Kalakshar US

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has announced that it will be splitting up into two separate media companies. The new structure will see one entity retain Warner Bros. film, television and game studios, along with New Line Cinema, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, while the other will hold the company’s full portfolio of live cable channels, which includes many household names like CNN, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Discovery, TCL and others.

In a shareholder deck, WBD refers to these two entities as “WBD Global Networks” and “WBD Streaming & Studios,” and highlights the strengths of each portfolio. The company points out that the newly minted entities would each produce healthy free cash flow and intends for each to be listed as publicly traded companies. This comes just three years after the original merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery.

David Zaslav, the current CEO and president of WBD, will serve as president and CEO of Streaming & Studios. Gunnar Wiedenfels, currently CFO of WBD, will serve as president and CEO of Global Networks. Both remain in their current roles until the separation is complete.

“The cultural significance of this great company and the impactful stories it has brought to life for more than a century have touched countless people all over the world. It’s a treasured legacy we will proudly continue in this next chapter of our celebrated history,” said Zaslav in a statement. “By operating as two distinct and optimized companies in the future, we are empowering these iconic brands with the sharper focus and strategic flexibility they need to compete most effectively in today’s evolving media landscape.”

In an investor presentation, WBD announced it will be taking a $17.5 billion loan from J.P. Morgan to assist in a cash tender and consent solicitation for all of its approximately$35.5 billion in outstanding bonds. This means it will be buying back some of the bonds while also asking bondholders to loosen their terms, and will offer cash incentives to those who agree to sell or restructure. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the majority of the total debt will be held by Global Networks, while “a not-insignificant portion” will remain with Streaming & Studios. The exact breakdown of the debt at each entity remains to be seen, pending the outcome of the companies’ debt restructuring.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/warner-bros-discovery-will-split-into-two-media-giants-144553585.html?src=rss 

Deciding what to get your dad for Father’s Day is tricky. There are the standbys like tools for the grill or a new history book, but there are also plenty of unique options out there. That includes digital options like a Nintendo Switch Online membership or a subscription to MasterClass.

A MasterClass subscription is one of our favorite gifts for teachers, but it’s also an especially good option right now as the site is running a Father’s Day sale. Currently, you can gift dad a one-year membership for up to 50 percent off. Take the MasterClass Plus subscription, which is down to $96 from $180 annually. It offers unlimited classes and access on two devices.

Then there’s the Premium tier, which allows unlimited access across six devices. The sale brings this option down to $120 from $240 for the year. The cheapest option is the Standard subscription, which offers one class every three months on one device. It has a 17 percent discount, bringing its cost down to $60 from $72 annually — still a bit of a savings. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/masterclass-subscriptions-are-up-to-half-off-right-now-for-fathers-day-140300419.html?src=rss 

At WWDC 2024, Apple failed its customers. When the company announced the new, more personal Siri last year, it showed a product that was nowhere near ready. You can point to many different places where Apple Intelligence failed to meet expectations, but with WWDC 2025 fast approaching, the company owes its users an explanation of how it intends to win back their trust.

If you didn’t watch last year’s conference, here’s a recap. At the heart of Apple’s promise of a better digital assistant was App Intents, a feature that would give Siri the ability to understand all the personal information stored on your iPhone. During the presentation’s most memorable moment, Apple demoed Siri responding to a request from Kelsey Peterson, the company’s director of machine learning and AI, for an update on her mom’s flight. The assistant not only understood the prompt, but provided real-time flight tracking information in the process.

In short, the demo promised – after years of neglect – that Siri would finally be useful.

It should have been obvious in hindsight that Apple was overselling its progress on Siri, and AI more broadly. At WWDC 2024, the company did not let press and other attendees try the new version of the assistant. There wasn’t even an opportunity to watch the company’s employees use Siri. In fact, according to reporting The Information later published, it’s probably more accurate to describe what Apple showed last June not as a demo but as an elaborate concept video.

If Apple had only faked the WWDC demo, that would have been bad enough, but the company did something worse. As you may recall, the tech giant began rolling out Apple Intelligence features piecemeal in September. Rather than a public statement explaining the lack of progress, the company only admitted it was delaying the upgrade to sometime “in the coming year” after Daring Fireball’s John Gruber sought answers. That same day, as if the company had only just realized its error, Apple pulled a TV commercial that showed The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey using the new Siri in the way it had demoed at WWDC 2024.

It’s going to take a lot for Apple to fix Apple Intelligence, but the best place the company can start is by being honest with its customers. Corporations, especially ones as big as Apple, rarely show humility, but in this case, an acknowledgement from the company that it promised the moon and missed the mark would go a long way towards righting some of the sins of WWDC 2024.

This applies to other aspects of Apple Intelligence just as much as it does with Siri. Look at the damage notification summaries did to Apple’s reputation. Apple Intelligence was so bad at aggregating the news, the company ended up pausing the notifications in the iOS 18.3 beta. When it released 18.3 to the public a couple of weeks later, it began labeling the alerts to give users a warning they may include errors.

As for other Apple Intelligence features like Image Playground and Genmoji, they’re forgettable because they offer little utility and see Apple following trends rather than offering something that truly enhances the usefulness of its devices. There too the company can tell its users it missed the mark and it plans to do better.

There’s no reason Apple can’t make Apple Intelligence great, but any effort to do so has to start with the company being honest: about what its roadmap of features can actually do, and to own up to when its promises can’t be fulfilled.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/to-fix-apple-intelligence-apple-needs-to-be-honest-about-its-capabilities-130046256.html?src=rss 

YouTube is following in the potentially dangerous steps of Meta and X (formerly Twitter) by relaxing its content moderation policies. New internal training materials viewed by The New York Times instruct moderators to leave videos live if up to half its content violates YouTube’s policies, an increase from a quarter of it. The platform introduced the new policy in mid-December, a month after President Trump was re-elected. 

The new guidelines reflect what YouTube deems as “public interest.” These areas include discussing or debating elections, movements, race, gender, immigration and more. “Recognizing that the definition of ‘public interest’ is always evolving, we update our guidance for these exceptions to reflect the new types of discussion we see on the platform today,” Nicole Bell, a YouTube spokesperson, told The New York Times. “Our goal remains the same: to protect free expression on YouTube while mitigating egregious harm.” 

The platform has reportedly removed 22 percent more videos due to hateful and abusive content than last year. It’s not clear how many videos were reported or would have been removed under the previous guidelines. 

YouTube reportedly told moderators to now value keeping content up if it’s a debate between freedom of expression and risk. For example, they were shown a video called “RFK Jr. Delivers SLEDGEHAMMER Blows to Gene-Altering JABS” which falsely stated that Covid vaccines can change people’s genes. However, YouTube told the moderators that public interest “outweighs the harm risk” and the video should stay up. It has since been removed, though the reason why is unclear.

Other videos allowed to remain online included one with a slur aimed at a transgender person and one in which a commentator discussed a graphic demise for former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol. 

Engadget has reached out to YouTube for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-now-allows-more-harmful-misinformation-on-its-platform-133002902.html?src=rss 

JBL is reintroducing its immersive soundbar lineup with even more power, but thankfully, the convenient detachable side speakers aren’t going anywhere. JBL refreshed the entire Bar lineup, with the Bar 1000 MK2 leading the charge. The soundbar still features a 10-inch wireless subwoofer along with removable speakers on each end that let you continue playing your music or movies even if you wander away from the TV.

For the 2025 refresh, JBL kept the Bar 1000 MK2 on a 7.1.4 channel setup, but pumped up the max power output to 960W for an even louder and more immersive listening experience. The detachable speakers still have a max battery life of up to 10 hours, where you can reattach them to the soundbar to recharge. Like its predecessor, the Bar 1000 MK2 features true Dolby Atmos, thanks to four upfiring drivers, along with DTS:X 3D surround sound and MultiBeam 3.0. You won’t have to constantly adjust the volume when bouncing between dialogue scenes and loud action since the updated soundbar has PureVoice 2.0 that automatically optimizes the dialogue volume based on the scene’s ambient sound.

The Bar 1000 MK2 can still use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to connect to a device, but is also compatible with AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect. Besides the Bar 1000 MK2, JBL will debut the refreshed Bar 700 MK2 that comes with detachable speakers too, but can only virtualize Dolby Atmos. The updated Bar 500 MK2 and Bar 300 MK2 also don’t offer true Dolby Atmos, nor JBL’s Night Listening mode that automatically reduces loud noises. If you’re in need of a soundbar with a subwoofer, it’s worth noting that the new Bar 300 MK2 still doesn’t have one.

The Bar 1000 MK2 is due to hit the shelves first at $1,199 later this month. The release of the $899 Bar 700 MK2, the $649 Bar 500 MK2 and the $449 Bar 300 MK2 will follow shortly after. The most expensive of JBL’s Bar lineup, an 11.1.4-channel follow-up to the Bar 1300X, will release in the fall and start at $1,699. While it’s much more expensive, it will come with detachable speakers that have standalone Bluetooth capabilities.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/jbl-refreshes-its-2025-soundbars-with-a-serious-power-up-120014177.html?src=rss 

Google is officially letting you prioritize certain people in your life. The company has launched Pixel VIPs, an update that allows Google Pixel owners to “stay connected to the people who matter most and never miss a moment from them.” It expands on Google’s existing favorite contacts option, 9To5Google reports. 

Pixel VIPs includes features such as placing your “VIPs” at the top of your contact list and letting them bypass your device’s do not disturb. If you click on a specific person then you can see their real-time location, weather and time. It also shows the last time you two connected. Plus, Google will suggest things for the two of you to do together based on your preferences. 

You also have the option of adding notes to their contact page. These tidbits might include their new dog’s name, when they’re traveling or a reminder of your plans together. 

The possibility that Google was working on this update first arose last summer under the name “besties,” rather than “VIP.” Reports from 9To5Google showed it replacing the favorite contacts option but didn’t reveal much else. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/google-pixels-new-vip-contacts-lets-your-favorite-people-bypass-do-not-disturb-123053232.html?src=rss 

After a symphony, online multiplayer and a remaster, the well-regarded (and often handheld) puzzler Lumines is getting Enhance’s full synesthetic, Tetris-flowing, treatment. Lumines Arise is almost here.

If you haven’t played the game before, Lumines’ premise centers on rotating and dropping four-square blocks made of one or two colors, building up larger squares of a single color. The game’s timeline sweeps across the playfield – to the beat of the soundtrack – erasing completed squares in its path, while also giving you the brief opportunity to quickly drop more squares, add multiplier combos and score even more points.

Lumines Arise adds a new mechanic to the addictive yet simple puzzle. ‘Burst’ is a refillable bar that you can trigger with L2/R2, which locks a square on the playing field, allowing you to pile on subsequent blocks. You can initiate Burst once the counter has rolled above 50, although it maxes out at 100. As you might expect for a synesthesia-tickling game like Arise, Burst mode has its own low-key musical accompaniment.

Lumines has never looked better. But that’s not just due to 2025 hardware power, but also design choices for Lumines’ skins – the unhinged wallpaper design and block themes that bubble up as you advance through puzzle stages. They’re delightfully mad and, at times, distracting. (As you play, the view of your Lumines blocks will occasionally ‘zoom’ closer – this is intentional. Game Director Takashi Ishihara said this was to both add some dynamism to what are typically static blocks, but also to pull the players’ attention back to the game at hand. Lumines Arise wants you to focus on the now, not the score, your Burst meter, or your customizable avatar.)

My favorite part of the demo was the final stage, which featured two chameleons simply raving along to the dance music. The soundtrack is, naturally, a banger, too. Lumines Arise features new music from Hydelic, also responsible for the award-winning soundtrack of Tetris Effect: Connected. (The band has already launched one track, “Only Human,” on Bandcamp – it’s coming to other streaming services, too.)

On another stage, two skeletal hands, seemingly strung up like puppets, twitch and wriggle as you shift and rotate your blocks. If anything, I think Enhance missed a trick not mapping the finger movements to a DualSense controller. I said that in front of Ishihara because I have zero sense of decorum — apparently, he’d had the same idea. I now consider myself a game designer.

I got to briefly see Lumines Arise running on a Steam Deck, too. The time of the handheld console and PC is now, so it’s nice to see a typically made-for-consoles game ready for this new gaming PC form factor.

Ishihara teased that there’s more to reveal ahead of Arise’s launch. The game will launch on both PS5 and Steam, and it will also feature VR compatibility on both platforms. While Enhance wasn’t yet willing to reveal the details, there will also be some form of multiplayer, but it seems like it’ll be in a different form compared to the more adversarial nature of Tetris Effect’s multiplayer modes. 

Additionally, Ishihara wanted to highlight that the avatars, which dance and emote in sync with your in-game actions, now feature legs. That is important, apparently. Enhance is promising more answers in due time. Lumines Arise is set to launch in fall 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lumines-arise-hands-on-interview-takashi-ishihara-000038767.html?src=rss