Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Anthem looks like a promising step in a new direction for BioWare, the studio behind Dragon Age and Mass Effect. But it’s not there yet, clearly.

Publisher Electronic Arts picked the final weekend in January to serve as the timeframe for Anthem‘s “VIP Demo,” ahead of a Feb. 22 release. Unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a mess.

Anthem is an online-focused game with “live” features that shift and evolve according to a schedule, not unlike recent favorites such as Destiny 2 or The Division. What that means is there’s a bunch of different moving parts, many of which are difficult to test inside the studio prior to release. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Gaming, Electronic Arts, Bioware, and Anthem

It took hours, but Germany finally agreed on a plan to close its coal power plants and rely heavily on renewable energy sources.

The country will shut down 84 coal-based power plants — that’s all of them — by 2038 a government group decided on Saturday. The commission convened in Berlin to map out how to move away from coal. 

Fossil fuels still account for about 40 percent of Germany’s power, according to The Guardian, despite recent gains in renewable energy sources. The country also plans to move away from nuclear energy by 2022. Once it gets there, renewable energy will be the main source of power.  Read more…

More about Energy, Climate Change, Germany, Coal, and Science

A dog show is already a magical land where dreams come true, but one innovative attendee made a good thing even better.

Sally Kuchar arrived at the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show on Saturday with one goal: Pet 100 dogs. It was an optimal place for such an undertaking. The Golden Gate show is a bench show, which means that the dogs hang on on assigned benches (and are available for meet and greets) while they’re not being shown.

“Folks are encouraged to walk around and familiarize themselves with the breeds, and petting is very, very encouraged,” Kuchar explained via email.

So Kuchar made the rounds. Throughout the day, she took 100 videos of 100 dogs, each better (or good-er, if you’re still into that lingo) than the last. Read more…

More about Twitter, Dogs, Social Media, Culture, and Animals

Nothing keeps out thieves and ne’er-do-wells more effectively than a D Minor musical composition.

That’s the latest idea Tesla CEO Elon Musk proposed for his 360-camera theft prevention “Sentry Mode” that he plans to bring to electric Tesla cars with Enhanced Autopilot. He says a “rough” beta will be released sometime in February.

The latest details of the car monitoring system — that sound like a joke, but knowing Musk are possibly real(??) — were introduced on his Twitter page Saturday night. Musk claims the watchful cameras will play Bach’s Toccata and Fugue composition. He also said thieves might hear the metal versions of the classical piece. Read more…

More about Tesla, Electric Vehicles, Rick And Morty, Tech, and Elon Musk

Daniel Radcliffe, who will one day be introduced as something other than the star of the Harry Potter series (but today isn’t that day), is ready for the Super Bowl.

He revealed as much in an interview with Variety at the Sundance Film Festival, which Radcliffe is attending to promote his upcoming TBS series Miracle Workers. Asked who he’s rooting for in the Feb. 3 showdown between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Ram, he responded with a succinct, matter-of-fact answer: “Rams.”

More about Celebrities, Culture, Super Bowl, Daniel Radcliffe, and Tom Brady

Broke English majors, take your places. A homeowner in Alberta, Canada is selling her $1.7 million (CAD) home via essay contest.

Alla Wagner is searching for a new owner for her 5,000 square foot home, which, according to a report from CNN, has “three bedrooms, three full baths and two half baths, in addition to a wine cellar, panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and a pond.” Not bad.

Here’s how it works: Entrants must write a short letter (maximum 350 words) explaining why they should get the house, then mail or email it to Wagner along with a $25 entry fee. Once Wagner collects roughly 68,000 entry fees — enough to cover the house’s value — she will publish a group of semi-finalist essays on social media so people can vote for their favorites. Then, the 500 entries with the most votes will be whittled down by an “independent panel of judges,” who will select three finalists. These three finalists will then be interviewed. One of them will get the house. Read more…

More about Facebook, Contest, Social Media, Culture, and Web Culture

Jackson Maine — er, uh, Bradley Cooper — joined Lady Gaga onstage Saturday night for a surprise performance of “Shallow,” the duo’s hit song from A Star Is Born.

Cooper was in the audience for Gaga’s Enigma residency in Las Vegas, and the crowd enjoyed a nice surprise when he popped onstage for the duet. (There could be 100 people in a room, but only one Bradley Cooper was in A Star Is Born.) 

Gaga was visibly moved by the experience, giving Cooper the universe’s longest hug and kneeling at his feet for the first verse. Read more…

More about Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

The fascination with all things Friends doesn’t let up, even after the actors in the beloved sit-com have moved way on. It’s been nearly 15 years since the final episode aired. But with the show still streaming on Netflix it really refuses to die.

Matt LeBlanc, who played the goofy Joey and still fields questions about the show all the time, had some new secrets to divulge on Friday’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he was pushing his new season of Man with a Plan. 

LeBlanc admitted to having taken some nostalgia-inducing items from the apartment set where his fictional self lived with Chandler (played by Matthew Perry). One is the foosball table and the other is the Magna Doodle magnetic drawing toy that the roommate hung on the apartment door. The Magna Doodle even made it into the spin-off series Joey. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Tv, Friends, Matt Leblanc, and Joey

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part can’t help that The Lego Movie already exists. 

So maybe it’s not really this film’s fault that it can’t generate the same surprise and wonder that its predecessor did, or that it had much higher expectations to live up to. There’s probably nothing to be done about the fact that the premise feels a little less fresh, the jokes a little more familiar.

All the same, it’s hard not to feel a tiny bit disappointed by The Second Part. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a solid sequel — sweet and funny, with lots of crowdpleasing moments featuring your favorite characters, and another heartwarming real-world message to boot.  Read more…

More about Movies, The Lego Movie 2 The Second Part, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

That pet hedgehog might not be such a great idea after all.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a notice Friday about 11 Salmonella infections across eight states, and in all but one of the cases the people had been in contact with a pet hedgehog.

Only one person has gone to the hospital because of the outbreak, but health officials are concerned about the growing number of cases infecting people in Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, and Wyoming.

Those infected are 2 to 28 years old and the infections started in October. The same Salmonella strain was found in three hedgehogs from two infected people’s homes in Minnesota. It’s not clear yet if a common hedgehog supplier can be traced back, but in the meantime hedgehog owners are advised to be careful. Read more…

More about Cdc, Hedgehog, Diseases, Salmonella, and Science