Microsoft kicked off its Build 2023 developer conference overnight and as expected, they're spraying AI all over the place. Windows 11 joins Edge, Office and Github in having Copilot shoved into the taskbar and available across all apps. It can summarise content you're viewing, rewrite it and explain it. It can also be asked to change settings and will support all the same 3rd party plugins used for Bing's Chat AI system. Windows Copilot enters testing in June. Meanwhile at Build, they announced Windows 11 will get native support for RAR, TAR, 7Z and GZ archives, support for RGB lighting controls (they're calling it Dynamic Lighting), slapping GitHub's Copilot Chat AI into Windows Terminal and something called a Dev Drive storage volume that uses ReFS to "improve performance for key developer workloads".
For years, Netflix has been relatively relaxed about enforcing its account sharing policy. They didn't mind if you handed out your password to a couple of mates or family members, but as the potential market for new customers dries up and after some tests overseas, Netflix decided to start enforcing the account sharing policy it worldwide. According to a blog post, accounts "will need to be logged in to at the primary location every 31 days, otherwise, access outside of the primary location would be restricted". They've also introduced a new "extra member" feature that'll let you slap someone else on to your Netflix account for US$7.99/m. I hope Netflix have run the numbers hard on the churn rate.
The USA's Surgeon General straight up said today that "the current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents" and that "we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents". The aim of the Surgeon General's statement is to attract more attention to the issue and to let people know that hey, there's something here that's potentially fucked and we are looking into it, so keep it in moderation until we know more. The full advisory document is available from the US Public Health Service. Some common sense advice in there, even if you're not a parent.
IMAX Melbourne, my favourite cinema in the entire world, is gearing up for Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer by hosting a film festival of the great man's work. Unlike every other cinema in the southern hemisphere, IMAX Melbourne has a 1570 film projector and will be utilising it to show Intersterllar, Dunkirk, Inception and Tenet in all their large format glory. Even if you've watched all these movies before, seeing them in 70mm film is a whole different experience. The screen is big, sure, but the real joy comes from seeing the movie in its full aspect ratio, as Mr. Nolan himself intended. As far as I'm concerned, if you've never seen a full-length 1570 film, you haven't lived.
This diagram of all the formats Dunkirk was projected in does a good job explaining why IMAX Melbourne's projector is so special. You can tap/click it to make these images bigger by the way. (IMAX Melbourne)
📻 Who's My Eugene? - Tropical Fuck Storm
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