News

James Marsden will star in the film adaptation of Sonic The Hedgehog , Variety reports. It’s unclear what role the Westworld actor will play, and whether he’ll voice the iconic character or act as one of those ill-advised humans from later Sonic games. A hybrid live-action / animated Sonic film has been on the books since 2014 with little forward progress. It’s the first time Sonic will get his own film, though he’s made appearances on-screen in movies like Wreck-It Ralph . The character has struggled in recent years to resuscitate his cool image , while the long-running game franchise continues to whiff on successful releases. Online, Sonic memes can take a bizarre or even toxic turn . Jeff Fowler is directing the film, which is expected to hit theaters in 2019. Deadpool director Tim Miller is attached as an executive producer.

Google is taking another shot at social apps with the beta release of Neighbourly , a new, hyperlocal-focused app designed to answer your questions, via The Next Web . The company envisions Neighbourly as a sort of crowdsourced city guide. The residents who know your city best can use the app to share tips, tricks, shortcuts, and recommendations with less in-the-know residents. Users will be able to ask questions, submit answers, and follow other people’s questions if they’re interested to see the results through a simple stack of cards. According to The Next Web , Neighbourly is starting off with a limited beta. It’s only available on Android and only open to residents of Mumbai, with support for English and eight Indian languages. In practice, it looks a lot like a Google version of Nextdoor , a similar local social media network you can use to talk to people near you and broadcast your thoughts to friends and colleagues around the world. Neighbourly is available now on the A...

The USB Implementers Forum — a group that includes major tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google — has announced a new USB HID (Human Interface Device) standard for Braille displays. That may not sound like much, but it’s a big move forward to make computers more accessible to people who are blind or have impaired vision by making it much easier to use Braille displays across different operating systems and devices without having to worry about unique software or drivers for each device. Ultimately, it means that soon, users will be able to simply use Braille readers as plug-and-play devices across a wide hardware ecosystem, much in the same way that users are able to simply plug in a USB mouse or keyboard. The standard seeks to make this process function similarly across operation systems, whether it’s a PC, Mac, or Android device. With the finalized standard, device manufacturers and operating system providers will have to make new hardware and software updates to support...

Uganda’s parliament has passed a law to tax those who use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Viber, and WhatsApp, as reported by BBC . The controversial tax was first introduced in April after the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, wrote a letter to the treasury stating that social media encouraged gossip that was costing Uganda time and income. The tax will come into effect on June 1st, imposing a 200 shilling ($0.05) levy per day on those who use social media platforms, but it’s unclear how it will be enforced. About 17 million people, or 41 percent of Uganda’s total population, use the internet, and there doesn’t seem to be a definitive plan on monitoring how and when social media sites are accessed. According to the BBC, at least one ISP has doubts about the law’s enforcement. Uganda’s finance minister, Matia Kasaija, justified the law to Reuters in April, saying, ”We’re looking for money to maintain the security of the country and extend electricity so that you...

Australian shoppers will find themselves limited to a much smaller Amazon item selection beginning on July 1st. Instead of being able to visit and make purchases from international versions of Amazon’s web store — as most of us can do — they’ll be redirected to the local Australian site. Geoblocking isn’t the only strategy Amazon is taking; Amazon.com and the company’s other sites will no longer ship to Australian addresses as of the same date. When I say “much smaller,” Amazon’s local Australia site still sells tens of millions of products, but it’s definitely a significantly lesser total than you’d find from Amazon’s US site. Reuters estimates that it offers one-tenth of Amazon.com’s selection. All the basics should be readily available, but this will be a real problem for certain item categories. The move is the result of Amazon’s unwillingness to cooperate with Australia’s updated GST (goods and services tax), which would require the online retail giant to collect a 10 percen...

Teenagers are more interested than ever in YouTube , home to the world’s growing influencer and vlogger base. According to a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center, 85 percent of teenagers (ages 13–17) say they use the platform. Closely behind are Instagram (72 percent) and Snapchat (69 percent). Pew’s findings indicate an ongoing trend of teenagers moving away from platforms like Facebook in recent years. (It’s worth noting that Pew’s report in 2015 did not include YouTube or Reddit.) A 2015 report pointed to 71 percent of teens who reported themselves as Facebook users; today, that number is around 51 percent. “For the most part, teens tend to use similar platforms regardless of their demographic characteristics,” Pew’s report states, “but there are exceptions. Notably, lower-income teens are more likely to gravitate toward Facebook than those from higher-income households.” More teenagers have access to smartphones than ever before. According to Pew, 95 percent of tee...

Canon has announced that it is officially discontinuing the EOS-1v , its last film camera, as reported by PetaPixel . Production of the EOS-1v — which was launched in 2000 — actually ceased back in 2010 , but Canon continued to sell the remaining stock. A professional 35mm SLR, the EOS-1v introduced Canon’s fifth generation of professional SLRs, and its body design became the basis for future cameras from the company, including the EOS-1D. The translated page from Canon’s website delivers the news casually: “Thank you very much for your continued patronage of Canon products. By the way, we are finally decided to end sales for the film single lens reflex camera ‘EOS - 1v.’” According to Canon’s statement, it will repair existing EOS-1v units until October 31st, 2025, although repair requests may be denied after October 31st, 2020, depending on remaining parts and inventory. Although this means Canon is no longer selling any film cameras, it doesn’t spell the death of film — at least...

Alcatel’s first phone running Android Go, the 1X , will go on sale in the US next week for $100. Not only is this Alcatel’s first device running Google’s optimized OS for cheaper phones , it’s also the one and only phone running it that’s currently for sale in the United States. Technically, ZTE beat Alcatel with the launch of an Android Go phone in March, but ZTE has since been banned from buying US components and is basically sitting dormant until the ban is lifted. So thanks to an unlikely series of events involving US sanctions on Iran and North Korea, Alcatel gets this dubious honor. (And it won’t be alone for long: the Nokia 2.1 launches with Android Go in July .) The 1X isn’t a particularly exciting phone, but that’s usually the case with Android Go devices — they’re built to be inexpensive, but still run smoothly. As far as it goes, the 1X at least looks somewhat modern. While it has pretty noticeable bezels, the phone’s screen still has the tall 18:9 aspect ratio that mor...

Russia ordered a ban of the Telegram secure messaging app back in April, and the knock-on effects continue to cause issues for users outside of Russia. Following the messy block of 15.8 million IPs on Amazon and Google’s cloud platforms, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says Apple has been blocking updates for the app globally. The lack of Telegram app updates mean some features, like stickers, aren’t working correctly in the recently released iOS 11.4 update . “Apple has been preventing Telegram from updating its iOS apps globally ever since the Russian authorities ordered Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store,” explains Durov in a Telegram message . “While Russia makes up only 7 percent of Telegram’s userbase, Apple is restricting updates for all Telegram users around the world since mid-April.” Durov also claims the lack of app updates mean Telegram has also “been unable to fully comply with GDPR” before the May 25th deadline. While a lack of GDPR compliance is a concern for both...

Xiaomi has announced the Mi Band 3, the latest in the company's popular line of ultra-low-priced wearables. The Mi Band 3 has a bigger, higher resolution OLED screen than the previous model, the Mi Band 2 , and Xiaomi says it's more comfortable on the wrist. The company claims the same 20 days of battery life, but water resistance has been upgraded to 50 meters. As usual, the most important feature is the price: Xiaomi is going to sell the Mi Band 3 for 169 yuan, or about $26, which is slightly more than the Mi Band 2 but still less expensive than the last pizza I ate. It'll be available in China at first, and comes in red, black, and blue.

Oculus VR’s new platform for live entertainment experiences is launching today for the new, standalone Oculus Go headset and Samsung’s Gear VR. The platform, called Oculus Venues, was first announced at Facebook’s F8 developer conference at the beginning of May. It’s centered on delivering live events like sporting matches, concerts, and comedy shows in the style of a streaming TV service — but in VR. That means viewers effectively get front-row seats to live shows from the comfort of their home, so long as they’re content with wearing a VR headset for an extended period of time. The first Venues event will be a live Vance Joy concert at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater, followed by a Gotham Comedy Live show streamed from New York City in partnership with live events platform NextVR. Oculus has also released an entire summer lineup through August 27th that includes a pretty diverse slate of sports matches, live shows, and movies. Venues isn’t just about giving Oculus owners a way ...

Google announced today that Project Fi users will soon have a few more device choices. Three new phones will work with Google’s wireless service: the LG G7 ThinQ , the just-announced LG V35 ThinQ, and the Moto G6 . Up until now, customers could only choose between Pixel phones, Nexus phones, and the Moto X4 . The Moto G6 costs $199 through Project Fi and is currently available to preorder through the Fi website, while the G7 ThinQ and the V35 ThinQ will come to Project Fi next month with a $50 Fi service credit for each preorder. The V35 was initially rumored to be an AT&T-exclusive phone, but that clearly is no longer the case. The phone, which was announced in tandem with this Project Fi news, features a Snapdragon 845 processor, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and runs Android Oreo 8.0. It also has a slightly larger battery than the G7 and an OLED screen. For those differences, you’ll have to pay $900. The addition of these phones to the Fi lineup is definitely apprec...

Owners of the wireless home security camera Arlo have noticed issues with the app over the past few days. Problems range from not being able to log in to the app completely crashing. Arlo’s message boards have been flooded since the issues started on May 27th, with users urging parent company Netgear to find solutions. Arlo owners report that the app is displaying error messages pointing the problem to “internet connectivity issues,” “internal error,” “currently unavailable,” “incorrect password,” and more. On the forums , a Netgear community manager says that the issue is only affecting some customers on certain service providers, and it can be traced back to a DNS issue with some ISPs. Although a solution hasn’t been found, there is a temporary workaround that involves either updating DNS settings to a public DNS server or connecting to the Arlo app with Wi-Fi turned off. This isn’t the first time Arlo customers have had problems with getting locked out of their accounts . And ...

For almost 24 hours, eager Fallout fans showed up online in droves to watch... well, basically nothing. On its Twitch channel yesterday morning, developer Bethesda streamed a continuous shot of a Vault Boy statue, placed against the background of a monitor displaying the message “Please stand by.” (Its official Twitter and Facebook accounts posted the same message around the same time.) Occasionally, something weird would happen — like a strange sort-of puppet show or someone would appear and play with balloons to break up the monotony. The stream ended with a teaser for Fallout 76 , but not before Bethesda’s Todd Howard made an appearance to remind everyone that millions of us wasted precious minutes of our lives. “We have had over 2 million unique visitors to this stream to watch, I don’t know what, nothing,” he said before stepping offscreen. For most of the stream, there were more than 100,000 people watching at any given moment. What followed was a minute-and-a-half traile...

Google is drawing up a set of guidelines that will steer its involvement in developing AI tools for the military, according to a report from The New York Times . What exactly these guidelines will stipulate isn’t clear, but Google says they will include a ban on the use of artificial intelligence in weaponry. The principles are expected to be announced in full in the coming weeks. They are a response to the controversy over the company’s decision to develop AI tools for the Pentagon that analyze drone surveillance footage. Although tech companies regularly bid for contracts in the US defense sector, the involvement of Google (a company that once boasted the motto “don’t be evil”) and cutting-edge AI tech has raised eyebrows — both inside and outside the firm. News of the Pentagon contract was first made public by Gizmodo in March, and thousands of Google employees have since signed a petition demanding the company withdraw from all such work. Around a dozen individuals have even re...

LG has officially announced the V35 ThinQ today. From a design perspective, it’s largely identical to its V30S and V30 predecessors. As for internal specs, it borrows pretty much everything from the $750 G7 ThinQ . The main differences between the V35 and the G7 are the screen, battery capacity, and amount of RAM. Another significant difference is price: AT&T is selling the V35 ThinQ for an eye-popping $900 (or $30 monthly over 30 months). Preorders start Friday, and the V35 will be in stores on June 8th — around the same time that other carriers will start selling the G7 . With the V35, you get a more traditional, no-notch OLED screen. The display is wider than the G7’s, but the tradeoff is that the phone won’t be quite as comfortable in one hand. The battery is slightly larger at 3,300mAh compared to 3,000 in the G7, and the V35 includes 6GB of RAM versus the G7’s 4GB. Aside from the notch, the G7’s other standout feature is its incredibly loud Boom Box speaker; the V35 doesn’t...

Atari is now letting fans preorder the retro-style VCS console. The Atari VCS includes a design inspired by the Atari 2600 Video Computer System, and two models will be available for preorder today. A “collector’s edition” with a wood-front finish is available priced at $299, and a black Onyx edition is priced at $199. Both models and classic joysticks or modern controllers are all available exclusively on Indiegogo , and Atari says it plans to ship the consoles in mid-2019. Atari’s console is designed to look retro, but inside it has modern hardware. Atari has partnered with AMD to create a custom processor for the VCS, and the console runs a variant of Linux to play both classic Atari games and some PC titles. The VCS will even support 4K resolution, HDR, and 60fps games, and includes built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, a USB 3 port, and expandable storage. You’ll also be able to connect up USB game controllers, mouse and keyboards, webcams, microphones, or speakers and headphones. Atari...

Microsoft has passed Google (Alphabet) in market valuation for the first time in three years. Microsoft is now valued at $753 billion, while Alphabet (Google’s parent company) is valued at $739 billion. It makes Microsoft the third most valuable company in the world, behind Apple and Amazon. This will likely only be temporary, though. Google originally passed Microsoft back in 2012 , and the pair have traded positions a number of times in recent years. Still, it shows how much Microsoft has improved its stock price over the past five years since former CEO Steve Ballmer announced his plans to retire as Microsoft CEO. Microsoft’s stock price has more than doubled since CEO Satya Nadella took over four years ago. Nadella has refocused Microsoft on cross-platform technologies, the cloud, artificial intelligence, and wants to secure the future of quantum computing and mixed reality headsets. Nadella has axed Microsoft’s failed Windows Phone efforts, and the company has generally moved ...

All of LG’s 2018 AI-enabled TVs (OLEDs and LCD-based Super UHDs) will now support voice commands routed through your existing Alexa gadgets including the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show, Echo Spot, and Echo Plus devices. This includes all the critical TV controls, like volume, play / pause, start, stop, fast-forward, searching for content, and changing channels. LG is calling the new Alexa skill “LG SmartThinQ Skill,” which is quite a mouthful, but so are the names of all its recent products. Just search for that in your Alexa app to install it. You can find a full list of all LG AI-enabled TVs here . LG’s 2018 ThinQ TVs also include Google Assistant integration, so now you have a choice of which AI technology to use — or just talk to both of them.

It’s been a long time coming, but Apple is finally launching its Messages in iCloud feature today with the release of iOS 11.4. Messages on iCloud was announced almost a year ago when Apple first showed off iOS 11 at WWDC 2017 , and now — on the eve of the announcement of iOS 12 next week — it’s available to all users. Messages on iCloud is kind of complicated, but here’s what it does: Stores all your messages – whether iMessage or SMS — from all your devices in iCloud, which allows for better syncing between devices Syncs deleted messages and threads across all your iCloud devices, so when you delete a conversation or message, it will get deleted everywhere instead of requiring you to delete it over and over again on each device Stores photos, attachments, and older messages from your devices in iCloud, saving local storage space on your phone Allows smaller backups of your local messages as part of your regular iCloud backup of your individual devices, since only your newest ...

HMD Global, the Finnish company that licensed the rights to produce Nokia phones, originally launched a trio of Android-powered Nokia handsets last year. Sales seem to be going in the right direction , and now HMD is updating its Nokia-branded mid-range and budget smartphones today, with a trio of handsets that are designed to bring some of the more premium phone aspects down to more affordable price points. Nokia 5.1 The Nokia 5 from last year was one of the more impressive out of the mid-range offerings from HMD, and this year is no different. The updated Nokia 5.1 now includes a slightly larger 5.5-inch HD+ display (18:9 and 443ppi), and HMD has moved the fingerprint sensor to the rear. Inside there’s a 2GHz Mediatek opta-core processor, 2GB or 3GB of RAM, and 16GB or 32GB of storage. HMD is introducing a new copper color option, alongside the usual blue and black matte finishes. The Nokia 5.1 feels and looks like a subtle upgrade from last year’s model, and it maintains the...

On May 26th, a video posted to Twitter showed undocumented Malian immigrant Mamoudou Gassama climbing several stories of a building in Paris’ 18th arrondissement and rescuing a four-year-old child dangling from a balcony. “I saw all these people shouting, and cars sounding their horns. I climbed up like that and, thank God, I saved the child,” Gassama said afterward, according to the AFP . After the rescue, Gassama met with French president Emmanuel Macron, who thanked him warmly for his heroic act. Invoking an old civil code , Macron said he would grant Gassama French citizenship. (Macron also said in an Instagram comment that the “Paris fire brigade would be keen to welcome him to their ranks,” which sounds a bit like a job offer; Gassama has reportedly taken a 10-month internship with the Paris fire and rescue service.) Ce jeune est un véritable héros !! Un acte héroïque ! pic.twitter.com/VYr01BCUdI — Billal RIGHI (@BillalRighi) May 26, 2018 The story has become viral inte...

Here’s an idea: a wristband for AirPods. It’s simple and dumb and it basically allows you to forgo your AirPods case. You can buy this accessory feat, which comes from a company called Elago, for $14.99 on Amazon . This is the same company that created the retro Mac iPhone stand . It has lots of accessory ideas. This AirPods holder also fits over a standard Apple Watch band, so you can always carry your AirPods next to your watch. This looks better than the band by itself. You shouldn’t wear the band with just AirPods because it doesn’t look great. I get that carrying a case around is annoying, but have some pride in yourself and don’t wear your AirPods on your wrist.

Elgato is launching a new HomeKit accessory designed for the warmer weather: a small box that connects to an outdoor faucet to let you remotely control a hose. It’s called the Eve Aqua , and it’ll be available for $100 starting June 25th. The Eve Aqua basically just turns a hose on and off. It’s pretty simple, and it seems like there’s no way to adjust the strength of the water flow. But using a connected app, you can remotely turn the hose on and off and, more usefully, set schedules for the hose. So presumably, you hook the Aqua up to a sprinkler, then set the sprinkler on a schedule so you don’t have to deal with it yourself. While you might not want to leave a hose snaking around your house indefinitely, this could still be helpful if you just want to keep some plants watered while you’re away for a week. Like all of Elgato’s Eve line, the Aqua connects to HomeKit, Apple’s smart home system. That means it can be controlled through Siri and Apple’s Home app; you’ll also be able ...

HTC made the U12 Plus official last week , but buried in the details of HTC’s latest flagship was an unfortunate catch: along with not having a headphone jack, the phone also won’t include a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter for using traditional wired headphones, as spotted by Android Police . HTC isn’t leaving users completely stranded, however. The company will still include a pair of USB-C headphones in the box, and it will still sell its $11.99 adapter separately (although it’s currently sold out online). Plus, as my colleague Vlad Savov has pointed out, HTC’s adapter that it shipped with the U11 and U11 Plus was terrible, and it only worked with HTC phones. Wow! We'd like to thank you and congratulate you in advance for your upcoming HTC U12+, Aaroni. However, it does not come with a headphone adapter. It includes, HTC Rapid Charger 3.0 with USB Type-C Cable, HTC Clear Case, & HTC USonic™ Adaptive Earphones. Thank you :) — HTC USA (@HTCUSA) May 26, 2018 If given the choice ...

After five years of delivering forecasts, the weather service Poncho will shut down. According to Fast Company , Poncho has been sold by its parent company, Betaworks, to Dirty Lemon , a beverage startup that makes expensive detox drinks ($7.50 to $10.83 for a 16-ounce bottle) that are mostly water and lemon juice. It’s a strange end for Poncho, though it’s kind of a wonder that the service lasted this long. Poncho launched in 2013 and immediately stood out in two ways: it texted the weather to your phone every morning, and the app pretended that all of its messages were written by a cartoon cat. The service eventually expanded into apps and chatbots and added other features like alarms, but it was ultimately the core weather-telling service and cuteness that was its main attraction. Apparently, Poncho didn’t catch on widely enough. Fast Company , which spoke with Poncho and Dirty Lemon, says the app is being purchased for its text messaging infrastructure and development talent...

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds soared in popularity last year, introducing the battle royale shooter genre to the masses. The popularity of PUBG led Epic Games to introduce its own battle royale mode in Fortnite , a shooter that now dominates Twitch streams and has become one of the most popular games on the planet. PUBG developer Bluehole previously revealed it had “growing concerns” about the similarities between the two games , and now Korean company PUBG, a subsidiary of Bluehole, has filed a lawsuit against Epic Games in Korea. The Korea Times reports that PUBG is alleging copyright infringement against Epic Games, and has filed a lawsuit for the Seoul Central District Court to determine whether Fortnite has copied PUBG . “We filed the suit to protect our copyright in January,” says an unnamed PUBG official in a statement to The Korea Times . It’s not clear exactly how Fortnite has allegedly infringed upon the PUBG copyright, but the two games do share the same Unreal...

Kobo has announced a new e-reader called the Clara HD that brings higher-end features down to a lower price point. The Clara HD features a 6-inch 300-ppi E Ink screen — the same sharpness as Kobo's Aura One and Amazon's current Kindle Paperwhite — with ComfortLight Pro, which reduces blue-light exposure at night. There's also 8GB of storage on board, though unfortunately the Clara HD doesn't inherit the Aura One's waterproofing. The Clara HD costs $129.99, which is $10 more than the Aura Edition 2 , Kobo's current 6-inch reader with a 212-ppi display. That $10 would seem like a worthwhile upgrade for anyone looking to get into the Kobo ecosystem, given the better screen and doubled storage space, though the Rakuten-owned company hasn't clarified whether the older model will get a price cut or is to be phased out entirely. Preorders start today for the Clara HD, and it’ll be available from June 5th.

The man behind Batman v Superman and Justice League is developing another bleak tale https://www.polygon.com/2018/5/28/17403266/zack-snyder-the-fountainhead-adaptation-ayn-rand

Pandora is launching a new Premium Family plan that gives up to six users unlimited music streaming for $15 a month. The deal matches the price of family plans from Spotify and Apple Music, which offer access for to up to five and six individuals respectively. With Pandora’s Premium Family plan each user has to create their own account. Then they’ll have get their own custom radio stations and playlists, be able to download music for offline listening, and have access to high-quality audio uninterrupted by ads. That is to say, they get all the benefits a regular Pandora Premium user does. The family deal looks like Pandora’s latest effort to try and convert some of its 80 million monthly free listeners to paid subscribers (and keep pace with its rivals in the process). The company launched its Premium service last March after acquiring key assets from Rdio, but has a way to go to catch up with the likes of Spotify, which had 70 million paid users as of this January compared to Pa...

Killer7 , one of the weirdest games ever to see release on a Nintendo platform, is getting remastered for PC this year. NIS America will be publishing the surreal cel-shaded blood-letting Resident Evil -on-rails multi-character global-conspiracy noir adventure on Steam in the fall. If you've never played Killer7 , you've never played anything like Killer7 . The game has a unique control scheme that takes your character through the environment on predetermined paths, switching to first-person mode to shoot enemies and collect their blood to level up. You play a guy in a wheelchair who's able to transform into one of seven assassins at will, taking on their various attributes to solve puzzles. I'm not even going to begin to try to explain the plot. Killer7 was originally published by Capcom as part of a coordinated effort to support Nintendo's beleaguered GameCube console. Capcom announced five games known as the Capcom Five; one of them was cancelled, one of the...

It’s Memorial Day weekend here in the US, which also marks the unofficial start of summer (at least in my book). And summer means sweltering heat from which there is but one relief: it’s the cool, refreshing breeze from an air conditioner. And while there’s nothing exactly wrong with my current, window-mounted AC unit (which I got in college in exchange for a six-pack of beer in what might be the best trade I’ve ever made), after making the switch over to smart lights in my room, I can’t help but want a smart air conditioner. Most of this just stems from pure laziness. I’ll admit that I was, for years, skeptical about the value of smart lightbulbs, right up until I bought a set on a deal and discovered the unparalleled joy in being able to turn off the lights in my room without getting out of bed. There are added benefits, too, like being able to automatically set lights on a timer. And now that summer’s here, I want the same thing for my air conditioner, with all of its many additi...

This weekend, Solo is in theaters , giving audiences their latest adventure inside the Star Wars universe. But there’s a lot more to film and TV than just space operas. In June, streaming services will be adding a plethora of new titles to their respective lineups. Netflix is leaning into its selection of Marvel titles, including the second season of Luke Cage, the hilarious Thor: Ragnarok , and the latest season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D . Not only that, but the service is also adding Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi . (Yeah, we know what we said about space operas, but c’mon — it’s Star Wars . ) The two-hour series finale to Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s Sense8 is coming in June, as is The Break with Michelle Wolf , and the second seasons of both Glow and Queer Eye . Amazon Prime customers will get yet another influx of movies, including titles like Lady Bird , Wonder Wheel , and Transformers: The Last Knight . Horror fans — or more specifically, horror fans with very stra...

I was excited to finally get around to watching The Florida Project last weekend now that it’s on Amazon. I knew that it looked (and was supposed to be) good, but I didn’t think I would enjoy it quite as much as I did. There’s so much to like about the film (including some crazy good acting from an energetic group of kids). But probably the most remarkable thing is its world building: the movie is about poor, struggling families living in the shadow of Disney World outside Orlando; and it really takes that idea and runs with it, turning its rundown locations into makeshift, knockoff extensions of Disney’s kingdom. It’s a really beautiful, entertaining approach that lets the movie straddle the line between showing adults’ lives and their difficult reality, and young children’s total ignorance and joy. And the way it so casually bounces between different groups of characters living in the same motel makes it feel like you’re getting to know a whole neighborhood. Check out nine trail...