His name is Douglas, and he's astonishingly lifelike |
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Welcome to Decrypted, Digital Trends' daily newsletter guiding you through the latest news in the world of tech, with insights from our senior writers. |
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If you've ever participated in a group video call, you're probably accustomed to not knowing everyone who appears on the screen. You might not know everyone's names, but at the very least, you can be fairly certain each person joining the call is human.
Or can you?
At a time when visual effects studios have de-aged veteran actors, allowed human performers to inhabit digital creations, and even brought deceased artists back for postmortem performances, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that a VFX studio can also make it possible for you to find yourself chatting with an artificially intelligent digital person about your favorite books and mutually lamenting the inability to visit a movie theater.
It shouldn't be surprising, and yet, it's still an odd feeling to suddenly find a sympathetic ear in Douglas, a virtual, A.I.-driven "person" created by Oscar-winning VFX studio Digital Domain. During a recent Zoom call, Douglas — along with members of the team working on him — joined me for a brief demonstration. |
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When the iPod music player launched in 2001, Apple went with the slogan, "1,000 songs in your pocket." Skip forward 20 years and a brilliant bit of work by Massachusetts resident Guy Dupont puts 50 million songs in your pocket, streamable via Spotify.
The project started when Dupont got his hands on a 17-year-old iPod after receiving it from a relative who was presumably having a Marie Kondo moment. In a YouTube video spotted by Gizmodo, the talented tech tinkerer explains how he tore the guts out of Apple's music player so he could replace it with more modern components that enabled him to incorporate Spotify. |
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Following our complete review of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, I planned to follow up with my own thoughts after another week with Samsung's latest flagship. I knew I'd talk about the phone's size, which is colossal, and it's battery life, which is equally immense. But I'm skipping all of that, for now, because I'm in love with the Galaxy 21 Ultra's camera.
I received both the Galaxy S21 and S21 Ultra for review, so I could experience both the entry point, and top end, of the lineup. I chose to review the former first, because it's the phone that gets people in the door and has the price tag to appeal to the broadest market. I was disappointed by its cameras because they hadn't appreciably progressed from the Galaxy S20 series. Then I switched to the Galaxy S21 Ultra, and it made me forget about the base S21 immediately |
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There are many reasons to recommend the salaciously titled and themed British drama Harlots, not least of which is Lesley Manville's gleefully malevolent turn as the conniving madam of an upscale house of ill repute in 18th-century London.
Alas, upon revisiting the show after a two-year layoff to watch the third and final season, I can't recommend it.
The show, which focuses on the rivalry between Manville's Lydia Quigley and Maggie Wells (Samantha Morton), a fellow bawd who resents Quigley for bringing her into the business and treating her poorly, crams far too many subplots into the final eight episodes, while also relying on weak and lazy storytelling.
Seriously, Quigley's ability to be in the right place at the right time to hear whispered conversations about her rival's plans and weaknesses strains credulity to the breaking point. If it happened once or twice during the course of the season, that would be one thing, but we're talking multiple times per episode. There are only so many times I can roll my eyes before it gets uncomfortable.
It's too bad, because Harlots has a lot going for it, including a decidedly feminist vibe and contemporary score that miraculously don't feel at odds with the subject matter. Then there's the talented cast, which is far too sprawling to give all the credit that's due. (I will single out Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey), who plays one of Maggie's prostitute daughters, and Kate Fleetwood and Danny Sapani, who supply the muscle in Maggie's establishment.)
Despite being a sucker for period pieces and top-tier acting, Harlots for me pales in comparison to some of the many other options available in this golden age of streaming. Take a chance on The Crown, The Great, or The Queen's Gambit instead. |
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