Silent Hill and Metal Gear publisher Konami is teaming up with The Medium creator Bloober in a "strategic partnership," the companies have announced. They'll be "jointly developing selected content and exchanging know-how" on both new and existing game properties. "We look forward to combining Bloober Team’s and our respective characteristics and strengths to create high-quality content," said Konami President Hideki Hayakawa in a statement.

The news should perk up the ears of Silent Hill fans hoping for a new chapter. Bloober's The Medium is also a horror-style game (even using a score from Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka) with players flipping between real and afterlife versions of the world. 

On top of that, Bloober CEO dropped a hint earlier this year that it was working on something interesting. "In fact, we've been working for more than a year on another gaming project, another horror IP, and we're doing this with a very famous gaming publisher," he told Gamesindustry.biz in February. "I can't tell you who. I can't tell you what the project is, but I'm pretty sure when people realize we're working on it, they will be very excited."

Nothing about any Silent Hill IP has been confirmed, though, and it'd be understandable if fans remain skeptical. A Silent Hills sequel with Hideo Kojima, Guillermo del Toro and Norman Reedus was canceled back in 2015 — despite the appearance of an impressive playable teaser. 

Still, the Konami and Bloober partnership is a promising development. The Medium generally met with good reviews, though our own Jessica Condit found it a bit "medium," as it were. Bloober's "dual reality" switching was also well done, so if the two companies combine their horror chops and technology, it could result in some compelling IP. 

Earlier today, an unfortunate bug led some people to believe Twitter had removed the toggle to switch between an algorithmic and chronological feed while using its web client. Throughout the day, people took to the service to tweet their frustration when they found out the star icon, which allows you to switch between the two feeds, was missing from their interface. 

The bug appears to have only affected some people, but that didn’t stop some outlets from reporting, based on an old support document, Twitter was removing the latest tweets view from its website altogether. Twitter’s Kayvon Beykpour and official support account later addressed the situation, noting it was a software issue the company has since fixed.

The fact so many were upset by this episode speaks to just how much people want to see tweets in the order they were sent out. Many depend on the platform’s chronological timeline to follow breaking events. That’s something Twitter eventually came to realize in 2018 when it started testing a way for people to switch between the two feeds.

Facebook has revealed its long-rumored standalone newsletter platform: Bulletin. Mark Zuckerberg announced the new project during a live audio room, saying that the project was a “response to what’s happening in the media ecosystem.”

Interestingly, unlike previous journalism initiatives from Facebook, Bulletin primarily lives outside of the main Facebook app. The newsletter platform has its own website, though it will take advantage of Facebook’s distribution tools. The newsletters will be integrated into author’s Facebook pages and readers can find the content in the news section of Facebook’s app.

Developing...

Amazon and Wondery will air the SmartLess podcast one week before episodes hit other audio platforms, starting on August 1st. Amazon is paying as much as $80 million for the three-year deal, Bloomberg reports.

Actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes created and host SmartLess, in which they chat with another famous person. The gimmick is that one of the hosts invites on a guest whose identity remains a mystery to the others until the conversation starts. Guests so far include Vice President Kamala Harris, George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, Stacey Abrams, Stephen Colbert, Billie Eilish and Paul McCartney.

SmartLess will initially be available on Amazon Music and Wondery+, and it'll be ad-free on the latter. Wondery will handle ad sales and marketing for the show. The deal also gives Amazon and Wondery the right to partner with future podcasts from the SmartLess team. 

This is yet another major deal for a single podcast. Earlier this month, Spotify scooped up the rights to Call Her Daddy, reportedly for around $20 million a year. Spotify has shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars on other podcast deals, including ones with Joe Rogan, the Obamas and the Duke and Dutchess of Sussex. Amazon also has exclusive podcasts, such as shows with Will Smith and DJ Khaled. It bought the Wondery podcast network last year.

Boston Dynamics' robots can boogie. We've seen Spot and Atlas strut their stuff many times, with some videos of them in action becoming viral hits. A collaboration with K-pop phenomenon BTS should be like catnip for the internet. But while the two videos are kind of fun, they're ever-so-slightly underwhelming.

Hyundai closed its deal for a majority stake in Boston Dynamics last week. It brought in Hyundai brand ambassadors BTS to celebrate the occasion and dance with the robots. Spot cuts a rug with the group in one of the clips, but only briefly. They dance together for around 20 seconds altogether. In the other video, seven Spot robot dogs, one for each member of BTS, perform a choreographed routine to the band's "Ioniq: I'm On It" — an ode dedicated to Hyundai's EV sub-brand.

The clip that BTS appear in only racked up a couple of million views within a day or so on YouTube. The video for the group's latest single "Butter," however, was viewed 113 million times on the platform within 24 hours, setting a new record. It seems dancing robots, just like pretty much everything else on the planet right now, aren't quite as popular as BTS.

Amazon is giving you free access to Disney+ if you pay for its music streaming service, perhaps in hopes of luring you away from Spotify and Apple Music. If you're in the US and Canada, you'll get six free months of Disney+ with a new Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, which will set you back at least $8 a month as a Prime member or $10 as a non-Prime user. You'll still get three free months of Disney+ as a current Music Unlimited subscriber, but you can't get the free months if you already have an existing Disney+ subscription. 

While it's unfortunate that you won't be able to take advantage of the promo if you already have Disney+, it's a great way to try the video streaming service. Disney+ doesn't have a trial period anymore, and its current offerings include Marvel's The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, as well as Loki, which had the most watched premiere episode on the platform.

The first and the last time Amazon reported growth metrics for Music Unlimited back in January 2020, it said the service has reached over 55 million subscribers worldwide. It's unclear how much the service has grown since then, but it still probably has a long way to go before it can catch up to Spotify, which recently reported having 158 million paying subscribers. It might be nearer to Apple Music in size: Apple revealed that its Music streaming service had 60 million paying subscribers back in mid-2019, but it hasn't reported new numbers since then.

To redeem the promo, you can head over to its official page and pay for an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription from there.

Google has launched a new website called Find Food Support, which puts important resources on how to locate free and affordable food in the US in one place. Perhaps the most useful feature the website can offer is a new Google Maps tool that can point you to the nearest food bank, food pantry or school lunch program pickup site. 

As the tech giant explains, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated hunger for people around the world. According to Feeding America (PDF), 45 million people in the US alone had no reliable access to affordable food last year, including children who lost access to school lunches. That's a 30 percent increase from 2019. The non-profit has a slightly better forecast for 2021, but it still believes 42 million people in the country — 13 million of which are children, and 1 in 5 of which are Black individuals — may experience food insecurity this year. 

Google worked with No Kid Hungry, FoodFinder and the US Department of Agriculture to add 90,000 places with free food support across 50 states on Maps. The company said it will add more locations in the future. To use the tool, you only have to go to the website, whether on a PC or on mobile, and type in your location. It will then show you the nearest food banks and pantries with their addresses, phone numbers, and the days and hours they're operational.

Google

Find Food Support also houses YouTube videos showing how food insecurity affects people from all walks of life. The hope is to destigmatize food insecurity, since the stigma associated with getting help prevents people from seeking groups and organizations that can assist them in their time of need. In addition, the website contains links to food support hotlines, benefit guides per state and information for specific demographics and communities, such as seniors, families and children and military families. And in case you don't need food aid and want to help out, you can also find information on how you can donate food, time or money on the website.

Like the rest of the tech industry, YouTube was forced to transition from live to virtual events earlier this year when it shuttered its studio spaces for creators and musicians. Just four months later, with the pandemic subsiding, the Google-owned video platform is now embracing live entertainment like never before. YouTube has partnered with Hollywood Park, a near 300-acre mega development in Inglewood, California, to host a massive live venue. 

The "YouTube Theater" will be a three-story, 6,000 seater arena for performances that range from traditional concerts to the type of events you'd associate with its namesake. Think eSports and creator and community shows for the site's dedicated contingent of gamers and vloggers. Maybe the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers — whose 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium is in the same complex — will also drop in. Naturally, all those gigs, meetups and tourneys will feed back into the company's main platform, creating fodder for livestreamed and on-demand content that users will be able to watch on YouTube proper. 

YouTube

The Hollywood Park project has already corralled an eclectic bunch of pop stars to perform at the YouTube Theater with the help of Live Nation. Pitbull, Black Pumas, Devo, Trippie Redd and Marina and the Diamonds will all grace the venue through this year and the next.  

Formerly a historic racetrack frequented by Hollywood royalty, the site is being converted into a massive mixed-use development, home to almost 3,000 apartments, a sports stadium, a 300-room hotel and an 890,000-square-foot retail area. Construction on the theater is scheduled to be completed this summer.

Of course, it wouldn't be a YouTube event without some social interaction. In that vein, the venue will feature a massive exterior screen that guests can mirror themselves on and view clips through. Google could also use it to highlight the same products it sells at its newly opened debut retail store in New York City. 

YouTube isn't the first video service to broach live events, though the scale here may be unmatched by its closest rivals. Take Netflix: The world's biggest streamer owns New York's iconic Paris movie theater and has previously organized live comedy events. Disney and the rest of Hollywood, meanwhile, regularly turn up to Comic-Con to promote their biggest blockbusters. YouTube's heavyweight creators — who run the gamut from pranksters to serial toy openers to beauty and makeup experts — will likely be chomping at the bit for a chance to take to the theater's 6,100 square-foot stage. 

Apple has revealed when you'll get to watch Foundation, its adaptation of Issac Asimov’s series of sci-fi novels. The show will debut on Apple TV+ on September 24th, with additional installments of the first ten-episode season dropping each week.

The company also revealed another teaser trailer for Foundation, which stars Jared Harris as the leader of a group of exiles who predicts the end of the Galactic Empire. The group embarks on a journey to restore civilization by establishing The Foundation. Lee Pace also stars in the show, whose showrunner is David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight, Man of Steel).

Apple is reducing the free TV+ trial it offers to customers who buy its devices from a year to three months. It's hoping the slate of shows andmovies will be enough to entice people to stick around as paid subscribers.

The company is lining up a number of major shows for the remainder of this year, as 9to5 Mac notes. Along with Foundation, The Morning Show and Ted Lasso will return for their second seasons in the coming months. Invasion, another large-scale sci-fi series is dropping in October.

Facebook has taken the wraps off a project called Learning from Videos. It uses artificial intelligence to understand and learn audio, textual, and visual representations in public user videos on the social network.

Learning from Videos has a number of aims, such as improving Facebook AI systems related to content recommendations and policy enforcement. The project is in its early stages, but it's already bearing fruit. Facebook says it has already harnessed the tech to enhance Instagram Reels recommendations, such as surfacing videos of people doing the same dance to the same music. The system is showing improved results in speech recognition errors as well, which could bolster auto-captioning features and make it easier to detect hate speech in videos.

Facebook says the project will help AI researchers avoid having to rely on labeled data and it's part of efforts to build systems that learn in a similar way to humans. As such, Learning from Videos will "enable entirely new experiences." The company didn't go into much detail about those except for a possible feature that would allow AI to find digital memories, including ones captured by augmented reality glasses. You could, for instance, ask such a system to show you "every time we sang to grandma," and it could surface those clips. Facebook, notably, is working on its own smart glasses.

The company says the project is looking at videos in hundreds of languages and from almost every country. This aspect of the project will make AI systems more accurate and allow them to "adapt to our fast moving world and recognize the nuances and visual cues across different cultures and regions."

Facebook says that it's keeping privacy in mind when it comes to Learning from Videos. "We’re building and maintaining a strong privacy foundation that uses automated solutions to enforce privacy at scale," it wrote in a blog post. "By embedding this work at the infrastructure level, we can consistently apply privacy requirements across our systems and support efforts like AI. This includes implementing technical safeguards throughout the data lifecycle."

Understanding what's happening in videos can be an immensely difficult task for AI systems. They can include hurdles like background noise that makes it difficult to understand speech and language switching. Yet less than a year after starting the Learning from Videos project, Facebook is taking what the system has learned and putting it to practical use in other areas.