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Emma Stone's New Movie is Basically Horny Steampunk Frankenstein

Slate

This week, the panel is joined by Slate writer and senior editor Sam Adams to dissect Poor Things, director Yorgos Lanthimos horny, steampunk Frankenstein tale about Bella Baxter (played by Emma Stone), a pregnant woman who commits suicide then is brought back to life by a brilliant scientist (Willem Dafoe), with an eccentric caveat: She now has the brain of her unborn fetus. Then, the three remember Norman Lear, the late television pioneer and American icon who died at the age of 101 and who was responsible for ushering in a new era of character-driven, comedic, topical, and morally serious TV with hit sitcoms like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, and One Day at a Time. Finally, they are joined by Slate's books and culture columnist, Laura Miller, who shares her top ten books of the year, and along with Dana, discusses the joys and challenges of year-end listmaking. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel reunites with Sam Adams to spoil Poor Things, detailing what is arguably the film's weakest portion: the final ten minutes. The deadline to submit is Wednesday, December 13.


This just in... First AI-generated NEWS ANCHORS will debut on US national station next year

Daily Mail - Science & tech

An upcoming national news channel is replacing human anchors with hyper-realistic AI-generated avatars. Channel 1, set to launch next year, plans to use digitally generated people and digital doubles of real actors who had their bodies scanned. Demonstration videos show anchors that talk, look, and move like real humans, but were designed on computers using artificial intelligence technology. Channel 1 plans to stream its news on TV apps and is set to add a translation feature to roll it out globally. The outlet's founder told DailyMail.com


Netflix's 2024 game lineup includes Game Dev Tycoon, Sonic Mania and a Cozy Grove sequel

Engadget

By the end of this year, Netflix will have already released 86 games, and it has no plans to slow down its gaming ambitions anytime soon. The streaming company already has an initial lineup of titles to add to its library in 2024, including Game Dev Tycoon. In the oddly engaging indie business simulator, you can build your own gaming company and create your own video games. You can even research new technologies in your field and invent your own game types like a real developer. Sonic Mania Plus, which was originally released for consoles and for PC through Steam, will also debut on mobile through Netflix.


Fox News AI Newsletter: Retailers using AI to help you buy the right size

FOX News

Shoppers look at clothes while others walk around Twelve Oaks Mall on Nov. 24, 2023, in Novi, Michigan. BUY SMARTER: Major retailers use AI to slash number of clothing returns when shopping online. UNPLUGGED FROM SOCIETY: Experts warn new tech could cause people to withdraw socially. TACTICAL TECH: Cheap drones can take out expensive military systems, warns former Air Force pilot pushing AI-enabled force. The military metaverse enables pilots to have more frequent training against relevant targets, Robinson said.


'Home Alone' and 'Apollo 13' among 25 iconic films chosen for national registry

FOX News

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Houston, we have a problem: Where's Kevin? Perhaps the ultimate coming-home movie, "Apollo 13," and the ultimate staying-home one, "Home Alone," are both being honored this year, selected for preservation in the National Film Registry They're part of an annual group of 25 that this year spans more than 90 years of filmmaking. The 2023 collection includes the sci-fi sequel "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," the Disney animated classic "Lady and the Tramp," and the searing, Oscar-winning drama "12 Years a Slave."


Cyberlink Photo Director 2024 Ultra review: Easy, powerful image editing

PCWorld

The new Photo Director 2024 is an easy to use photo package with many powerful functions. The Photo Director 2024 version of Cyberlink offers an easy to use package with loads of powerful functions. This program allows the loading of individual images, series, and complete directories. Keyword assignment also helps the user to find specific motifs. This option can even be combined with ratings and color markings.


Zebra: Extending Context Window with Layerwise Grouped Local-Global Attention

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

This paper introduces a novel approach to enhance the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) in processing and understanding extensive text sequences, a critical aspect in applications requiring deep comprehension and synthesis of large volumes of information. Recognizing the inherent challenges in extending the context window for LLMs, primarily built on Transformer architecture, we propose a new model architecture, referred to as Zebra. This architecture efficiently manages the quadratic time and memory complexity issues associated with full attention in the Transformer by employing grouped local-global attention layers. Our model, akin to a zebra's alternating stripes, balances local and global attention layers, significantly reducing computational requirements and memory consumption. Comprehensive experiments, including pretraining from scratch, continuation of long context adaptation training, and long instruction tuning, are conducted to evaluate the Zebra's performance. The results show that Zebra achieves comparable or superior performance on both short and long sequence benchmarks, while also enhancing training and inference efficiency.


Output's AI-powered software automatically generates music sample packs from text prompts

Engadget

Music-creation software company Output just launched an AI tool that generates free sample packs based on text prompts. These packs are royalty-free and include 30 samples that can be used in the digital audio workstation (DAW) of your choice, including Logic Pro, Ableton, Pro Tools and others. The algorithm mixes and resynthesizes pre-existing samples to create new sounds that match the text prompt. This was developed to help music-makers move quickly, so they aren't slowed down by hunting for that perfect sample to match the vibe of the track. Instead, just write something like "moody sounds for a rainy day" and let the AI assistant do the rest.


Matt Rife faces backlash for allegedly telling 6-year-old his mother buys his presents with OnlyFans profits

FOX News

Stealing someone else's joke is one of the highest crimes in comedy. With new AI tools like ChatGPT, some comedians are now worried about getting ripped off. Comedian Matt Rife is facing backlash on social media after allegedly telling a 6-year-old boy that his mother buys his presents with profits from OnlyFans. In a Saturday video that has garnered over 13 million views, TikToker Bunny Hedaya claimed Rife had started "beef" with her child online. Hedaya's son drew Rife's attention after criticizing the comedian's recent Netflix standup special, "Natural Selection."


How to use Apple's new Journal app with the iOS 17.2 update

Engadget

Apple's AI-powered Journal app is finally here. The new diary entry writing tool was first teased for iOS 17 back in June, but it only became available on Monday with the new iPhone update -- nearly three months after iOS 17 itself came out. After Apple released iOS 17.2, iPhone users can now access to the Journal app, which allows users to jot down their thoughts in a digital diary. Journaling is a practice that can improve mental wellbeing and it can also be used to fuel creative projects. You can create traditional text entries, add voice recordings to your notes, or include recent videos or pictures.