Kalakshar US

They say “Twitter isn’t real life,” but Black Twitter proved otherwise. For years, that phrase has been a way to ignore the real-world impact of social media conversations, especially when they spark radically new ideas. But that’s clearly not true when you look at Black Twitter, an unofficial community made up of the site’s black users, which inspired culturally significant movements with hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and #OscarsSoWhite. Hulu’s new documentary, “Black Lives Matter: A People’s History,” adapted from Jason Parham’s Wired article, explores the rise and global influence of the community. Over the course of three engaging and often hilarious episodes, the series cements itself as an essential cultural document.

“The way I would define Black Twitter is a space where Black culture specifically was hanging out in a digital way,” said Prentice Penny, the series director and former show-runner of HBO’s Insecure, in an interview on the Engadget Podcast. “And even though it was a public space — clearly, it’s Twitter, anybody can get on it — it still felt like you were having conversations with your friends that are like on the back of the bus. Or like on the stoop, or in the lunchroom. I mean, that’s the energy of it.”

In particular, Penny says that Twitter felt special because there was no real hierarchy, especially in the early days. That meant that even celebrities weren’t immune to being mocked, or acting out on their own social media profiles (like Rihanna’s notorious early Twitter presence). Twitter in its heyday felt like a place where money or class didn’t really matter.

“This was kind of an equalization of a lot of things, that somebody in Kentucky who nobody knows could have the same strong opinion as someone who you revere, right?” Penny said. “And I think that’s what made the space so fresh, because we don’t really have spaces that are kind of a level playing ground in this country.”

Twitter also felt genuinely different from the other social networks in the late 2000s. At the time, Facebook was mostly focused on connecting you with schoolmates and family members — it wasn’t really a place for simply hanging out and joking around. Prentice notes that the forced brevity on Twitter also made it unique, since you had to really focus on what you were trying to say in 140 characters. 

“Each of the creators [in the series] had a different idea of what Twitter should be,” Penny added. “Some thought it should be a town square, some people thought it should be a news information thing… I think like with Black culture, the one thing we do really well is, because we’re often given the scraps of things, we have to repurpose something, like taking the worst of the pig and making soul food… I think we are really good at taking things that could kind of be different things and make it be pliable for us.”

The documentary recounts the many ways Black Twitter leveraged the platform, both for fun and for kicking off serious social movements. The community helped make live-tweeting TV shows a common occurrence, and it’s one reason Scandal became a hit TV show. But Black users also helped raise the profile around Trayvon Martin’s killing by George Zimmerman. His eventual acquittal led to the creation of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, a movement which sparked national protests in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans.

If you’ve been online and following the Black Twitter community for years, the Hulu documentary may not seem particularly revelatory. But there’s value in charting the impact of cultural movements, especially given how quickly social media and the tech world moves.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hulus-black-twitter-documentary-is-a-vital-cultural-chronicle-161557720.html?src=rss 

Not all connected speakers have a voice assistant built in. The Sonos One SL, for instance, doesn’t have a microphone. So, if you want to use your voice to control such devices, you may need to pick up a secondary smart speaker, such as Amazon’s Echo Dot. As luck would have it, that little Alexa-enabled device is on sale for $28. That’s 44 percent off and just $5 more than the record-low price.

That’s not to say the Echo Dot isn’t a decent speaker in its own right. In fact, we think it’s the best smart speaker under $50.

Amazon has been steadily improving the Dot’s audio quality over the years and the most recent version from 2022 pumps out far louder and clearer audio than could be reasonably expected from a sub-$50 speaker. The globe-shaped speaker has some physical buttons, including ones for volume control and another that mutes/unmutes the microphone if you don’t want Alexa to remain alert for voice commands at all times.

If you’d prefer to save a few extra bucks, you could instead opt for the Echo Pop. That Alexa-enabled speaker is currently half off at $20. The colorful speaker also has a mic mute switch. It could prove to be a handy bedside speaker for listening to podcasts or a sleep story when it’s time to nod off.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-echo-dot-drops-to-just-28-162815137.html?src=rss 

A Prince of Persia game from the studio behind Dead Cells was supposed to hit early access on PC on May 14. That’s no longer the case. Evil Empire says The Rogue Prince of Persia’s debut is delayed until later this month, and it’s because of a little game called Hades II.

Soon after a technical test wrapped up, Supergiant Games released Hades II into early access on Monday. It skyrocketed up the Steam charts and quickly reached a peak of 102,000 concurrent players. Evil Empire suggested that “everyone and their mom” is playing Hades II, including its own team, so it’s getting out of that game’s way. The new early access date for The Rogue Prince of Persia will be revealed on Monday.

“While we have every confidence in The Rogue Prince of Persia, it’s not every day that a game in the same genre as you, which is one of the most anticipated upcoming games of 2024, will release into early access a week before you plan to do the same,” Evil Empire wrote on X. “We are not prideful enough to ignore the implications of that, and we truly believe that this short delay is the best decision for us and our early access journey.“

As it happens, the delay will also give Evil Empire some extra time to polish up The Rogue Prince of Persia. While the whole point of releasing a game in early access is to get feedback from players on a project that’s far from the finished article, developers still want their games to be in as good a shape as possible when the public goes hands on with them for the first time.

Evil Empire says it can “add even more cool things” and try to squish some bugs before the game’s debut. The team also has a bit more time to test and refine the “hefty” day one patch.

Getting out of Hades II’s way is a smart idea given the two games are both roguelikes. It’s nice to see Evil Empire being transparent about the reasons for the delay too. But there are a bunch of other indies that were released this week that reviewed well and have been overshadowed at least to some degree by that blockbuster sequel.

Another Crab’s Treasure (a cute spin on From Software’s Soulslike format), PS1-style survival horror Crow Country, sci-fi title 1000xResist and adorable-looking adventure Little Kitty, Big City all debuted to strong reviews this week. So too did Animal Well, a Metroidvania about which the word “masterpiece” has been invoked by some reviewers (though that’s actually the number one best-selling game on Steam at the time of writing, just above Hades II).

The train doesn’t stop there as some other buzzed-about indies are arriving over the next couple of weeks, including Lorelei and The Laser Eyes (we’re very excited about that one) and Paper Trail. There’s another one coming next week that I’ve been playing and is worth checking out, though I can’t talk about it just yet.

Although there might not be too many AAA games from the likes of Sony, Microsoft and EA dropping at the minute, there’s a lot of fascinating stuff going on in the indie scene. So maybe go check some of those games out if you haven’t already.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-rogue-prince-of-persia-is-delayed-because-hades-ii-is-a-juggernaut-144229150.html?src=rss 

Google has released a security update for the Chrome browser to fix a zero-day vulnerability exploit that has been used by threat actors. This is the fifth time this year the company has had to issue a patch for one of these vulnerabilities, as reported by Bleeping Computer.

“Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2024-4671 exists in the wild,” the company said in a short advisory. It did not issue any specifics as to the nature of the real-world attack or the identity of the threat actors. This is common for Google, as it likes to wait until a majority of users have updated the software before announcing specific details.

We do know some stuff about the exploit. It’s being classified as a “high-severity issue” and as a “user after free” vulnerability. These bugs arise when a program references a memory location after it has been deallocated, leading to any number of serious consequences from a crash to a random execution of code. It looks like the CVE-2024-4671 vulnerability is attached to the visuals component that handles rendering and the display of content on the browser.

The exploit was discovered and reported to Google by an anonymous researcher. The fix is available for Mac, Windows and Linux and updates will continue to roll out to users over the coming days and weeks. Chrome updates automatically with security fixes, so users can confirm they are running the latest version of the browser by going to Settings and About Chrome. Users of Chromium-based browsers like Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi should also update to a new version as soon as they are available. 

As stated, this is the fifth of this type of flaw addressed by Google this year. I don’t mean “within the last calendar year.” I mean in 2024. Three were discovered back in March at the Pwn2Own hacking contest in Vancouver. This isn’t a record or anything. Google found and fixed five in one month back in 2020.

Zero-day exploits have been a constant thorn in Google’s side. These are a type of cyberattack that take advantage of an unknown or unaddressed security flaw in computer software, hardware or firmware. The company typically pays out big money for bug discoveries, as part of its Vulnerability Rewards Program.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-just-patched-the-fifth-zero-day-exploit-for-chrome-this-year-153723334.html?src=rss 

As rumors foretold, Apple has revamped the iPad Pro with an M4 chip, tandem OLED screen and a thinner case. There’s also a new Magic Keyboard that should deliver a more MacBook-like typing experience! In this week’s episode, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss how Apple is shining a new light on tablets (which also includes the new iPad Air models) and reworking its vision of mobile computing. Does anyone really need the iPad Pro today? And could it be more compelling if iPadOS improves its multitasking capabilities? Also, we discuss the launch of Google’s new mid-range phone, the Pixel 8a.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

Topics

New iPad Pro with OLED and M4 processor, iPad Air and Apple Pencil announced at ‘Let Loose’ event – 1:04

Google announces Pixel 8a with 120Hz OLED screen and AI capability – 20:50

What the heck happed with Helldivers 2? – 28:31

Microsoft shuts down Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin – 34:10

Hades 2 early access is out now – 42:01

Around Engadget: Steve Dent reviews Fujifilm X100 VI – 45:39

Working on – 48:38

Pop culture picks – 52:08

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Credits 

Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-podcast-rabbit-r1-ai-review-113031272.html?src=rss