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Hollywood’s actors vote to make their new deal official — the strikes are really over.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted in favor (78.33 percent to 21.67 percent) of the agreement negotiated last month with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that represents the studios.

The new deal runs through June 30th, 2026, following the first time in 63 years that the unions for actors and writers were on strike at the same time.

SAG-AFTRA:

The deal includes more than $1 billion in new compensation and benefit plan funding, along with outsized gains to the traditional residuals formulas. It offers a new compensation model for performers working in streaming, with a substantial bonus on top of existing residuals structures, plus compensation escalation for principal and background actors. Additionally, the deal establishes detailed informed consent and compensation guardrails for the use of AI, hair and makeup equity, meaningful protections for the casting process, sexual harassment prevention protections and more.


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It seems like iOS 17.2 actually won’t add collaborative playlists to Apple Music.

Apple announced collaborative playlists for Apple Music at WWDC, and while it appeared in some iOS 17.2 betas, it’s not present in Tuesday’s iOS 17.2 release candidate, 9to5Mac reports. Barring an unexpected surprise, you shouldn’t expect to see collaborative playlists in the final release.

Apple’s iOS 17 website still says the feature is coming “later this year,” but at this rate, I doubt that’s going to happen.


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Indiana’s lawsuit against TikTok has been dismissed.

This happened last week, but I saw it today because of Techdirt’s great post about the dismissal. Indiana’s attorney general actually filed two lawsuits against TikTok in December 2022, but they were consolidated, the Associated Press reports.


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Twitch is shutting down in Korea.

“Ultimately, the cost to operate Twitch in Korea is prohibitively expensive,” Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said in a blog post. While the company tried to find ways to lower costs, “our network fees in Korea are still 10 times more expensive than in most other countries,” he said.

The service will shut down in Korea on February 27th, 2024. Twitch has a few more details in a support document.


OpenAI execs dubbed ChatGPT a “Low key research preview.”

The phrase became an internal joke after ChatGPT’s popularity exploded right out of the gate, according to the NYT’s recap of its launch a year ago and the reaction among Big Tech companies.

Google and Meta scrambled AI teams to launch competing products — even if that meant removing some guardrails — like Bard and LLaMa. And Microsoft’s rush to beat Google had Satya Nadella saying, “We have a big order coming to you, a really big order coming to you,” to Nvidia’s Jensen Huang as he ordered $2 billion in chips.


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Curious how the new Beeper Mini iMessage app for Android actually works?

Then you should watch this excellent video from Quinn Nelson at Snazzy Labs. He breaks down exactly what it's doing behind the scenes and why it will likely be a challenge for Apple to stop it from working.


The last of Apple’s best iPhone design has gone vintage.

As MacRumors writes, Apple designated the original iPhone SE “vintage” today. The 2016 budget phone crammed the A9 chip — same as Apple’s priciest model at the time — into the flat sides, metal back, and chamfered edges of the 5S.

The first SE got its last major OS update with iOS 15 over two years ago, and it’s been five since Apple last sold it. Does that make our iPhone SE video review vintage, too?


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The live-action Yu Yu Hakusho series looks like a classic Netflix joint.

Especially in a post One Piece world, there’s always some hope of Netflix’s live-action anime / manga adaptations exceeding everyone’s expectations.

But judging from the looks of the wigs and special effects featured in the new trailer for Robot Communications’ upcoming spin on Yu Yu Hakusho, we might be in for another clunker.


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“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to be a criminal.”

Netflix has released a trailer for its new crypto documentary, Bitconned, about the rise and fall of Centra Tech, a scam that was part of the wave of initial coin offerings in 2017. The blowback from the scheme caught DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather, who had promoted it — they were fined by the SEC. Ray Trapani, one of the co-founders, appears to be a key narrator of the Neflix documentary.


National Geographic is leaving newsstands, sorta.

It’ll still do those newsstand “special editions” — but the monthly print mag is going subscriber-only.

NatGeo is still in the top 10 US magazines people get on purpose. Focusing on people you know care about your work makes sense! Ditching newsstand isn’t necessarily concerning on its own.

Laying off all your staff writers is, though.


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Bethesda is introducing a new mods and Creations system for Skyrim.

The system, Bethesda Game Studios Creations, “combines Skyrim’s existing Mods, Creation Club items and all-new Creations under a single Creations menu available for players to browse today in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition,” according to Bethesda’s blog post. If you become a “verified creator,” you can earn a cut for Creations sold in the game.

I’m guessing this system (or something like it) will come to Starfield when the studio officially ads mods to the game “early next year.”


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Read-it-later service Instapaper is doubling the price of Premium.

Instapaper Premium will now cost $6 per month, which Instapaper says is the first price change for the service in nine years. Instapaper says the higher price will let it hire more engineers, build new features (like the just launched “Permanent Archive”), and minimize price changes in the future.


Building for tomorrow

This series is all about infrastructure: the invisible layer of wires and guts and light that makes everything run. It’s not in the best shape, but what would it take to make it better?

The Verge’s 2023 holiday gift guide for dads

We’ve pulled together a king’s ransom of fun and unique gift ideas for all the dads in your life so you can spoil them no matter your budget.

The influences of Godzilla Minus One go beyond the atom bomb

Director Takashi Yamazaki opens up about taking the king of monsters back to its roots for a modern audience.

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Apple Arcade is assembling a Dream Team.

My everlasting search for a new Sonic game that isn’t soul-crushing or a technical mess may have come to an end but there’s a catch: it’s only available on Apple Arcade.

Sonic Dream Team, which Polygon makes sound like a better version of Sonic Superstars, launches today on Apple Arcade.

Also coming today to Apple Arcade is another dream game, Disney meets Animal Crossing sim Disney Dreamlight Valley: Arcade Edition, along with Puzzle & Dragons Story and Turmoil+.


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The GTA VI trailer is already breaking viewership records on YouTube.

Despite Rockstar releasing the GTA VI trailer early following a leak, it still managed to rake in 72 million views and counting. PC Gamer points out this makes it the most-viewed non-music video on YouTube in the 24 hours following its release — a record previously held by MrBeast.

It’s also getting close to dethroning BTS’s “Dynamite” music video, which currently holds the record for getting the most views on all of YouTube in 24 hours.


Epic v. Google: everything we’re learning live in Fortnite court

In a redux of a case against Apple and iOS, Epic aims to dismantle barriers that could spell higher fees for app makers — and, Google argues, keep Android safe and competitive.

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Amazon could face delivery delays next year if pilots go on strike.

Cargo airline Air Transport International (ATI) flies half of all US aircraft carrying cargo for Amazon. Its pilots have voted to authorize a strike, citing low pay and high turnover.

“We’re watching our carrier disintegrate,” Mike Sterling, chair of the ATI pilots’ union, tells Wired.

If negotiations between the union and ATI continue to stall, a strike could start next year. That could complicate deliveries for Amazon, which has its own track record of resisting workers’ efforts to unionize.