Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 is coming in 2025

Yesterday, at the Disney APAC Content Showcase in Singapore, the company revealed Volume 3 of Star Wars: Visions. This anthology of nine short animations from nine separate anime studios is set to release next year. In keeping with tradition from prior volumes, each studio is allowed considerable creative freedom and will likely produce shorts with distinctive art styles that fans will recognize instantly.

Based on the Star Wars website’s blog post, we can immediately see four returning studios: Kamikaze Douga, Kinema citrus Co., Production I.G and TRIGGER. These studios are responsible for anime adaptations of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Made in Abyss, Haikyu!! and Kill la Kill, respectively.

To improve the diversity of styles, Disney invited five new studios to create the remaining shorts. They are ANIMA (collaborating with Kamikaze Douga), David Production, Polygon Pictures, Project Studio Q and WIT Studio.

ANIMA is an animation studio specializing in 3D CG movies, and you may know it as the studio behind cutscenes from Xenoblade 3, certain Fire Emblem Heroes movies and Pokemon Unite. David Production animated Fire Force and Undead Unluck, among many other anime. Some Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes and Tron: Uprising were Polygon Pictures’ work.

Project Studio Q is a less-known name, but it’s responsible for some 3D animation in DARLING in the FRANXX episodes. As for WIT Studio, it’s of Spy x Family and Attack on Titan (the first three seasons) fame.

With such a stacked roster of studios, Disney is sparing no expense on this anthology. The wait might be long, but Volumes 1 and 2 are still available on Disney+.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/CAqEzvR
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Apple Black Friday deals drop the M2 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM to $749

This Black Friday deal brings the DJI Osmo Mobile 6 gimbal down to an all-time-low price

The Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven is $170 off at Amazon — make your perfect pie every time

SAVE 57%: The Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven (stainless steel) is down to just $129.95 at Amazon, on sale from its list price at Cuisinart of $299.95. That's a savings of $170 and the lowest price we've ever seen at Amazon.

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Credit: Cuisinart

Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven

$129.95 at Amazon
$299.95 Save $170.00

Enjoying perfectly crisp pizza with your favorite toppings is something magical that often leaves us wondering why we bother eating anything else. If you're shopping for a pizza-lover this holiday season, check out this great deal at Amazon on an indoor pizza oven ahead of Black Friday.

As of Nov. 20, the Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven is on sale at Amazon for only $129.95, marked down from the list price at Cuisinart of $299.95. That's an impressive savings of $170 and a 57% discount. It's also the lowest price we've ever seen at Amazon. To grab this sale price, select the stainless steel model.

SEE ALSO: Amazon's Black Friday sale hasn't officially started, but early deals are floating around

Achieving the perfect pizza crisp in your home oven is nearly impossible. Many conventional ovens simply don't get hot enough to replicate that great char that comes from visiting the restaurant with a brick oven that's reminiscent of the ones in Italy. The Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven, however, can reach up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit, which the brand mentions is the ideal temp for getting that perfect crisp on the crust.

If you have a friend or family member who loves hosting a homemade pizza night, this oven will seriously up their pizza baking skills. It cooks a 12-inch Neapolitan-style pizza in under five minutes. Or they can use the included deep dish pan to create a savory masterpiece.

The oven takes between 20 and 30 minutes to pre-heat to temperature between 350 and 700 degrees, and the large viewing window with interior lighting helps with knowing just the right moment to take the pizza out.

For the pizza-lover in your life, the Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven is the perfect holiday gift. At 57% off at Amazon, you can grab the oven for just $129.95, instead of the typical price of $299.95. Plus, gifting this to your friend or family member means you'll likely get to enjoy perfectly crisp pizza. It's a win-win situation.

via IFmashable.com

Department of Justice will reportedly push for Google to sell Chrome

Google released Chrome in 2008 and it became synonymous with the company and its search engine. Well, that might no longer be the case if if the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has its way. The DOJ's antitrust officials reportedly plan to request a federal judge orders Google to sell off Chrome, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the plan. 

In August, federal judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google "is a monopolist" in the search engine industry. Mehta further agreed Google used its "monopoly power by charging supracompetitive prices for general search text ads." The company takes signed-in users' data to create targeted advertising, however, Mehta ruled Google doesn't hold the same monopoly power when it comes to the general search advertising market. 

In response to the ruling, antitrust officers also reportedly plan to suggest Google changes its data licensing policies. A new proposal would have Google syndicate search results separately and sell its click and query data. These moves could aid rival search engines and AI startups. The officers reportedly considered asking Mehta to force Google to sell of Android but have moved away from that request. The DOJ submitted initial proposals in October to remedy Google's actions.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, stated, that the "government putting its thumb on the scale in these ways would harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed."

Mehta's August ruling stems from a 2020 lawsuit filed by the DOJ and about one-fifth of the states, including Florida, Indiana and Texas. It argued that Google spent billions of dollars annually to device manufacturers, US wireless carriers and browser developers "to secure default status for its general search engine and, in many cases, to specifically prohibit Google’s counterparties from dealing with Google’s competitors." According to testimony from Prabhakar Raghavan, Google's chief technologist, the company spent $26.3 billion in 2021 to maintain its default search engine status — a majority of which likely went to Apple. 

A two-week hearing is set for April 2025 on changes for Google to implement, with a final ruling expected by August next year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/0jg3Rfc
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ESPN testing AI avatar to provide analysis on 'SEC Nation' college football broadcast

ESPN is working on a plan to add generative AI to its SEC football coverage. The network recently debuted an AI avatar dubbed FACTS, which is set to be tested with ESPN's college football show SEC Nation.

ESPN debuted FACTS at its Edge conference in New York late last week. The network didn't commit to a timeline for when it'll fully integrate the AI avatar into its broadcasts — in other words, we don't know FACTS will actually be on our TV screens. But the plan, ESPN noted, was to use it as a supplement the network's analysts. Basically, the idea is for the avatar to present some of the more complicated stats and analytics from ESPN.

SEE ALSO: People really don't like Coke's AI holiday commercial

"FACTS is designed to test innovations out in the market and create an outlet for ESPN Analytics’ data to be accessible to fans in an engaging and enjoyable segment," Baron Miller, coordinating producer, SEC Network/ESPN, said in a blog on ESPN's press site. "It complements our journalists and on-air talent, providing additional insights."

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ESPN's chief stressed at the Edge conference that it was not planning to use AI to replace its journalists.

"There are ways for us as an enterprise to really benefit from AI. And don’t get me wrong, AI is disruptive, but I see it as disruptive in a good way and kind of pushing the sports fan experience forward. I do not see this as displacing jobs," ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said during his opening remarks, according to The Wrap.

The actual avatar for FACTS, in case you were wondering, is a somewhat nerdy looking cartoon guy with an athletic build. He has glasses, a tie with numbers on it, and a pencil behind his ear. So, at some point, you can expect that cartoon to tell you all about the detailed stats in SEC football. Personally, I prefer my college football analysts to simply yell "run the dang football," but I'm open to new things.

via IFmashable.com

The best Black Friday subscription deals for 2024: Audible, Kindle Unlimited, MasterClass and more

While the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale events are arguably the best times of the year to pick up most gadgets, they’re also a great time to save on subscriptions and services you may already have or that you’ve been wanting to try. Whether it’s an audiobook service like Audible, a VPN service like ExpressVPN or an online learning subscription like MasterClass, you can typically find good subscription deals during this time of the year. Many of them also make it pretty easy to give a subscription, too, if you’re considering it as a gift for a loved one this year. To make it easier to find the services you want and need, Engadget has curated the best Black Friday subscription deals you can get this year.

Best Black Friday subscription deals

• Audible Premium Plus for $0.99 for three months ($44 off): This deal gives you one title for each of the three months you're subscribed, plus unlimited access to the Premium Plus library of books, podcasts and other. Anyone who's not already subscribed to Audible can get this deal.

• Amazon Kindle Unlimited for $0 for one month ($12 off): Amazon's ebook subscription service gives you access to a catalog of thousands titles for unlimited reading, select Audible audiobooks to listen to and included magazines to read. Prime members can get a different deal: two months for only $5.

• Headspace annual plan for $35 ($35 off): Our top pick for the best meditation app has tons of courses that address specific anxieties and worries, a good in-app search engine that makes it easy to find the right meditation you need and additional yoga routines, podcasts and music sessions to try out.

• Calm annual plan for $35 ($35 off): Another one of our top pocks for the best meditation apps is a great option for anyone new to meditation thanks in part to the many short and focused sessions it includes. There's also a dedicated kids section and subscribers get access to a soothing music library.

• MasterClass Premium for $10/month ($10 off): Premium subscriptions, which include access for up to six devices and offline mode, are half off for the holidays. MasterClass' other subscription tiers are also discounted. Those who love learning and want to pick up a new hobby (or refine an existing one) can take courses with some of the best in their respective fields.

• Rosetta Stone lifetime access for $149 ($250 off): Those eager to learn a new language (or two) can get full lifetime access to Rosetta Stone for less for Black Friday. The one-time payment gives you access to the company's Dynamic Immersion courses, TruAccent speech recognition technology to help improve your pronunciation and the ability to learn on mobile and desktop.

• ProtonVPN Plus two-year plan for $72 ($168 off): Our top pick for the best VPN is based on open-source framework and has a no-logs policy. Its easy-to-use apps are available on most platforms including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and more, and some of them even include a kill-switch feature.

• ExpressVPN two-year plan plus six extra months for $150 (82 percent off): Our top pick for best VPN for travelers provides access to tons of servers and had some of the fastest connections of any VPN service we tested. In addition to a VPN, this subscription tier gives you access to an ad blocker and password manager.

• NordVPN Plus two-year plan plus three extra months for $121 (70 percent off): In addition to VPN access, NordVPN's Plus plan gives you a password manager, ad blocker, anti-malware protection and more.

Check out all of the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals here.

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