This morning, a gaggle of journalists and I huddled around a table full of smartphones, watching a clip from Netflix's Stranger Things. There was plenty of grain and blockiness to be sure, but it was sufficiently -- even perfectly -- watchable. The kicker: That surprisingly decent video is what Netflix told us to expect on a 100 kilobit/second data connection. That's a fraction of a fraction the LTE speeds we're used to in the US, but all too common in other parts of the world. Netflix considers itself a global television service, and since its international launch last year, it has seen countries new to the service lean on smartphones and tablets for their streaming video fixes.

In Donald Trump's 2011 book Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again, the president-to-be made an astonishing claim: Lady Gaga likely owed her international fame to none other than...Donald Trump. "She became a big star and maybe she became a star because I put her on the Miss Universe pageant," he wrote. "It's very possible, who knows what would have happened without it, because she caused a sensation." The problem goes beyond Trump, of course. Women, especially women of color, are routinely denied credit for their ideas, creativity, genius, and success (not to mention they're paid less than men for full-time work).

The latest installment in the "Resident Evil" horror franchise topped China's box office last week, debuting with a massive $94 million in ticket sales in just three days. Produced by the German entertainment giant Constantin Film, "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter" debuted with $33 million on its opening day in China, eclipsing its North American total of $26.5 million after four weeks running, according to film industry consulting firm Artisan Gateway. By comparison, "Star Wars: Rogue One" made $31 million in China on its opening weekend. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, the action horror film distributed by Sony/Screen Gems is the sixth and allegedly final installment in the "Resident Evil" film series, which is based on the video game "Resident Evil." Although the film only got an approval rating of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes -- the lowest of its six installments -- it's estimated to be the series' highest-grossing sequel, when factoring in the Chinese market's boost.

As far as career choices go, working in mortgage financing at one of the country's top banks seemed like a solid bet. She figured there would be more job security than many other professions and plenty of opportunities to climb the corporate ladder in Toronto. Over the next seven years, she says she had a front-row seat to watch automation -- most often intelligent software -- take over nearly every aspect of mortgage processing. Tory Shoreman worked at one of Canada's top banks and says she watched automation take out 40 per cent of her department. "I witnessed about 40 per cent of my department get laid off and the reason they were given was automation," the 32-year-old told CBC News.

Snap Inc. has been playing with drones. The New York Times reported Tuesday that the company has worked on building its own drones, citing three people "briefed on the project who asked to remain anonymous because the details are confidential." SEE ALSO: Our first look at Snapchat's biggest risks and most powerful enemies The piece doesn't get into details, but the premise is intriguing -- and not at all surprising for a company that defines itself as a "camera company" in its own mission. "Snap is a camera company. We feel like we're really at the beginning of what cameras can do, evolve from being just a piece of hardware to software connected to the internet," Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said in a 35-minute video released about the company ahead of its initial public offering.

Tilda Swinton's line "I took nature and science, and synthesised," is simple enough, but in the first teaser to director Bong Joon-ho's upcoming Netflix film, Okja, it carries a lot of meaning. The follow up to Snowpiercer, Bong's new movie explores the liminal state between animal and man. It's central character, however, is Mija -- a young girl who seeks to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her friend. Her friend happens to be a massive "synthenised" beast called named Okja, that kind of looks like a pig-ish, elephant-skinned creature with very human eyes. Described as a "comedy drama," the film crosses continents and explores dystopian themes of genetically modified food, humanity's obsession with branding and self-promotion (see the villainous shots of Swinton staring into the mirror and leading a huge press conference), globalisation and eco-terrorism.

Amazon has been building out its voice-controlled AI system, Alexa, expanding into smart cars and Motorola phones. But part of its necessary growth comes from ingesting more content into its ecosystem. Today, National Public Radio announced that its NPR One app is now available on the fleet of Alexa-enabled devices, including Amazon's own Echo and Dot. Sure, the low-hanging fruit will be beckoning your AI hub to play the latest episode of Planet Money or Code Switch. But the app also provides audio-first stories and partner content from media outlets like Buzzfeed and Gimlet. If you want to build a personalized stream of NPR news and shows by barking commands at your Alexa-powered device as you're in the middle of your bath or doing yardwork, today is your day.

Mads Mikkelsen recently talked about the time "Death Stranding" creator Hideo Kojima explained to him the plot of the upcoming open world action video game. The "Hannibal" actor also reacted to the rumor that Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone could be part of the Kojima Productions' project. According to Metal Gear Informer, a video showing Mikkelsen's attendance at the Saudi Comic Con in Jeddah in mid-February recently surfaced online. In the video, the Danish actor apparently talks about his involvement in the production of the video game and other stuff related to it. At one point in the video, Mikkelsen tells the audience about the time Kojima explained to him what "Death Stranding" is really about. Unfortunately, because the explanation Kojima gave was so elaborate, he got lost while listening to it.

Massive Entertainment, the Ubisoft studio behind the popular post-apocalyptic shooter The Division, is developing a video game set in the Avatar universe. Get ready to loot Unobtanium, people. The game announcement comes eight years after the launch of the groundbreaking film, and just one day after news that Avatar 2 will begin filming in August. According to the press release, "Four sequels to Avatar are currently in development, and Lightstorm, Fox Interactive and Massive are working together to create a game that will continue to expand and deepen in the Avatar universe in exciting and innovative ways along with the films." "James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment changed the way we think about immersive storytelling with the first Avatar, and the ambition that they have for the forthcoming films and this game is really inspiring," said David Polfeldt, Managing Director at Massive in a statement.

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