Deep into my many-hour hang with the tech world’s greatest living novelist, Robin Sloan, he says something profound about science fiction. It’s the insight I’ve been waiting for, the key to understanding not just him but maybe all of storytelling. I glance down at my voice recorder, just to make …
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If you’re baffled by Skibidi Toilet, you’re not alone. The bizarre animated YouTube series centers on an alien invasion: a swarm of singing heads, all popping out of toilets, has descended on a Los Angeles–like metropolis and triggered a surreal, cartoonish, apocalyptic war. That’s a more direct and clear explanation …
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When I pull up Netflix at the end of a long day, sometimes it takes me an hour just to decide what to watch. I think this makes me pretty lame. Though maybe I'm also hoping you'll tell me that endless scrolling is a perfectly valid new form of entertainment? …
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Now that E3 is fully dead, Summer Game Fest has taken on its mantle as the go-to event for big video game release announcements. This past weekend’s Game Fest delivered, with companies from Microsoft to horror studio Blumhouse sending honchos to LA to show off new gear and new titles. …
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As if he didn’t have enough to deal with amid his beef with Kendrick Lamar (or perhaps to distract from it), Drake showed up on a remix of parody rapper Snowd4y’s cover of Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah,” called “Wah Gwan Delilah,” that has everyone … perplexed? Annoyed? Laughing? …
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Within the frame of a single image lives a lifetime of experience, emotion, and affect. Photographs trap drama and performance. TikTok videos delight us with humor and consequence. For Legacy Russell, author of the new book Black Meme: A History of the Images That Make Us, virality may be the …
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Have you ever thought you’d be good at hawking digital meatballs or helping someone pick out the perfect Lack? Do you find yourself frequently lost in the haunted furniture store of the Roblox game 3008? If you live in the UK and are 18 or older, you might be in …
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Jonathan’s actions were irrefutable: Over the course of nearly a decade, while working at a video game developer, he sexually assaulted industry colleagues. One victim came forward, posting their story to social media; others followed with stories of their own. The consequences were swift. Colleagues, friends, and peers disavowed him. …
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When poet John Keats wrote in “Ode on a Grecian Urn” that “beauty is truth, truth beauty,” he probably didn’t have AI influencers in mind. Perhaps he should have. Back in April, Fanvue, an AI-infused creator platform that falls somewhere between OnlyFans and Cameo in terms of services, launched what …
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YouTube’s Content ID system—which automatically detects content registered by rights holders—is “completely fucking broken,” a YouTuber called “Albino” declared in a rant on the social media site X that has been viewed more than 950,000 times. Albino, who is also a popular Twitch streamer, complained that his YouTube video playing …
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