Oscar nominations in a pandemic year

In news that probably won’t shock you as much, this year’s Oscars reflects a year spent mostly indoors and not in theaters. The Academy announced the nominees for the Oscars 2021, and Netflix is, once again, the frontrunner, with 31 nominations.

Not all of these nominations will guarantee wins, of course, but David Fincher’s Mank topped the shortlist. Her 10 nominations included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Gary Oldman) and Best Supporting Actress (Amanda Seyfried).

It wasn’t just Netflix, either. Amazon picked up the nominations for Borat: Later Moviefilm, and Hulu’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday was also recognized. Disney +, even, the last streaming service here, was nominated for Soul, while Apple TV + quietly won two nominations.

The pandemic has given these services a huge chance to win awards. We’ll have to wait until April 25 to see who wins, but I doubt that fits with last weekend’s Grammys show.

– Mat Smith

How much is a good night’s sleep worth?

Editor Terrence O’Brien wants more sleep. Video producer Brian Oh too. This made them the perfect duo to try out Bose’s second-gen Sleepbuds. If you were desperate to block out the outside world completely and have a hard time falling asleep every night, they could be a great investment – if they were a little cheaper. As Terrence puts it, “A portable $ 250 white noise machine borders on the absurd.” Read on.

These games started in a single warehouse in 2017, but are rolling out widely now.

A few years ago, we wrote about Amazon’s attempt to gameify warehouse work with social mini-games. Yes, I shivered too. The company is said to be in the midst of a “major expansion” of the program, called FC Games. What started in a warehouse in 2017 has now rolled out to 20 states, according to Information.

Naturally, Amazon says employees told it they appreciated “having the opportunity to participate in these desktop games.” The mini-games feature leaderboards and competitions against other employees, both in a single warehouse or against people in other facilities in the United States. “The games aren’t particularly good, although some people like it because it helps improve the staggering boredom of a 10-hour shift,” an Amazon employee said. Information. In summary, the games have mixed reviews. Read on.

It will work with your Switch, PC and mobile.

8BitDo launched the SN30 Pro + Bluetooth controller tracker released in 2019, and it offers additional features for the same price. The $ 50 8BitDo Pro 2 has two back buttons that you can assign any function to, so you don’t have to take your thumbs off the controllers. You can program the buttons or remap them using a connected app on iOS or Android. You can even create dedicated controller profiles for certain games or platforms through the new app. The controller is available for pre-order now. Read on.

It will make its debut aboard the upcoming iX electric SUV.

BMW’s iDrive infotainment system is one of the best and it’s about to get a completely modern upgrade with natural language processing, gesture controls and cloud-based machine learning. iDrive 8 will arrive on the upcoming BMW iX and i4, and drivers will be able to give BMW’s Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA) a personalized name and display various on-board functions and information readings using verbal or non-verbal commands. . A new 12.3-inch curved screen for your gauges and monitors, as well as a 14.9-inch control (playback, infotainment) screen, support behind-the-scenes intelligence. Read on.

You are a grown man, Elon.

In the midst of Tesla’s filing with the SEC, Elon Musk apparently claimed a new title, the “Technoking of Tesla,” for some reason. The company’s chief financial officer, Zach Kirkhorn, has a new position that comes from Game of thrones: Master of the currency. There is also probably a nod to the recent Bitcoin machinations of Tesla and Musk himself. Last month, Tesla bought $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to help “diversify and maximize” its returns. The news pushed the price of Bitcoin up to an all-time high of over $ 44,000.

The file notes, “Elon and Zach will also retain their respective roles as CEO and CFO.” Read on.

But wait, there is more …