Media
James Cameron-led 'Terminator' sequel will hit theaters July 2019
Thirty-three years later, all three of them are back for more in a sequel that Cameron has said will take place directly afterTerminator 2: Judgement Day, skipping all the sequels that have come out since then. The untitled sequel, with Deadpool's Tim Miller as director, is part of a planned trilogy and a July 26th, 2019 release. According to an interview with Cameron and Miller over at The Hollywood Reporter, the team hopes to bring the Terminator series back to its roots, with a modern sensibility based on our collective anxiety around artificial intelligence. "What was science fiction in the '80s is now imminent," Cameron told THR. "It's coming over the horizon at us... The first two Terminator films that I did dealt with the angst around that and how we reconcile it for ourselves in a fantasy context. So I got excited about the idea of finding a story that made sense for now."
'Bad Moms' studio STX is said to be planning an IPO in Hong Kong in 2018
STX Entertainment, the Burbank film and television studio behind the comedy "Bad Moms," is moving closer to a planned initial public offering in Hong Kong. The 3-year-old studio is expected to raise about $500 million on the Hong Kong stock exchange early next year, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company, led by Robert Simonds, its chairman and chief executive, has long signaled intentions to raise money from the public market in Hong Kong but financial details and timing have not been revealed. The Wall Street Journal first reported details of the IPO on Wednesday. A representative of STX declined to comment. An IPO by STX would fit a common pattern of companies hoping to capitalize on Chinese investors' interest in entertainment.
With the new Amazon Fire TV, voice becomes the killer feature
On Wednesday, Amazon did what it probably should have done a while ago: It announced a Fire TV that plays 4K HDR video. The new Fire TV costs $70 and begins shipping on October 25. While it's not the first Amazon device to stream in 4K resolution--the now-discontinued Fire TV box has done so since 2015--it's the company's first to play high dynamic range video, whose greater color detail is more noticeable than 4K alone. Although Amazon has included 4K HDR content in its own Prime Video service for two years, it now has the hardware to go with it. But 4K HDR is no standout feature, even at Amazon's low prices.
Thursday's TV highlights: 'The Orville' on Fox
Superstore The staff at Cloud 9 are frantically working to prepare the store for its grand reopening following a tornado's destruction, and Amy and Jonah's (America Ferrera, Ben Feldman) relationship is strained after the intimate moment they shared. Grey's Anatomy The story picks up where the explosive season finale left off as Abigail Spencer joins the cast. Gotham Gordon's (Ben McKenzie) mission is to apprehend Jonathan Crane (guest star Charlie Tahan), but to do so he must return to Arkham. The Vietnam War "The Weight of Memory (March 1973-Onward)," the 10th and final episode of the miniseries by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, concludes the expansive history of the divisive conflict. The Murder of Laci Peterson: A Closer Look New theories emerge in the wake of the verdict condemning Scott Peterson to death by lethal injection in the series finale of the miniseries.
Amazon brings voice control to Hulu and other video apps on Fire TV
You can already use Alexa voice commands to steer some video playback on a Fire TV, but Amazon is about to throw the doors wide open. It just unveiled a slew of partners that will use the Video Skills Kit to add Alexa support to their video apps, and these are definitely companies you'll recognize: Hulu, PlayStation Vue, CBS All Access, Bravo, Showtime and multiple NBC apps will all take spoken playback commands. You might not have to lift a finger to skip backwards in The Handmaid's Tale or switch live channels in Vue. Amazon will only say that support is "coming soon," but Hulu has narrowed its timeframe down to sometime this fall. It wasn't hard to see this coming given the existence of Video Skills in the first place, but it's still welcome news.
Time to Clean your Audience -- Ways to Spot a Bot on Social Media
Twitter is a dynamic world that works in a confined space of 140 characters but the impact it can have on an audience is huge. Just like fake news, fake followers can be detrimental to the image of businesses and even to those individual users who rely heavily on social media marketing. Since Twitter places significant constraints on the type of communication that is possible, it becomes easier for bots to reconstruct the human behavior that is demonstrated in the limited Twitter dimension. Hence, results that we obtain in the form of social media metrics can often get skewed. So why is the detection of Social Bots important for social media users?
Apple TV 4K review: Almost perfect
The Apple TV 4K is the streaming box we've been waiting for. It brings together the excellent interface from the 2015 model, along with the long-awaited ability to watch movies and TV shows in 4K and HDR. And perhaps most importantly, it seriously drives down the cost of digital 4K releases. Sure, competitors like Roku and Amazon's Fire TV have had 4K/HDR capabilities for years, but Apple's pricing model makes the format more accessible to consumers. While it's not quite perfect, the Apple TV 4K is a solid step beyond HD video.
'Ex Machina' director's next film explores a dreamy otherworld
Frequent Danny Boyle film screenwriter Alex Garland's directorial debut, the lauded 2015 sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, was a delightful and discomforting take on humans and the robots they create. His next film Annihilation comes out February 23rd, 2018, but check out its first trailer to see Natalie Portman explore a future United States starting to be overrun by a dreamy, otherworldly wilderness. Annihilation is an adaptation of the first book (of the same name) in the Southern Reach trilogy, an award-winning science fiction series written by Jeff VanderMeer. Portman plays protagonist Lena, a biologist tasked with investigating Area X, a portion of the southern United States cordoned off from the outside world by a strange rainbow-slick membrane. Inside, she delves deeper into a surreal landscape, which may have played a part in her husband's (Oscar Isaac) death after he returned from an expedition into Area X. Tessa Thompson and Jennifer Jason Leigh also star, though they have tragically little screen time in the trailer.
Amazon slashes price of new Echo speaker to $100
Amazon says it is cutting the price of its Echo smart speaker to $100 from $180, improving the sound quality and upgrading its appearance with six new'shells.' The announcement is the first of several Amazon is making at an event for journalists in Seattle. The next generation speaker, which is powered by Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, will have a dedicated woofer and a tweeter for the first time, as well as Dolby sound. Amazon's new $99 Echo has six'shells' users can swap to customise its appearance. The next generation speaker, which is powered by Amazon's Alexa voice assistant, will have a dedicated woofer and a tweeter for the first time, as well as Dolby sound.