Category: Technology

The innovative director David Lynch, who left indelible marks on film and television, passed away in January of this year. Now, Julien’s Auctions is hosting the sale of The David Lynch Collection. More than 450 of the late director’s possessions will be auctioned off online and at the company’s auction house in Gardena, CA. For devotees of Lynch’s work and worldview, just the experience of browsing the collection is pretty fascinating.

The auction showcases plenty of items closely related to his career in film, such as a personalized director’s chair, multiple cameras, lighting kits and memorabilia from his many iconic works. Other pieces more broadly reflect his passion for creativity, like audio equipment, musical instruments, painting supplies and a whole lot of literature and vinyl records. The collection also has furniture, like the couch from his 1997 classic Lost Highway, kitchen wares and many personal items from his life. You can even bid on his LaserDisc player and disc collection.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/david-lynch-auction-offers-a-glimpse-of-his-personal-and-creative-life-223501136.html?src=rss …read more

X users can no longer send encrypted messages on the platform. The company said in an update that it’s “pausing” the feature “while we work on making some improvements.” Users will still be able to view previously-sent encrypted chats, but won’t be able to send any new ones.

Up to now, encrypted DMs have been available only on messages between verified users who are mutual or who have previously accepted DMs from each other. Screenshots of the feature from X’s help center labeled it as “early access.” (Notably, there were a number of other important caveats to X’s encryption, even when it was working, including the fact that encryption was never available for group chats, multimedia messages or metadata .)

It’s unclear when the feature will be available again or if the “pause” has anything to do with “XChat,” the company’s yet-to-be-launched chat platform. X employees have been dropping hints about XChat, which will reportedly feature encrypted direct messages, for some time. Screenshots from leakers suggest XChat could have additional security features like PIN-protected chats.

Officially, though, X hasn’t revealed much about XChat or what’s going on with the current version of encrypted DMs. X’s …read more

EA is cancelling its Black Panther game and closing the studio creating it, Cliffhanger Games, as part of a larger round of layoffs at the company, IGN reports. The third-person action-adventure game was originally announced in July 2023 as one of several Marvel projects being developed at EA studios.

IGN writes that a smaller number of people are being laid off than the previous round of cuts that impacted Titanfall developer Respawn, but EA is still eliminating roles outside of Cliffhanger, including people on the publisher’s “mobile and central teams.” EA is reportedly telling staff that the layoffs are a way to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.”

As of right now, those “opportunities” include an Iron Man game in development at EA Motive, the next Star Wars Jedi game from Respawn, and new entries in a few key franchises, like The Sims, Battlefield, Skate and Apex Legends. Beyond that, the company has EA Sports and the next Mass Effect game, though Bioware has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs since 2023, so there’s uncertainty there, …read more

Life360, a family locator app, said today that it has fully integrated the object-tracking features of Tile into its own platform. The Life360 app can now set up and manage Tile trackers, deliver notifications when an item gets left behind and provide real-time location updates for the trackers in addition to its usual features for managing family members’ safety.

Life360 announced its acquisition of Tile for $205 million way back in 2021. At the time of the purchase, Life360 said Tile would continue to operate independently, but it has still been a long time coming for the two businesses to fully integrate with each other’s offerings. In that time, Tile has faced challenges from competitors that have more resources at their back, such as Apple and AirTags. It was also subject to a cyberattack last year where hackers obtained customers’ names, addresses, email addresses and other personal information.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/years-after-acquiring-tile-life360-has-integrated-the-trackers-into-its-app-205111206.html?src=rss …read more

Their creators might be gone, but OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome are finally back on Steam, based on listings spotted by Eurogamer. Both games were delisted from storefronts like Steam and the Xbox Games Store following publisher Take-Two’s decision to shutdown developer Roll7, Intercept Games and publishing label Private Division a little over a year ago.

OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome represent diverging, but equally great examples of what made Roll7 special. They’re thoughtful, visually stylish games about skateboarding and rollerblading that capture the zen-like state you can enter pulling off multiple tricks in a row (plus or minus a mascot costume and a shotgun).

Eurogamer notes that Take-Two always planned to put both games back on sale when it originally delisted them, it just took a lot longer to bring them back than expected. 2K, another Take-Two subsidiary, is now serving as the publisher. 

When the company closed Private Division, not every game stayed at Take-Two. The publisher continues to back games like No Rest for the Wicked from the developer of Ori and the Blind Forest, but a collection of other in-development projects …read more

Another great streaming deal has hit the internet: one year of Peacock Premium is only $25 right now. Just use the code SPRINGSAVINGS at checkout to get $55 off the standard annual price of the Premium plan. Just note that this tier does include ads, and the deal runs through May 30.

Peacock is a decent platform and made our list of the best streaming services. It doesn’t get the attention of Netflix or Disney+, but it’s home to several nifty original shows. There’s the AI-adjacent tomfoolery of Mrs. Davis and the Rian Johnson-made whodunnit Poker Face. It also airs several video game adaptations, like Knuckles and the surprisingly-decent Twisted Metal.

The big draw here, however, is likely the long-awaited spinoff of The Office, which is called The Paper. That one premieres in September and is a Peacock exclusive. The platform also signed an 11-year agreement with the NBA and that goes into effect this fall. The mobile app could be getting minigames and short-form vertical videos (like TikTok) in the near future.

…read more