Kalakshar US

The second season of the fantastic detective dramedy Poker Face starts streaming via Peacock on May 8. There’s a trailer and it spotlights the many guest stars that will be showing up as suspects in the second season. These include folks like John Mulaney, playing a cop of some kind, and early 2000s heartthrob Katie Holmes.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Fans of the first season know that Poker Face loves itself some guest stars. Giancarlo Esposito, Awkwafina, Justin Theroux, Cynthia Erivo and Melanie Lynsky will all be showing up in this new batch of episodes.

For the uninitiated, Poker Face is (basically) an old-school “mystery of the week” show, recalling genre classics like Columbo. It stars Natasha Lyonne as a gritty New Yorker (duh) as she wanders the country solving crimes. She has a near-supernatural ability to tell when someone is lying, which helps a lot.

The show was created by Rian Johnson, who polarized the Star Wars fandom with The Last Jedi before going on to make those well-regarded Knives Out movies. Two of those films have already aired on Netflix, with a third on the way. He also made some indie flicks earlier in his career, like Brick and Looper.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/poker-faces-season-two-trailer-features-guest-stars-like-john-mulaney-and-katie-holmes-184741470.html?src=rss 

iRobot, the creator of the Roomba and the company that popularized robot vacuums in the first place, told investors on Wednesday that it has “substantial doubt about [its] ability to continue.”

Beyond declining sales — the company reported that revenue decreased 47 percent in the US over the prior year in its fourth quarter earnings — iRobot is also struggling to pay off its debts. The company took on a $200 million bridge loan to stay afloat while it waited for its $1.7 billion acquisition deal with Amazon to be approved, which it’s still paying off.

The European Commission ultimately investigated the acquisition in 2023, and rather than address its concerns, Amazon terminated the deal and paid out its $94 million termination fee. That wasn’t enough to eliminate iRobot’s problems, though. The company now plans to review its options and see if it can find another way to stick it out, including “refinancing the company’s debt and exploring a potential sale or strategic transaction.”

The timing is particularly unfortunate given the line of new robot vacuums iRobot recently announced. The company has a new robot for most price points, but the Roomba 105 Vac Robot series, which are supposed to feature 70 times more suction than past models, and the Roomba Plus 505 Combo Robot + AutoWash Dock, which is able to clean corners better and has a dock that washes and heat-dries the robot’s mop, stand out as notable improvements. The company is also adopting lidar sensors across the board, something that was missing from previous robots and should allow for better, more accurate mapping.

It’s possible new products help iRobot get to a better place financially — the company still makes robots we recommend, after all — but that doesn’t change the fact that its facing stiff competition from companies like Roborock and Dreame, who are both getting much more adventurous with what their robot vacuums can actually do.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/irobot-has-new-roombas-but-it-doesnt-sound-confident-itll-be-around-to-sell-them-191747458.html?src=rss 

Sorry to everyone who was waiting for Sonos to release a streaming video device — it seems that’s not happening anytime soon. The company is said to have canceled the long-expected product, which was reportedly far along in development.

Sonos leadership announced the cancellation in an all-hands call on Wednesday, according to The Verge. Interim CEO Tom Conrad says that, “for now,” the company won’t enter the streaming video market. The team that was working on the project, codenamed Pinewood, is set to be reassigned to other projects.

It was reported last month that Sonos could start selling the device this year for between $200 and $400. Pinewood was rumored to have a unified software experience with universal search for shows and movies from various streaming services like Netflix, Max and Disney+. Pinewood was believed to have Sonos Voice Control integration and to act as an HDMI hub for home entertainment devices such as game consoles. And, of course, the box would have synced with Sonos soundbars and speakers.

Per the report, Pinewood’s cancellation leaves Sonos without a major new product to start selling in the second half of 2025. Instead, it seems that the company will double down on rebuilding its reputation and the performance of its software after the disastrous rollout of a new mobile app in 2024.

That fiasco led to the ouster of former CEO Patrick Spence and other executives. Sonos also fired hundreds of workers as part of a restructuring plan.

Engadget has contacted Sonos for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/sonos-reportedly-scraps-its-long-expected-streaming-video-device-193445993.html?src=rss 

Many people using older Chromecast devices experienced a shock in recent days when their units lost the ability to cast content. The company ended the brand last year, which led folks to think that this was a planned obsolescence of some kind. Here’s some good news. It’s just a software issue and Google is working on it.

The company sent an email to users to say that its engineers are “working to resolve this as soon as possible, and will keep you updated when there is more to share.” Google was fairly vague in its wording here, but at least we know a fix is coming.

The issue primarily impacts older Chromecasts and the Chromecast Audio device and prevents them from casting. Google says the cause of the problem has been identified but didn’t reveal any specifics.

However, it has cautioned users to not factory reset impacted Chromecast devices. This will lock users out of the gadget entirely. Google has suggested it would help these people, because performing a factory reset would likely be one of the first troubleshooting steps, but hasn’t provided a time frame.

One Reddit user claims to have found the problem that caused the devices to lose functionality, noting that it was “most definitely due to the certificate baked into the Chromecast having expired.” This person said that the certificate specified it would no longer be active after March 9 and, well, that’s the day before many models started failing.

For the uninitiated, the issue causes an “untrusted device error” whenever someone tries to cast on certain models. The only option is to dismiss the error, which disables casting. Impacted units include the 2nd-gen Chromecast from 2015 and the Chromecast Audio.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/google-apologizes-for-chromecast-outage-and-promises-a-fix-172103579.html?src=rss 

Niantic Labs just announced that it has found a buyer for its game division after putting out feelers back in February. The Saudi Arabia-owned company Scopely has agreed to purchase the division for $3.5 billion. Scopely was founded in Los Angeles but was purchased using money from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, otherwise called the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The agreement includes most of Niantic’s portfolio of AR games, including Pokémon Go, Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom, among several others. It also includes the company’s social companion apps for Pokémon Go, Campfire and Wayfarer. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions.

Scopely says it will receive “Niantic’s entire team of exceptional gamemakers and category-leading games.” There are a couple of titles, however, missing from this purchase. Niantic Labs will retain the AR gaming titles Peridot and Ingress.

Scopely is a major player in the mobile games industry. It’s the company behind games like Star Trek Fleet Command, Marvel Strike Force and Monopoly Go!, to name a few.

As for Niantic’s games division, it’s a shadow of its former self. Pokémon Go engaged more than 500 million players in its first year, but the game’s staying power has waned in recent times. At its peak, the mobile monster battler attracted over 230 million players each month. Nowadays, that number has shrunk to around 80 million.

The company has also struggled to replicate the Pikachu-shaped lightning in a bottle with other titles. It tried to reskin the Pokémon Go formula onto other franchises like Harry Potter and NBA basketball, but nothing stuck. The Monster Hunter and Pikmin projects, however, are still active.

This led Niantic to cancel multiple games and lay off hundreds of employees. Niantic’s valuation has taken several hits and the company’s long-promised “real-world metaverse” has yet to materialize. If the sale goes through, the company will focus on building out its standalone entity Niantic Spatial. This group builds real-world 3D maps and is led by company CEO John Hanke.

The Saudi PIF has become a major player in the games industry in recent years. It not only owns Scopely and its parent company Savvy Games Group, but has financial stakes in organizations like Nintendo, EA and Activision Blizzard.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/pokemon-go-maker-niantic-sells-its-game-division-to-saudi-owned-scopely-160905447.html?src=rss 

Apple and Metallica have teamed up to bring a free, immersive experience from one of the band’s concerts to Apple Vision Pro. Starting on March 14, owners of the headset will be able to watch live performances of “Whiplash,” “One” and, of course, “Enter Sandman” filmed at a stop on Metallica’s M72 World Tour last year. An EP recorded at the show, titled M72 World Tour: Mexico City, will hit Apple Music this Friday and be available with spatial audio.

To capture the set in 180-degree video and spatial audio, Apple constructed a custom stage setup with 14 Apple Immersive Video cameras. Some cameras were suspended on cables and on remote-controlled dolly systems.

The immersive set will likely be a fun experience for those in the Venn diagram overlap of Metallica enjoyers and those who have splashed out $3,500 on an Apple Vision Pro (you’ll be able to check it out by booking a free demo at an Apple Store too). But will it be as cool as the time lightning struck the skies while Metallica played “Master of Puppets” at an outdoor show last year? Probably not.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/apple-vision-pro-users-can-check-out-a-short-immersive-metallica-concert-film-this-week-162611039.html?src=rss