Gizmodo

Ahsoka Tano has been a part of the Star Wars galaxy for 15 years now, but she's on the precipice of even greater prominence in Ahsoka. The live-action continuation of the character's journey across animation and now the live-action world of The Mandalorian hits Disney+ in a few weeks. But how is the star behind this...Read more...

Russia has successfully launched its Luna-25 mission to the Moon, which will attempt to land on the lunar south pole later this month. If it sticks the landing, Russia will become the first country to pull off a soft landing on the south polar region of the Moon.Read more...

Solar Opposites is back with 11 new episodes, featuring the debut of Dan Stevens as Korvo, as well as the returning Thomas Middleditch (Terry), Mary Mack (Jesse), and Sean Giambrone (Yumyulack). The Shlorpians remain stuck on Earth-more assimilated than ever before, but still dealing with fish-out-of-water scenarios...Read more...

There are so many weird, awesome things to see in the upcoming sci-fi film Landscape With Invisible Hand. There's a world subjugated by aliens, and there are the aliens themselves-aliens living with humans, with a creepy alien way of communicating. And there are the very exclusive alien cities that float above the...Read more...

Suicides have risen in the United States for the second straight year, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. In 2022, there were nearly 50,000 estimated deaths attributed to suicide in the U.S. An increase in suicide was found across most demographics, but numbers did decline for Native...Read more...

Betty Crocker never had the chance to release her down-home recipe for mustard gas, but modern generative AI is making up for lost time, helping to put the die" in diet."Read more...

You can now visit the gravestone of Microsoft's virtual assistant app Cortana in the growing mortuary of failed products. The company ended support for the Bing search-based voice control engine on Windows to help make room for its continuing AI-ization of Bing and its bevy of other digital products and services.Read more...

Capitalism may breed innovation, but Instagram is no stranger to ripping off TikTok. The social network's newest feature is a rotating carousel of images set to music, delightfully similar to TikTok's own.

David Gordon Green talks casting Pazuzu in The Exorcist: Believer. Rick & Morty executive producer Steve Levy talks about the show's life after Justin Roiland. Plus, get a glimpse at the finale, inevitably bonkers episodes of Riverdale. Spoilers get!

Nascent robotaxi services Waymo and Cruise are going to be out in force on the Streets of San Francisco like rambunctious, autonomous, teenaged hooligans after a state public utilities body granted the companies license to drive out at all hours of the day and night, even without a safety driver behind the wheel.Read more...

The year 2023 marks the 35th anniversary of the Harvey Awards, one of the most prestigious ceremonies in comics-and a celebration of the myriad forms they've inspired across the world and across mediums. To mark the occasion, io9 has teamed up with the organization to lift the lid on this year's nominees, ahead of the...Read more...

Bad news for iPhone and Android users looking to snag a luxury car. GM just confirmed that Cadillac's upcoming Escalade IQ-which boasts a hefty price tag of $130,000-will not have CarPlay or Android Auto support.Read more...

Twitter-the site that owner Elon Musk has desperately tried to convince users is now X"-has a CEO, but based merely off public pronouncements, you'd still think the billionaire tech mogul is still its head. CEO Linda Yaccarino stepped up to the plate to take over Twitter's mess back in June, but since then we've...Read more...

It's not every Pathfinder Tales volume, but there still are a lot represented in Humble's current bundle deal of Paizo ebooks inspired by the fantasy world of the Pathfinder RPG. You can build your collection, or start one from scratch, in a charity promotion that starts at just five dollars.Read more...

After recent repeated statements from Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot that new DC film head honchos James Gunn and Peter Safran are working with her to develop the in-limbo Wonder Woman 3, a new report suggests that actually... nothing of the sort is happening.

Disney's trading card gameLorcana experienced a fan frenzy at last week's Gen Con-something that publishers Ravensburger were really not expecting. Drawing overnight lines and selling out of product every day, Lorcana was the game that everyone at the annual gaming conventionwas talking about. Some folks were in...Read more...

The highly anticipated debut of the Ariane 6 rocket will not happen this year as the European Space Agency (ESA) grapples with getting its heavy-lift launch vehicle off the ground.Read more...

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A Canadian woman's attempt to treat her infertility went drastically wrong, her doctors say. In a new case report this week, they detail how she developed lead poisoning from taking supplements filled with the toxic metal. The woman's symptoms were successfully treated. This discovery prompted authorities to seize...Read more...

Apple's Emergency SOS satellite connectivity feature debuted last November and has already played a central role in several dramatic, lifesaving rescues. It's helped pluck lost hikers out of L.A. County's canyons and locate stranded snowmobilers in remote parts of Alaska. And now, it's helping save folks struggling to...Read more...

Welcome to Dracula's boat buffet, a whole film based on the part of Bram Stoker's novel when the legendary vampiresails to London; you already know it doesn't go well for the crew. Andre Ovredal's take is ambitious but The Last Voyage of the Demeter manages to pull off a slow burn turned all out creature feature...Read more...

Researchers have trained the unrelenting gaze of the Webb Space Telescope on Earendel, the most distant star ever detected, revealing the star's color and a potential companion star.Read more...

As the writers' and actors' strikes continue in Hollywood-and the effects keep rippling across the entertainment industry, like today's announcement that the Emmy Awards have been bumped to January-there's a glimmer of hope, in the form of continuing negotiations between the Writers' Guild of America and the studios...Read more...

A crew of three private citizens reached suborbital heights on board Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft, marking the company's second commercial flight and its first carrying space tourists.Read more...

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Experimental" is a word that has defined much of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' second season. From tackling head-on iconic Star Trek episodes with its own takes, to bold plays with format like its Lower Decks crossover or last week's musical episode, this season has been unafraid to take swings, even when they don't...Read more...

The temperatures have been too damn high in Texas this summer, prompting households and businesses to crank up their air conditioning and break energy usage records again and again. The state has broken its own record for highest-ever electricity usage nine times in summer 2023.Read more...

That massive ball of hot gas at the center of our solar system is responsible for keeping our planet nice and balmy, but its also the source of some huge astronomical disruptions. Earlier this week, two enormous solar flares erupted from the Sun, knocking out radio signals across the U.S.Read more...

Climate change will make stomach bugs an even bigger problem, a new report has found. The study concludes that expected changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity will make foodborne infections and toxins all the more common-at least in Germany. That said, other research has indicated that these increased...Read more...

Though Mike Flanagan's made his share of feature films, he's achieved the most notice for his eerie, emotional, carefully plotted horror series. The latest from the creator of The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Midnight Club is the Edgar Allan Poe-inspired The Fall of the House of...Read more...

Anyone yearning to model their home living room after the business casual aesthetic of a now-flailing mid-2000s tech startup may finally get their chance. X, the company formerly called Twitter, is clearing house and auctioning off hundreds of: furniture, espresso machines, and plenty of bird-related paraphernalia...Read more...

On August 8, a member of the Brazilian Portuguese translation team for Baldur's Gate 3 noted on X (formerly Twitter) that the individuals who were largely responsible for the video game localization were not given proper credit. Larian Studioscredited Altagram Group, and its leadership was named, but not the workers...Read more...

After NASA's Moon-faring, water-hunting probe faced an untimely demise before it was ever able to reach its final destination, mission scientists have officially declared that clogged propellant lines led to the mission's failure.Read more...

Announced earlier this year, the impending closure of Galactic Starcruiser-Disney's exorbitantly-priced Star Wars immersive experience/cabin bunk hotel-is going to see the company take a hit to the tune of $250 million in accelerated depreciation," according to interim CFO Kevin Lansberry.

Just a week after a team of researchers announced the discovery of one of the heaviest animals to grace the face of Earth, a separate team of researchers has announced the discovery of one of the smallest extinct whales.Read more...

FOX Entertainment announced via press release that the 75th Emmy Awards, which honor excellence in television that aired in 2022, will be aired live on January 15, 2024. Originally slated for September 2023, the delay is due to the concurrent labor actions currently being undertaken by the Writers Guild of America and...Read more...

At the end of a nearly seven hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS), a Russian cosmonaut got to strap onto a giant, 37-foot-long robotic arm attached to the orbiting lab for its first test drive in space.Read more...

Dan Trachtenberg says he's had conversations about a sequel to Prey. Sydney Sweeney teases how Madame Web differs from most superhero movies. Plus, is Mephisto finally showing up in Agatha: Coven of Chaos? To me, my spoilers!

Thousands of Hawaii residents and visitors are scrambling to escape an ongoing fire that has destroyed hundreds of businesses and homes, cut off power, and has killed at least three dozen people.Read more...

Disney is watching Netflix like a hawk, trying to consider whether or not restricting people from sharing their accounts with friends and family would be a good way to push back against streaming losses. In the meantime, the House of Mouse is going with the tried-and-true method of drastically making its streaming...Read more...

New academic research analyzing Facebook's adoption across 72 different countries is trying to challenge the common claim that social media is to blame for negative mental health outcomes. Researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) said they found no evidence" that increased Facebook penetration worldwide...Read more...

Europe has been on fire this summer, but the number of firefighters available to address blazes around the continent has been on the decline.Read more...

Universal Music Group and Google are in discussions to license artists' voices and melodies for AI-generated content. The two companies are considering developing a tool that people can use to create AI-generated music, otherwise known as deepfake, with popular artists' voices, the Financial Times reported.Read more...

After 100 days of the writers' strike, and nearly a month of the actors' strike, Disney has realized it needs writers and actors to celebrate the company's 100 years, which were made possible by those very artists.

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It's an incredibly busy day at Gen Con-the annual tabletop gaming convention held in Indianapolis-and the Pirate Borgtable is full of books, dice, and, off to the side, a galleon figurine. The galleon is suitably manned by skeletons, half-dead pirates, and I think I spotted a shark or two shadowing the water.

Update August 9 at 5:20p.m. EST:

Magic: The Gathering cards worth an estimated $300,000 were stolen from Pastimes, an Indiana gaming company, last week during Gen Con in Indianapolis-one of the largest gaming conventions in the world. Zack Reiter, a manager at Pastimes, confirmed via email to io9 that it was his store that was affected by the theft. ...Read more...

The House of Ideas' latest is something that indeed could diplomatically be described as an idea:" Marvel has confirmed after a brief period of teasing that Spider-Man hasn't gotten enough attention for all the wrong reasons lately.

Getting enough steps in to stay healthy might be easier than expected, a new review of the evidence suggests. The study found that walking just under 4,000 steps a day is associated with a reduced risk of early death, while even less than 2,500 steps a day could cut your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease....Read more...