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Amazon is reportedly planning to introduce an ad-supported tier to its Prime Video platform. The Wall Street Journal reports that discussions are in the early stages and have been going on for the past several weeks.

The report goes on to say that advertisers are eager for Amazon to jump on board, as other players such as Netflix, have recently added an ad-supported option to their lineup. Services such as Hulu, Max and Peacock have had ad-supported options since the beginning. WSJ says that ad buyers "want more access to premium movies and programs that have remained largely ad free, content that often garners more buzz."

Amazon has already made moves in the past to bring more ad-supported programming to the platform. Some of its shows have product-placement based ads and its sports programming comes with advertising. Amazon is also reportedly in talks with Warner Bros, Discovery and Paramount to include ad-supported subscriptions through Prime Video Channels. Users can currently use Amazon’s Channel feature to subscribe to a whole host of streaming services, which include ad-free versions of Paramount+ and Max.

Amazon Prime Video is currently $8.99 per month on its own or as part of an Amazon Prime membership. In comparison, Netflix’s Standard plan runs you $9.99 per month, which unlocks HD video, two screens at a time and offline downloading. The company’s ad-supported tier is $6.99 per month and strips away offline downloading. It’s unclear when Amazon plans on introducing this ad-supported plan or what pricing may look like, but it should help lower the cost for those looking to subscribe to Amazon Prime Video and don’t mind ads.

Paradox Interactive announced today that it will refund all physical pre-orders for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. The long-delayed sequel to the 2004 cult classic was last available for pre-sales in early 2021. That was when Paradox announced it was parting ways with developer Hardsuit Labs and pushing back the title’s release date indefinitely. However, there may be a glimmer of hope for holdouts as the publisher teased more news coming in September about the vampire game.

Paradox says it’s refunding the pre-orders because the previous physical edition included bonus-content items “no longer representative of the game.” Physical variants include the Collector’s Edition created and sold by DPA Merchandising GmbH and boxed versions of the First Blood, Unsanctioned and Blood Moon editions. Additionally, Paradox will grant digital pre-order refunds for anyone who requests one. Refund instructions vary depending on where you ordered it, but you can check Paradox’s FAQ for storefront-specific guidance.

Paradox Interactive

“As development continues, we will be updating the game’s editions and bonus content, and we want to provide the best value to those of you who supported us via digital pre-order after all this time,” Paradox wrote today. “We’re excited to show you more and hope to have all of you with us in September when we reveal more.”

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was initially slated for 2020 before being pushed back to 2021 and then shelved indefinitely after Paradox fired the game’s creative director and lead writer. The publisher hasn’t yet announced the title’s new developer, although it says it will tell us that in September as well. As for an updated release date, Paradox stops short of explicitly promising one in its September announcements, but it assures gamers it will “share more information about the launch” at that time.

Last month, Hyundai agreed to pay $200 million to settle a class action lawsuit in the wake of a viral TikTok car theft challenge. The deal promised to pay out about $145 million to US Hyundai and Kia owners who had their cars stolen or damaged by a theft attempt — but the settlement didn't put the matter to rest. New York City has announced that it's now suing the automaker for negligence and being a public nuisance.

Specifically, the city accuses the automaker of choosing to "sacrifice public safety for profits" by eschewing common anti-theft technology from certain US model Kia and Hyundai vehicles. New York City alleges this was a market specific choice, noting that Hyundai and Kia vehicles sold in European and Canadian markets do, in fact, have vehicle immobilizers installed "because regulations there expressly require them."

This led to a rise in thefts after the "Kia Challenge" went viral on TikTok earlier this year — with videos demonstrating how certain Hyundai vehicles can be quickly hot-wired using a simple USB cord.

The result, the city says, was unprecedented, with a 660% increase in Hyundai and Kia vehicle thefts in the first four months of 2023 when compared to the previous year. New York City says this has resulted in not only more reports of theft, but other safety issues, including reckless driving, and violent altercations between thieves and vehicle owners, all of which it claims has made New York City less safe and caused undue burden on police resources. New York City is requesting a trial by jury and is seeking punitive and compensatory damages.

Apple announced its newest laptop, the 15-inch MacBook Air, this Monday during the brand's annual Worldwide Developers Conference — and there's already at least one retailer offering a nearly $50 discount on pre-orders. Apple set the retail price at $1,299, but right now Amazon is listing it for $1,249.99. You won't see big red discount numbers or really any indication that its on sale, other than the fact that it's cheaper than at any other retailer. The discount applies to the 256GB storage configuration in either Silver or Midnight. The larger, 512GB versions are also $49 off, but only in the Starlight or Space Gray colorways. 

Amazon has a history of promoting discounts that are small but notable (hey, $50 is $50) on new and desirable products, in the hopes that you buy your new device from its site over the competition. Apple's announcement came after many months of speculation that the company would put out a laptop with a screen large enough for serious productivity, without making people spring for the extra cost (and potentially superfluous processing power) of the Pro model laptops. 

Our deputy editor Cherlynn Low was on the ground at WWDC and had a chance to put her hands on the newest MacBook. She was impressed by how light and thin it is at just 3.3 pounds and measuring under a half-inch thick. She reported that the Liquid Retina display was rich, vibrant and sharp. A demonstration of its processing power seemed speedy enough — that's not surprising as it has the same M2 chip as the 13-inch MacBook Air, which performs remarkably well. But we'll need to get a unit in for testing before we can properly evaluate it. 

In the meantime, here's what the new 15-inch MacBook Air offers: A 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display, a 1080p camera and a promised 18-hour battery life. The M2 chip in the base model has an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, instead of the optional 8-core GPU you can get with the 13-inch version. It has the same 8GB of RAM as the smaller model (which is configurable to 24GB) and the same storage options, either 256GB or 512GB (both configurable up to 2TB of SSD). The MBA 15 sadly didn't add any additional ports — you'll still just two Thunderbolt 4 ports with MagSafe plug for power and a 3.5mm headphone jack. 

When you pre-order now, your new MacBook Air should ship out next week. 

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Developer Tribute Games and publisher Dotemu just announced some robust DLC coming later this year for the well-reviewed beat 'em upTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The Dimension Shellshock DLC features a new game mode, new color swaps for playable characters and brand new playable characters like iconic comic book samurai Miyamoto Usagi from Usagi Yojimbo.

For the newbies, Miyamoto Usagi is a samurai rabbit, though he’s often been affiliated with the ninja turtles throughout various comic runs and in several animated series. Technically, Usagi Yojimbo is set during the Edo period in Japan, but that hasn’t stopped him from showing up in modern day NYC to do battle with Shredder’s minions. To that end, the DLC will include a number of time portals that bring the ronin bunny to the present day and bring the turtles back to 17th century Japan.

The trailer clearly advertises the presence of new characters, plural, but only Usagi is mentioned by name. Other than that, the DLC features a brand-new game mode that locks players in survival rooms to do battle with waves of enemies. There’s also new color palettes for the turtles, adding a bit of old-school flair to your favorite adolescent tortoises.

The Dimension Shellshock DLC releases later this year for most major platforms, including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC via Steam and Xbox One. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet. In related news, Shredder’s Revengerecently launched for iOS and Netflix.

A documentary about Hideo Kojima, one of the most lauded video game designers on the planet, is on the way. A trailer offers a first peek at what's in store for those who plan to check out Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds.

Kojima wrote on Twitter that the film will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Death Stranding, as well as "shots from the early days of our independent studio, memories from my childhood and my creative journey." The trailer encapsulates all of that while suggesting the film is a celebration of Kojima and his work. Friends, collaborators and fans including Geoff Keighley, Guillermo del Toro, Norman Reedus and George Miller are shown talking up Kojima and his credentials.

Whether Kojima truly is "the first auteur of video games" is up for debate, especially if you're of the mind that the auteur theory can't apply to the highly collaborative process of game development. Still, there's no denying that Kojima is a vanguard in his industry. He's a fascinating guy who is behind some of the most memorable and inventive games of the last few decades, which makes him good fodder for a documentary.

PlayStation Studios and Kojima Productions helped to produce Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds, for which there's no release date as yet. The film will premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 17th and Kojima will be in attendance for a Q&A. In the meantime, we may learn more about Death Stranding 2 during Summer Game Fest.

Researchers have developed a promising synthetic heart valve that may eventually be used for growing children. Harvard’s Wass Institute and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) created what they call FibraValve. This implant can be manufactured in minutes using a spun-fiber method that lets them shape the valve’s delicate flaps on a microscopic level — ready to be colonized by the patient’s living cells, developing with them as they mature.

FibraValve is a follow-up to JetValve, the team’s 2017 artificial heart valve that employed many of the same principles. The updated version uses “focused rotary jet spinning,” which adds streams of focused air to more quickly and accurately collect synthetic fibers on a spinning mandrel — making it easier to fine-tune the valve’s shape. As a result, the polymer’s micro- and nano-fibers can more precisely replicate the tissue structure of an organic heart valve. The manufacturing process takes less than 10 minutes; alternative methods can require hours.

Wyss Institute at Harvard University

The technique also uses “a new, custom polymer material” called PLCL (a combination of polycaprolactone and polylactic acid) that can last inside a patient’s body for about six months — enough time (in theory) for the patient’s cells to infiltrate the structure and take over. Although it’s only been successfully tested in sheep so far, the long-term vision is for the resulting organic tissue to develop with human children as they mature, potentially voiding the need for risky replacement surgeries as their bodies grow. “Our goal is for the patient’s native cells to use the device as a blueprint to regenerate their own living valve tissue,” said corresponding author Kevin “Kit” Parker.

In the researchers’ test on a living sheep, the FibraValve “started to function immediately, its leaflets opening and closing to let blood flow through with every heartbeat.” Additionally, they observed red and white blood cells and fibrin protein collecting on the valve’s scaffolding within the first hour. The scientists say the synthetic valve showed no signs of damage or other problems. “This approach to heart valve replacement might open the door towards customized medical implants that regenerate and grow with the patient, making children’s lives better,” said co-author Michael Peters.

The research is still preliminary, and the team plans to conduct longer-term animal testing over weeks and months for further evaluation. However, they believe their breakthrough could eventually find other uses, including creating different valves, cardiac patches and blood vessels. You can read the entire paper on Matter.

Disney+ has set a premiere date of August 23rd for the highly-anticipated Star Wars: Ahsoka series. The show takes place in the same timeline of The Mandalorian, but stars a character that, sort of, goes all the way back to the prequels. Former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano first appeared in the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon and her animated adventures continued on with Star Wars: Rebels before finally appearing as live action in season two of The Mandalorian and the first season of The Book of Boba Fett.

Ahsoka is played by Rosario Dawson and it seems the show will be a pseudo-sequel to Rebels, with many characters from that show appearing in live action for the first time. Natasha Liu Bordizzo stars as Sabine Wren, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Hera Syndulla and Eman Esfandi appears as Ezra Bridger. Also, notorious franchise villain Grand Admiral Thrawn will make his live action debut, still portrayed by Lars Mikkelsen.

The remaining cast includes David Tennant, Diana Lee Inosanto and the recently-deceased Ray Stevenson. There are also plenty of rumors that Hayden Christensen will return as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. For the uninitiated, Ahsoka Tano was Skywalker’s pupil before he started executing Jedi Padawans and blowing up entire planets.

Disney+ has dropped a new trailer for the show that will air on TV tonight during the NBA Finals Game 3. Most of the footage here was already available in the previous trailer, but there are a few new shots here and there. The entire show is being written by franchise co-steward Dave Filoni, who originally created the character for Clone Wars.

The East Coast is receiving an unwelcome taste (and scent) of the climate crisis to come as smoke from massive Canadian wildfires billow out towards the Atlantic ocean. Eerily reminiscent of what the West Coast endured in 2020, the skies above New York City this week have turned a hazy orange, setting AQI scores jumping across the five boroughs. New York on Wednesday ranked as having the second worst air quality on Earth behind Delhi.

That haze is a health hazard, especially to anyone dealing with respiratory disease, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, is elderly or an infant. It’s not so great even if your lungs work just fine. Luckily, and I mean that in the most relative sense of the word, we’re coming off the peak of a global pandemic spread through aerosolized exhalations, so New York is already well versed in the practice of masking while in public. That’s good, you’re going to need those skills – and any N95s you've still got tucked away – if you set foot outside for the next few days. Goggles too if you have them, fine particulate matter is murder on sensitive eyes.

Unless you reside in a hermetically sealed bro-sized terrarium, the hazy air from outside will eventually make it inside, where the particulate matter can concentrate further. And unless you feel like wearing your N95 non-stop until the firestorm has passed, you’re going to need a way to filter the air in your apartment. 

Sure, you could blow a couple hundred bucks on whatever fancy-pants model Wirecutter is recommending or you could get together some duct tape, a box fan and some good old American Ingenuity™ to build one of your own.

You’ll need three things for this project:

• One box fan: Doesn’t matter how big, doesn’t matter how old, doesn’t matter how cheap, just make sure that the side lengths of the fan equal the lengths of the filters, so if you have a 20” box fan, get 20” filters as well. That way everything fits together evenly and you won’t have weird gaps between the panels.

• Four AC air filters rated either MERV 13-16 or MPR 1200-2800. These are standardized measures of filter efficiency and indicate that the products can effectively strain 2.5um smoke particles from the ambient air. They’ll even bacteria and viruses if you spring for the higher grade materials.

• Tape: The duct variety is always a winner, blue painters tape will also do well.

To construct it, place each filter on its end at a right angle to its neighbor so that all four form a square with the arrow indicators on each filter facing inward. Tape all of them together in this shape, making sure to not cover the actual filter bits with tape. Place the fan on top so that it blows air down into the square you just made and secure it with tape. Plug it in and you’re good to go. Fun fact: This also works wonders for covering the smell of intentionally-generated smoke in dorm rooms, not that I would have experience in such shenanigans.

The east coast is receiving an unwelcome taste (and scent) of the climate crisis to come as smoke from massive Canadian wildfires billow out towards the Atlantic Ocean. Eerily reminiscent of what the West Coast endured in 2020, the skies above New York City this week have turned a hazy orange, setting AQI scores jumping across the five boroughs. New York on Wednesday ranked as having the second worst air quality on Earth behind Delhi.

That haze is a health hazard, especially to anyone dealing with respiratory disease, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, is elderly or an infant. It’s not so great even if your lungs work just fine. Luckily, and I mean that in the most relative sense of the word, we’re coming off the peak of a global pandemic spread through aerosolized exhalations, so New York is already well versed in the practice of masking while in public. That’s good, you’re going to need those skills – and any N95s you've still got tucked away – if you set foot outside for the next few days. Goggles too if you have them; fine particulate matter is murder on sensitive eyes.

Unless you reside in a hermetically sealed bro-sized terrarium, the hazy air from outside will eventually make it inside, where the particulate matter can concentrate further. And unless you feel like wearing your N95 non-stop until the firestorm has passed, you’re going to need a way to filter the air in your apartment. 

Sure, you could blow a couple hundred bucks on some model — or you could get together some duct tape, a box fan and some good old American Ingenuity™ to build one of your own.

You’ll need three things for this project:

• One box fan: Doesn’t matter how big, doesn’t matter how old, doesn’t matter how cheap, just make sure that the side lengths of the fan equal the lengths of the filters, so if you have a 20-inch box fan, get 20-inch filters as well. That way everything fits together evenly and you won’t have weird gaps between the panels.

• Four AC air filters rated either MERV 13-16 or MPR 1200-2800. These are standardized measures of filter efficiency and indicate that the products can effectively strain 2.5um smoke particles from the ambient air. They’ll even bacteria and viruses if you spring for the higher grade materials.

• Tape: The duct variety is always a winner, blue painters tape will also do well.

To construct it, place each filter on its end at a right angle to its neighbor so that all four form a square with the arrow indicators on each filter facing inward. Tape all of them together in this shape, making sure to not cover the actual filter bits with tape. Place the fan on top so that it blows air down into the square you just made and secure it with tape. Plug it in and you’re good to go. Fun fact: This also works wonders for covering the smell of intentionally-generated smoke in dorm rooms, not that I would have experience in such shenanigans.