Netflix is giving the Terminator franchise the anime treatment in a new series that’s set to hit the streaming platform “soon.” The company dropped the first teaser for Terminator: The Anime Series this weekend during its Geeked Week event. Details so far are scant, but we do know it’ll be produced by Production IG, the Japanese animation studio behind the original Ghost in the Shell movie and spinoff TV series.

Terminator: The Anime Series will take us back to August 1997, when the Skynet AI has first become self-aware and turned against humans. It will feature a cast of new characters, according to Variety. 

Also on board as executive producers are Skydance and Project Power writer Mattson Tomlin, who will be the series’ writer and showrunner. Netflix hasn’t announced a release date yet or shown any preview scenes, so here’s hoping we get an expanded trailer soon. The Terminator franchise has had quite a few installments, not all of them good, but going back to the beginning could be just the refresh it needs.

Casetify is launching a new series of accessories for Apple devices based on Neon Genesis Evangelion. The “Project-CSTF: Protection from Impact” collection lets you drape your iPhone, AirPods or Apple Watch in cases that show off your love of the acclaimed mid-90s anime series.

The likely highlight of the series is the limited-edition AirPods Pro case based on Evangelion’s Unit-01, transforming your Apple earphones case into a purple mecha head. Although it appears too big and unwieldy to slip into a pocket, Casetify says the outer case is “for ornamental purpose and not for harsh impact, scrapes or vigorous activities.” (In other words, it’s meant more for desktop display than everyday protection.) However, it also appears to include a standard on-the-go AirPods case (including an “EVA-01” logo) that fits inside the Unit-01 head. The Test Type-01 case will be available in AirPods Pro / AirPods 2 variants and will retail for $122 — nearly half the cost of the Apple’s latest true wireless earphones.

The lineup also includes MagSafe-compatible iPhone cases featuring Evangelion mechs (and $52 MagSafe chargers styled like the series’ Umbilical Cables) along with iPhone cases displaying the pilots’ likenesses. You can even order a limited-edition $122 wireless charging dock (including the MagSafe Umbilical Cable) that looks like the anime series’ ejection stands. Finally, the series will include Apple Watch bands emblazoned with the series’ logo.

The accessories officially arrive on July 20th at midnight Pacific Time. In the meantime, you can join a waitlist to order the new products. Meanwhile, those near Tokyo can visit an outdoor exhibit from July 20th to 25th (from 11:00-19:00 Japan Time) in Shinjuku Kabukicho Cine City Square.

Amazon may not be known for making generative AI, but it's eager to help others get their technology up and running. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching a generative AI accelerator that will help the "most promising" startups flourish. The 10-week program provides credits for AWS use, access to mentors and other experts and networking events. At the end, startups pitch their work to potential investors and customers.

While the accelerator is open to all generative AI startups, AWS recommends that candidates have at least a basic product ready with some interest from customers. Sign-ups are available worldwide through April 17th, and Amazon makes clear that there are no limits on how the AI is being used — it can be used for everything from the legal world through to discovering new medicines.

The company hopes the accelerator will serve as a "catalyst" that advances innovation in generative AI. At the same time, it's not subtle about the potential for increased business at AWS. Runway used the cloud computing platform for an artist-oriented AI that contributed effects to Everything Everywhere All At Once. Firms that blossom as a result of the program may rely that much more on AWS as demand grows.

Amazon only has a limited amount of in-house generative AI at the moment. Its Create with Alexa tool lets you generate children's stories on an Echo Show smart display, for instance. However, it also faces less pressure to create its own products than tech rivals like Google and Microsoft. It still stands to profit as long as there's plenty of demand for AWS tools, and might see inspirations for its own AI work.

If you've been waiting for the best possible deal on an Xbox Series S console, today is the day. For Cyber Monday, Amazon is offering a $60 discount (20 percent) plus a $40 coupon that can be applied to future purchases. That effectively gives you a $100 discount (33 percent) off the regular $300 price for today only — a great deal on a very good console. 

When the Series S came out, we called it the "next-gen starter pack" and gave it a solid 85 score. Even though it doesn't support gameplay in 4K, it plays incredibly smoothly and has a svelte look that will fit into any decor. Thanks to the FPS boost technology added to the Series S and X, older games, including many made for Xbox One, will look and perform better with faster frame rates.

Unlike the Series X, the Series S only plays digital titles, with no slot to insert physical game media. It's a great option if you have an Xbox Game Pass membership, though, which costs $10 per month for the Console tier, and $15 per month for the Ultimate tier. Either level unlocks a library with hundreds of game to download and play, while also granting discounts to many titles you might want to buy outright.

Another caveat is that the Series S has less SSD storage, with 512GB on-board compared to the 1TB for the Series X. If you like to keep plenty of titles on hand, you'll either need to shuffle them between the main disk and USB-C storage, or purchase Seagate's $200 expansion card. All told, though, it's a great option for casual console gamers, particularly considering all the backward-compatible Game Pass games — just keep in mind that the sale ends today. 

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is stepping as CEO of Medium. Williams announced the decision on Tuesday. Writing on Medium (where else?), he said he’s handing the company over to Tony Stubblebine, the CEO of Coach.me.

Stubblebine may not be a household name, but the two have a long history together. Before Williams went on to create Twitter with Jack Dorsey and a few others, he and Stubblebine worked at Odeo, the podcasting startup Williams founded in 2005 with Noah Glass. “Tony is a builder, a writer, an open-minded thinker, and a keen businessperson,” Williams wrote of his replacement. “I’m confident Medium will benefit greatly from his vision, integrity, energy, and pragmatic leadership.”

Williams will continue to advise Medium as the chairman of the company’s board of directors. “To be clear, Medium’s story is far from over,” he said. “The team today is probably the most capable I’ve seen at this company. I’m excited to see what they do.”

As for what’s next for the serial entrepreneur known as “Ev” to many of his peers, he plans to spend the immediate future “learning as much as I can about things I don’t know a lot about.” To that end, Williams says he will start a new holding company or research lab.

In handing over the operations of Medium to someone else, Williams leaves the company fighting to stay relevant. In a 2014 interview with The New York Times, he promised his startup would change the web. “Right now, the internet rewards speed and quantity, and we wanted to make a place where quality matters,” he told the outlet. 

And for a time, it did feel like Medium had managed to create a place where thoughtful people could post smart writing. However, between a series of strategic missteps involving the company’s business model and the emergence of competitors like Substack, Medium doesn’t feel as essential as it once did. And it now falls on Stubblebine to chart a course forward for the company.

Welcome to the age of peak tech TV

Alison Herman, The Ringer

From The Dropout to WeCrashed, our televisions are about to be flush with stories about notorious startup founders. Does the prevalence of these stories signal a change for the real-life Silicon Valley? "When companies stop competing for funding and funds start competing to finance them, it’s easy for things to get out of hand," Herman writes.

Inside Pornhub

Nathan Munn, The Verge

A former content moderator offers an inside look at Manwin Canada, or what would become known as MindGeek, the operator of Pornhub and many other pornographic websites. 

The scientific methods of J. Kenji López-Alt

Allecia Vermillion, Seattle Met

If you frequently reference Serious Eats for your at-home culinary exploits, chances are you've run across a science-heavy analysis from J. Kenji López-Alt. In his upcoming book, he's applying this approach to the wok, but this profile goes much deeper than one set of recipes and techniques. 

The Fallout streaming TV series based on the Bethesda's post-apocalyptic game from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's Kilter Films is moving along smartly, Deadline has reported. Production is set to start this year with Nolan directing the series premiere. Amazon Studios also revealed that Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel) and Graham Wagner (Silicon Valley) have been hired as showrunners.

"Fallout is one of the greatest game series of all time," Joy and Nolan said last year. "Each chapter of this insanely imaginative story has cost us countless hours we could have spent with family and friends. So we’re incredibly excited to partner with Todd Howard and the rest of the brilliant lunatics at Bethesda to bring this massive, subversive, and darkly funny universe to life with Amazon Studios."

Fallout (the game) takes place in a wasteland caused by a 2077 nuclear war. While that has the makings of a pretty grim series, it'll reportedly feature plenty of ironic humor and callbacks to B-movie nuclear fantasies as well. The series is part of a big overall deal inked by Nolan and Joy with Amazon Studios, which licensed the rights to Fallout back in 2020. So far, there are no details on the plot or who might star in the series.

You finally have a way to upgrade the high-speed storage in your Xbox Series X or S with more than 1TB of extra space. Seagate has introduced a 2TB Storage Expansion Card that, for the Series X, effectively triples the capacity for next-gen games. It will cost $400 when it arrives in early December — nearly as much as the console itself — but might be worthwhile if you bristle at the thought of deleting games to make space.

There's also an option for those who need just a slight bump. Seagate is launching a 512GB card in mid-November, with pre-orders open now for $130. That's still not a trivial expense, but it could be compelling if you either have an Xbox Series S (and want to keep costs down) or just want a little more breathing room on a Series X.

The high prices are, for now, difficult to avoid. As with the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X/S requires external storage as fast as the built-in SSD if you're going to run the latest games. That leaves vendors like Seagate little choice but to use cutting-edge NVMe drives. It won't be surprising if prices drop as the costs of the technology come down, but that might not happen for a while yet.

Apple has announced when you'll be able to snag an Apple Watch Series 7. Pre-orders start this Friday, October 8th. The device, which starts at $399, will be available one week later on October 15th.

Developing...

One year after releasing a full remake of cult classic Destroy All Humans!, THQ Nordic plans to modernize its 2006 sequel as well. During its recent publisher showcase, the company announced Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed (yes, that’s the actual name of the game). It’s coming out “soon” on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

Developer Black Forest Games is remaking the PlayStation 2 and Xbox title completely from scratch in Unreal Engine 4. The studio says the new game will feature local two-player split-screen co-op, and a “much larger” open world for players to explore. The 2006 original was game in the series developed by Pandemic Studios before the developer was acquired by EA in 2007 and subsequently shut down in 2009.