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Now here is something special for all our Fallout fans. Modder ‘Black_Electric’ has released a mod for the Fallout 2 Restoration Project that adds voiced dialog for over 40 NPCs. Moreover, in its current state, this mod features over 1500 newly voiced lines of dialog. In order to achieve this, Black_Electric created a workflow that … Continue reading This Fallout 2 Mod adds voices to over 40 NPCs, featuring over 1500 lines of dialog →

The post This Fallout 2 Mod adds voices to over 40 NPCs, featuring over 1500 lines of dialog appeared first on DSOGaming.

SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet constellation is the cause of significant debate in China as researchers consider developing similar technologies and those to shoot down the satellites or limit the Starlink internet service. Starlink has played an important role in Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion, enabling the Ukrainian military to maintain battlefield communications and the general population to ensure Internet access after Ukraine's communications networks were targeted. Chinese researchers believe that Starlink's success in Ukraine will prompt Western nations to deploy the service in Asia in case of possible hostilities.

Starlink's Success In Ukraine Prompts China To Consider Developing Similar Technologies

Starlink's use in Ukraine has been a cause of controversy both within Russia and in the West. SpaceX quickly shipped its satellite user dishes to Ukraine as the invasion started last year. Still, matters between SpaceX and the U.S. government soured later on when reports about funding the cost of Starlink in Ukraine started to surface. Things settled when SpaceX's chief Mr. Elon Musk publicly announced that his company would continue to fund Starlink in Ukraine. The firm's president, Ms. Gwynne Shotwell, confirmed later that she had asked the Pentagon to contribute to Ukraine costs. Ukraine's minister of information also highlighted earlier this year that Starlink's contribution in Ukraine had crossed $100 million.

With this backdrop, the Ukrainian military's ability to restore its communications through Starlink is causing concern among Chinese researchers. A Reuters investigation that dug through 100 research papers in Chinese journals covering work from researchers linked to the People's Liberation Army (PLA), weapons manufacturers and think-tanks found that PLA-linked researchers are worried about China's ability to counter Starlink.

Out of the 100 papers, six discussed Starlink and pointed out its success in enabling the Ukrainian military to recover communications capability after the Russian attack can embolden Western nations to use it in a potential Asian conflict. Tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait are a consistent source of friction between the U.S. and China. Any potential conflict also threatens to disrupt the global semiconductor supply chain because the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) chipmaking facilities in Taiwan are one of the few in the world capable of manufacturing and shipping leading-edge semiconductors.

This potential ability of the internet service to serve as a battlefield disruptor has also made the researchers stress the need for China to develop a capability to either block Starlink services or shoot down the satellites themselves. The Starlink internet constellation comprises thousands of small satellites operating at close to 500 kilometers altitude in the low Earth orbit (LEO). It has allowed Ukrainians to withstand devastating missile attacks and maintain communications, and at the same time, drawn sharp criticism from Russia, which has threatened military action against the spacecraft.

Starlink usage in Ukraine has also been high, with data from Musk highlighting that Ukrainians used thousands of gigabytes of data daily in May last year. Apart from threatening to shoot the satellites, Russia has also taken steps to develop a jamming system mounted on a vehicle for countering Starlink use by blocking the signal that the user dishes use to communicate with the orbiting satellites.

The post Starlink Causes Concern In China As Researchers Want Capability To Shoot Satellites Down by Ramish Zafar appeared first on Wccftech.

The article contains spoilers for "Drag Me to Hell." 

It looks like a particular cursed button might be making life hell for someone in the future. According to a recent Reddit AMA with Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, and Sam Raimi, the creative team of the upcoming movie "65," the possibility exists for a sequel to the 2009 Raimi horror film "Drag Me to Hell." Even as a person who isn't always the biggest fan of horror films — not because they aren't incredible, but because I'm a huge 'fraidy cat — this was one I loved. The idea of a return to the curse of a woman punishing someone for lacking compassion is intriguing. 

"Drag Me to Hell" starred Alison Lohman as a young woman named Christine who works in a loan office. She wants a promotion, and to get it, she has to demonstrate her ability to be tough. Unfortunately, her current client is a poor old Romani woman (Lorna Raver) in desperate straits. She begs and pleads for an extension on her loan, but Christine isn't budging. The woman curses her after pulling a button from Christine's coat; she'll suffer three days of torment and then be sent straight to Hell. No matter what course of action Christine takes, you can guess where she's going. 

"Drag Me to Hell" has a 92 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and with a response like that, you'd think it would have gotten a sequel already. It sounds like there is hope, though. 

Ghost House Pictures May Just Have An Idea

During the AMA, u/dayofthedead204 asked if there was a chance for a sequel or "another story" related to the film. Rami responded:

"The team at Ghost House Pictures: Romel Adam and Jose Canas are trying to come up with a story that would work and I'm anxious to hear if they do!" 

While that's not exactly a release date or anything, he didn't say no. It at least leaves the door open. Plus, between "Army of Darkness" and "Spider-Man 2," Raimi is known for some pretty great sequels. One of the charming things about "Drag Me to Hell" was the lower budget and the sort of smaller scale than Raimi was doing in films before "Spider-Man." In a 2009 interview with Post Magazine, Raimi spoke about trying to remember how to do a smaller-budget film after three Spider-Man flicks. He said:

"[On doing 'Drag Me to Hell' with a smaller budget] ... without all the tools I had the luxury of having on those films. I knew I'd have to make the adjustment, so it was no surprise, but when I finally got to the set and had to actually adjust, it was a bit hard [laughs]. I spent the last decade doing Spider-Man, and you come to rely on a lot of people doing things for you and a lot of help, but it's refreshing and wonderful to be reminded that, as with most filmmakers, the best way to do it is yourself, with a tight team doing the main jobs."

The last two films Raimi has directed have been larger budgeted ones as well; 2013's "Oz the Great and Powerful" and 2022's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." It would be so much fun to return to something closer to his earlier work. 

What Could A Sequel Look Like?

"Drag Me to Hell" is a pretty self-contained film, but there are certainly possibilities here for Raimi, Adam, and Canas to look at. The obvious one would be a prequel film about the Romani woman Sylvia Ganush's past. It would be fun to see how she got her powers and more about where they came from. Christine returning from Hell seems unlikely (not that I'd say no to seeing that), but what about Clay (Justin Long) trying to figure out a way to get her back? Perhaps something about the fortune teller Rham Jas (Dileep Rao)? 

If we do get a sequel or something else related to the story of "Drag Me to Hell," I hope it sticks with the theme. There is just something compelling about the idea of one decision destroying your life. We've all had those days where we were sort of talked into doing the wrong thing and ignored that little voice in our heads. Even if we had a good reason, we knew it was wrong. Everyone has felt that at one point or another, and every one of us has felt Christine's relief at thinking she got away with it. 

If you want to do a rewatch of this gem of a horror film, "Drag Me to Hell" is currently streaming on Starz. 

Read this next: The 31 Scariest Movie Scenes Ever

The post Sam Raimi Says A Sequel to Drag Me To Hell is Possible appeared first on /Film.

Movies are an illusion, and the generally accepted rule amongst filmmakers is that the illusion is never to be broken. Given the way movies are made — out of sequence, in arduous conditions over several weeks or months, with each work day stretching on for hours — it's no surprise that mistakes can occur. That's why Hollywood does its utmost to make sure as little imperfection remains on screen as possible, going as far as creating a job especially dedicated to that task: the script supervisor. The first script supervisor (originally known as "continuity girl") was Sarah Y. Mason, employed on the film "Bound in Morocco" in 1918.

61 years later, director Sam Raimi traveled to Morristown, Tennessee to begin work on his first full-length feature, "The Evil Dead." The film was not a big Hollywood production; Raimi, along with his fellow producers Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert, were independent mavericks looking to break into the movie industry with "the ultimate experience in grueling terror," as the film's credits state. As legend has it, the shoot, originally planned for about a month, stretched on to upwards of twelve weeks, with the production bleeding cast and crew members toward the end of principal photography.

Raimi and company barely had the funds and stamina to complete the picture, never mind hiring a script supervisor. As such, the original cut of "The Evil Dead" had quite a few gaffes and mistakes visible on camera, elements that Raimi corrected for subsequent home media releases of the film. Yet, as the director has discovered over time, fans of the film have embraced those imperfections, folding them into the greater lore surrounding the movie and its makers.

The Bridge Gaffe Joins The Raimi Lore

At this point, loving Sam Raimi's films means much more than just, well, loving his films. Sure, fans and critics alike enjoy picking up on Raimi's many recurring traits and themes: stylistic camera tricks, references to the "Three Stooges," stories about characters who are arrogant cowards, and so on.

Yet there's also a game of sorts that's been made out of finding the more surface-level elements that keep popping up in Raimi's movies. There's the "Fake Shemp" credit (a credit that typically refers to a stand-in replacing an actor for a shot, named after Shemp Howard of the later "Three Stooges" shorts, who was infamously replaced by stand-ins after his demise), the ubiquitous Bruce Campbell cameo, and of course, the appearance of Raimi's "classic" car, a yellow 1973 Delta 88 Oldsmobile, which Raimi attempts to work into every one of his features.

If "The Evil Dead" is the bible from which all the Raimi lore has sprung, it only follows that fans would pore over every frame of the film, both looking for Easter eggs and gaffes in the margins as well as attempting to deconstruct the hand-made quality of the movie itself. One of the most noticeable goofs in the original cut of the film is the appearance of producer Rob Tapert standing near the bridge which Ash (Bruce Campbell) and his pals cross in the Delta on their way to the fateful cabin. However, Raimi had Tapert's appearance digitally removed from all home media releases beginning with the 2010 Blu-ray release, making his absence even more noticeable for such detail-obsessed fans.

'I Never Imagined It Would Reach Such An Elevated Status'

Removing Tapert's accidental appearance in "The Evil Dead" was just one of a number of alterations Raimi had digitally made to the film in 2010, as this video demonstrates. Granted, these are all relatively minor changes of a cosmetic nature, and hardly the type of revisionist work that folks like George Lucas have become infamous for. Yet, thanks to fans who had fallen in love with the film and its imperfections over the years, these changes became more noticeable than most.

Raimi was recently asked about these changes point-blank during the Reddit AMA for "65," the upcoming film by directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods which Raimi produced. As he explained:

"It's always a confusing thing for me because everything I do in the movie is about making it more effective and pulling the audience into the story. So, when I have the opportunity to digitally improve the film in a way I couldn't before I use the new tool that's at hand. And even though I've always known that people appreciate the practical effects and the handcrafted natural [aesthetic] of the 'Evil Dead' films, I still thought it was my job as director to do everything I could to approve [sic] the film at any time possible. I never imagined it would reach such an elevated status that the mistakes made within the film itself were part of the experience and the beauty of the thing."

The Joy Of Continuity Errors

Aside from the lore surrounding Raimi and his films, there's the simple fact that continuity errors are one of the favorite pastimes of the avid movie watcher. Sure, there's a dark side to spotting mistakes — in addition to the filmmakers potentially being embarrassed about them, there can be an arrogance to those who eagerly point out errors, with people acting as if they're better than the filmmakers. That path leads straight to CinemaSins, folks, and nobody wants that.

Instead, spotting goofs feels a lot like what Raimi described: they're "part of the experience and the beauty of the thing." Goofs are always going to turn up, no matter how many Script Supervisors are hired to monitor them, and rather than detracting from the film they can often add to the enjoyment. In some cases, like with the moment from "Aliens" where actor Lance Henriksen's body can be seen beneath a hole in the floor, such mistakes reinforce the power of craft and technique — as director James Cameron points out in his commentary for "Aliens," the mistake is forgiven because the audience is looking where they are "supposed to look."

Although the goof and other imperfections remain "fixed" in the most recent 4K Ultra HD and streaming versions of "The Evil Dead," perhaps Raimi's comments might mean he changes his mind about performing such fixes in the future, and maybe even reinstates the old gaffes in a future release of "The Evil Dead." The goofs are dead; long live the goofs!

Read this next: The 15 Best Horror Movie Directors Of All Time

The post Sam Raimi Never Thought Fans Would Love the Imperfections of the Evil Dead Films appeared first on /Film.

The award-winning sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division returns in style! Better get ready – because The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition is now available on GOG, and with a -20% launch discount! The offer ends on March 21, 4 PM UTC.

The Outer Worlds is a first-person adventure where you’ll find yourself lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy. You’ll awake decades later, only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter various factions, all vying for power, the character you decide to become will determine how this player-driven story unfolds. To get the ultimate experience though, get The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition and The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition Upgrade!

Now on GOG!

"Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there."

Sam Elliot's introduction to the film "The Big Lebowski" also introduces us to Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, a laid-back middle-aged nobody who lives life by his own rules. We first meet him standing in a Los Angeles supermarket, dressed in shorts, a V-neck undershirt, and a bathrobe, as he opens a carton of half-and-half and takes a big sip, the creamy froth staining the tips of his mustache white. The Dude has become a part of pop culture, with his cool countenance, hilarious one-liners, and unusual sense of fashion, but none of it would have worked without the performance of Jeff Bridges. Bridges made The Dude his own, and so thoroughly inhabited the character that for some fans who were introduced to the actor through the film, The Dude and Bridges have become inextricable from one another. 

It's been 25 years since "The Big Lebowski" first premiered and gave us all the teachings of The Dude, a true individualist who wasn't afraid to stick it to the man, as long as he had his White Russians and a good joint to smoke, and he's become even more iconic over the decades. The Dude abides, of course, but he also freaking rules. 

Just Take It Easy, Man

Some people sort of mosey their way through life, unconcerned about much of anything beyond their basic needs in the immediate future. It honestly seems like The Dude's existence is a charmed one, despite living in a filthy bungalow where he's behind on his rent. He doesn't have a job and is a laidback freewheeler but he's also exceptionally low-maintenance. He just floats down the lazy river of life with his White Russians and his Creedence Clearwater Revival tunes and doesn't have a care in the world. Bridges told The Hollywood Reporter about when he was approached by the Coen brothers, who had written the role for him and he was surprised at just how on-point their writing was:

"My first impression was it was a great script and I had never done anything like it. I thought the brothers must have spied on me when I was in high school. [...] I'm so happy to be in that movie. I pretty much dug it all, man. There's an aspect of the Dude I aspired to — he's authentic, isn't he? He's who he is, and that's about it. He's a lovely cat."

About half of The Dude's wardrobe came straight from Bridges' own closet, which is probably why he looks so darn comfy in his oversized sweaters and worn T-shirts. The Dude is part of Bridges writ large, his lazy high-school self turned into a middling middle-aged man who is still completely true to himself. The Dude's earnestness, his authenticity, is what makes him so darn lovable. 

That's Just, Like, Your Opinion

The Dudester is possibly the most laid-back individual on the planet. It takes a lot for him to get angry, and even when he's assaulted by random strangers because of a mix-up with last names, he still just sits down and cracks jokes about it. A lot of people would have gotten angry and violent in response to being wrapped up in the insane events of the movie, but The Dude just rolls with it. He stands by his values and refuses to back down when it comes to getting his rug replaced after the invaders pee on it, but he does things at his own pace and with a gentle attitude. 

The only time he really gets really angry and loud in the entire movie is when his best friend Walter (John Goodman) messes up spreading the ashes of their friend Donnie (Steve Buscemi) and the wind blows a whole bunch of Donnie back in his face. He's lost property, been swindled out of money, was drugged, beaten, and nearly killed a few times, but the only thing that really gets him upset is Donnie's death. 

Bridges' comfortable masculinity is a warm hug in a world of cold, angry men, providing an excellent contrast to the nebbish Donnie or blowhard Walter. He's generally pretty kind unless you pee on his rug or put on the Eagles, stumbling around Southern California like a 20th-century Shakespearean fool. His wit and silliness exist in equal measure. After all, he's smart enough to shade over Jackie Treehorn's notes with a pencil to see what he wrote (even if it was just a lewd drawing), but he also nailed planks to the floor in order to wedge a door shut that opened outward. He's not a genius, but he is a scrappy kind of survivor.

The Dude Abides, His Fans Achieve

The Dude's whole ethos can be summed up in three words: "The Dude abides." To abide is to accept and tolerate, to handle whatever comes his way with trademark cool. Those three little words ended up inspiring an entire religion, Dudeism, officially known as The Church of the Latter-Day Dude. The religion was formed in 2005 by Oliver Benjamin, a journalist who really loved the movie and its sweet stoner philosophy. The church has over 600,000 ordained ministers (myself included), and also has Abide University, giving out honorary degrees in subjects like "Leisure Studies" and "Simplicity Theory." (I have a Master's in Memetics from Abide U., because I'm an achiever.) While this is all just a bit of silly fun, the tenets of Dudeism actually have their roots in Buddhism and Daoism, and they promote tolerance and love for one another, along with free thinking, so who can be upset about that? 

In a world where everyone's worth seems to be derived from their ability to work themselves to death, The Dude's way of living seems almost revolutionary. He knows who he is and isn't bothered by what anyone else thinks about him. He's part Bridges, part Coen brothers' writing, but somehow managed to become a legendary man all of his own. The Dude is, well, he's the man. 

Read this next: The 20 Most Influential Comedy Stars In Movie History

The post 25 Years Later, Jeff Bridges is Still Just the Coolest in The Big Lebowski appeared first on /Film.

In a recent update to an NVIDIA post on the company's official website, the feature story "NVIDIA DLSS & GeForce RTX: List Of All Games, Engines, And Applications Featuring GeForce RTX-POowered Technology And Features," the company lists all the current applications and games that support the RTX technology. Now sitting at 398 titles, the list is reaching close to 400 titles — a true milestone for the company, especially with a technology that debuted less than five years ago in September 2018.

NVIDIA RTX technology is very close to reaching 400 titles spanning through games, applications, and software engines

The first inclusion of the technology was seen in NVIDIA's Turing architecture. Now, with the company in its Ada Lovelace architecture period, it has shown the benefits of RTX for software engines, games, and applications that have evolved immensely over time. However, the company had a rocky start with the debut of the RTX technology. When NVIDIA RTX first debuted, not much was compatible with entirely taking advantage of the technology. The media and gamers found witnessing actual differences in RTX tech challenging.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series of graphics cards saw adoption outside of the gaming and application fields and into crypto mining, especially during the height of COVID-19. Users wanting to score big financially or interested in developing digital monetary assets to create a future nest egg for themselves bought several NVIDIA graphics cards off the shelves, making it difficult for the typical consumer to update their gaming or work PC, especially when most of society was forced to work from home.

With the introduction of the RTX 30 series, NVIDIA introduced DLSS 2+, assisted with the increase in the study of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and offered gamers immediate raytracing while playing their favorite PC games from the first day of release.

With NVIDIA in the new RTX 40 series GPUs, the company has introduced DLSS 3 and, within the last week, introduced NVIDIA Video Super Resolution (VSR). However, the company only offers DLSS 3 support for the latest generation of graphics cards. In contrast, their new video upscaler supports the current and previous generation GPUs, meaning that RTX 20 series and below will not see adoption soon, if at all.

Currently, the RTX technology list offers 254 game titles and 114 applications. With games and other software continuing to come out or be updated for the newest generational technology, reaching 400+ titles will not be too far into the future. More and more add support each and every month. Check out the full list below, last updated on February 23rd, 2023.

The post It Just Works! NVIDIA RTX Technology Close To Hit Adoption By 400 Games & Software’s by Jason R. Wilson appeared first on Wccftech.

Wherein we discuss Higgins' rona, Crystalline Resonance: Final Fantasy Piano Concert, 100-percenting games, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy's font issues, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Final Bar Line, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, The Last of Us, Devs, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Star Trek: Picard, and the future of Dick Tracy. Starring Ryan Scott, Justin Haywald, and Ryan Higgins.

Get an in-depth recap of the latest Microsoft Security Experts Roundtable, featuring discussions on trends in global cybercrime, cyber-influence operations, cybersecurity for manufacturing and Internet of Things, and more.

The post Microsoft Security Experts discuss evolving threats in roundtable chat appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

Today marks a significant shift in endpoint management and security. We are launching the Microsoft Intune Suite, which unifies mission-critical advanced endpoint management and security solutions into one simple bundle.

The post The Microsoft Intune Suite fuels cyber safety and IT efficiency appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

The proposed Securities and Exchange Commission rule creates new reporting obligations for United States publicly traded companies to disclose cybersecurity incidents, risk management, policies, and governance. This blog describes how the rule is an opportunity for the IT security team to provide value to the company.

The post SEC cyber risk management rule—a security and compliance opportunity appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

Police were investigating his neighbor. A judge gave officers access to all his security-camera footage, including inside his home. From a report: The week of last Thanksgiving, Michael Larkin, a business owner in Hamilton, Ohio, picked up his phone and answered a call. It was the local police, and they wanted footage from Larkin's front door camera. Larkin had a Ring video doorbell, one of the more than 10 million Americans with the Amazon-owned product installed at their front doors. His doorbell was among 21 Ring cameras in and around his home and business, picking up footage of Larkin, neighbors, customers and anyone else near his house. The police said they were conducting a drug-related investigation on a neighbor, and they wanted videos of "suspicious activity" between 5 and 7 p.m. one night in October. Larkin cooperated, and sent clips of a car that drove by his Ring camera more than 12 times in that time frame. He thought that was all the police would need. Instead, it was just the beginning. They asked for more footage, now from the entire day's worth of records. And a week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge. The notice informed him it was obligated to send footage from more than 20 cameras -- whether or not Larkin was willing to share it himself. As networked home surveillance cameras become more popular, Larkin's case, which has not previously been reported, illustrates a growing collision between the law and people's own expectation of privacy for the devices they own -- a loophole that concerns privacy advocates and Democratic lawmakers, but which the legal system hasn't fully grappled with. Questions of who owns private home security footage, and who can get access to it, have become a bigger issue in the national debate over digital privacy. And when law enforcement gets involved, even the slim existing legal protections evaporate. "It really takes the control out of the hands of the homeowners, and I think that's hugely problematic," said Jennifer Lynch, the surveillance litigation director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group. In the debate over home surveillance, much of the concern has focused on Ring in particular, because of its popularity, as well as the company's track record of cooperating closely with law enforcement agencies. The company offers a multitude of products such as indoor cameras or spotlight cameras for homes or businesses, recording videos based on motion activation, with the footage stored for up to 180 days on Ring's servers. They amount to a large and unregulated web of eyes on American communities -- which can provide law enforcement valuable information in the event of a crime, but also create a 24/7 recording operation that even the owners of the cameras aren't fully aware they've helped to build.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The post Unseen – Movie Review (4/5) appeared first on Heaven of Horror.

Apple TV+ has assembled a star-studded cast for its new post-apocalyptic sci-fi series, "Silo," based on the bestselling book series of the same name by Hugh Howey. Set to premiere this May, "Silo" has now released its first trailer, where you can see heavyweight talents like Rebecca Ferguson ("Dune," "Mission: Impossible – Fallout"), Tim Robbins ("The Shawshank Redemption," "Mystic River"), rapper Common ("John Wick: Chapter 2"), Rashida Jones ("Parks and Recreation"), and David Oyelowo ("Selma," "Chaos Walking").

Back in 2021 when "Silo" was still finding its cast, the series — which hails from "Justified" showrunner Graham Yost and Oscar-nominated director Morten Tyldum ("The Imitation Game") — was going by a different title, "Wool." That's the name of Howey's first book, collecting his first short story, "Wool," and four follow-up novellas. Howey has since written two more novels, "Shift" and "Dust," and is currently working on an unnamed fourth.

"Silo" is not only the name of Howey's book series but it also gives a better idea of where the TV show is set: namely, a giant silo, which extends hundreds of stories below ground. This is where "men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them," according to the description of the series provided by Apple TV+.

Watch The Trailer For Silo

Based on this teaser trailer, the production value for "Silo" looks to be quite impressive, on par with what we saw in the Apple TV+ adaptation of "Foundation," based on another well-known series of sci-fi stories from Isaac Asimov. While we're on the subject of adaptations, "Silo" appears to be taking a page from "The Road" in that even the characters don't know what led to the end of the world. There's also a hint of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" (and its whole story of a community that isolates itself for fear of the outside world) in the way David Oyelowo's character declares: "We do not know why there is no life outside the silo. We only know that here is safe, and there is not."

What's interesting about "Silo" is that AMC Studios is producing this series, but instead of taking it to its own streaming service, AMC+, the studio is outsourcing its distribution to Apple TV+. With "Silo" showing promise and the Emmy-winning "Ted Lasso" returning to the streamer for its third -- and potentially final -- season this month, Apple TV+ is definitely giving viewers incentive to jump on or restart a subscription this spring.

Here's the official synopsis for "Silo:" "In a ruined and toxic future, thousands live in a giant silo deep underground. After its sheriff breaks a cardinal rule and residents die mysteriously, engineer Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo."

"Silo" debuts on Apple TV+ on Friday, May 5, 2023.

Read this next: 12 Underrated Sci-Fi Shows That You Need To See

The post Silo Trailer: Rebecca Ferguson Leads a Star-Studded Adaptation of the Dystopian Bestseller appeared first on /Film.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: More than 1,000 "super-emitter" sites gushed the potent greenhouse gas methane into the global atmosphere in 2022, the Guardian can reveal, mostly from oil and gas facilities. The worst single leak spewed the pollution at a rate equivalent to 67m running cars. Separate data also reveals 55 "methane bombs" around the world -- fossil fuel extraction sites where gas leaks alone from future production would release levels of methane equivalent to 30 years of all US greenhouse gas emissions. Methane emissions cause 25% of global heating today and there has been a "scary" surge since 2007, according to scientists. This acceleration may be the biggest threat to keeping below 1.5C of global heating and seriously risks triggering catastrophic climate tipping points, researchers say. The two new datasets identify the sites most critical to preventing methane-driven disaster, as tackling leaks from fossil fuel sites is the fastest and cheapest way to slash methane emissions. Some leaks are deliberate, venting the unwanted gas released from underground while drilling for oil into the air, and some are accidental, from badly maintained or poorly regulated equipment. Fast action would dramatically slow global heating as methane is short-lived in the atmosphere. An emissions cut of 45% by 2030, which the UN says is possible, would prevent 0.3C of temperature rise. Methane emissions therefore present both a grave threat to humanity, but also a golden opportunity to decisively act on the climate crisis. [...] The methane super-emitter sites were detected by analysis of satellite data, with the US, Russia and Turkmenistan responsible for the largest number from fossil fuel facilities. The biggest event was a leak of 427 tonnes an hour in August, near Turkmenistan's Caspian coast and a major pipeline. That single leak was equivalent to the rate of emissions from 67m cars, or the hourly national emissions of France. Future methane emissions from fossil fuel sites -- the methane bombs -- are also forecast to be huge, threatening the entire global "carbon budget" limit required to keep heating below 1.5C. More than half of these fields are already in production, including the three biggest methane bombs, which are all in North America.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from InterestingEngineering: The U.S. Air Force's Global Strike Command awarded a new $75.5 million contract to New York-based firm Persistent Systems. The aim is to build a unified security system for 400 operational Minuteman III intercontinental-range nuclear missile silos secured in remote areas throughout the U.S. It will be the world's largest wireless ad-hoc network, helping secure the U.S.'s nuclear arsenal amid growing concerns over global nuclear security. Persistent Systems will roll out its Infrastructure-based Regional Operation Network (IRON) offering across three Air Force bases as part of the Regional Operating Picture (ROP) program. According to the company, the new security network will cover an area of 25,000 square miles (64,750 sq km), making it the world's largest wireless ad-hoc network. The IRON offering is an easy-to-deploy Integrated MANET Antenna System on fixed towers and poles. It will allow the U.S. Air Force to connect 75 operation centers and more than 1,000 Security Force vehicles. The ROP program will allow constant communication to an Operations Center via the towers. Meanwhile, the personnel at that Operations Center will know the exact location of any Security Forces on a digital map. Both will be able to share critical data seamlessly.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Modder ‘GeneralTantor’ has released a new version of the HD Remaster Project for Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. Version 3.0 features the new OpenJKDF2 Engine, OpenJKDF2 by shinyquagsire23. OpenJKDF2  is a function-by-function reimplementation of Dark Forces 2 in C, with 64-bit ports to MacOS and Linux. It generally improves performance in certain scenarios … Continue reading Star Wars Jedi Knight Remastered 3.0 is available for download →

The post Star Wars Jedi Knight Remastered 3.0 is available for download appeared first on DSOGaming.

A miserable little pile of cells

I’m not the biggest lover of roguelikes. I maybe avoid them a little less than I used to but listing that little influence in the bullet points still isn’t a way to sell a game to me. However, I do love Castlevania. Throwing that full name (Metroidvania doesn’t count) into your press release is a better way to get me salivating. So, yes, the Return to Castlevania DLC was enough to get me to fully pick up Dead Cells.

What’s amusing is that I last played Dead Cells around the time I was reviewing GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon, which was a revival of a forsaken Konami franchise that largely took influence from Dead Cells. So both times I’ve played Dead Cells have been due to a Konami franchise. Don’t look at me like that. I found it funny.

Dead Cells is a roguelike that took a lot of influence from Castlevania, so having it get officially sanctioned Castlevania DLC is a great fit. As it turns out, it’s not only a great addition because of the addition of themed levels, but because the unlocks you get from tackling them enhance the Castlevania flavors of the base game.

[caption id="attachment_366995" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania(PC, Switch, Xbox One, PS4, iOS, Android)
Developer: Motion Twin
Publisher: Motion Twin
Released: March 6, 2023
MSRP: $9.99

You can begin the Return to Castlevania DLC rather easily. As long as you have the flasks hanging outside the opening room, you can find Alucard in the Prisoner’s Quarters. If you’re starting fresh, this just means you’ll need a few (failed) runs before he appears. Afterward, you start off in the Castle Outskirts. There are only two full biomes available along with two boss rooms. However, you have to go through Dracula’s Castle at least twice, once via entering through the Prisoner’s Quarters to defeat death and again through the Clocktower.

It’s a bit more complicated than it needs to be, but not so cryptic that it’s impossible to figure out. The rules were initially unclear to me, so I wasted a run or two trying to get to Drac. For that matter, if you fail at Drac, it’s a long walk getting back to him, which I suppose is just the nature of a roguelike. If you’ve played Dead Cells, you probably know the kind of time commitment you’re in for. Runs can exceed a half hour, and while that’s not huge for a full game, when a miscalculation can send you back, that can be punishing.

It’s progression by degrees. Sure, you fail, but spending cells make subsequent runs easier. You also build up your skills and strategies. You figure out what your weapon preferences are, and that moves success within your reach.

[embed]https://youtu.be/QBBwIHYm8Mw[/embed]

Cat Scratch

The two included biomes are pretty lean meat. It definitely fits the price, and I think the biggest issue with it is that the correct amount of Castlevania for me is endless Castlevania.

Despite there being only two boss rooms, there are actually three bosses. There’s Dracula, of course, but there’s also Death and Medusa. The last battle with Dracula is appropriately brutal, with a harsh difficulty spike even for the well-prepared.

Where I think the greatest value lies in Return to Castlevania is in the unlockables you can use in the main game. I was somewhat concerned that the DLC would exist as its own side game, but thankfully, it’s fully integrated. You can unlock classic Castlevania armaments like the holy water and Maria’s cat Byakko. These are then available for playing the vanilla content. It’s maybe not much, but it helps the whole game feel a bit more like you’re playing Castlevania.

Additionally, there are unlockable skins for the Prisoner. One of the first I unlocked was Maria, which is pretty exciting. There’s also Richter, Simon, and Trevor, as well as a few unexpected side characters. It makes it very easy to complete the illusion.

[caption id="attachment_366994" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Love letter

The remixed music is also pretty great. The cover of Vampire Killer is probably the best adaptation, and I’m somewhat disappointed at the approach to Divine Bloodlines. However, in general, I really want this soundtrack.

If you want to play Return to Castlevania, you’re going to need to be ready to play Dead Cells. There’s no way around it. Thankfully, Dead Cells is an absolute gravy boat, and you should play it.

What makes Return to Castlevania better is that it essentially allows you to turn Dead Cells into a Castlevania roguelike, and a damned good one. The DLC serves as a fantastic love letter to one of the series that helped inspire Dead Cells, and that love absolutely comes across. I honestly wish that more games would let me just turn them into a Castlevania spin-off. What’s the matter, Mario? Think you’re better than Castlevania? Well, you’re not, so put on this leather cuirass and carry this whip. Wait, that sounded weird.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania appeared first on Destructoid.

It's a small moment, but it's really the moment that puts the Coen Bros.' 1998 film "The Big Lebowski" -- celebrating its 25th anniversary this week -- into perspective. Near the film's end, after its central kidnapping plot has largely been resolved and the German nihilists have been dispatched, the none-too-bright character Donny (Steve Buscemi) unexpectedly suffers a heart attack and dies. He is cremated, and his best friends Walter (John Goodman) and Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski cannot afford the expensive urn required to transport his cremains away from the mortuary. They, instead, pack Donny up in a coffee can. 

Walter and the Dude go up to a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Walter mentions that Donny liked to surf (an interest heretofore unknown about Donny) and that his death could be compared to all his buddies who died in Vietnam. Walter, throughout "The Big Lebowski," repeatedly evokes the Vietnam War, constantly stressing that he is a veteran while he extracts handguns in public. Walter, while giving his eulogy, gets a little carried away with his own personal crap. Walter then upturns the coffee can, and the ocean breezes immediately blow Donny's ashes away from the sea, and all over the Dude. 

The Dude, in a rare show of outrage, finally yells at Walter, saying that everything he does is a travesty. "What the f*** does anything have to do with Vietnam!?" he yells. This line reveals what is really at the heart of "The Big Lebowski." It is a movie about fossilized characters, trapped in another era. The film was made in 1998 and is set in 1991, both times when it felt like American history was at an end. The characters in "The Big Lebowski" are obsessed with looking back. 

They usually find nothing there.

The End Of History

It's important to recall a pervasive attitude that persisted throughout a lot of 1990s popular culture. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the start of an enormous economic boom, America began to gaze inward and was a little terrified with what it saw. There was, all of a sudden, no more decades-long Cold War hanging over the heads of the citizenry. There was no longer an Enemy to fear. And with no Enemy to Stand United against, many Americans felt that the nation no longer had a unifying, generational identity. There's a reason why the generation of the 1990s was called Generation X. They had no name. They had no unity. And how sad was it, the found, that America required hatred and suspicion of other nations to unify it? 

The characters in "The Big Lebowski" are not Gen-Xers, but Boomers. The Dude recalls the 1960s with halcyon joy, carrying out his shiftless, weed-consuming fantasies into an adulthood that requires nothing of him. On television monitors, George H.W. Bush gives speeches about Saddam Hussein and his invasion of Kuwait, but the Dude can hardly acknowledge it. This war does not spark the moral outrage of a previous generation's war. This war (already seen from 1998's perspective) is a floundering attempt by politicians to assert dominance. The Dude writes a check for 69 cents while Bush blithers. The so-called glory of unifying war efforts are long past. 

Late in the film, the Dude repeats Bush's words by saying "This aggression will not stand." In the Dude's mouth, is sounds absurd. There is no aggression in Jeff Lebowski's heart. He's too busy bowling and getting high.

America, Vis-à-Vis War

Walter, a Vietnam veteran, also lives in a nostalgic haze, although for a former soldier, he comes at war from an opposite perspective. He pounds his fists and waves guns around, thinking that a soldier's aggression is an acceptable way of expressing outrage. Walter has, in his mind, reconstructed the world so that it is seemingly always making demands from him. His ex-wife's dog, his ex-wife's faith, and his past all require him to be outraged and active. But it is all in a self-imposed manner. In real life, like the Dude, the world demands very little of Walter.

As such, The Dude and Walter cling to each other in mutual ineffectuality. The Dude may have been roped into a Raymond Chandler-like mystery about a kidnapping and ransom, but the film's central joke is that he's not focused enough to properly play detective. It's telling that the Dude was hired to be a fall guy, and that none of the mystery is revealed as a result of his actions. He and Walter must face the fact that a modern America has no center, and their old ways of protest and/or combat have long since been needed. 

"What the f*** does anything have to do with Vietnam?" Nothing at all, Jeff. As Walter tries brushing Donny's ashes from the Dude's body, they awkwardly embrace, alone on a small bluff in Southern California. They don't know what the world has grown into -- their perceptions don't extend that far -- but they do know that they can cling on to each other. Donny is gone, but there is one thing left that Walter and the Dude can do: abide. They can only persist, bringing their old-world energy into a world that barely remembers it.

Read this next: 20 Underrated Comedy Movies You Need To Watch

The post The Best Moment in The Big Lebowski Ties the Whole Movie Together appeared first on /Film.

Deep fakes are expected to become a more prominent attack vector. Here's how to identify them. What are Deep Fakes? A deep fake is the act of maliciously replacing real images and videos with fabricated ones to perform information manipulation. To create images, video and audio that are high quality enough to be used in deep fakes, AI and ML are required. Such use of AI, ML and image replacement

"History of the World Part II" begins today, with the first two episodes arriving on Hulu (read our review here). Over 40 years after Mel Brooks parodied epics of the Roman and biblical kind in "History of the World Part I," the sequel series broadens the horizons of historical comedy in more ways than one. Not only does the series dive into even more time periods, including the unfolding of the Russian Revolution, the struggles of ending the Civil War, and the times of William Shakespeare, but it also gets considerably raunchier than its predecessor and digs into more contemporary pop culture styling while also staying true to Brooks' comedic spirit.

Leading up to today's debut of "History of the World Part II," we spoke with stars, writers, and executive producers Nick Kroll and Ike Barinholtz (as well as the showrunner and director) about working with Mel Brooks, parodying "Curb Your Enthusiasm" with some of the show's co-stars, and sitting on a horse while wearing a noose. Plus, there are some rumblings about an organization referred to as the "Jew-minati" and a totally, 100% legitimate idea about a non-comedic musical adaptation of the January 6th insurrection that isn't a joke at all. Okay, that one might be a joke.

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

'Mel Brooks Is Such A Massive Part Of So Many Of Our Comedic Upbringings...'

It's been 40 years since "History of the World Part I." That's a long time to wait for a sequel. So how did this project come around to you guys after all this time?

Kroll: Well, Ike was in jail and continues to be.

Barinholtz: I'd show you my ankle bracelet, but it's too darn heavy.

Kroll: And that's the kind of fun that we would have on set!

[everyone laughs]

Kroll: But no, Mel Brooks and Searchlight came to me about the idea of doing the show of a "History of the World Part II," 40 years in the making. Of course, it was like a no-brainer for me. We brought in Wanda Sykes and Ike and his writing partner, Dave Stassen, to run the show. It's been this really beautiful process. Mel Brooks is such a massive part of so many of our comedic upbringings, so getting people to be involved in the show was one of the easier things we've ever had to do, just because so many people were excited to work with Mel. But also Ike has great relationships. Wanda, obviously, is one of the great comics of our time. I don't know if you know this, but I am part of the Illuminati, so I am able to use those relationships to leverage opportunities.

[laughs] Perfect.

Barinholtz: I'm part of the Lou Malnati's Chicago pizza family. I would send pizzas to people if they said no. Then they get the pizza, and they're like, "What time do you need me on set?"

[laughs] Even better.

Barinholtz: Right?

Yeah, that'll do it.

Kroll: And I'm part of the Jew-minati, which is a term that I can't believe --

Barinoltz: Have we never said that before? The Jew-minati?

Kroll: Jew-minati?

Barinholtz: We've never said that before?

Kroll: You know what? Let's bring in Kanye, because I think Kanye's got some --

Barinholtz: You can bring the puppet, come on.

[laughs] Perfect, amazing. 

'To Get To Talk To Mel, And Pitch Him Jokes And Storylines, And Hear Stories From Him About The Writer's Room At 'Your Show Of Shows,' It Was Just Surreal'

So you mentioned everyone being excited to work with Mel Brooks. I feel like that had to be a bucket list item for both of you. He hasn't been nearly as active as he used to be. Did you ever even think that was possible? And what was it like working with him on this?

Barinholtz: I did not think it was possible just, because I just figured, "Yeah, I'm not going to get that chance. He's kind of doing other stuff now." So when Nick called me and told me, it was the fastest I've ever said yes. To get to talk to Mel, and pitch him jokes and storylines, and hear stories from him about the writers' room at "Your Show of Shows," it was just surreal. Every time I would get off a Zoom with him, or we'd talk to him, I would just shake my head. I'd go run in and tell my wife. I'd be like, "You're not going to believe it. Brooks just told me this incredible story about Neil Simon and Carl Reiner!" And she would look at me and say, "I'm on a call. I also have a job. It's not just about you, you selfish prick. And f*** off!"

[laughs]

Kroll: He was on with Mel Brooks because, frankly, they have a romantic relationship.

Barinholtz: That was a big hurdle for me to have to get over to work with Mel. But I did it. And that shows you how much he means to me personally.

And you're a true professional because of it.

Barinholtz: Yes, I am. Yes, I am.

One thing that was surprising to me was that "History of the World Part II" gets a little more raunchy than "History of the World Part I," but it's hilarious. Was there ever any concern about taking it a little too far?

Barinholtz: You know, Mel did say to us, actually early on, he said, "Don't be afraid to tell dirty jokes."

Kroll: Mm-hmm.

That's awesome.

Barinholtz: I feel like, just based on Nick and I and Wanda's humor, we're already predisposed to do that. But to get the extra blessing to go for it, really, I just thought was so nice, and it allowed us to really just be absolutely disgusting.

'I Don't Think You Can Really Do A Mel Brooks Project Without Some Musical Numbers'

Kroll: Yeah, and I think we did a table read of a bunch of material one day, and Mel talked to us afterwards, and he said two things. First, he said, "I like the songs." We have a bunch of songs in it, because I don't think you can really do a Mel Brooks project without some musical numbers.

Of course.

Kroll: And he said, "I like some of the reads," which I assume is a reference to Ike's work in the show. But the other thing he said was, "We're going to get some letters, and that's good." And I think he really was never one to shy away from any of -- he really was encouraging us to take some risks, and that's because Mel has always done that in his work. He's always been provocative. And I think we're trying to pay homage to that, as well as just do the stuff that we naturally would do.

Absolutely.

Barinholtz: And just a little fun footnote for that story. After that call, Mel reached out to me and said, "Yours were one of the reads I enjoyed."

Kroll: You say he made that clear?

Barinholtz: I said, "Oh, who were you talking about? Who didn't you like?" And he said, "I don't want to get into names, but just know that yours was amongst my favorite reads," I heard him say.

Kroll: And then he called me after that and said, "I know you're in deep with Ike. So I had to make him feel better."

Barinholtz: Funny thing, a little funny thing, and even Nick doesn't know, he called me after he called Nick, and was like, listen, "It's Nick's birthday, and I didn't get him a gift. So I wanted him to feel a little special today. But your s*** was great, and his maybe wasn't." And then he said, "I'm hanging up the phone right now, last call of the day."

Kroll: And you know that's true, because you can so hear Mel saying, "Your s*** was great." You know that's how he talks.

[laughs] For sure, sounds just like him.

'I Think My Favorite Part Of This Bit Is Judas Is Wearing Simple Sneakers Like Larry Does'

Nick, the "Curb Your Judaism" bits are some of my favorites in the entire show. It had to be somewhat surreal doing a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" parody with JB Smoove and Richard Kind, right?

Kroll: Yeah, they're both two of my favorite comedic actors, and their work specifically on "Curb" is so perfect. So we had the idea to do it, and it was Judas as sort of a Larry [David] figure. And then it was like, "Oh, can we do this if we don't get JB?" The truth is, I don't think we could do the show without JB Smoove. He's so funny in everything he does. And it was surreal, especially because I was on "The League," which Jeff Schaffer created, and he's also very involved in writing and directing much of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Larry plays older Ruxin [in the finale]. It was a very weird thing that we were trying to do. I think my favorite part of this bit is Judas is wearing Simple sneakers like Larry does. You can barely see, but there's one shot where you see it. Because I'm wearing biblical robe, and then I'm like, "I want the Simple sneakers," and I got it.

I love that. Ike, now long did you have to be in a noose and on a horse for that "Civil War" segment?

Kroll: Great question!

Barinholtz: For a little too long to be comfortable. When we wrote that, and when we went down to do the location scout, I remember being like, "There's no way we were going to be able to fit five men on horseback with nooses around their neck. It's just not going to work." And our horse trainer was like, "No, we'll make it happen." And then sure enough, we're there that day, and these horses are right next to each other. There are some outtakes where I'm a little nervous about maybe the horse getting spooked, taking off, and my head just remaining on the noose.

Kroll: That would've been a good outtake though, you know, for the end of the show.

Barinholtz: The ultimate blooper! But no, we had a great team, and thankfully, no animals were injured in that, including the actors.

'But The Reality Is There's Just This Infinite Amount Of Very Stupid Situations That We Could Put Sketches In'

Now, the first season is just coming out, but just "Part I" had a teaser for "Part II," and without giving anything away, "Part II" does have a tease for "Part II," season 2. Do you guys have any ideas or hopes of historical settings or people you might want to tackle with a second season?

Barinholtz: The great thing about this is there's just 3,000 years of material that's just kind of sitting there.

Kroll: Yeah, that's when the Earth was created.

Barinholtz: Yeah, Nick's a biblical realist. We started going down the road on a really amazing Cuba story that we were very excited about. And that's something that I think would be very fun to explore again. But the reality is there's just this infinite amount of very stupid situations that we could put sketches in.

Kroll: You know, Ike was very central to the January 6th --

Barinholtz: I am the QAnon shaman. I've just shaved and gotten a haircut. No one even knew that.

[laughs]

Kroll: Right, and he keeps pitching a non-comedic historical reenacting of the storming of the Capitol. So we're trying to figure out if we can get him out of the project.

Barinholtz: It's non-comedic, but it is musical.

Kroll: Yes.

Barinholtz: Can you help me out with that? Do you know anyone that is looking to make a cool story that has actually has something to say?

Yeah, I feel like this sounds like something we could probably get Baz Luhrmann on. I think that bringing his touch into it would really be great. We could have a lot of people wearing bejeweled costumes and things like that.

Barinholtz: Yes. Oh, yes.

Kroll: That sounds like a great Mike Pence vehicle.

"History of the World Part II" premieres two episodes on Hulu today, March 6. After that, two new episodes will drop daily, with the finale arriving on March 9.

Read this next: The 95 Best Comedy Movies Ever

The post History of the World Part II: Mel Brooks Encouraged Nick Kroll & Ike Barinholtz to Get Dirty [Exclusive Interview] appeared first on /Film.

The transition to 2.5Gbps Ethernet has not been an easy one for Intel. The company's I225/I226 2.5 GbE Ethernet controllers (codename Foxville), a prevalent choice on Intel platform motherboards for the last few years, has presented a fair share of issues since its introduction, including random networking disconnections and stuttering. And while Intel has been working through the issues with multiple revisions of the hardware, they apparently haven't hammered out all of the bugs yet, as evidenced by the latest bug mitigation suggestion from the company. In short, Intel is suggesting that users experiencing connection issues on the latest I226-V controller disable some of the its energy efficiency features, which appear to be a major contributor in the connection stability issues I226-V has been seeing.

To mitigate the connection problems on the I226-V Ethernet controller, Intel is advising affected users to disable Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) mode through Windows Device Manager. The same guidance applies to Linux users as well. EEE mode aims to lower power consumption when the Ethernet connection is in an idle state. The issue is that EEE mode seems to activate when an Ethernet connection is in active use, causing it to drop out momentarily.

And while deactivating EEE does reportedly improve connection stability, deactivating it doesn't seem to be the ultimate solution. Intel has received reports that some users still experienced disconnections with EEE mode disabled. Furthermore, disabling EEE mode forgoes its intended benefits – such as reducing power draw by up to 50% when an Ethernet connection is idling – so it's not an option that cost-conscious consumers would normally want to disable.

Intel has also released an updated driver set for the I226-V/I225-V family of Ethernet controllers that automatically makes this adjustment. Specifically, the patch deactivates EEE mode for connection speeds above 100 Mbps, but users may have to disable it entirely if the workaround doesn't work with their combination of hardware. MSI and Asus have already deployed the new Ethernet driver for their respective Intel 700-series motherboards, so other vendors shouldn't take long to do the same.

In the interim, Intel will continue investigating the root cause and provide a concrete solution for motherboards with the I226-V Ethernet controller. The Foxville family of Intel Ethernet controllers has a long history of connectivity quirks – going back to the original I225-V in 2019 and E3100 in 2020 – ultimately requiring multiple hardware revisions (B1, B2, & B3 steppings) before finding solutions to many of its issues. As a result, it's not off the table that the I226-V Ethernet controller may suffer the same fate.

BlackLotus was in the news last year, after some oddities were detected and submitted to VirusTotal.  Those initial detections and further suspicious activity reported to ESET  suggested that this was something new. …

Marble Blast was first released in 2002, before being updated to Marble Blast Gold in 2003. The demo can be obnoxious, with it showing a begging screen imploring you to buy the full game after completing each and every level. Considering the state of the registered version as it exists now, this can feel more than a bit galling.

Researchers have announced a major cybersecurity find -- the world's first-known instance of real-world malware that can hijack a computer's boot process even when Secure Boot and other advanced protections are enabled and running on fully updated versions of Windows. From a report: Dubbed BlackLotus, the malware is what's known as a UEFI bootkit. These sophisticated pieces of malware hijack the UEFI -- short for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface -- the low-level and complex chain of firmware responsible for booting up virtually every modern computer. As the mechanism that bridges a PC's device firmware with its operating system, the UEFI is an OS in its own right. It's located in an SPI-connected flash storage chip soldered onto the computer motherboard, making it difficult to inspect or patch. Because the UEFI is the first thing to run when a computer is turned on, it influences the OS, security apps, and all other software that follows. These traits make the UEFI the perfect place to run malware. When successful, UEFI bootkits disable OS security mechanisms and ensure that a computer remains infected with stealthy malware that runs at the kernel mode or user mode, even after the operating system is reinstalled or a hard drive is replaced. As appealing as it is to threat actors to install nearly invisible and unremovable malware that has kernel-level access, there are a few formidable hurdles standing in their way. One is the requirement that they first hack the device and gain administrator system rights, either by exploiting one or more vulnerabilities in the OS or apps or by tricking a user into installing trojanized software. Only after this high bar is cleared can the threat actor attempt an installation of the bootkit. The second thing standing in the way of UEFI attacks is UEFI Secure Boot, an industry-wide standard that uses cryptographic signatures to ensure that each piece of software used during startup is trusted by a computer's manufacturer. Secure Boot is designed to create a chain of trust that will prevent attackers from replacing the intended bootup firmware with malicious firmware. If a single firmware link in that chain isn't recognized, Secure Boot will prevent the device from starting.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Coen Brothers injected their 1998 cult crime-comedy, "The Big Lebowski," with a medley of thematic and aesthetic inspirations, ranging from hard-boiled crime noir to deliberately eccentric dream sequences. Although the basic plot points of the film follow the beats of a convoluted kidnapping mystery that meanders in several directions, "The Big Lebowski" is more of a vibe, an amalgamation of idiosyncrasies that work due to a loose, free-flowing narrative structure. On many occasions, the Coen Brothers have credited the works of Raymond Chandler for inspiring parts of "The Big Lebowski," especially Chandler's 1939 hardboiled crime novel, "The Big Sleep," which seems to share slight similarities with the film. In the event of the 25th anniversary of "The Big Lebowski," let us look past the superficial threads that tie the L.A. noir classic and the comedic crime mystery by looking at the overlapping sensibilities these films share, despite being very different in tone, structure, and aesthetics.

It is not difficult to parse how "The Big Lebowski" is markedly different than "The Big Sleep" — the film's world mostly follows a chill, laid-back logic embodied by its central stoner figure, The Dude (Jeff Bridges) and delightfully indulgent in-jokes about other Coen Brothers films pepper the story, including references to "Barton Fink," "Miller's Crossing," and "Fargo." Every character is larger-than-life in ways that allow each actor to let loose in hilarious ways, a case in point being John Turturro's Jesus Quintana, who licks a bowling ball suggestively before flamboyantly whizzing them toward the pins. Even the presence of the German nihilist trio looks straight out of a fever dream, who use a "marmot" to intimidate Dude with exaggerated swag and accents. There's no way something as deliberately crafted as "The Big Sleep" could be similar to such an eccentric mystery-adventure. Am I wrong?

Convoluted Mysteries

While Chandler's novel might've loosely inspired the Coens, Howard Hawks' 1946 film adaptation, "The Big Sleep," definitely shares a core with "The Big Lebowski." The opening narration hints that a tale of epic proportions is about to be unraveled; while the story is definitely epic, it is more about how the Dude deals with baffling situations as opposed to a detective-noir focused on its central disappearance. After all, the impetus for the Dude visiting the "Big" Lebowski — a millionaire who just happens to have the same name — is that Treehorn's men pee on a rug that "really tied the room together," and not indignation due to mistaken identity. While the Dude gets involved in a messy scheme involving the alleged kidnapping of Lebowski's trophy wife, the events that occur become increasingly strange and hilarious, and these dynamic moods eclipse the plot.

Hawks' film, on the other hand, is a certified classic that follows wisecracking P.I. Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart), who is summoned to Sternwood's mansion to resolve a gambling debt issue. Despite being more serious in tone, "The Big Sleep" hinges its appeal on cryptic reveals and general befuddlement, where the hullabaloo surrounding the mystery supersedes the need to resolve it. There are too many murderers and victims, a plethora of tertiary characters to account for, and electrifying sexual chemistry between the leads that often overshadows much else. Despite being entertaining, "The Big Sleep" can often be too confusing, to the point that it's just vibing: the mystery-noir becomes so obtuse, it allows us to put ourselves in Marlowe's shows to solve the puzzles for him.

Joel Coen echoed Chandler's sentiment of scenes assuming more importance than the plot while talking about "The Big Lebowski," stating that "The plot is kind of secondary to other things." Interestingly, the overlaps between the two films, do not stop here.

What's A Shamus?

Steve Buscemi's Donny is hilariously out-of-loop when it comes to key events concerning bowling buddies Dude and Walter (John Goodman), with the recurring gag being Walter asking him to just "shut the f*** up." During one such instance, Donny asks "What's a shamus?" and later in the film, Dude finds himself being followed by a P.I. (a callback to the Coen's "Blood Simple"). Incidentally, Hawks' "The Big Sleep" is about a shamus who attempts to reach the heart of a labyrinthine mystery at the behest of a wheelchair-bound rich dude, whose daughter Vivian (Lauren Bacall) is echoed in Julianne Moore's avant-garde artist, Maude. While Carmen's gambling debts are the catalyst for Marlowe's journey, Lebowski's "missing" wife Bunny serves as the impetus for the shenanigans in which the Dude and Walter get involved.

While "The Big Sleep" poses a murky mystery rife with red herrings and blackmailing, "The Big Lebowski" takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to these elements. The mafia guy Carmen owes money to is swapped out for Treehorn, producer of the hit (?) porno "Logjamming" starring none other than nihilist leader Uli Kunkel and Bunny herself. The big blackmailing plotline in Hawks' film also has a porn subtext, although implied subtly as opposed to the satirical, overt route that the Coens take. Moreover, the events of both films take place in Los Angeles, which comes with its specific history of cinematic noir crimes that are impossibly incoherent to execute on a realistic level. While the dead bodies and double-crossings pile up as the mystery intensifies in "The Big Sleep," Dude has to contend with a botched hand-off, the weight of Bunny's life being "in his hands," and a random severed toenail that might or might not be Bunny's. A literal case of strikes and gutters, ups and downs.

Philip Marlowe Vs. The Dude

Boggart's Marlowe is a tough-as-nails private eye, a kind of eternal bachelor who dives into his cases with determination. Marlowe's hard-drinking is more of a stylistic coping mechanism than an actual flaw (within the moral standards of a hardboiled crime thriller) and despite being shrewd, he seems a bit out of his depth while solving Carmen's problems in "The Big Sleep." While Marlowe can be a chill dude in his own way, nobody is cooler than The Dude — the man does not even flinch when he is dunked headfirst into a toilet by debt enforcers, as he casually fishes out his signature sunglasses out of the toilet and wears them. Perennially unbothered yet appropriately worried during tense situations, Dude just allows himself to be swept up in the convoluted Bunny mess, never letting go of his White Russian even when shoved inside a limo. What a dude.

Just like Marlowe's sizzling chemistry with Vivian allows the plot to branch into interesting directions, Maude's encounters with Dude sheds new light on the case at hand. Maude is the one to reveal Bunny's involvement with Kunkel and Treehorn, which eventually allows Dude to piece the truth together about Lebowski's true intentions. Although Dude is no P.I., he is forced to assume this role and navigate situations typical of this profession, including being tailed by shady cars, following leads (which he uncovers accidentally whilst being high), and dealing with a range of threats and increasingly ludicrous home invasions. Unlike Marlowe, Dude has Walter by his side, who alternates between Vietnam war-flashback fury and uncharacteristic self-restraint (which somehow ends in violence). 

All things considered, The Dude seems like a much cooler dude to hang out with than Marlowe, but well, you know, that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Read this next: The 95 Best Comedy Movies Ever

The post The Film Noir Classic That Inspired the Coen Brothers to Make The Big Lebowski appeared first on /Film.

Netflix brings a new intriguing docuseries, MH370: The Plane that Disappeared, based on a true story of a Malaysian flight that went missing in 2014. Well, in this article, we have discussed the disappeared flight’s story along with the theories and speculations that went viral after the unfortunate incident.

The streaming giant has previously added several remarkable documentaries to its huge library, and now it’s coming with another one, i.e., MH370: The Plane that Disappeared. The series is divided into three parts that will divulge some information and evidence regarding the long-lost plane that is still missing. Moreover, the Malaysian plane incident is said to be the biggest mystery in the history of aviation. So, when Netflix first announced the docuseries, fans couldn’t resist knowing more about the Malaysian flight MH370.

MH370 : The Plane That Disappeared
Exclusive Di NETFLIX 8 Mac 2023

Malaysia has been waiting for a documentary like this for a long time !! pic.twitter.com/RqteF2vnwe

— Yan (@FayyanFreaks) February 16, 2023

• MORE: Star Wars fans still hope Hondo Ohnaka will appear in The Mandalorian

What’s the true story of MH370?

MH370 was a passenger flight flying from Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers. After half an hour of taking off on March 8, 2014, the crew of the flight communicated with the air traffic control. At the time, the radar screens were also showing the plane’s status, but after 2 to 3 minutes, the flight mysteriously disappeared from the screen. The military radar successfully tracked the flight for one hour, but after that, the plane disappeared completely, and no one was able to track it ever again.

After 9 years, Netflix is bringing the documentary on MH370 the Malayasian Airlines which disappeared.

Premieres March 8. pic.twitter.com/Ie7PyDPrXR

— LetsCinema (@letscinema) February 22, 2023

After three years, several parts of the flight were found in the Indian Ocean, and few parts were found in La Reunion’s French Territory. Although the major pieces of the Malaysian flight were found in the Indian Ocean, several experts denied believing it was a natural accident. They believed that the flight was highjacked either by US Military or by the North Korean Government. Also, some speculation states that the pilot planned everything as part of his mass suicide. These rumors came to life when the pilot’s home simulator showed a similar path that the plane went on when it disappeared. However, none of the aforementioned speculations were proved right.

• MORE: MH370: The Plane That Disappeared Release date and Time

The post MH370: The Plane that Disappeared- The true story of the Lost Flight Explained appeared first on ForeverGeek.

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About a week ago, Nvidia released a new GeForce Game Ready Driver offering a wide range of enhancements but, more importantly, delivered RTX Video Super Resolution, a new feature that improved video being streamed using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge when paired with a GeForce RTX 30 or 40 series GPU. While there are a number of issues with the new update, it appears that one, can even eat up some of your precious CPU in certain situations, with some users reporting the number going as high as 14 percent.

I chose the life, it didn’t choose me. I could have walked away from it a long time ago, and I’ve certainly shifted my focus over the years. But I still hold the heft and halter, the one standing at the death of all things, and while it means a lot of moments of rescue and recovery, it also means knowing, looking across at that which thrives and bustles, the desiccation and destruction to come. The only part of the fog of the future that’s guaranteed is the moment it switches from theory to a wall of iron and then darkness.

All this to say: Discord.

Twitter, in its own death throes, its own misery, will always stand in its later years as a fantastic tool for raining down misery and pain on others with a simple “quote tweet”, and I’ve been guilty of such on the absolute regular. Few of my tweets maneuvered past 100,000 “impressions”, but this one most definitely did:

The last I checked, that tweet got the attention of over a quarter-million individuals and/or machines, and the next two follow-ups got a smaller amount, but are still worth noting:

There is absolutely nothing new about Discord, say people with experience of IRC. Of course, they’re wrong: Discord has speed, ease of use, and (at this point in time) general societal acceptance far beyond IRC. IRC is a bouncer looking you up and down and asking you to do a small dance of proof of worth before entering a text-only cave of obscurity; Discord added skylights, pretty lights, cross-platform access and verification, and centralization, not all of them great additions but very welcome for their intended audience…. who is now everyone.

I’ve been on well over 100 discords, and I’ve run or in some way moderated a half-dozen. They’re good for fast spinning-up of projects, to glom a bunch of humans into a channel system, and not have to deal with Slack’s oddities, or the ridiculous on-ramp for IRC. At one point I asked for people to send me invites to the weirdest Discords they were members of, and I can assure you, there’s weird ones indeed. And the capacity is notable – walking through the halls of particularly “hot” Discords with literally hundreds of thousands of members, especially when active, is to walk through a space station hosting an all-star concert as it blasts through the darkness.

I have no disputes as the popularity of the places, the things that happen there, and the unquestioned vivaciousness of being the party that never seems to end and everyone wants to join.

I just happen to be the sort of person who notices there’s no decent fire exits and most of the structure is wood and there’s an… awful lot of pyrotechnics being set off.

Discord’s official birthday is 2012, but it’s really 2009, when OpenFeint was created.

OpenFeint is the pile of bones worn into the foundation of Discord telling us it was built on land that will very occasionally flood to great catastrophe. It was founded in 2009, was given a huge ecosystem of plugins and support, gained ten million followers, took in roughly $12 million of known VC investment, was sold to a Japanese company in 2011 for $104 million, and was fucking dead in the ground by 2012. By the flickering light of its Viking funeral, Discord was founded and the cycle began anew.

Spare me the “they learned their lesson speech”, and please store it in this garbage can I’ve already stuffed with the “it won’t happen again” and “you don’t know what you’re talking about” bags I tend to get. It will happen again; it’s just a matter of when.

The main considerations I have are what will be lost.

When the free image-hosting site ImageShack made the realization that they were losing buckets of money hosting images for free, and shifted over to a subscription model that also cut off legacy accounts, deleting them in fact, the question was who would care. Perhaps the original uploaders of the images, too cheap to pay the additional fees of a few bucks per month, or maybe someone who took amusement from this image or that, but probably had downloaded it anyway?

No, what this did was decimate warehouses of lore.

It turns out, in the breadth of time, ImageShack was the unofficial official clearinghouse of diagrams and illustrations of web discussion boards that had limits (or difficulties) hosting images. Sure, most of the boards had software that allowed you to upload to them, but ImageShack was very easy to host with, and the results were fast and simple and could be rather large when needed. This was very helpful for technical diagrams and explanations that would cover (at the time) larger resolutions of graphic information.

So, when ImageShack killed what had been 13 years of these illustrations, they definitely probably saved the business, and they ensured everyone who was hosting with them was truly engaged, but they also lobotomized hundreds, possibly thousands of forums and discussion groups and absolutely wiped an entire collection of reference documents from the web at the same time. Walking through some of them (before they, themselves, died) was walking through a bombed city, its institutional and cultural memory pockmarked with “pay us to see this stuff” placeholders.

Documents are documents. Books are books, recordings are recordings, and so on. As time has gone on, though, I’ve observed the probably obvious-to-others fact that Lore is the grease between the concrete blocks of knowledge, the carved step in an otherwise impossible-to-scale mountain, the small bit of powder sprinkled through a workspace to ensure sparks don’t fly and things don’t burn. Inconceivably odd to the outsider, but vital to the dedicated or intense practice of the craft.

Certainly, the ideal situation is lore is inlaid into a framework of knowledge. As the joke goes, there’s no real conflict between herbs and medicine – we took herbs and the ones that worked became medicine. In the same way, the lore of knots became the rules of the sea and the lore of practiced building that was vital to share across long distances of time and space became engineering. This is an overly simplistic view, but it holds true that “lore” joins “knowledge” in a very haphazard fashion, usually relying on someone so driven to push the process that they create a 400 page behemoth of writing that is gleaned by social calls and favors into the story of How It Has Been Done.

The danger in this process, the potential lost ballast in the rise to the skies, is that the lore-to-knowledge transfer is lossy, messy, and arbitrary. Maybe those in the know want to keep the information to themselves, so it won’t be given to whoever the person or persons are who are laying down the written form. Maybe the chronicler of information has blind spots they don’t know about and not enough people to correct them. Or, more likely, you have to set the “noise filter” of the information to not go down the rabbit and rat holes of contingencies that maybe a dozen or two people will even want to know about, to the favor of that which everyone will need. The outcome is always the same: Lore loses in the long run.

I’ll take a quick diversion to say that we do see attempts to whip lore into shape on a shared basis, be it Quora, Yahoo! Answers, Reddit and Stack Overflow – all of them centralized entities, some of them better than others, and all of them fundamentally unstructured compared to a “book” form factor but infinitely searchable and fungible to the needs of whoever is wandering in, even if they must know three-quarters of the solution to get the actual final part.

Discord, in the decade and change it has lived, and especially once it took off beyond its initial social and classification groups, has exploded exponentially in all the parts it plays on the remnants of the Web. Time and again, we see a Discord rise that represents a subject general or specific, a grouping of dozens or hundreds of folks interested or entangled in the subject, and then a massive growth of channels and direct messages rising from that clumped “community”. Some of the results are droll mostly-silent channels with occasional flares of conversations, while others are waterfalls of discussion and write-once read-never rants and dumb questions, punctuated with someone asking a question for the hundredth time and someone answering a different way.

There are more Discords than you realize, and more lore pouring into them than anyone can truly comprehend. They are not the exclusive spigots of lore but they’re a major pipeline, a notable artery on Knowledge’s Heart that we would definitely notice if, for whatever reason, it was clogged with Mission Shift or New Opportunities cutting it off.

The two-line discussion at the center of my first public lambasting of Discord’s nature is telling, not because of the individual who responded as they did, but the situation they were unintentionally highlighting:

EmoSaru is not evil or a paragon of Knowledge’s Destruction; they’re a shopkeeper noticing that fresh tomatoes aren’t selling as well as ketchup and ketchup is cheaper to keep on the shelves and lasts longer, and everyone who might come along and complain about losing fresh tomatoes aren’t buying said beloved tomatoes. They’re following the wind. Only fools stay in the field when the herd has gone in from the rain. I highlighted them just because the exchange was, as they say, el perfecto.

My grandmother would always scold me, lightly of course, about my cartoons I’d draw on paper because I wouldn’t use both sides of the page; my personal belief that it would bleed into each other wasn’t part of the argument, just that she had long memories of doing without and making do with little and she wanted me to not waste the (temporary) bounty before the next (inevitable) hardship.

To that end, I am, again, the angel-winged herald of the Death of Discord and I only wish to highlight what might blunt the pain of the inevitable decay and destruction of what it is.

In the unlikely event that Discord sits across from me at a table and asks What Exactly Do You Want To Leave Us Alone, my list of demands is both logical and impossible:

• Right now every channel is meant to be both transient and permanent. I know that’ll never change, so create a new “Lore” or “Archive” channel where the moderators tap on wisdom and preserve-forever statements or threads, and they get added over there. Think of it as “Pinning” but they’re pinned forever and there’s a bunch of them.
• Make it possible to export this Lore/Archive channel to a reasonable file, like JSON or any other text format. Hell, make it a feature for “Discord Nitro“, which is obviously a part of the “oh crap, we need to prove we can make money with this thing” phase of the cycle you’re now entering.
• At the very least, consider some sort of “FAQ” feature/contingency that does a similar function to the old-style FAQs, so people can contribute sets of knowledge in a structured manual instead of an endless search for terms from everyone who ever touched a server.

The unlikely event of them sitting with me across a table is doubly joined by the unlikely event they would implement anything like I’m asking for.

Consider this me walking through and pointing out the wood structure and lack of fire exits, and if someone did the work, even if it cost a little extra, a lot of people will be a little less sad down the line.

And when the inevitable does its inevitable thing, maybe we can all sit down and talk about what could have been.

…just not on Discord.