Amazon is offering another solid batch of games to Prime Gaming members at no extra cost next month. Remedy's excellent Control:Ultimate Edition (which includes both DLC chapters), Rise of the Tomb Raider and Dragon Age Inquisition are the big-name titles you'll be able to claim starting November 1st. The lineup also includes Rogue Heroes, Liberated, Puzzle Agent 2, Demon Hunter 2: New Chapter, BAFL - Brakes Are For Losers and Secret Files: Sam Peters.

Meanwhile, Prime Gaming has forged a new year-long partnership with Riot to give League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, Valorant and League of Legends: Wild Rift players some goodies. Over the next 12 months, you can snag esports emotes and Riot Points for League of Legends, weapon skins in Valorant and much more. Prime Gaming will sponsor Riot esports events too, while members can expect some surprises to mark next week's release of League of Legends animated series Arcane on Netflix.

Along with freebies for those games, Prime subscribers can claim swag for Apex Legends (including a character and weapon skin for the latest legend, Ash), Rainbow Six Siege, Amazon's own game New World and other titles in November. You can pick up consumables and in-game currency for Genshin Impact too.

Members still have a few more days to claim the current Prime Gaming perks. Those include Star Wars: Squadrons, Alien: Isolation and the terrific Ghostrunner.

Twitter has rolled out Labs for its Blue subscription service, which will give its paid users early access to select experimental features. At the moment, one of the first two Labs experiments available to subscribers will give them the capability to upload videos up to 10 minutes long, which is much, much longer than its standard limit of 2 minutes and 20 seconds. That is, so long as they upload their video from a PC. The other experimental feature will allow them to pin their favorite conversations at the top of their inbox by swiping on those particular DM convos. 

Labs will accept experimental features from various internal Twitter teams, allowing them to get early data from users. Just like any other test feature, the Labs experiments could be vastly different by the time they're ready for general release, if Twitter does decide to roll them out. 

A Blue subscription will set users back $3 a month and will give them access to exclusive features, including folders for organizing bookmarks and a "reader mode." It also gives users a way to "undo" their tweets. At the moment, it's only available in Canada and Australia, and it's still unclear when it will roll out in the US and other countries.

This post contains moderate spoilers for the first episode and slight spoilers for episode two of ‘Star Trek: Prodigy.’

How do you make a series that can draw in newcomers while still appealing to long-time fans? In the case of Star Trek: Prodigy, you set it in a place where the United Federation of Planets has little to no presence — the Delta Quadrant — and make your cast a bunch of misfit kids who have never heard of the Federation or Starfleet. That puts them on the same level as the children this show hopes to draw in, while offering up just enough tidbits to intrigue their Trekkie parents.

The pilot, ‘Lost and Found,’ is a feature-length episode that debuted today on Paramount+ (that means it’s technically two parts). It was originally planned to air on Nickelodeon first, but it was changed to a streaming-exclusive for 2021 with the cable channel airing it later at a still-unknown date. The animated show fills in the content gap between the end of Lower Decks earlier this month and the premiere of Discoveryseason four in November — which in turn, should carry fans through to the start of season two of Picardin February. The idea is to keep Star Trek fans from dropping their subscriptions to Paramount+ during the downtime, something that was fairly common during Discovery’s first three seasons.

Nickelodeon

That assumes, however, that Prodigy has something to offer those adult fans. And that’s where the deeper ties to Trek lore come in. Though Voyager spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant, the ship’s mission to get back to Federation space meant it couldn’t stick around in any one place too long, or return to previous locales. There’s a ton left to explore — as well as plenty of room for Prodigy’s creators, Dan and Kevin Hageman, to populate their own corner of the universe.

First, they have to introduce their main characters, and that’s what ‘Lost and Found’ is largely dedicated to doing. Our cast of misfits, led by Dal (voiced by Brett Gray), lives on a mining colony populated by prisoners and orphans. It’s the last place anyone would want to be, especially a Star Trek character, which is why the main drive is to just get off this bleak rock. But right away the series makes its point about being far from Federation space and technology, as the inhabitants can’t even talk to each other due to a lack of universal translators. That system has been how, for over 55 years, Star Trek has managed to populate its cast with aliens who all speak English. It’s the future! Different languages aren’t a problem!

Except here, they are. It keeps the characters from even knowing each other’s names, which makes the discovery of the USS Protostar and its built-in translator the perfect opportunity for everyone to re-introduce themselves to each other and thus, to the audience. And, when Dal and Rocktok discover a lost Starfleet ship buried under the surface of the planet, the ship itself may fill them with awe, but it’s the translator that truly elicits the most enthusiastic reaction: Rocktok calls it “magic.” It’s a rather fitting introduction to a franchise with a goal to “seek out new life and new civilizations,” in how it puts the connection between these disparate aliens up front.

When I saw the pilot at New York Comic Con a few weeks ago, I compared it to shows like Clone Wars and Rebels. The Star Wars influence that J.J. Abrams brought to the Star Trek franchise is still present in Prodigy, notably in its action sequences and score, the latter composed by frequent Michael Giacchino collaborator Nami Melumad. Giacchino is best known for his work on various Pixar and Star Trek films, and he also supplies the main theme for Prodigy. You can hear his influence on Melumad’s score, which does a great job of blending a quirky style with the signature Trek leitmotifs.

The final action sequence feels like pure Star Wars, as the USS Protostar makes its way off the planet and Dal is trapped on its hull, battling the villainous Drednok. The bad guy’s insect-like cyborg body reminds me of General Grievous — if the general could turn into a giant gun, that is. It’s the kind of thing that works best in CG and, like Lower Decks before it, Prodigy seems more than willing to embrace the extra freedom offered by animation as a medium. We’re long past the clunky microfiche displays and cosplaying dogs of the original series.

That freedom is probably best illustrated in the character of hologram Captain Janeway, voiced by Kate Mulgrew (of course). It’s been over 20 years since Voyager last graced the small screen, and Mulgrew has kept busy on shows like Warehouse 13 and Orange is the New Black. But in the Star Trek universe, it’s only been six years (though an exact date is never given on-screen in Prodigy). Animation means they can easily erase the decades from Janeway without resorting to the creepy live-action simulacrums seen in Rogue One of Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia.

Hologram Janeway makes her debut at the end of today’s pilot episode, but she’ll make a much fuller appearance in next week’s ‘Starstruck.’ That’s where the new “cadets” get to explore the ship and learn more about the distant “Federation.” While there’s still plenty of banter and conflict between the characters, the real star of the second episode is the ship itself — what it looks like, and what it’s capable of. While there is a plot — which I won’t divulge details of — it serves as a showcase for all the different features of this new prototype ship. You can almost imagine Janeway as a car salesman, slapping the hood of the Protostar and saying “this baby’s warp core can travel to so many planets.”

Star Trek has always been a humanist franchise, devoted to exploring social themes and dilemmas. It also has a tendency to take its technology and the “post-scarcity utopia” for granted. Prodigy goes against the grain by showing from the start how technology can change lives.

Spotify isn't the only service PlayStation 5 owners can stream music from while they're playing Deathloop, Returnal or other games. Starting today, you can fire up tracks from Apple Music as well.

The PS5 is the first console with Apple Music integration. Subscribers can access the service's library of more than 90 million songs, playlists, Apple Music Radio and 4K music videos on a PS5. You can control playback while playing games by hitting the PS button on the controller and going to the music tab. You'll also see music recommendations for the game you're playing.

The Apple Music app (which you can download via the Media section) will let you view music videos too. If you're watching a video and leave the app to switch to a game or another screen, the music will keep playing. 

It's the second Apple app to hit the console after Apple TV landed on PS4 and PS5 last year. This summer, Sony and Apple offered PS5 owners six months of free access to Apple TV+.

Spotify has been a part of the PlayStation ecosystem since it arrived on PS4 in 2015. Six years later, it's neat to see players getting another option for streaming music. It'll be a nice perk for Apple Music subscribers who've managed to score a PS5.

LinkedIn is introducing dedicated remote, hybrid and on-site search filters to help users on their next job hunt. You’ll see the labels when using the social network’s job search and Open to Work features. In the latter case, taking advantage of the filters will privately inform recruiters of the type of work you’re looking for, which the company says should help the right job find you. At the same time, LinkedIn is adding similar filters for company pages, allowing them to indicate things like their vaccine policies and return-to-office plans.

In testing the filters, LinkedIn says it saw more than 70 percent of searches involve people looking for remote-only roles. It’s a testament to how uncertain the pandemic has made every return-to-office plan. Even companies Amazon, Google and Facebook have struggled to find ones that stick. And so it’s no surprise most LinkedIn users are looking for opportunities where they can continue working from home.

Most of the Harry-and-Meghan hate you see on Twitter comes from a relatively small number of accounts, according to Bot Sentinel. The Twitter analytics service has published a report examining activity on the website related to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and found that around 70 percent of the hateful and negative comments about the couple originated from 83 accounts. That signifies targeted harassment against the Sussexes, mostly against Meghan Markle.

Bot Sentinel CEO Christopher Bouzy told BuzzFeed News that the anti-Meghan campaign on the website isn't like anything his team has ever seen before. Why? Because there's no motive. It's not like the #StopTheSteal movement that aims to overturn the results of the 2020 US Presidential Elections. "Are these people who hate her? Is it racism? Are they trying to hurt [Harry and Meghan's] credibility? Your guess is as good as ours," he said.

And by "people," he means actual people. The accounts aren't bots, but actual users who know how to manipulate the platform's algorithms. They avoid detection and avoid being banned for violating Twitter's Terms of Service, for instance, by pairing negative comments about Harry and Meghan with positive ones about William and Kate. "This level of complexity comes from people who know how to do this stuff, who are paid to do this stuff," Bouzy said.

Bot Sentinel sampled 114,000 tweets with hashtags and keywords related to the Sussexes, such as #HarryandMeghan and #MeghanMarkle. In the end, it identified a total of 55 accounts to be the ones primarily responsible for negative content against the Sussexes, while the rest (28 accounts) were mostly used to amplify the content they produced. Bouzy called the content they generate "organic hate," which can fly under the radar and evade detection by automated systems.

According to BuzzFeed News, Twitter has already suspended four of the accounts named in the report, while six more set their profiles to private. 

It didn't take long to greenlight a follow-up to Denis Villeneuve's Dune. Legendary Pictures has confirmed plans to release Dune: Part Two, saying it was "excited to the continue the journey." The studio expects the movie to premiere October 20th, 2023, and it's safe to presume Part Two will cover the back half of Frank Herbert's classic novel.

The move isn't shocking. Villeneuve clearly wanted to finish telling Paul Atreides' story, but the movie also fared better than expected. Deadlinenoted that Dune racked up $41 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend. That's not as strong as movies like Shang-Chi ($71.4 million) and a far cry from pre-pandemic openings, but it's the best opening for a Warner Bros. movie with simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max releases this year.

It's not yet clear how much the HBO Max launch helped (or hindered) Dune's theatrical premiere. However, Villeneuve won't have to worry about a simultaneous streaming release for Part Two. Warner Bros. is returning to theater-first openings starting in 2022. Like it or not, you'll have to brave the crowds and buy tickets if you insist on watching the follow-up as soon as possible.

No one in their right mind would actually want to live in the world of A Quiet Place, where denizens walk around barefoot and move as silently as possible to avoid incurring the wrath of highly noise-sensitive aliens. But, if you'd like to find out how well you might cope in that universe, you can test your nerves in the franchise's first video game, which is scheduled to arrive next year.

Publisher Saber Interactive has announced that a single-player, story-driven horror adventure is in development by iLLOGIKA and EP1T0ME. The iLLOGIKA team includes developers who have worked on the Rainbow Six and Far Cry franchises, and the studio helped with the development of games including Hyper Scape and Cuphead.

There aren't many other details about A Quiet Place just yet, such as the platforms on which it will be available. However, it will have an original story and "gameplay that captures the compelling suspense, emotion and drama for which the series is famous," according to a press release. Saber plans to reveal more information about the game by the end of the year.

Amazon is said to be working on a live audio app that sounds like it will let anyone be the DJ of their own radio show — including music. Project Mic, as the app is currently known, will reportedly focus on the US market at first, though the launch timeline is not clear.

Creators will be able to play songs from the vast Amazon Music library, according to The Verge. Along with music, it seems programming will include pop culture, sports and comedy. Amazon is said to be looking at bringing in celebrities and influencers to host shows. You’ll be able to search for shows by name, topic or music, and it appears Amazon will highlight live content, including trending topics and certain creators.

The presentation showed that in addition to the app, creators will be able to broadcast shows on Amazon Music, Twitch, Audible and Alexa-enabled devices. With the latter, listeners will reportedly get to interact with the shows, even from their car.

The report doesn’t mention whether listeners will need to be Amazon Music subscribers, but given the breadth of platforms on which the shows will be available, that seems unlikely. Engadget has contacted Amazon for more details.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard about Amazon working on such an app. Axiosreported on its existence this summer, but this latest report provides more details about what Project Mic entails.

Twitter, Facebook, Spotify and Discord have all joined the live audio space over the last year after Clubhouse exploded in popularity. Those apps tend to focus on live conversations, though, rather than songs. 

Spotify does have a morning show called The Get Up that blends chat and personalized music, and it seems the most likely contender to offer a similar feature to what Amazon has in mind. Elsewhere, Clubhouse recently started offering musicians a high-quality audio option for better livestreamed concerts.

Amid reports that Facebook has misled shareholders about significant declines in teens and younger users, Mark Zuckerberg said the company was “retooling” in order to make “serving young adults” its top priority. To do that, the company plans to make “significant changes” to its Facebook and Instagram apps, and spend billions of dollars building out its vision for a “metaverse.”

Citing increased competition from TikTok and iMessage, Zuckerberg said the company would do more to win over “young adult” users, even if it came at the expense of older users. He said the company’s TikTok rival Reels would be “as important for our products as Stories.” “We also expect to make significant changes to Instagram and Facebook in the next year to further lean into video and make Reels a more central part of the experience,” Zuckerberg said.

On top of that, he said the company was “retooling” internally in order to make young people its “North Star.” He added the shift “will take years, not months.” The issue of younger users has been particularly fraught for the company. A whistleblower’s disclosures about Facebook’s internal research on teen mental health prompted a series of Congressional hearings about child safety, and a wave of headlines about how the photo sharing app may be harmful to some of its most vulnerable users. At the same time, other internal documents have indicated Facebook and Instagram have faced significant declines in engagement among teens and young adults for years.

Zuckerberg said another major priority for the company would be building its vision for a “metaverse.” He didn’t comment on reports that the company would change its name to reflect its new focus on augmented reality and virtual reality, but made clear the company has significant ambitions in the space. “Our goal is to help the metaverse reach a billion people,” he said. He added that a metaverse could enable “hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce.”

The company also said Monday that going forward it will report two sets of financials: one for its “family” of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp; and one for its Reality Labs division that oversees its augmented and virtual reality work. In a statement, Facebook said its 2021 profit will be reduced by $10 billion due to its investment in Reality Labs, and that the company would only increase its AR and VR spending in the next “several years.”

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