Facebook and Ray-Ban's previously teased smart glasses will officially launch later today, but pictures of them have leaked out ahead of the announcement. Posted by the prolific Evan "Evleaks" Blass, the images show three separate models, called Ray-Ban Stories, complete with the company's classic frames and a pair of cameras on each side and a button on the top right, possibly used to operate the cameras. 

The leaks show three of Ray-Ban's classic frame styles including Wayfarer and Round (above), along with Meteor (below). They're plastered with Ray-Ban's logo, but there's no sign of any Facebook branding except on the box. Other items shown are a case, protection bag, charging cable, reference guide and warranty. 

The look isn't a huge surprise, as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in July that "the glasses have their iconic form factor, and they let you do some pretty neat things." As it stands now, they appear to be merely camera equipped glasses, much like models from Snap — and in the meantime, Snap has moved on to augmented reality (AR) versions. However, Zuckerberg said the Ray-Ban models are part of a "journey towards full augmented reality glasses in the future." 

There's still no word on the full capabilities of the glasses, however, so there will still be some element of surprise at the upcoming launch taking place later today. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is both a prequel and a spinoff, depicting the adventures of the original USS Enterprise before James Kirk assumed command. It features the return of Anson Mount as Captain Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Spock, all reprising their roles from Discovery. The cast will be filled out by new actors playing other characters from the original series, with Celia Rose Gooding as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel and Babs Olusanmokun as Doctor M'Benga.

Unlike Discovery, however, Strange New Worlds is intended to be more episodic, with standalone installments similar to TOS and TNG. New characters joining the cast include Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh and Melissa Navia as Lieutenant Erica Ortegas. No premiere date has been given yet, but it's likely to debut after Prodigy, Discovery and Picard finish their upcoming seasons. 

You can watch the Star Trek Day event live on YouTube, while you'll need a subscription to Paramount+ to watch Strange New Worlds when it drops next year.

Netflix promised a big movie every week in 2021, and it's clearly determined to end the year with its most ostentatious movie yet. The streaming service has posted a teaser trailer for Don't Look Up, a satire where "star-studded cast" is an understatement. The movie stars Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio as a grad student and professor who try desperately to warn the public of a life-ending comet in an era where 24-hour news and social media lead to gnat-like attention spans. Those two are just the start of the headliners, though — seemingly everyone involved is a big name.

Meryl Streep is the President and counts Jonah Hill as her son, while Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry host a relentlessly optimistic morning show. The flick also features Ron Perlman, Mark Rylance, Dune's Timothée Chalamet and even two pop stars (Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi), among others. The Big Short's Adam McKay directed and wrote the title.

Don't Look Up reaches Netflix on December 24th, but it's arriving in "select" theaters on December 10th. The company is clearly hoping for more Oscars glory given that timing. Not that Netflix will need critical praise. The film-a-week strategy has revolved around enticing viewers with star power, even in "dead" months like January — any statuettes from late-2021 releases are just a bonus.

After 15 years, Twitter is getting dedicated features for groups. The company is now starting to test Communities, “a more intimate space for conversations” on the platform.

Communities, which the company first teased back in February, are sort of like Twitter’s version of a subreddit or a public-facing group on Facebook. Communities are dedicated to specific topics, and members can post tweets to a dedicated group timeline. Each community has its own moderators who set rules for the group, and users must be invited by an existing member or moderator to participate.

The feature is meant to address what’s been a long-running issue for the platform: that it can be incredibly difficult for new users to wade through the noise and find the corner of Twitter that speaks to their interests. The company has tried to address this with Topics, which injects tweets into your timeline based on your interests, but Communities takes the idea a step further.

Twitter

Twitter notes that some of its first Communities will focus on popular topics like skincare, astrology, sneakers and dogs, but that over time it expects the groups to reflect the more “niche discussions” that happen on the platform. For now, Twitter is starting with just a handful of Communities, though moderators and members are able to invite anyone to join. The company says it plans to open up the feature for more users to create Communities in the “coming months.”

Notably, Twitter seems to be trying to avoid some of the issues that have plagued Facebook’s Groups. All Communities are publicly accessible and viewable by anyone on the platform —there’s no such thing as a private or “secret” Community — though only members can participate in the discussion directly. Like Reddit and Facebook, Twitter will also rely on admins and moderators to steer the day-to-day conversations and keep members in check. The company is also working on new reporting and detection features to weed out “potentially problematic” groups that may spring up.

Though the company is calling the feature a test, Twitter seems to be quite serious about its potential. Communities is getting its own tab in the center of Twitter’s app, between explore and notifications, which suggests the company plans for Communities to be a prominent feature of its platform for the long term.

Roku is finally expanding its original content beyond a parade of Quibi shows. The company has revealed that its first original feature-length movie (outside of acquired material) is Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas, a "holiday encore" for NBC's cancelled TV show Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. It keeps the musical format and will preserve the original cast, including lead Jane Levy as well as Skylar Astin, Mary Steenburgen and Bernadette Peters.

Show creator Austin Winsberg will write and executive produce the show, while the series' pilot director Richard Shepard will return to his role for the movie. Lionsgate is leading the overall production. Like other originals, this will be free to watch on The Roku Channel (with ads) when it premieres sometime in the fall.

Roku is borrowing a familiar strategy: like Amazon and Netflix, it's extending a fan-favorite show that met a premature end on conventional TV. It's not a true original in that regard. This does signal growing confidence on Roku's part, though, and hints at where the company might take its originals going forward.

Release Radar is one of the most popular algorithmically generated playlists on Spotify, and for good reason. The mix is updated weekly with a collection of new material from the artists you listen to often. The playlist has been keeping users in the loop for five years at this point, and now the streaming service is opening it up to advertisers. 

This is actually the third playlist Spotify has offered up for ads, joining Discover Weekly and On Repeat as potential sponsorship opportunities for brands. With Release Radar, Disney+ will be the first to jump on board in the US, promoting its Billie Eilish film Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles. Spotify says free users will see ads in the form of audio, video and graphics and direct them to the playlist. Once inside, logos will appear on the playlist art along with messages from the sponsor at each ad break (audio and video). Along with music-focused advertisements, you'll likely see sponsorships from gaming, automotive, fashion and tech brands as well as phone service providers. However, Spotify explains the opportunity is open to all companies, not just those that fit in the aforementioned categories. As always, Premium users won't see, or hear, any of the sponsored content.

Release Radar has a captive audience. The playlist has been streamed over 16 billion times globally since its launch in 2016. It's a a top-three personalized playlist for Spotify users in several regions, including North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Most listeners are 18-29 year olds, and Spotify says that group accounts for over 50 percent of Release Radar streaming. 

Free users in the US should be seeing the Disney+ sponsorship on Release Radar soon, if you haven't already. If you stream on the ad-supported tier outside of the States, sponsored messages will appear for you as well: the playlist is available for brands to advertise in 31 markets around the world. 

After making its debut in Japan last year, the Pokémon franchise’s 23rd animated movie is making its way to Netflix. Outside of Japan, China and Korea, Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle will debut globally on the streaming platform on October 8th. The premiere will mark the film’s international debut.

The film is essentially Pokémon’s take on the tale of Tarzan. When Ash and Pikachu go to explore the forest of Okoya, they discover a boy named Koko. Thanks to an upbringing at the hands of a Pokémon named Dada Zarude, Koko believes he too is a Pokémon. Ash and Pikachu’s arrival in his forest home leads him to question everything he thought was true about his existence.

Ahead of the movie’s release, you can add Dada Zarude and a shiny Celebi to your Pokémon Sword and Shield roster by signing up for the Trainer’s Club newsletter by September 25th. The Pokémon Company, Niantic and Netflix also plan a special Pokémon Go event tied to the film’s release. They promised to share more information on that front soon. 

Twitter has launched its second feature test in one day, and this one could be particularly helpful if you've ever been subjected to online abuse. A newly available web test lets you remove followers without blocking them. You'll disappear from their feed without notifications that might spark harassment and threats.

The social network hasn't said if or when it might roll out follower removals. This is coming alongside a string of anti-harassment and privacy-related projects, though, including a "Safety Mode" test and an experimental option to automatically archive tweets. It might be just a matter of time before tighter follower control is available to a wider audience.

This test may be particularly useful in fighting abuse. Until now, Twitter users have typically had to either report offending accounts (and hope Twitter takes action) or block them and risk retaliation. This won't prevent creeps from following your activity if you have a public account, but it could lessen the chance of immediate outrage.

Netflix and WWE have been working together for quite a while, and their next project is a little spookier than usual. Escape the Undertaker is an interactive horror movie that's coming to Netflix on October 5th — just in time for Halloween.

The flick stars the legendary Undertaker, along with Big E, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, who comprise The New Day, one of WWE's most popular acts of the last decade. The film sees the trio visit The Undertaker's mansion, which turns out to be "an extreme haunted house, packed to the brim with supernatural challenges," according to Bloody Disgusting. You'll decide the fate of The New Day as the group tries to "survive the wrath of The Undertaker."

Other WWE-related fictional projects have landed on Netflix over the last few years, including a sitcom called The Big Show Show and The Main Event, a movie in which a kid becomes a wrestler after finding a magical mask. The latest offering will add to Netflix's growing library of interactive content, which includes the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt finale, a Carmen Sandiego special, a mindfulness experience and, more recently, video games.

WWE actually has a long history of making horror movies through its WWE Studios arm, including an ill-fated reboot of the Leprechaun series. It has had a hand in some fine horror flicks, such as Oculus and Mohawk, so Escape the Undertaker could turn out to be pretty solid. Just try to keep The New Day out of The Undertaker's boiler room.

Twitter is an increasingly visual social network, and it's accordingly giving your media some more breathing room. The company has started testing an "edge-to-edge" timeline on iOS that gives you a much larger, borderless view for photos and videos.. You won't have to tap on a picture just to make full use of your big smartphone screen, to put it another way.

The firm didn't say how soon the feature might move beyond the experimental stage, but did vow to "iterate" on the test. We've asked about the possibility of (and timing for) Android and web tests.

The test is a bid to "bring more focus to the content" as more Twitter users share media. We'd add that it could also help Twitter counter Instagram, TikTok and other imagery-driven social networks. You may have a stronger incentive to post on Twitter if you know people are more likely to see (and appreciate) your snapshots.