io9 is proud to present fiction from LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE. Once a month, we feature a story from LIGHTSPEED’s current issue. This month’s selection is “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim.
Apple apologized on Thursday for a new iPad Pro commercial that featured several creative objects—including a piano, video cameras, and cans of paint—being destroyed by an industrial crusher, telling Ad Age that it “missed the mark.” The ad was met with fierce backlash from people who thought Apple’s ad was at odds…
Pets are our loving companions and offer moments of levity even when times are tough. Though it’s hard to say whether they understand humor, they certainly provide us with plenty. From cats stuck in stone walls to dogs stuck in cat doors, our domesticated animals give us something to live for—and occasionally laugh at.
After some recent casting announcements that came with no details attached (Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich), Marvel’s Phase Six entry Fantastic Four—which already has Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the main heroes, plus Julia Garner as Silver Surfer—has just unveiled a doozy: g…
Universal Pictures’ latest horror release Abigail is now available to watch on-demand at home, for those who missed it in theaters or wanted to wait for a scary movie night in. The kidnapped vampire ballerina romp directed by Radio Silence filmmakers Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin is a bloody bonkers ride…
On Wednesday, OpenAI released a draft of its Model Spec sheet that details how it intends its AI models to behave. There is a section focusing on NSFW content that gives the impression that the company is exploring ways to makeAI porn, but the company says that is not happening.
Bumble Founder and Executive Chair Whitney Wolfe Herd defended her dating app’s new AI feature on stage in San Francisco on Thursday. She went on to describe a version of the future where “AI-dating concierges” message each other on a human’s behalf.
All the way back in 2011, Rise of the Planet of the Apes seemed like it’d be an unremarkable but potentially solid movie. No one really knew what to make of Fox doing a prequel/reboot of the classic sci-fi series, especially since it’d already tried a decade prior with Tim Burton’s divisive 2001 remake. That wariness…
The sonic background of Star Wars is almost unmatched for legendary, immediately recognizable callouts. The snap-hiss of an igniting lightsaber. The penetrating wail of a TIE Fighter shrieking into view, the alien cacophony of Mos Eisley cantina. The prequels added to this catalogue massively, from the quivering bass…
The Asus ROG Ally is not even yet a year old, but the gaming handheld built to rival the Steam Deck (at least, the one that came the closest to dethroning Valve’s handheld goliath) is coming back with an upgrade. Details are rather sparse, but the update could include a new coat of paint, better storage, more RAM,…