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Critical Role‘s DM Will Spin a Yarn for Bardsung Dungeon Crawler

If you’re heading into a new dungeon, it’s good to have a familiar face by your side. Steamforged Games has added Critical Role voice actor and dungeon master Matthew Mercer to its list of guest writers for Bardsung, crafting one of several adventures for the new roleplaying game. io9 can exclusively reveal that Mercer is…

Games Beth Elderkin

Google’s Search Engine Is Squashing Local News, Study Says

When we ask who should take the rap for the decline of local news, most folks agree the blame partially lies on Google’s shoulders. The tech giant has spent the past decade systematically swallowing a larger and larger chunk of the digital ad market, diverting the dollars that outlets—particularly smaller outlets—desperately need. That’s not the…

Tech News Shoshana Wodinsky

Veterans Affairs Officials Inexplicably Blow Off Briefing on SolarWinds Hack

Senior officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs abruptly cancelled a scheduled briefing with congressional leaders this week regarding the extent and impact of the SolarWinds cyberattack, a far reaching intrusion into the networks of multiple U.S. agencies and powerful corporations allegedly perpetrated by an elite team of Russian hackers sanctioned by Moscow. Democratic lawmakers…

Privacy & Security Dell Cameron

The Best and Worst TV Moments of 2020

We’ve already counted up our best and worst TV shows of 2020. But now we’re getting micro-focused on those special (and not-so-special) TV moments that made us laugh, cry, shriek, recoil, rewind, and make memes. You know, the ones that remained burned in our memories long after the episode or season ended. Behold! Best Star…

io9 io9 Staff

The Expanse‘s Wes Chatham Reflects on the Relationships That Define Amos’ Season 5 Journey

“I think it’s the best thing we’ve done so far,” Wes Chatham, who plays Amos Burton, says of The Expanse’s fifth season. We agree—and we also think Amos’ thrilling, emotional storyline has a lot to do with that success. In season five, we see him pay a long-awaited return visit to Earth, where things…take a…

io9 Cheryl Eddy

A Sneak Peek at the Apple Feature That Keeps Facebook Up at Night

Of all the privacy-preserving goodies Apple promised to roll into the iOS 14 update, its so called “Tracking Transparency” alerts were probably the most controversial, stirring up enough pushback from fellow tech giant Facebook that the feature ended up being delayed past its original autumn deadline. Now it’s looking like Apple’s waited long enough. A…

Privacy & Security Shoshana Wodinsky

HBO Max Will Ring in the New Year With Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond

In 2021, Warner Bros. is going all in on streaming with HBO Max in a way that’s almost certain to solidify the streaming service as a go-to destination for consumers looking to catch some of Hollywood’s newest upcoming feature releases. While Warner Bros.’ plan to release its entire 2021 slate of films on HBO Max…

io9 Charles Pulliam-Moore

Cobra Kai Season 3 Is Debuting a Week Early

Next year is starting off the best way possible: we’re getting a brand new season of Cobra Kai. The hit Netflix show was set to debut season three on January 8 but today it was revealed it’ll be out a week earlier, on January 1. The perfect way to ring in the new year. Cobra…

io9 Germain Lussier

Australian Robots Are Exploring the Deep Sea to Study Marine Snow

Where I live, it’s too warm out for a white Christmas. But in the deep ocean, it’s always snowing. I’m talking about marine snow, or flakes of biological debris like dirt, dead phytoplankton and algae, and even bits of fecal matter that shower down from higher waters. So festive! As off-putting as this snow may…

Earther Dharna Noor

This Was the Most Exciting and Disappointing Year for Computers and Consoles

This fall was a blizzard of hardware and console announcements from practically every major company, all timed to launch just before the holiday shopping season. Nvidia wowed us with new graphics cards. AMD hit the ground running with new processors and its own graphics cards. Intel’s Iris Xe integrated GPU was impressive, not to be…

Reviews Joanna Nelius

Updates From Wonder Woman 1984, Hawkeye, and More

The Mad Max: Fury Road prequel gets a release date. Wild new Flash set pictures could tease another obscure comics foe. Plus, what’s to come on the second season of Two-Sentence Horror Stories, and just in time for tomorrow, the…origins of Father Christmas!? Spoilers now! Furiosa The Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, Furiosa, is now…

Television James Whitbrook & Gordon Jackson

10 Tips and Tricks to Get the Most Out of Your Xbox Series X or Series S

So you’ve decided to treat yourself (or maybe you were treated) to a brand new Xbox Series X or Series S and immerse yourself in the next generation of consoles—but are you getting the most out of your Microsoft-made box? These quick tips and tricks for your new console will help, covering everything from automatic…

Gadgets David Nield

Discovery Just Rammed Its Endgame Into a Pretty Solid Episode of Star Trek

This week Star Trek: Discovery screamed: “WE’RE IN THE LAST THREE EPISODES OF THE SEASON” at the top of its lungs. It did, in the typical Discovery manner, a fine job of flinging big emotions, big stakes, big twists, and more at our faces to get us ready for season three’s climax. But unlike past…

io9 James Whitbrook

Google Reportedly Told AI Scientists To ‘Strike A Positive Tone’ In Research

Nearly three weeks after the abrupt exit of Black artificial intelligence ethicist Timnit Gebru, more details are emerging about the shady new set of policies Google has rolled out for its research team. After reviewing internal communications and speaking to researchers affected by the rule change, Reuters reported on Wednesday that the tech giant recently…

Tech News Brianna Provenzano

Haunting of Bly Manor Creator Has ‘No Plans’ to Continue the Anthology Series

Writer and director Mike Flanagan has been giving fellow horror creator Ryan Murphy a run for his money with Netflix’s Haunting series, which started with Haunting of Hill House and continued this year with Haunting of Bly Manor. Even though the fledgling anthology series has so many haunts to explore, Flanagan said he has “no…

io9 Beth Elderkin

The Weapon of a Jedi Knight

Despite the fact that we live in a world with more Star Wars than ever, and even more to come, there is still power in the image of a Jedi. A flowing, hooded cloak, the snap-hiss and surreal glow as their lightsaber pierces our field of view—in spite of decades of familiarity, it’s an image…

io9 James Whitbrook

Car Service Nuro Cleared For Driverless Deliveries In California

Driverless delivery service Nuro has been cleared for California’s first Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Permit, meaning the company could soon launch a fleet of autonomous commercial vehicles on city streets around the state. Nuro was first given clearance to test fully driverless vehicles in California earlier this year, but the new permit means that the company…

Tech News Brianna Provenzano

Sean Astin’s Cool With You Shipping Sam and Frodo, Two Bros Who Should Have Kissed

Though Peter Jackson’sLord of the Rings films didn’t explicitly pair Frodo and Sam together romantically, the sizable amount of subtext presented on the screen naturally fed into the fandom’s already-established interest in the idea of shipping the two characters. All it takes is a cursory search through the fanfic site of your choice to see that…

Movies Charles Pulliam-Moore

Consider This: Wait and Mash All the Holidays Into One

Medical experts are begging, warning, and bargaining with us to halt the holiday parties. One epidemiologist likened a Thanksgiving gathering to gasoline on the fire, and run-down California health officials have made a potential Christmas transmission surge sound like a reactor meltdown. I can ask a million ways to StaY hoME pLeAsE, but consider this:…

Culture Whitney Kimball

Apple Reportedly Booting Thousands of Video Games From Its China App Store

Apple is getting ready to remove thousands more video games from its App Store in China due to pressure from the Chinese government, reports the Wall Street Journal. The company had previously warned Chinese video game developers that premium gaming apps were at risk of removal from the App Store, but the Chinese government is…

Tech News Joanna Nelius

Critical Role‘s DM Will Spin a Yarn for Bardsung Dungeon Crawler

Google’s Search Engine Is Squashing Local News, Study Says

Veterans Affairs Officials Inexplicably Blow Off Briefing on SolarWinds Hack

The Best and Worst TV Moments of 2020

The Expanse‘s Wes Chatham Reflects on the Relationships That Define Amos’ Season 5 Journey

A Sneak Peek at the Apple Feature That Keeps Facebook Up at Night

HBO Max Will Ring in the New Year With Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond

Cobra Kai Season 3 Is Debuting a Week Early

Australian Robots Are Exploring the Deep Sea to Study Marine Snow

This Was the Most Exciting and Disappointing Year for Computers and Consoles

Updates From Wonder Woman 1984, Hawkeye, and More

10 Tips and Tricks to Get the Most Out of Your Xbox Series X or Series S

Discovery Just Rammed Its Endgame Into a Pretty Solid Episode of Star Trek

Google Reportedly Told AI Scientists To ‘Strike A Positive Tone’ In Research

Haunting of Bly Manor Creator Has ‘No Plans’ to Continue the Anthology Series

The Weapon of a Jedi Knight

Car Service Nuro Cleared For Driverless Deliveries In California

Sean Astin’s Cool With You Shipping Sam and Frodo, Two Bros Who Should Have Kissed

Consider This: Wait and Mash All the Holidays Into One

Apple Reportedly Booting Thousands of Video Games From Its China App Store

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