Author: Press Room
The Walking Dead may be the ultimate post-apocalyptic franchise: the original show, about survivors trying to unite after a zombie plague destroys civilization, ran for 11 seasons, and that’s without counting the numerous spinoffs. A great many characters die brutally in that span, and they were just as likely to be killed by their fellow human beings as by the undead. It was a very grim show. But that doesn’t mean it has no competition. There are actually a ton of shows set after the end of the world, and they all tend to be pretty gritty, for obvious reasons;…
You don’t need me to tell you that YouTube is getting worse in all sorts of ways. From clickbait thumbnails to AI slop to Shorts being shoved into every corner of the service (and much more), it’s harder than ever to navigate and find what you’re looking for on YouTube. It’s interesting to take a closer examination of one specific area of big problems like this to break them down. I recently had a renewed realization of how poor YouTube’s search results are, which I shouldn’t be surprised at, given how Google’s results have degraded over recent years. Finding clear,…
Adapting a book for the big screen is not an easy thing to pull off. Fans of a book can be very particular when it comes to how a film handles the source material. I would know, because I’m one of them. I can’t even count the amount of times that I have walked out of a theater completely disappointed with yet another mediocre adaptation. The life of an avid reader is not an easy one, I can assure you. But every once in a while, I come across a film that just gets it. No adaptation is going to…
Using cloud-based AI tools can be frustrating. Since I primarily use Obsidian for note-taking, whenever I wanted to ask ChatGPT or NotebookLM about something, I had to copy my notes into a separate window. My personal knowledge base felt locked away from the AI that could actually help me synthesize it. I also worried about my private notes being sent to servers I don’t control. Then I discovered MCP, and everything changed. MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It’s a general protocol for connecting AI models to external tools, but what makes it transformative for me is how well it…
Stranger Things is finally back with its fifth and final season. Well, at least the first four episodes. Which is annoying, but that’s the release method Netflix has decided to stick with, especially for its high-profile shows. I suppose that’s one way to build some hype, though I’m not convinced that a show like Stranger Things really needs it. Especially after such an extended period between seasons, but that’s not likely to hurt Stranger Things. At any rate, these first four episodes have been very much on-brand for Stranger Things and what fans have come to expect from the show.…
Pluribus has quickly become one of the most talked-about shows on streaming, and for very good reason. From the mind of Vince Gilligan, who gave us television masterpieces like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, this is a series that’s poised to take over the pop culture world for years to come. Its premise is appropriately mysterious and intriguing: The human race is all but taken over by a virus that turns nearly everyone into a hivemind that’s happy all the time. Still, for as wild as that premise is, Apple TV+ has been not-so-quietly taking over the weird sci-fi…
I’ve slowly become a big fan of my Roku television over the past year. I originally bought my TV because it was the most affordable one available, not because of its smart capabilities. Up until starting my Roku journey properly, I was mostly a fan of using my Xbox Series X for all of my content needs, but then I discovered some useful tricks to utilize every feature of my Roku, and it became much more valuable to me as a consumer. Recently, I’ve tried to use other smart TV products, and while they’re definitely convenient and more reliable than…
Holiday shopping is stressful. For me, the speed bumps are shopping for my Gen Z nieces whose tastes keep changing every day, and the flood of Black Friday or Christmas deals. ChatGPT’s new Shopping research option could help all of us spend a little less time mired in dozens of open retail tabs and hunt for the best deals. A conversational AI-powered shopping experience could be the solution for too many deals, too many product variations, and way too many reviews we digest near the holidays. ChatGPT hopes it will reduce our decision fatigue, while I hope to avoid impulsive…
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things, the only show that could get away with making fans wait this long between seasons, is back with eight new episodes…eventually. The show has dropped four episodes as of this writing, and I’m here to walk you through the first two: “The Crawl” and “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler.” Beware MAJOR SPOILERS below! “The Crawl” reacquaints us with the enormous cast. Moving right along, “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler” throws us right into the thick of things as the malevolent Vecna abducts Mike Wheeler’s younger sister and brings her to the Upside…
Summary Spotify is expected to raise U.S. Premium to $12.99/month in early 2026 — a $1 increase. The hike aims to show sustained profitability and could boost annual revenue by about $500M. Artists and users have left over the founder’s investment, ICE ads, and low payouts, but Spotify still dominates. Spotify is preparing to raise subscription prices in early 2026, marking the streaming service’s first U.S. price increase since July 2024. The price hike is expected to be only an extra dollar a month, bringing the monthly cost of a Spotify Premium membership to $12.99. When Spotify debuted in the…