Ridley Scott gives update on Gladiator 3 and next Alien movie | Digital Trends

August 29, 2025August 28, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Director Ridley Scott revealed several promising updates about two very intriguing films.

In an interview with The Guardian, Scott revealed that Gladiator 3 is “in process right now.” He also claimed that a third Alien prequel will come if he “gets an idea for it.”

Scott’s most recent film, Gladiator II, was well-received in theaters in 2024 and was listed in the National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films of the Year. This threequel could premiere to much more fanfare in the near future as it continues the story set in Gladiator II, most likely following Lucius (Paul Mescal) as the new leader of Rome.

Scott told The New York Times that he plans to film Gladiator 3 after completing both The Dog Stars and his Bee Gees biopic, the latter of which has yet to begin filming. Since Scott hasn’t come up with a story for another Alien prequel, it is now likely that Gladiator 3 will hit theaters sooner.

Star Wars: Starfighter cast revealed. Who will star alongside Ryan Gosling? | Digital Trends

August 29, 2025August 28, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

We’ve long known that Star Wars: Starfighter would star Ryan Gosling, but as production gets underway, Lucasfilm has announced the full cast.

The film, which is directed by Shawn Levy, will star Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams, in addition to Gosling. Recommended Videos

Some of those names were already public knowledge, but Adams is a major revelation. As has been the case with all Star Wars projects over the last decade, Starfighter is shrouded in secrecy. It’s difficult to predict what role any of these actors, including Adams, might be playing.

Donald Trump: Inside the Indian factories hit hard by US’s 50% tariffs | BBC News

August 27, 2025August 26, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

An eerie silence hangs over N Krishnamurthy’s garment manufacturing unit in Tiruppur, one of India’s largest textile export hubs.

Only a fraction of some 200 industrial sewing machines on the floor are in operation, as workers make the last of the season’s children’s garment orders for some of the biggest US retailers.

At one end of the room, piles of fabric samples for new designs are gathering dust – casualties of US President Donald Trump’s steep 50% tariffs on India, set to kick in from Wednesday.

India is a major exporter of goods, including garments, shrimp and gems, and jewellery, to the US. Trade experts say the high tariffs – including a 25% penalty for buying Russian oil and weapons – are akin to an embargo on Indian goods.

BBC correspondents visited key export hubs across India to assess how the trade uncertainties are impacting business owners and livelihoods.

Donald Trump orders removal of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook | BBC News

August 27, 2025August 26, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook will file a lawsuit challenging her removal by President Donald Trump, setting up a potential standoff between the president and the US central bank.

“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook,” her lawyer Abbe David Lowell said in a statement.

The president has said there was “sufficient reason” to believe Cook had made false statements on her mortgage, and cited constitutional powers which he said allowed him to remove her.

The unprecedented move comes as Trump has put increasing pressure on the Fed – especially its chair Jerome Powell – over what he sees as an unwillingness to lower interest rates.

SpaceX slams state broadband funding, wants satellite internet everywhere | Mashable

August 21, 2025August 20, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

SpaceX is again battling states over internet funding, as the company pushes a satellite-first agenda amid a growing need for direct internet connections.

In a filing submitted to the Louisiana Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity on August 15, the company accused the state of wasting taxpayer money and succumbing to pressure from so-called “fiber lobbyists” by dedicating $400 million to state fiber installations and only $$7.7 million to Starlink deployment. SpaceX argues that it can connect “virtually all” in-need households for less than $100 million. Last week, SpaceX levied the same accusations against a Virginia funding proposal, which only gave $3.2 million to the telecom company.

Pixel 10 launch: Every Made by Google announcement | Mashable

August 21, 2025August 20, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Maybe to avoid the jargon-heavy format of last year, Google decided to flip the script at its annual Made by Google showcase.

Instead of the usual California stage presentation with slides and specs, this year’s event went full late-night. Hosted in New York, it played out like a special, offbeat episode of The Tonight Show, with Jimmy Fallon chatting alongside celebrities and Google execs about the new Pixel lineup and smart devices. Think less keynote, more variety show — though the hardware news was still the real star of the night.

It wasn’t all hardware either. Google spent just as much time hyping up its Gemini AI integrations, which now thread across every new Pixel device. From smarter camera tools to real-time translation and live call assistance, AI is still at the forefront of Google’s smartphone ambitions.

Air Canada strike ends after airline and flight attendants reach tentative agreement | CNN Business

August 20, 2025August 19, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Air Canada and a union representing the airline’s flight attendants have come to a tentative agreement, ending a days-long strike that canceled thousands of flights and stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers.

“Flight attendants at Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge have reached a tentative agreement, achieving transformational change for our industry after a historic fight to affirm our Charter rights,” said Hugh Pouliot, spokesman for the Canadian Union for Public Employees (CUPE), in a statement Tuesday. “Unpaid work is over. We have reclaimed our voice and our power.”

Lawyer argues Meta can’t be held liable for gunmaker’s Instagram posts in Uvalde families’ lawsuit | CNN Business

August 20, 2025August 19, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A lawsuit filed by families of the Uvalde school shooting victims alleging Instagram allowed gun manufacturers to promote firearms to minors should be thrown out, lawyers for Meta, Instagram’s parent company, argued Tuesday.

Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the May 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The families sued Meta in Los Angeles in May 2024, saying the social media platform failed to enforce its own rules forbidding firearms advertisements aimed at minors.

FDA issues warning over possible radioactive shrimp | Live Science

August 19, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Frozen shrimp imported to the U.S. from an Indonesian-based company may have been exposed to a radioactive substance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned Tuesday (Aug. 19).

The products were processed by PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, also referred to as BMS Foods. The FDA launched an investigation after U.S. Customs officials detected cesium-137 (Cs-137) — a radioactive form of cesium — in shipping containers carrying the shrimp that were delivered to Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah, Georgia, and Miami.

Analyses of the containers’ contents confirmed the presence of Cs-137 in one sample of breaded shrimp. The containers that tested positive were not allowed to enter the U.S., and no products that tested positive have entered the food supply.

How the EPA’s backtracking on vehicle emissions will impact the shift to EVs | Fast Company

August 12, 2025August 11, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. government is in full retreat from its efforts to make vehicles more fuel-efficient, which it has been waging, along with state governments, since the 1970s.

The latest move came on July 29, 2025, when the Environmental Protection Agency said it planned to rescind its landmark 2009 decision, known as the “endangerment finding,” that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. If that stands up in court and is not overruled by Congress, it would undo a key part of the long-standing effort to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

As a scholar of how vehicle emissions contribute to climate change, I know that the science behind the endangerment finding hasn’t changed. If anything, the evidence has grown that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet and threatening people’s health and safety. Heat waves, flooding, sea-level rise, and wildfires have only worsened in the decade and a half since the EPA’s ruling.