that flag.

Speaking of finding a new way in, I'm curious about how you approach an existing character, like you did with Flynn Rider in the "Tangled" spin-off. How do you approach a character when you know it's someone people already love, and you're tasked with carrying that torch?

It's happened a few times for me. Recently, I actually got to do, it hasn't come out yet, but I'm doing Stan in "American Dad." Something happens to Stan and he ends up sounding like me. I have a great time when I am given a specific analog. For example, when the Three Stooges movie came out, I had been a massive Stooges fan when I was a child, and when the task at hand was, "This is the person we need, this is what we need," I love that, because all the rules in the universe are established. "This is what Moe would sound like," yada, yada, yada.

In the instance of someone like Flynn Ryder, I was the benefactor of such a great performance [from Zachary Levi], and such a fully formed universe in the show. So, I was able to look at that and extrapolate from all the various elements that were already put into the voice that existed, and then just sprinkle in a little of my own nonsense. So, it was enjoyable, but not that difficult really, because I've got a good ear, I'm a good mimic, and I'm also a big fan of voice acting. So, I can hook into pretty quickly what somebody, particularly somebody that I admire, is doing, and then I'm just able to go.

'That Movie Was 100%, As You Say, A Love Letter To The Stooges'

It's been over 10 years since that "The Three Stooges" came out, and I think the critical reaction was a little unfair, because that movie loves those characters more than anything. It really feels like a labor of love.

That's really interesting you should say that. Look, I don't need to be the patron saint security guard of the "Three Stooges" movie, but it's funny, there seems to be this notion that the movie wasn't critically acclaimed, and that's not true. If you actually go back, dude, this surprises me as much as it might you, but we were a New York Times critics pick when we opened. We had a couple of beautiful little love letters written to us by some pretty terrific film critics. But that movie was 100%, as you say, a love letter to The Stooges. Look, nobody loves The Stooges more than me, but I think [directors] Pete and Bob Farrelly come very, very close.

No movie is perfect, and that movie was of course far from perfect, but what was perfect was the intention of saying to a new generation of kids that may not be savvy enough or have access to or interested in watching black and white shorts, we wanted to give them a chance to experience a brand of humor that's 100 years old, and that has lasted and still makes people laugh. It's funny, I remember Moe [Howard] in one of his last interviews, someone was interviewing him and they said, "So, do you find yourself the godfather of slapstick?" He correctly and accurately corrected the interviewer and said, "What we do isn't slapstick, it's farce." There is physical humor, but all of the humor is derived from the situation. For me, making that movie, that was a 16-week love letter that included dislocated rotator cuffs, broken fingers, and a sprained ankle, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I loved making that movie.

There's an incredible book I read recently called "Camera Man," about the life of Buster Keaton. A large chunk of it spent on his early vaudeville days, and the art of vaudeville, and the sometimes-lost art of vaudeville and how it translated into his film. So, when you play roles like that, when you play roles that are very physical and lean on the farce with the very stage-driven physical comedy, do you see yourself keeping tradition of old performance styles alive?

The answer is an unmitigated yes. I mean, look, I'm a student of history, both as an actor, but also just in general. I mean, gosh, when the pandemic hit, boy did I go back to my early educational days of stoic philosophy, because I needed it. I needed to go back to what was a tried and true method for dealing with adversity. The sobering realization that as difficult as something feels, like, "Guess what, kid? You're not special." And I'm talking to myself. You're not the first one to go through this. There have been centuries and centuries of people that have gone through these hardships, so maybe you can borrow from their wisdom.

To that end, as an actor, "Guess what, kid, you're not the first one to think that your little slip and fall on a banana peel is funny. There are others before you that have done it better, so learn from them." So, when I have an opportunity to do something like The Stooges, I have a little bit of a photographic memory, particularly with things that I'm very interested in, and so for me, stepping into the skin of Moe wasn't so much a learning experience, as much as it was a coming of age. It was a moment I had been waiting for and preparing for my entire life. I mean, jeez, when I was in sixth grade, all the kids had to do a speech that year. We practiced for it all year. One kid did the Everglades, the other kid did volcanoes, dinosaurs. Mine was Moe Howard. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. I knew everything about him. I knew about what he was working with Ted Healy. I knew him about when he first met Larry, and it was just Moe and Larry.

I know everything, and everything that there was, anything that you could possibly get your hands on. Yeah, I was a student of his. His wasn't necessarily the vaudeville circuit, although, yeah, he was kind of in there, but his was more Borscht Belt. I mean, he played some pretty crappy venues, but Moe loved acting. Moe loved acting. He sent away to work on a steamship that was a performance steamship, and he lied. He said he was 5' 9", he said he was 21, and he said he was Shakespearean trained. He was 16 and 5' 4" and he looked like Moe. When he arrived, the captain was so angry, because they sent him his train fare and his boat fare to get there. When the captain saw him, he was so irate, but he couldn't send him away, so he had him work there on the boat, swabbing the decks, literally cleaning s*** up, and learning. When the captain realized that there's something to this kid, and Moe had it, he always had it in him, and he was the leader both onscreen and off. Anyway, I could talk forever about that stuff.

'Some Of It's Going To Work, Some Of It's Not, And Just Give Me A Chance, I'll Be Better In The Next One'

One of the most hair-raising things I've seen on YouTube is you and your fellow "Three Stooges" actors appearing on WWE. Watching that footage back, it feels like you three are being tossed into the meat grinder to promote your movie. It feels terrifying. Do you remember that situation and what it was like to be on that stage with a crowd who clearly wasn't having it?

In life, in cinema, you try things. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Even the greats like Spielberg, they have their massive successes that we all remember them for, and then they have things that didn't quite work the way they planned or didn't get received the way they planned. When I did "The Three Stooges," it was such a labor of love for me. It took me six months to win that role. I auditioned for it over 14 times. The role had been offered out to [Johnny] Knoxville, who ended up passing, and to Hank Azaria, who ended up passing for various reasons. When it finally got to me, I had written a letter to Tom Rothman, who was running the studio at the time, and it was an impassioned letter of basically saying, "Look, I know I can't begin to be aware of what the pressures are for you to hire the right actor for your features, and I'm not a celebrity and I'm not a stand-up comedian, but I don't think you'll find someone that understands this subject matter and this character better than me. You got to hire me to play Moe."

I think I even put in there, "I'd do it for free." So, when they cast me, they took me to my word and they paid me Schedule F, which was the lowest that you could get paid to do a movie like that. From that experience forward through into the promotion, it's not like anyone was checking in with me like, "Hey, Chris, do you think X would be a good idea, or do you think Y would be a good idea with regard to promotion or whatever?" I certainly was happy to be involved and happy to help in any way I could. I think that idea was probably a genesis of ... I know [fellow "Stooges" actor] Will Sasso has a deep affinity for the wrestling world, and I think some of his contacts came together, and I think the rest is history. Sean [Hayes], Will, and I certainly went into it with aplomb. It wasn't a world that I knew very well. We certainly wanted it to be funny. We wanted to do the best that we could. It was with great trepidation that we walked out there and it was all we could do to keep it together to stay out there while the bit happened. But some things work, some things don't. What did Ed Wood say? "So, you thought my film was absolutely terrible? Well, my next one will be better."

I think a massive part of the wrestling world is knowing when to let them see you bleed or not. I think the three of you did a good job not letting them see you bleed.

Thank you. Well, I'm sure I've still got a scar somewhere on me, but we would've recovered from all these things. Look, man, you can't take it too seriously. You got to do your best. Some of it's going to work, some of it's not, and just give me a chance, I'll be better in the next one. You know what I mean?

Absolutely. There's a movie that's not talked about very much, and it's a one of the movies where you're the leading man and the action hero. It's "Man Vs.," the science fiction action movie where you play a survival reality show host fighting an alien. I would love to hear about how that came together, because that's one of those movies where I watch it thinking it would be kind of a goof, but you really sell that movie in a dramatic way.

Jacob, thank you so much. That's very, very kind of you to say, pal. Listen, I treat every opportunity that I get as an actor with the same level of respect and preparation and awe, because I still can't believe that I'm lucky enough to get to do this. That movie was brought to me by Nicholas Tabarrok, who was the producer on a film that I had done a couple of years prior with Kurt Russell, Terrence Stamp, and Matt Dillon, called "The Art of the Steal," which was a terrific little heist film. If you haven't seen it, oh, it's just a lovely little ride. Beautiful, beautifully done. Nicholas had this script for this one-hander, basically, it was basically me in the whole film. He said, "Would you be interested?" I love working with him, and I love working in Canada, and I am Canadian and I love the subject matter, and I hadn't gotten the chance to be an action thriller hero before, and boy, that's all I've ever wanted to do. My wife jokes, she's like, "I think your time has passed."

I was like, "No, no. Maybe I could still do it. Maybe I'll have my Liam Neeson moment." Oh man, I had a really great time on that. That was a really, really intense shoot. For all intents and purposes, I actually ended up helping in a cinemagraphical way as well, because I actually had to set those cameras, the Black Magic, the GoPros, and we utilized a great deal of footage from where the placement of those cameras was, and then I had to perform into those cameras. I had a ball. It was great fun. I would do something like that again in a heartbeat. I mean, look, I was a big fan of "Cast Away." I thought giving someone like Tom Hanks an opportunity to just explore that character in isolation over the course of a film was a brilliant idea, and I thought he did such a gorgeous job. For me, in my little, micro, mini way, I looked at a film like this as an opportunity for me to explore something similar as well. Me on screen for most of the time, and trying to find real elements of humanity and real elements of emotional challenge, and just go for it. I had a ball.

'If Anyone Out There Is Listening And They Have The Rights To The Green Goblin And Marvel Wants To Make It, I'm Your Man'

There's this recent trend we're starting to see in a lot of Hollywood movies where they realize they can cast somebody funny, like Paul Rudd. Send Paul Rudd to the gym for six months and say, "Oh, now we have a superhero." I'm not going to ask you the Marvel question, but have you ever thought about, has it ever entered your brain, "Maybe I should try becoming that leading man, suave action hero"? Has that been something you've ever wanted to chase?

I'll tell you this, of course, it's something I've wanted to do. I mean, I'm an audience member of these projects and I'm a father, and I grew up in the '80s and '90s, so for me, I wanted to be Harrison Ford when I grew up. So, should the opportunity present itself, I would be all over it. My son recently said to me, "Dad, you know what you should do? You should find a way to do a streaming mini-series called Goblin, where you play Norman Osborne. It's like the origin story of Norman Osborne and the Green Goblin." I was like, "Now, that's a good idea." So, if anyone out there is listening and they have the rights to the Green Goblin and Marvel wants to make it, I'm your man.

Look, they've officially retired Willem Dafoe from the part after the last movie. I think the doors are wide open.

There you go.

Let's do this. If they're going to do a Green Goblin, they're going to cast you, I'm going to make sure of this. I'll make some calls.

All right, Jacob. I'm holding you to it. I'll call you if it doesn't happen.

Do you mind if I just run down some of the roles that people brought up when I mentioned I was talking to you?

I'd love it.

All right, I'll use the exact words from my colleagues. Number one: "Horse guy from 'Hannibal.'"

Oh, I mean, the great Bryan Fuller called and said, "I want you to do an episode. I'm not going to tell you what happens in it. Will you come?" I said, "Yes." I think he's brilliant. I'd work with Brian anywhere, any day. I did not expect that I would be freezing my off in a fake horse carcass in northern Ontario in the middle of the winter. But boy, oh boy, it was easy to get into character.

Number two: "The internet's most hated man in 'The Office.'"

Oh, yeah, totally. I am the internet's most hated man. I've had people yell at me on the street when I'm with my children, "F*** you. You tried to break up Jim and Pam." My children are actually obsessed with 'The Office' now because of this. They're just of that age where they're starting to watch it. They haven't gotten to my season yet. They're like, "When do you come in? When do you come in?" I was like, "Well, hold your horses kids, you'll be disappointed." Look, man, when they called and said that they wanted me to be on the show, I was such a fan of that show for so long that how could I say no? I didn't know what I was going to be doing. I did what I was asked to do. You take the punches. Oh, well, listen, let's be honest, Pam was kind of asking for it.

Number three, repeating it exactly how it was said to me: "This guy f***s from 'Silicon Valley.'"

Oh yeah, listen, my favorite television comedy is "Seinfeld." When I heard that Alec Berg was working with Mike Judge on a new show called "Silicon Valley," I was the first one ready to watch it. That first season of "Silicon Valley" to me is some of the best comedy television ever produced. It's absolutely brilliant. When I heard that I had a chance to audition for a role on it, I leapt at the opportunity. I went in, my agents had given me the wrong material. They were non-revised script sides. When I went in to do the audition, the casting people saw that I had the wrong material, they said, "Oh, s***, it's the wrong material." It was 14 pages of material.

I was like, "But I worked on it. It was five days I'd been working on this." They said, "It's the wrong material." I was like, "Well, let me just do the audition anyway." So, I did it and it didn't go great. I called my agent and I asked him, "Did you hear anything about this one?" He's like, "I think this one's going away." Apparently they had someone else that they were going to make an offer to. It bothered me so much because I loved the idea of the role, and I loved the show, and I called the casting office and I went in on the weekend with the right material and I redid my audition, and I got the job. I loved it.

Russ Hanneman is one of the funniest characters in that show, which is saying a lot.

Thanks, man. No, I had a ball. I had a ball. 100% of the performance was helped by the writing. I showed up and I delivered these excellent script lines.

'I'm All For Progress, Assuming That We Are Progressing, Assuming That It's Leading Us Toward Some Sort Of A Greater Understanding'

I know your next project is was one where you're number one on the call sheet, "The Sticky." Can you tell me about that? What's that about, and who are you playing?

Well, let's say this, no one is number one when Margo Martindale is on set. Margo Martindale is one to 100, and I'm happy to be 101 in that instance, because I get to work with her and she is absolutely divine. This show, I think, is genre-bending, man. I think this one might reinvent the half-hour genre as not only being connected to comedy. Now, the show definitely has some funny moments, but it's like if you were to take "Fargo" and dissect it and make it a half-hour show. It's bent, it's broken, it's frightening, it's thrilling. Come on, dude, it's got Jamie Lee Curtis. She's not only producing, but dude, she's going to be in the show. I think the show is just going to be tremendous. We've been shooting for about two and a half weeks now. Oh, it's just great.

I feel like if you have Margo Martindale and Jamie Lee Curtis on the same set, the "actor mom" energy must feel incredible there.

Oh, man, unbelievable. Unbelievable. Not only that, but the opportunity to sit back and learn and sit back and watch, it's just marvelous. For someone that's a fan of not only doing it but watching it, it's like I'm a kid in a candy store. It's just tremendous.

We just ran a big investigative piece where one of my writers has been talking to voice actors for months, talking about the recent upswing in, or the looming threat or promise, or whatever you want to call it, of AI being introduced in voice work and how that may impact the industry. This ties all back to the beginning, going back to "Mrs. Davis" and AI taking over the world, and in this case, a world you love so much: the world of voice acting. Have you personally seen or comprehended what kind of world we're looking at where people are going to try to artificially recreate famous voices for the future?

Gosh, that's a great question. Sadly, I leave the worrying about things like that to bigger minds than me. I'm a "keep your head down and do the work" kind of guy. I do know that throughout history, particularly a history of this industry, most of the time that there might have been any resistance to technological advancement or change, it's met with a brief little bump, and then technology usually ends up winning. Everything from film going digital and silent films turning into talkies, etc. I think that technology, when used correctly, will always help us to augment our storytelling abilities. But I do think that audiences, at least for now, are still human. Despite what the media would have us believe, there is something that connects us and unites us as a species with regard to the way that we proliferate and absorb story.

I think utilizing AI as a tool is one thing. Utilizing it as the source is an entirely different thing. So, I believe that if AI can help bring back certain voices ... I mean, look, I'm watching "The Mandalorian" with my son. We've got a young Mark Hamill that's acting on screen. It's terrific. I'm not distracted by it, it works. But I wouldn't watch the show where that character was the star of the show, because there's just something about it, that even in the instance where it works perfectly, it's the imperfection that I'd be missing. So, I hope I can maintain relevance and carry on working as a voice actor and as a screen actor until the day that I die. It's not up to me. What's up to me is to do the best work that I can do when a job is presented.

I spoke to filmmaker Henry Selick from "The A Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Coraline" a little while back, and he talked about how the reason he prefers stop-motion over other animation is that he loves being able to see the imperfections. He wants to see the craft at work. I'm reminded of how in original 1933 "King Kong," you can see the animator's fingerprints appearing on King Kong as he moves around. It's a reminder of the literal hands at work. Stop-motion lets you see the process. I imagine that with voiceover performance, the right stutter or falling over the right word or the right pause that can't be digitally created, is where the real magic lies.

I think so. I think so. I think if they need to bring back some beautiful old personalities and it helps add a spice to a scene, I'm all for it. I think it's absolutely fine. Look, man, I'm all for progress, assuming that we are progressing, assuming that it's leading us toward some sort of a greater understanding. Yeah, I think as long as we all do our best to try and continue to tell stories in a way that's compelling and can pull people in, then we're all winning. There's plenty of room for everyone, even "Mrs. Davis."

Let's end with a fun one. You mentioned Green Goblin, but let's go ahead and open up the doors up to everything. Who's your dream character from any book, any Broadway show? Who do you want to play and make yours?

All right, I want to be Don Quixote in the Broadway revival of "Man of La Mancha." That would be something that I'd give my left arm for. Actually, Jacob, mark my words, one day, whether it's now or 30 years from now, I will do that. The very next one, I mean, look, man, you don't get any better in terms of the biggies, then James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Batman. So, I'm ready.

I feel like you can voice Batman pretty easily. I feel like that could be a job you'd slide into.

You know what I would be great as, Jacob? I'd be a great Wolverine. When time has passed and they want to cast a shorter guy who's Canadian, I'm ready, Jacob. I'm very hairy and I'm quite angry.

All right, you know what? We'll make it happen. I'll see what I can do.

All right, let's do it, pal.

"Mrs. Davis" premieres on Peacock on April 20, 2023.

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The post Chris Diamantopoulos Has Been in Everything – and He's Not Slowing Down [Exclusive Interview] appeared first on /Film.

The latest news on the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard deal from regulatory bodies around the world gave fans a solid hope that the company's prized games might soon make it to Game Pass. After all, if heavy hitters like Diablo and Call of Duty appeared on Microsoft's subscription service, analysts believe the subscription figures could explode. However, speaking to Rolling Stone, Xbox corporate vice president Sarah Bond said the true value of Game Pass lies in the depth and breadth of its portfolio rather than any single acquisition.

We’ve been very clear about our commitment to have our first-party portfolio shipping to Game Pass day and date. We understand that people really value that, but it’s also about diversity of content. It’s not really about any one acquisition. It’s about the depth and breadth of the portfolio all up; from big triple-A games to indie titles to hidden gems. That’s actually what makes Game Pass really valuable.

It could be argued that purchasing one of the biggest third-party publishers is a great way to increase both the depth and breadth of said portfolio. Needless to say, it would make a huge difference, and there's a chance Microsoft might also increase the subscription service's price; they've already removed the long-standing $1 new user promotion. On the other hand, the company is also testing a Friends and Family option that might be advantageous for large groups of relatives and friends.

In the Rolling Stone interview, Sarah Bond also talked about the way Game Pass influences game development.

Game Pass is an option for developers. One thing that we talk a lot about internally but I’ve been striving to share more externally is the business model associated with a game has an endemic link to the nature of the gameplay. We invest a lot of time in how we introduce more business model diversity; how we create more options. We talk a lot about Game Pass because subscription is the latest option that we scaled: you have pay-to-play, then there was free-to-play, and then we introduced Game Pass.

We’ve talked about how we’re experimenting with other models, like what does it mean for advertising in games which is more prevalent in mobile – are there models of that that work well in PC and console? Are there other models where you might have timed slices of games and stuff like that? Providing creators with options and choice enables them to experiment and do what they like, and actually create more immersive and creative experiences without having to fit into a mould.

One recent example of that is certainly Obsidian's Pentiment, which might have never been made without Microsoft's help and the existence of Game Pass.

Elsewhere in her interview with Rolling Stone, Bond also commented on the announcement-release combo that did wonders for Hi-Fi Rush. As many had suspected, it was a case-by-case decision, so it won't necessarily be repeated any time soon. For more on Hi-Fi Rush, check out our freshly published post-launch interview with John Johanas.

Lastly, Sarah Bond said the advent of AI could massively democratize game development. Just yesterday we covered a new generative AI tool that quickly creates hundreds of unique NPCs, and of course, Microsoft could do so much more thanks to its investment in ChatGPT. Just imagine an RPG where you actually speak with non-player characters in a freeform fashion to get a unique experience every time. It may take a while, but we'll get there.

Recently, Lifehacker asked whether our readers tip every time they’re asked. Point-of-sale gratuities are more and more common, showing up in previously straight-forward transactions like buying a coffee, picking up some takeout, or even buying some groceries at the store, so we’re hoping to get a feel for the new…

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Business is booming in India's $117 billion education industry and new colleges are popping up at breakneck speed. Yet thousands of young Indians are finding themselves graduating with limited or no skills, undercutting the economy at a pivotal moment of growth. From a report: Desperate to get ahead, some of these young people are paying for two or three degrees in the hopes of finally landing a job. They are drawn to colleges popping up inside small apartment buildings or inside shops in marketplaces. Highways are lined with billboards for institutions promising job placements. It's a strange paradox. India's top institutes of technology and management have churned out global business chiefs like Alphabet's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. But at the other end of the spectrum are thousands of small private colleges that don't have regular classes, employ teachers with little training, use outdated curriculums, and offer no practical experience or job placements, according to more than two dozen students and experts who were interviewed by Bloomberg. Around the world, students are increasingly pondering the returns on a degree versus the cost. Higher education has often sparked controversy globally, including in the US, where for-profit institutions have faced government investigations. Yet the complexities of education are acutely on show in India. It has the world's largest population by some estimates, and the government regularly highlights the benefits of having more young people than any other country. Yet half of all graduates in India are unemployable in the future due to problems in the education system, according to a study by talent assessment firm Wheebox. Many businesses say they struggle to hire because of the mixed quality of education. That's kept unemployment stubbornly high at more than 7% even though India is the world's fastest growing major economy. Education is also becoming an outsized problem for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he attempts to draw foreign manufacturers and investors from China. Modi had vowed to create millions of jobs in his campaign speeches, and the issue is likely to be hotly debated in the run up to national elections in 2024.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.