For once, SpaceX is ahead of schedule: Elon Musk’s space and AI conglomerate officially confirmed that it has raised $75 billion from the sale of its shares to its underwriters, who are set to begin marketing the company on the Nasdaq stock exchange Friday.
SpaceX priced its 555.6 million shares at $135 each, the company said in an update on its website. That makes SpaceX officially the largest IPO in history, easily eclipsing the $24.9 billion in funds raised by Saudi Aramco during its 2019 public markets debut. At this price, the deal also looks set to make Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
The company, officially known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., will trade under the SPCX ticker symbol.
While IPO pricing typically works itself out as markets open, SpaceX took an unusual approach in setting the price well in advance. The company was testing its $135 share target with investors before its official roadshow started, the Financial Times reported. And that offering, which eschewed traditional IPO pricing practices, attracted four times the available shares, per Bloomberg.
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As active trading gets underway tomorrow, SpaceX’s share price may sink or rise. But anecdotal reports suggest that big institutional investors and individual buyers are lining up to purchase shares in the 24-year-old technology company.
If the sale is as oversubscribed as the talkative bankers make it out to be, they have an option to bring an additional 83.3 million shares to market, which would raise another $11 billion at the company’s opening price.
Hyperliquid, a crypto betting market that attempts to offer synthetic exposure to SpaceX stock, currently prices the shares at $167, suggesting that market participants expect a classic 20% IPO pop on the first day of trading.
In the longer term, there are big open questions about how SpaceX will be able to justify its eye-popping valuation. The company’s outstanding engineering projects, from the world’s largest reusable rocket to a new American chip fab, fill up a daunting to-do list.
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The biggest beneficiary of the offering is Musk himself. He owns just under 850 million Class A shares entitled to 1 vote per share. He is also entitled to another 5.6 billion Class B shares, which comes with 10 votes per share and includes the billion shares contingent on a long-shot bet that a million people will end up living in a SpaceX colony on Mars.
The listing will deliver Antonio Gracias, founder and CEO of Valor Management, 503.4 million shares, putting the value of his position at nearly $68 billion at the IPO price. Other major shareholders poised to gain from the historic offering include SpaceX board member and investor Luke Nosek, who owns 33 million shares, and COO Gwynne Shotwell, who holds nearly 12.6 million shares.
The IPO will also deliver significant windfalls to many of the roughly 400 venture capitalists who backed the company during its two decades as a private entity, a period in which it raised about $40 billion in private capital.
Additionally, a massive pool of smaller investors who backed SpaceX via special purpose vehicles (SPVs) are also set to see their initial capital multiply. However, due to the complexities of these vehicles, some may not know the exact magnitude of their gains for months after SpaceX make its public market debut.
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Facepalm: Grand Theft Auto fans were already upset that GTA 6 will be a digital-only release, with the so-called physical edition containing just a code to download the game. Gamers who purchased the retail box are now expressing even more frustration after it was officially confirmed that PS5 product codes in Japan will expire 170 days after the game’s scheduled launch date of November 19, 2026.
Rockstar clarified that the expiration period is only applicable to the PS5 version of the game in Japan and won’t affect buyers in the rest of the world. The company also confirmed that codes purchased for the Xbox are not region locked and will not expire, but it did not explain why it’s implementing the policy on one platform but not the other.
Explaining the rationale behind the unusual decision, Rockstar said that download codes work differently depending on the platform and country of purchase, and the Japan-specific policy was put in place due to “regulatory restrictions” in the country. The company also recommended that gamers buy from local retailers to avoid potential activation problems.
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Following the announcement, many fans took to social media, slamming Rockstar for setting expiration dates on the download codes. While some likened digital gaming to renting rather than owning a product, others wondered whether Rockstar will also introduce a similar policy in other markets. Others joked that the much-hyped digital future looks brighter with every passing day.
It is worth noting that some gamers and social media commentators have speculated that the expiration date may not apply to the actual game, but only to the DLC content, which is available through a separate code in Japan. However, that still does not explain why the policy applies to PS5 but not Xbox. Rockstar has yet to clarify the matter.
GTA VI will launch on November 19, 2026, with the Standard Edition priced at $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition at $99.99. The game will be available only on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S at launch, with no word on whether there will be a PC version in the future. It is currently available for pre-order on the official Rockstar Store, the PlayStation Store, and the Xbox Store.
We also now know when it will be released: January 22, 2027.
Apple
The Apple TV series based on William Gibson’s genre-defining 1984 cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer, will hit the streaming platform on January 22 of next year. Apple dropped the news at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend alongside the first official teaser. Neuromancer stars Callum Turner, Briana Middleton, Mark Strong, Joseph Lee, Peter Sarsgaard and Clémence Poésy.
“‘Neuromancer’ follows a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Case (Turner) who is thrust into a web of digital espionage and high-stakes crime with his partner Molly (Middleton), a razor-girl assassin, as they pull off a heist on a corporate dynasty with untold secrets,” Apple says. The series will consist of 10 episodes and follow a weekly release schedule, with the first two dropping on January 22 followed by one per week through March 19. Apple has been killing it with sci-fi lately, so here’s hoping this continues that trend.
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It’s a good sign that Gibson, who is one of the show’s executive producers, seems to be happy with how it turned out. Sharing the teaser on Bluesky, the author posted, “Anyone who doesn’t see how very satisfied I’ve been throughout production doesn’t get what I most want out of an adaptatation [sic]. Mind you, that does tend to happen.”
Even as AMD’s GPUs have grown more competitive, the House of Zen has struggled to shake the perception that its chips are less capable because they don’t run CUDA. At its Advancing AI event in San Francisco this week, AMD unveiled ROCm.AI, which promises to let users vibe code their way to faster inference performance.
In reality, the so-called CUDA moat has become considerably shallower over the past few years as frameworks like PyTorch and JAX have made it possible for developers to write once and, for the most part, run anywhere without ever having to touch CUDA or AMD’s ROCm and HIP libraries.
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But just because the code runs, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s performant. Low-level programming interfaces like CUDA and ROCm remain key to unlocking a chip’s true potential.
However, hand tuning GPU kernels and general matrix-matrix multiplication (GEMM) routines to take full advantage of the silicon isn’t exactly something everyone has the experience necessary to do. But as it turns out, many of the same models developers are trying to optimize for are surprisingly good at it.
“For every generation of AMD GPUs, we have published not just the ISA spec. We actually publish the machine-readable ISA,” said AMD corporate VP of AI software and solutions Anush Elangovan, adding that as a result, “the frontier models are very, very capable of programming to AMD’s hardware.”
With ROCm.AI, AMD hopes to streamline this capability. The platform plugs into existing code assistants running on frontier models and provides them with the tools and documentation necessary to deploy, debug, and optimize models and serving frameworks for AMD Instinct hardware.
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One of these tools is an automated workload performance optimization system called Hyperloom.
When the tool is called, for example by prompting the code assistant to “optimize MiniMax M3 with Hyperloom,” it might spin up an inference server in a Docker container, run benchmarks to establish baseline performance, profile the workload to identify bottlenecks, and adjust the configuration or even generate custom CPU kernels on the fly, Elangovan explained.
In testing on AMD’s newly launched Helios racks, this process, Elangovan claims, was able to boost model performance by 38 percent over baseline.
“We want to give you the ability to eke out the maximum performance,” he said. “This makes it incredibly easy for anyone to consume, debug, profile, and deploy.”
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To further improve this process, AMD says that it’s leaning on its close relationship with AI model houses like OpenAI and Anthropic to ensure their models are trained to better understand the inner workings of both their hardware and software.
“We’re not just using the frontier model to generate a kernel,” Elangovan said. “We’re working deeply with frontier model companies so that they natively speak AMD programming.”
In addition to its built-in command-line interface, ROCm.AI will be offered as a plug-in for popular coding assistants, including Anthropic’s Claude Code, OpenAI’s Codex, Google’s Antigravity, and Cursor. ®
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 8, announced Wednesday during the company’s Unpacked event, launches with the price hike we expected, along with a few welcome tweaks to its design and software that could make the phone easier to use.
I got to demo the $1,200 Z Flip 8, and even though that’s a $100 spike from the starting price of last year’s Z Flip 7 for the same 256GB of storage, the phone is noticeably lighter and thinner than prior iterations. Samsung says that at launch, the 180-gram Flip 8 will be the lightest flip-style foldable phone on the market. When unfolded, the phone is 6.1mm thick, which is noticeably thinner than the Z Flip 7 (6.8mm) and Motorola Razr Ultra (7.2mm).
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 8 now lets you add apps with a simple function in the app drawer on the cover screen.Joseph Maldonado/CNET
But I was more impressed by a number of software tweaks coming to the Z Flip 8 that make it easier to use while closed. For starters, you can now add apps to the cover screen by scrolling up on the app drawer and tapping “Add apps” to access any app installed on your phone. Previously, you had to dig through various settings menus to do the same thing. This is also much closer to how the latest Motorola Razr phones let you use any app you want on their cover screens.
The Z Flip 8’s cover screen is also getting the “Recent apps” shortcut button for the first time — which is wild, since quickly switching tasks is such a basic function on the rest of Android. When I test flip-style phones, I’m most likely on the cover screen using Maps for transit directions while playing music and texting friends — that simple button means I can now swap between these directly without having to kick back to the lock screen. That’s also a feature already available on the Razr.
You can now easily switch apps on the cover screen.Joseph Maldonado/CNET
The Z Flip 8 carries over several features that debuted on Samsung’s Galaxy S26 phone line — for instance, the foldable’s video camera includes Super Steady with horizontal lock to smooth out movement while filming. And I had a lot of fun playing with a new camera feature called My Fan Cam, which uses Galaxy AI to identify subjects in a video and create a crop that only follows that person throughout the recording, as if the camera is exclusively focused on them.
Samsung’s My FamCam lets you make videos focusing on individuals within a clip. The center example is the original, while the other two focus on me and my colleague Tara Brown.Mike Sorrentino/CNET
The Flip 8 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy — which is the same custom version of the processor used for the Galaxy S26 phones as well as the foldable’s pricier siblings, the Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra, which were also announced at Unpacked.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a 6.9-inch display when unfolded.Joseph Maldonado/CNET
Other specs carry over from last year’s Z Flip 7, including the 6.9-inch internal display and the 4.1-inch cover screen. It’s the same for the cameras, which are a 50-megapixel wide-angle, 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10-megapixel selfie camera. The phone’s 4,300-mAh battery, 25-watt max wired charging speed and 15-watt max wireless charging are also the same. We’ll have to see when testing the phone whether the newer processor is efficient enough to improve the overall battery life.
The Galaxy Z Flip 8 in pink, cream and graphite colors. A mint color is also available as an online exclusive.Joseph Maldonado/CNET
The Galaxy Flip 8 comes in four colors: pink, graphite and cream, as well as mint as an online-exclusive offering. The phone goes on preorder today and will go on sale Aug. 7.
Mike Sorrentino
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Mike Sorrentino is a Senior Editor for Mobile, covering phones, texting apps and smartwatches — obsessing about how we can make the most of them. Mike also keeps an eye out on the movie and toy industry, and outside of work enjoys biking and pizza making.
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The first two of those three phones boast Samsung’s new Flex Titanium display technology, which gives them thinner, flatter, and more robust displays than any Galaxy foldables before them. And having spent time with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra already, I’ve been impressed with the progress Samsung has made in reducing the appearance of the crease, specifically.
From front-on, you can hardly make out the crease at all, and at an angle, it’s less obvious than on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Running my finger across the middle of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s display, there’s only a very subtle undulation running down the center. It’s so subtle that I’d wager you’ll stop registering that it’s even there after spending a few weeks with the new phone.
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And yet, for how impressed I am with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s display, I know there’s already something better available.
Enter the contender
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The Oppo Find N6 (left) and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (right)
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo Find N6 (left) and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (right)
(Image credit: Future)
The Oppo Find N6 launched in March 2026, four months earlier than Samsung’s Z8 series, and the big selling point was the claim that Oppo had managed to remove the crease in the foldable screen entirely.
Now, while that isn’t strictly true — at some acute angles, you can still see the crease — what is pretty amazing is the fact you can run your finger across the entire 8.12-inch display and not feel any interruption on the part of the screen that bends when folded.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have used most foldables, including reviewing the original Galaxy Fold, and the screen crease has always been there.
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Most of the time, when you’re looking straight-on at the screen, it does disappear as your eyes focus on the content, but have the light hit at a certain angle, or run your finger across, and you’re immediately reminded of the minor imperfection.
I was stunned when I first got my hands on the Oppo Find N6. Swiping my finger back and forth across the middle of the display and feeling nothing, I thought, ‘This is the next frontier of foldables.’
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The crease on the Oppo Find N6
(Image credit: Future)
The crease on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8
(Image credit: Future)
To make sure I wasn’t just looking at the Oppo through rose-tinted specs, I took it to the Samsung preview event so I could experience it side-by-side with the Z Fold 8 Ultra. And sure enough, the Oppo continued to impress with a screen that is smoother and flatter than Samsung’s, but not by much.
Which one is right for you?
The Oppo Find N6 (left) and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (right) (Image credit: Future)
Make no mistake, these are two very accomplished, flagship foldables. Both have similarly sized exterior and interior screens, and both are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is thinner, lighter, and actually readily available in multiple markets. It also has a brighter display (a peak brightness of 3,000 nits vs 2,500 nits on the Oppo) and the firm’s Galaxy AI, Now Brief, and Now Nudge features on top of Google’s Gemini assistant.
The Oppo Find N6 has the smoothest, flattest foldable display, an edge in the camera hardware, a bigger battery and faster charging — yet its availability is limited to just a few Asian markets at the time of writing.
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So, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra wins by default, which doesn’t feel particularly satisfying as a conclusion, but this shouldn’t diminish the progress that’s been made.
The main issue with foldable displays has been conquered. The next major hurdle we need manufacturers to clear is price.
The Z Fold 8 Ultra is available for pre-order for a lofty $2,099.99 / £1,899 / AU$2,999, which makes it Samsung’s most expensive foldable ever (if we ignore the limited-run TriFold). The Z Fold 8 (from $1,899.99 / £1,699 / AU$2,699) and Z Flip 8 (from $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,949) are cheaper, but they’re still not cheap.
So, if a manufacturer can find a way to deliver the same premium features for under $1,200/ £1,200 / AU$1,500, it could open the foldable floodgates.
Samsung’s new rugged smartwatch hasn’t changed much on the outside, but the biggest upgrades on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 are all hiding inside.
It has a larger battery, more powerful processor and new adventure features to take you from the office to the trails without extra gear. At $700 ($50 more than the original Galaxy Watch Ultra), it’s the most expensive watch in Samsung’s lineup, but it’s also the most durable and arguably the most interesting.
I’ve spent the past week testing the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, and while the verdict is still out on its long-term features, like health tracking and battery life, it’s clear that it can pull double duty as both an adventure-ready companion and a luxury smartwatch.
Whether its $700 price tag is justified depends on what you’re looking for. If you want Samsung’s most rugged watch with the biggest battery, brightest display and the most outdoor features, it could be worth the premium. But if the package matters less than the core smartwatch features, you may be better off getting the standard Galaxy Watch 9 (or even older models) for nearly half the price.
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The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 keeps the squircle frame, but increases size and brightness of the screen.
Galaxy Watch Ultra 2: First impressions
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 looks identical to the original. It has the same premium titanium case, sapphire crystal display, signature squircle design and three programmable physical buttons. But look closer and you’ll notice a few subtle upgrades.
The display is slightly larger (1.52” compared to 1.5” on the original), even though the overall watch is smaller and lighter. Samsung also redesigned the bands, making them thinner and more breathable so the watch sits flatter against your wrist, which the company says improves sensor contact. The new clasp mechanism makes them easier to swap than traditional watch bands, though it also locks you into Samsung’s proprietary system.
Side by side look of the two new Galaxy Watches: Galaxy Watch 9 and Ultra 2.Andrew Lanxon/CNET
The fact that I slept a few nights without ripping it off halfway through the night says a lot for a watch this size. I still wouldn’t choose to sleep with it long-term, but it’s noticeably more comfortable than I expected.
Samsung watches already have the best displays in the business, and the Ultra 2 kicks it up a notch with an even brighter, 5,000-nit display (vs 3,000 nits on the original) that looks flawless even in harsh mid-morning summer sun.
Galaxy Watch Ultra 2’s new trail running and diving features
The Ultra 2 edges closer to sports watch territory with a dedicated trail-running mode that surfaces real-time climb and elevation data, has offline trail map access and hydration reminders. I live near a regional park with hundreds of trail options, and I’ve been frustrated by traditional smartwatches that don’t account for uneven terrain or give me enough credit for the extreme elevation changes.
I took the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 on a trail run to test the new feature.
After a 5-mile trail run through the Northern California hills, I was impressed by two things: turn-by-turn audio navigation and real-time elevation tracking. I don’t like wearing headphones when I trail run because I prefer to stay aware of my surroundings, so hearing directions through the watch speaker is the perfect solution. It’s worth noting that getting a route onto the watch for those directions was tedious. Samsung says you’ll eventually be able to search for nearby trails directly from Google Maps, but that feature wasn’t ready during my testing, so I had to load a trail route from a .gpx file on my phone.
With real-time elevation tracking, the watch automatically broke my route into individual climbs and showed my progress. Having a live progress bar as I approach a hill gives me a tangible goal, making it easier to push through steeper sections.
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The trail running feature on the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 shows real-time elevation.
I was less enthused about the hydration reminders. I’d traded my water bottle for my tripod that day, so the three reminders I received during my hour-long trail run mostly fell on deaf ears. Considering the heat, I probably should have listened. But because the reminders are based on AI estimates of hydration loss rather than a dedicated sensor that measures sweat loss directly, I found myself trusting them less.
The Ultra 2 also debuts a recreational diving feature developed in partnership with Italian diving company Mares. Because it doesn’t track gas or oxygen consumption, it’s not meant to replace a dedicated dive computer. Instead, it seems aimed at casual recreational divers who want basic dive information on a device they’re already wearing. The app won’t be available at launch, so I’ll reserve judgment until I can test it myself later this year.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 has big changes under the hood with a new processor and bigger battery.
Galaxy Watch Ultra 2’s raise-to-talk Gemini
My favorite feature, however, has nothing to do with rugged adventure sports. It’s Gemini. I’ve already raved about how useful Google’s AI assistant is on your wrist in smartwatches like the Google Pixel 4, and the new raise-to-talk feature makes it even better.
No button presses or wake words required, just raise your wrist and start talking. This added layer of convenience made me much more likely to use it and helped me get things done completely hands-free. At the risk of sounding like a trad wife, I use it a lot in the kitchen. I had meat sitting in the fridge that was about to go bad, so I asked for a simple slow cooker carnitas recipe, and it delivered. I didn’t even have to smudge the screen with meat juice to get the step-by-step instructions read aloud. It’s also been handy for settling debates with my endlessly curious 9-year-old before he loses patience and I have to dig my phone out of my pocket.
Better battery life in theory, in practice its still TBD
The Ultra 2 packs an 800-mAh battery, up from 590-mAh on the original, paired with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Wear Elite processor, which should be more power efficient. On-device AI that optimizes battery life as it learns your habits. Samsung rates it for up to 60 hours with the watch’s always-on display enabled.
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The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is rated for 10ATM and be used for recreational diving.
It’s still too soon to know if that 60-hour claim is realistic because my initial results haven’t been great. That five-mile trail run chewed through nearly 30% of the battery, and I have yet to reach the watch’s promised 60-hour mark. I have gotten closer to 48 hours before needing to recharge, though.
Either way, don’t expect sports watch-level endurance. A Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, for example, can last more than a week on a charge. The Ultra 2 powers a brighter display, Wear OS and always-ready Gemini, all of which demand far more energy than what a dedicated sports watch.
Extra health and recovery tools
Both watches also get a new suite of health features, which feed into the redesigned Samsung Health app on your phone.
Vitals tracking can flag possible signs of illness by monitoring metrics like heart rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen and skin temperature. There’s also a new Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load to help guide recovery, and a Fitness Index assessment that uses AI to build you a personalized training plan.
Many of these features require at least seven nights of sleep before they unlock (which I haven’t yet logged), so I’m holding off on judging for now.
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I appreciate that Samsung isn’t putting these health insights behind a subscription the way companies like Whoop and Oura do. Some guided workouts and iFit content still require separate subscriptions, but the core health features are included with the watch.
Samsung also hasn’t confirmed whether these software features will come to older Galaxy Watches. So, for now, they’re another point in favor of upgrading.
The three new Galaxy Watches: Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, Galaxy Watch 9 (44mm) and Galaxy Watch 9 (40mm). Joe Maldonado/CNET
Should you upgrade to the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2?
After a week of testing, the Ultra 2 feels like more of an upgrade than its familiar design would suggest. If you’re coming from an older Galaxy Watch and want the latest hardware with the peace of mind that it’ll hold up to the elements, this is the one I’d be looking at.
But I still have plenty left to test. Many of the health features haven’t unlocked yet, and I need to spend more time with the battery before delivering a final verdict. Battery life, in particular, will make or break my recommendation — both over the Galaxy Watch 9 and for anyone considering upgrading from the original Ultra.
Vanessa Hand Orellana
Principal Writer
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Vanessa is a lead writer at CNET, reviewing and writing about the latest smartwatches and fitness trackers. She joined the brand first as an on-camera reporter for CNET’s Spanish-language site, then moved on to the English side to host and produce some of CNET’s videos and YouTube series. When she’s not testing out the latest health tech, you can catch her on a hike or trail run with her family.
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Saturday’s rollout of news and trailers at San Diego Comic-Con wrapped up three days of big reveals, and CNET was in attendance to keep up with it all. Marvel’s Hall H presentation was highly anticipated, but there aren’t any new teasers to share.
Still, we want to make sure you’re clued in to all the biggest trailer drops and release dates for upcoming movies and TV shows. Though fans got an early round of official trailers for Clayface, Other Mommy and Avengers: Doomsday ahead of the convention, Apple TV, Warner Bros., Prime Video, Paramount and more studios continued to push out sneak peeks and thrilling teasers for their slates.
What are the must-watch trailers so far? All of them, basically. You can catch Carrie, The Rings of Power, Lanterns, Avatar: Seven Havens and others, and also be sure to scroll through all the SDCC merch reveals that you may’ve missed, too.
Carrie
Stephen King gave his stamp of approval and is an executive producer for Prime Video’s Carrie TV series that’s set to premiere on Oct. 7. From director Mike Flanagan, the show drops Carrie into a modernized world where cell phones and the internet give bullies a larger audience. But just because the novel took place in 1974 and it’s 2026 now, it doesn’t mean this new take won’t have Carrie’s telekinetic abilities setting things on fire.
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Lanterns
When the Earth-heavy Lanters teaser dropped from DC a few months ago, it felt pretty full. There was Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan challenging John Stewart’s worthiness to carry a Green Lantern Corp. ring, desert-bound conspiracy vibes, flashbacks to John’s childhood and even a flash of Guy Gardner on screen. DC teased the ring’s powers, but with its new Comic-Con trailer released on Friday, things ramp up when Manhunters arrive on the planet to take out the Lanterns. Take a look at the interstellar enforcers and Sinestro in the trailer, and prepare for the series to land on HBO Max on Aug. 16.
Blade Runner 2099
Several years in the making, Blade Runner 2099 will debut on Nov. 25 on Prime Video. The eight-episode limited series is a sequel to the 2017 film Blade Runner 2049 and stars Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer, along with Sheila Atim, Katelyn Rose Downey, Dimitri Abold and Daniel Rigby among the cast.
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Set in an alternate version of LA where replicants run things, and the humans play second fiddle, the series sees Yeoh’s replicant Olwen chasing down outlaw replicants who’ve gone missing. With her own shelf life on a ticking clock, the stakes are high for her and for her human fugitive partner, Cora (Schafer).
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Season 3
Remember in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all that talk of “the One Ring to rule them all?” Well, season 3 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is going to be all about that. These episodes take place five years after season 2, and by the looks of things, Sauron’s war with the elves is going strong, and he’s expanded his power across the majority of Middle-earth. Now all Sauron has to do is forge that pesky One Ring so he can, well, rule them all.
Jamie Campbell Bower joins the cast as the elven lord Celeborn, Galadriel’s husband and noble warrior in the fight against Sauron. This season will also introduce Nazgnagôl, better known as the Ringwraiths, in an early form of the corrupted ringholders in the story. The new season debuts on Nov. 11 on Prime Video.
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Reacher, season 4
Season 4 of Reacher, which is based on Gone Tomorrow, the 13th book in Lee Child’s hit novel series, finds Jack Reacher traveling from rural America to the streets of Manhattan. Switching gears from previous seasons, the new installment finds Reacher immersed in a political conspiracy, leaving him with few people he can trust.
Stuck on the streets of New York, with the FBI and CIA on the hunt for Jack Reacher, this season finds our hero once again immersed in a mission to bring evildoers to justice. It just so happens that this time, that bad guy is apparently running for president. Alan Ritchson is back as Reacher alongside series newcomers Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette, Sydell Noel, Agnez Mo, Anggun and Kevin Corrigan.
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Neagley
Maria Sten’s Neagley has been one of Jack Reacher’s fiercest and most skilled protégés. Now in her own spinoff show, she’ll be taking shots in the name of justice and ends up uncovering something grimmer than imagined. Season 1 of the action series debuts on Prime Video on Sept. 16.
Queen of the Damned
AMC’s Interview With the Vampire series is poised to slide into its fourth season with a focus on the vampire Akasha and has titled the new season as Queen of the Damned. Season 3 (titled The Vampire Lestat) brought her into the story and introduced actor Sheila Atim as the very first vampire. Atim, along with co-stars Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman and Eric Bogosian, appeared in Hall H to share the news.
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Matchbox The Movie
Kids who played with Matchbox cars when they were young grow up and learn their friend is a CIA agent who gets them caught up in a case. That’s the premise of Apple TV’s new comedy film starring John Cena as the spy and Jessica Biel, Teyonah Parris, Sam Richardson and Arturo Castro as said friends. You can stream the movie on Oct. 9.
Neuromancer
Apple TV’s sci-fi shows tend to be top-notch, and the cyberpunk-themed Neuromancer looks like it could be a remarkable addition. Callum Turner is Case, a hacker who gets drawn into a dangerous life-or-death game involving espionage, artificial intelligence and deceit. Based on William Gibson’s 1984 novel, the TV adaptation will have 10 episodes and premiere on Jan. 22, 2027.
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Coyote vs. Acme
Formerly shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery, the film is an animation-meets-live-action story that Ketchup Entertainment picked up and will open in theaters on Aug. 28. Fed up with Acme’s unreliable products, Wile E. Coyote decides to hire a lawyer and sue the company. Will Forte plays Kevin Avery, who represents Coyote in his case, with John Cena as Buddy Crane, corporate counsel for Acme. The movie also features Lana Condor along with a host of Looney Tunes characters like Porky Pig, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn and Granny (who gets dinged by an anvil).
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, season 3
A host of new gods and demigods are set to descend in season 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, including Aphrodite and the children of Hades. The new eight-episode installment will premiere on Nov. 20.
Back in January, Disney Plus gave viewers a tease of what’s to come when it dropped with a scene of Percy (Walker Scobell) and Annabeth (Leah Sava’ Jeffries) hitting the dance floor at a middle school dance. But things get a little darker and more dangerous this time for the Camp Half-Blood kids.
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Based on the third book in Rick Riordan’s series, The Titan’s Curse, this season takes Percy and crew on a rescue mission to save the goddess Artemis (played by Dafne Keen). Viewers will be introduced to the titan Atlas (Holt McCallany), Annabeth’s human dad (Jesse L. Martin), and Olympian gods Hera (Ming-Na Wen), Demeter (Jennifer Beals) and Apollo (Hubert Smielecki). Kate McKinnon plays Aphrodite.
Ebenezer
Johnny Depp made a surprise appearance at Comic-Con, donning a costume as Ebenezer Scrooge for the upcoming movie, where he plays Charles Dickens’ legendary miser. The film, due in theaters on Nov. 13, also features Rupert Grint, Ian McKellen, Daisy Ridley and Sam Claflin in a star-studded cast.
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Avatar: Seven Havens
From the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this new series picks up after The Legend of Korra and follows a pair of twin avatars, one of whom is Korra’s successor. Marked as an omen of destruction during a time when the spirit world and physical world are imbalanced, Pavi — and her sister Nisha — will need to look to the past to discover who they are and find a way to save the Seven Havens. The animated series debuts this fall on Paramount Plus.
Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO
Kenji Kamiyama is directing the new anime film from Sola Animation, which will serve as a sort of prequel. Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO takes place about 100 years before Gundam Rogue Orbit, breaking down the origins of the world that fans are familiar with. Guided by Kamiyama’s vision, the 2027 movie will also tie in with a video game universe.
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Regular Show: The Lost Tapes
An extended sneak peek for the new season of Regular Show: The Lost Tapes is now out for our consumption. When the show was revived as The Lost Tapes, it gave viewers new adventures with Mordecai and Rigby through the lens of Pops keeping up with them from the afterlife. Well, there are more VHS tapes to dig through when the next season lands on Cartoon Network and HBO Max this September.
Stuart Fails to Save the Universe
HBO Max’s spin-off of The Big Bang Theory follows Kevin Sussman’s Stuart as he tries to undo the damage he caused after breaking one of Leonard and Sheldon’s inventions. A multiversal, reality-hopping, trippy joyride ensues, where viewers see alternate versions of characters they know and much more. The first episode debuted on July 23, but a clip was shared during the show’s Comic-Con panel. You can stream new episodes on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Dark Matter, Season 2
Apple TV’s panel also included a preview of Dark Matter’s second season, which draws the Dessen family deeper into the mysteries of The Box. Their stability is threatened, as is that of Amanda and Ryan when the series returns on Aug. 28.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 4
During Star Trek’s 60th anniversary celebration in Hall H on Saturday, the crew gave the audience a sneak peek of what’s coming in season 4 of Strange New Worlds.
Kourtnee Jackson
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Kourtnee covers streaming services and entertainment. She previously worked as an entertainment reporter at Endgame 360, where she wrote about film, television, music, celebrities and streaming platforms.
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Aaron covers what’s exciting and new in the world of home entertainment and streaming TV. Previously, he wrote about entertainment for places like Rotten Tomatoes, Inverse, TheWrap, Washington Post and The Hollywood Reporter. Aaron is also an actor and stay-at-home dad, which means coffee is his friend.
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GitHub and PyPI (Python Package Index) have introduced a time-based mechanism in the Dependabot dependency management tool to protect against supply-chain attacks and to limit their impact.
Specifically, Dependabot comes with a default three-day cooldown setting, while PyPI will reject new files uploaded to releases older than 14 days.
The measure comes after the two development ecosystems experienced multiple high-profile attacks over the past year. Some notable examples include the ‘chalk’ and ‘debug’ attacks, the “s1ngularity” operation, the Shai-Hulud campaign, and the GhostAction supply-chain attack.
GitHub announced last month changes to tackle supply chain threats, and the hardening process progresses with the new measures.
GitHub adds Dependabot cooldown
Dependabot is GitHub’s dependency-update service that reads files containing information about new package versions and opens update pull requests to notify software maintainers.
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The tool now delays the package update process for 72 hours to reduce the risk of automatically adopting newly published malicious packages.
In many recent cases, malicious npm packages were detected and flagged by security tools within minutes of being published.
However, quick detection alone does not remove the threat, as repository maintainers and vendors must still take action to remove the packages, leaving a window during which developers and projects may download and incorporate the malicious code.
While GitHub explained that the period of three days was chosen as a balanced point between avoiding risky releases while keeping up with the latest upgrades, it noted that users still have the option to configure a shorter or longer delay through Dependabot’s ‘cooldown’ configuration option.
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GitHub highlighted Dependabot’s cooldown limitations against longer-term compromise, recommending the use of lockfiles for dependency pinning, restricted-scope tokens, and disabling unnecessary installation scripts in CI.
PyPI blocks release poisoning with 14-day cutoff
PyPI announced that it now blocks maintainers from adding new files to a package release after 14 days have passed since its publication.
The measure is intended to prevent attackers who compromise publishing tokens or workflows from poisoning old, trusted releases.
The platform found that only a very small percentage of projects legitimately uploaded more than two weeks after publishing a release.
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It should be noted that no known past attacks on PyPI have been confirmed to use the said release poisoning technique that this new measure blocks, but the platform is acting preventatively in this case to block a dangerous possibility.
Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.
The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.
Emma Woodhouse discusses her role in manufacturing and supply chain systems, the skills that keep it all moving and how pets have no regard for work deadlines.
Accenture’s Emma Woodhouse, a manufacturing and supply chain systems manager for manufacturing execution systems (MES), specialises in designing and implementing electronic batch records that help improve efficiency, quality and compliance for global pharmaceutical clients, bringing their production processes into the digital age.
“No two days are the same in my role as a manufacturing execution systems designer, which is one of the things I enjoy most about the job,” she told SiliconRepublic.com.
“One thing I’ve learned is that no matter how carefully you plan your day, there is always potential for a new challenge to appear when you least expect it. That’s part of what keeps the role interesting.
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“Managing workload requires balancing multiple tasks and deadlines across different projects. Technical documentation, testing activities and troubleshooting are also important parts of the role, helping to ensure that solutions are delivered to a high standard and also perform as expected.”
What types of projects do you work on?
The nature of MES projects can vary based on the specific requirements of the client. Some projects may be on a large global scale where a client is looking to roll out MES implementation across multiple or all of their manufacturing sites around the world. This presents an opportunity to pursue a standardised approach in terms of the design of the electronic batch records.
These projects challenge me to think creatively about how processes can be simplified, standardised and made more efficient while still meeting the needs of different manufacturing sites. I enjoy working through complex requirements and finding solutions that can be reused and scaled across a wider program.
Alternatively, a project may be on a smaller scale working with one manufacturing site to implement or improve master batch records, often due to a new product introduction, new equipment introduction or some other driving force for process improvement. These types of projects often allow project teams to form a tight-knit group which aids collaboration.
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Some of the most rewarding projects have been those where I have been involved from the initial design stages right through to testing and deployment. Seeing a solution go from a concept on paper to a system that is actively supporting manufacturing operations is incredibly satisfying.
What skills do you use on a daily basis?
My role draws on a combination of technical, analytical and interpersonal skills every day.
Problem-solving and attention to detail are particularly important, as I am often translating complex manufacturing processes into electronic workflows while ensuring compliance with strict quality and regulatory requirements. I also use project management and organisational skills to balance multiple priorities, meet deadlines and co-ordinate activities across different workstreams.
While the technical aspects of MES are important, a significant part of the job involves working with people from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. I regularly collaborate with manufacturing operators, engineers, quality specialists, validation teams and project managers, all of whom may have different perspectives and priorities. Being able to listen, ask the right questions, and clearly explain technical concepts has become just as important as the technical knowledge itself.
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Manufacturing environments are constantly evolving and projects can change direction as new requirements emerge. Being able to learn quickly, think creatively and adjust to new challenges has been invaluable.
What are the hardest parts of your working day and how do you navigate them?
One of the most challenging aspects of my role is balancing the need for focused, uninterrupted work with the demands of collaboration.
Designing and configuring MES solutions often requires significant concentration, yet projects also involve regular meetings and stakeholder interactions across multiple functions, all of which are essential to delivering the right solution.
To navigate this, I prioritise my workload carefully and try to structure my day around key objectives. I set aside dedicated time for tasks that require focus, while also ensuring I remain available for collaboration and support when needed. Having a clear understanding of priorities helps me stay productive and prevents smaller tasks from distracting me from the most important deliverables.
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Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is also important.
Working in a fast-paced industry means there can always be another task to tackle, but I’ve learned the value of stepping away from work and recharging. For me, spending time on my own hobbies such as DIY, coding and music production is a great way to switch off after a busy day.
My three dogs are also very effective at enforcing work-life balance. They have little interest in project deadlines, but they’re extremely committed to their walk and fetch schedules.
Taking that time to disconnect helps me return to work with a fresh perspective and ultimately helps me be more effective in my role.
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How has this role changed as the sector has grown and evolved?
When I explain my job to friends and family, many are surprised by how digital modern pharmaceutical manufacturing has become. The reality is that technology now plays a central role in ensuring medicines are produced safely, efficiently and consistently.
Historically, many manufacturing processes relied heavily on paper-based documentation and manual data entry. Today, there is a much greater focus on digital systems, automation, data integrity and real-time access to information, which has expanded both the scope and impact of the role.
As technology has advanced, MES designers have become more involved in designing connected, data-driven solutions that support efficiency, quality, and compliance across the manufacturing life cycle. There is also a growing emphasis on standardisation, scalability and leveraging data to drive continuous improvement. This means the role now requires not only technical expertise but also a strong understanding of business processes, regulatory expectations and how different digital systems interact within a manufacturing environment.
One of the most exciting developments has been the increasing use of digital technologies to simplify complex processes and reduce the administrative burden on manufacturing teams.
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As the sector continues to evolve, we’re seeing growing interest in areas such as AI-assisted workflows, advanced analytics and greater systems integration across manufacturing operations. These developments have the potential to further improve efficiency, support faster decision-making and help teams extract more value from manufacturing data.
What do you enjoy most about the job?
What I enjoy most about my role is the opportunity to solve complex problems and see the real-world impact of the solutions I help create.
I enjoy solving puzzles, and that’s often what the role feels like, except the puzzles involve manufacturing processes, technology, regulations, and occasionally several competing opinions in the same meeting. I enjoy the variety that comes with the role and the fact that there is always something new to learn.
Equally important are the people I work with. MES projects bring together experts from many different disciplines, and I enjoy the collaborative nature of the role. Working with colleagues to overcome challenges, share ideas and deliver successful outcomes makes the job both enjoyable and fulfilling.
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