Tag: author_name|Mat Smith

The Morning After: Lucasfilm hired a YouTuber with deepfake skills

The power of deepfake tech to hone digital effects into incredibly realistic video can’t be underestimated. We’ve seen a top-level Tom Cruise impersonator transformed with a high-level deepfake artist, and now companies — and film studios — are taking notice. Luke Skywalker's CGI face in The Mandalorian was met with…

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The Morning After: LG adds a mic and speaker to its high-tech air-purifying mask

Remember the high-tech face masks teased during the relatively early days of the COVID-19 pandemic? Not many have made it into stores (or on to our faces) just yet, but that’s given companies even more time to build in upgrades. Like LG, which has used the Tokyo Olympics (and the…

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The OnePlus Nord 2 5G makes another good argument for ignoring expensive smartphones

OnePlus has an unusual problem. It’s making very good flagship smartphones these days — the OnePlus 9 Pro is an incredibly good phone — but at the same time, it’s still chasing its status as flagship phone killer. The company’s Nord series was aimed at undercutting the expensive devices offered…

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The Morning After: How and where to watch the Japan Olympics

The Olympics, a year late, are here. The official start is the opening ceremony on Friday, July 23rd, at 7 AM ET, but a few events have already kicked off. The softball and women’s soccer competitions began yesterday, but the first games aired Tuesday night on the east coast. Softball,…

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The Morning After: Blue Origin’s crew makes it to space

Blue Origin made it beyond the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. Jeff Bezos' space company has successfully completed its first crewed spaceflight, taking the boss himself, his brother, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and (son of) paying customer 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. Blue Origin After reaching 62 miles above Earth, the capsule made…

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The Morning After: Japan breaks the internet speed record

Scientists at Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) have smashed the internet transfer record by shifting data at 319Tbps, almost double the last speed test attempted in August 2020. At that speed, you could download over 7,000 high-definition movies in a second. It involved addressing every part…

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