Now he’s best known for the crime-fueled duology of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but when Vince Gilligan was first starting out in television, it was in the realm of sci-fi. Over seven years he penned a number of classic episodes of The X-Files, ranging from a monster-themed spoof of Cops to a bizarre high-speed car chase that was his first collaboration with Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston. And now he’s back in the genre with the upcoming Apple TV series Pluribus, which starts streaming in November.

But Gilligan tells me that, while he had been itching to return to sci-fi, actually getting there was a bit of an accident. “I didn’t m …

Read the full story at The Verge.

In 2019, Apple Arcade launched with roughly 70 premium mobile games that had no ads, no in-app purchases, and no sex or violence. Some of the games in the initial launch period, like What the Golf?, were praised for their innovation and depth beyond what’s typically expected of mobile games. In the six years since, Apple Arcade has grown its game offerings, and while it maintains its credo of family-friendly content, its library no longer garners the same critical praise.

Alongside Netflix’s mobile games subscription service, it seems that Apple Arcade has shifted its focus toward titles that offer endless engagement with little depth. How …

Read the full story at The Verge.

In 2019, Apple Arcade launched with roughly 70 premium mobile games that had no ads, no in-app purchases, and no sex or violence. Some of the games in the initial launch period, like What the Golf?, were praised for their innovation and depth beyond what’s typically expected of mobile games. In the six years since, Apple Arcade has grown its game offerings, and while it maintains its credo of family-friendly content, its library no longer garners the same critical praise.

Alongside Netflix’s mobile games subscription service, it seems that Apple Arcade has shifted its focus toward titles that offer endless engagement with little depth. How …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Halfway through its first season, Apple’s Mythic Quest threw a wild curveball with “A Dark Quiet Death†— an unexpectedly dramatic episode that chronicled the rise and fall of another video game development team. “A Dark Quiet Death†was the first instance of Mythic Quest switching up its comedic formula to tell an earnest story about what makes people fall in love with games. And since then, every season of Mythic Quest has featured a backstory episode that felt emblematic of the series’ narrative strengths.

Side Quest, Apple TV Plus’ new Mythic Quest spinoff miniseries, feels a lot like a collection of “A Dark Quiet Deathâ€-style episodes as it introduces a slew of new characters (and brings back a couple of veterans) whose lives have all been touched by one of the world’s most popular games. When I recently spoke with Side Quest’s co-creators, Ashly Burch, John Howell Harris, and Katie McElhenney, they told me that the new show’s stylistic similarities to Mythic Quest’s forays into the past were entirely intentional. But after years of focusing on characters who see themselves as larger-than-life gods, the Side Quest team was much more interested in …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Humans: a popular online comic strip is being adapted into a new format for your amusement.

And by that I mean that Apple TV Plus is turning Nathan W. Pyle’s Strange Planet comic into an animated series, with Dan Harmon on board as co-creator and executive producer. It’s described as an “adult” animated series, and the first episode will premiere on August 9th.

The comics follow a pair of aliens struggling to understand human life and customs and describing things in, well, alien ways. It rose to popularity through social media before becoming a hit graphic novel. Here’s an example:

The series will feature some notable voice talent, including Tunde Adebimpe, Lori Tan Chinn, Danny Pudi, Hannah Einbinder, and internet legend Demi Adejuyigbe. It also fills in a gap in Apple TV Plus’ lineup, which doesn’t currently have much in the way of adult animation.

And as I said earlier this week — there is a lot of sci-fi streaming this summer. Now, there’s even more.

With Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event just around the corner, the chances we’ll see a new Samsung smartwatch very soon are high. If you can’t wait until then, though, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 has hit a new all-time low at multiple retailers. Right now, you can buy the Bluetooth-enabled 40mm wearable at Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from Samsung in select configurations starting at $199 ($80 off). You can also buy its 44mm variant, which offers a larger screen and battery, starting at around $229 ($81 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart.

The lightweight Android watch offers all the standard health, fitness, and sleep tracking features you’d expect, along with some unique extras, including body composition analysis. It can also measure your skin temperature, comes with a new sapphire crystal glass cover for improved durability, and offers better battery life than its predecessor. Just be mindful that there are some features only Samsung phone owners can take advantage of, which really only makes the Watch 5 the best fitness tracker if you already own a Samsung phone.

Read our Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 review.

As the first $70 Nintendo Switch game, any deal on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is worth a look. Today’s deal, though, is one to pay particular attention to given it’s one of the better prices to date on the recently released Nintendo Switch title. If you’ve yet to get your hands on what is arguably this year’s biggest game, Amazon is currently selling the standard version for $57.80 ($13 off), which is just $1 shy of its all-time low. My Best Buy Plus and My Best Buy Total members, meanwhile, can get the game for free when they buy two Nintendo Switch games from this list.

The newest Legend of Zelda game is similar to its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, in both its storyline and gameplay. However, it comes with some new building tools, which people have been using in some pretty fun — and sometimes downright weird — ways.

Read our Tears of the Kingdom review.

If you missed out on the 15-inch MacBook Air deals we saw on the laptop shortly after its debut, fret not because they’re back. Right now, you can buy the M2-powered MacBook Air 15 at Amazon and B&H Photo with 8GB of memory, 256GB of storage, an eight-core CPU, and a 10-core GPU for $1,199 ($100 off), which matches the laptop’s best price to date.

The latest MacBook Air is the perfect laptop if you’re looking for a lot of screen real estate but don’t want to buy one of the higher-end, more expensive MacBook Pros. It doesn’t offer quite the same level of power as the Pro models, but it’s more than capable of handling your average workload and most entertainment needs. At the same time, it’s relatively affordable, with a larger display and better speaker array than the 13-inch MacBook Air from last year.

Read our 15-inch MacBook Air review.

Don’t leave just yet…

• Amazon Prime members can already take advantage of significant discounts on Amazon devices ahead of Prime Day next week. Right now, for instance, Prime members can buy the new Echo Pop for just $17.99 ($22 off) along with the latest clock-equipped Echo Dot with an 800-lumen Sengled smart bulb for $29.99 ($44.99 off). You can even buy older devices at new lows, like Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max, which is on sale for just $24.99 ($30 off).
• You can grab the Belkin BoostCharge Pro for $27.50 at Amazon or for $23.99 direct from Belkin, the latter with promo code EARLYBTS23. The excellent wireless charger provides 15 watts of power to MagSafe-compatible iPhones and comes with a 6.6-foot cable.
• In addition to a new smartwatch, Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy Z Flip 5 is likely to make its debut during Samsung Unpacked. If you want a terrific foldable right now, however, you can buy an unlocked Galaxy Z Flip 4 at Amazon and Best Buy with 128GB of storage for $899.99 ($100 off). The Flip 4 folds into a pocketable 3 x 2-inch block, yet it’s still plenty powerful and comes with a spacious 6.7-inch 120Hz screen. Read our review.
• Valve is still taking up to 20 percent off various configurations of the Steam Deck through July 13th, with the 64GB base model starting at $359.10 ($40 off). It’s a powerful handheld overall, one that functions as a portable gaming PC you can use to play a wide range of games. Read our review.

Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air has been a hit among early buyers, including yours truly. In a new interview with Inc, Apple product marketing executives explain what went into creating the machine – attributing it largely to the flexibility provided by Apple Silicon chips compared to Intel.

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The post Intel prevented Apple from making a 15-inch MacBook Air: “It just did not say ‘Air’ to us”  appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Palmer Luckey hasn’t been shy about his enthusiasm for Apple Vision Pro. In a new podcast interview, the cofounder of Oculus has nothing but good things to say about Apple’s $3,500 mixed reality headset and what it means for the future of virtual reality.

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The post Oculus cofounder sees the future in Apple Vision Pro appeared first on 9to5Mac.