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What’s on TV: ‘Alita: Battle Angel’

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This week is light on big gaming releases, but sports fans can check out the MLB All-Star Game Tuesday, and ESPN’s Espy’s celebration on Wednesday. For movie fans, you can snag Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel from digital retailers before the Blu-ray edition lands in a couple of weeks, while on TV there’s a new US adaptation of Love Island and a new season of Top Gear. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

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Netflix picks up heist movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot

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There’s no release window at this early stage, although shooting for the movie starts in 2020.

If Deadline‘s report is accurate, this is both a sly ploy and one of Netflix’s biggest moves in recent memory. To start, the budget was already slated to be huge by Netflix’s recent standards — the production budget may hover around the $130 million range, with Johnson’s salary alone accounting for $20 million. Netflix had its heart set on the picture for a long time, too. It was reportedly the runner-up for bidding on the movie in 2018, and was ready to give Thurber’s team everything it wanted when a window of opportunity came up during the path to production. Universal had slated the movie for November 2020, but apparently had doubts.

The timing is ironic, at least. Netflix chief Ted Sarandos supposedly told executives in June that he wanted them to be pickier with big-budget productions — either this is one of the chosen few to make the cut, or someone didn’t get the memo. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Netflix open its wallet for a title like this, mind you. Even if the star power doesn’t translate to massive viewership, it could send a message that Netflix is open to giant A-lister movies that weren’t even an option a few years ago.

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Sling TV gets a new look on Apple TV and Roku

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For Apple TV, a new “information view” will dominate the top half of your Sling TV screen and let you view details of a show as you scroll over its title. The “My TV”, “On Now” and “Guide” tabs are now in the center of your Sling TV screen. Remember those annoying pop-up notifications that ask if you want to resume playing, watch live or start from the beginning when you switch between channels? Gone forever, so you can watch tv faster. A new search bar lets you view popular searches from other Sling TV users, and sorts your search results into categories like “top searches”, “shows” and “channels”.

For Roku users, an updated information view will feature a full-screen design and information about other seasons. Updated player controls let viewers play, pause or record content. You can also add shows to your favorites or turn on closed captioning.

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‘Stranger Things 3’ has been seen by over 40 million Netflix accounts

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The company treats a view as anyone having watched at least 70 percent of an episode or movie. It didn’t break down the audience by region.

The view count isn’t completely surprising given the sheer amount of hype involved, but it’s still a major feat. Netflix broke its movie record in June, when Murder Mystery garnered nearly 30.9 million views in three days — Stranger Things is well past that, and makes earlier TV shows seem downright modest. It took Umbrella Academy, one of Netflix’s bigger series, a month to reach 45 million account views.

Yes, this is clearly about bragging rights. Netflix wants to show that it’s a top dog in the streaming world, and that any misgivings about Stranger Things‘ performance are firmly in the past. This does demonstrate that Netflix’s viewership still has room to grow, however, and that its flagship shows can be cultural events in the right circumstances.



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Amazon orders comedy series from ‘Girls Trip’ writer Tracy Oliver

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It’s still early days for the show, which was originally called Harlem and is currently being referred to as the Untitled Tracy Oliver Project. The production will be a single-camera comedy following the lives of four women — friends since college — as they navigate sex, relationships and chasing their dreams. Other than that, details of the upcoming project are scant. “This series is a dream project for me,” said Oliver. “I found the perfect partners in Amy Poehler, Amazon Studios and Universal, who have championed this project from the beginning. I can’t wait to get started and share the story of these four women navigating the complexities of adulthood through their unbreakable friendship.”

Oliver will executive produce along with Poehler and Kim Lessing from Paper Kite, as well as 3 Arts’ Dave Becky. The Oliver show joins a selection of other female-focused scripted originals by Amazon, including The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Fleabag and Hanna. Given the testosterone-packed focus of most of Amazon’s roster (including Jack Ryan, The Boys, the upcoming Nazi-hunter show The Hunt and the upcoming The Lord of the Rings series), the comedy series will bring a much-needed dose of variety to the streaming platform.

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Black Ops 4’ is getting a fresh batch of zombies on July 9th

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According to Activision, Apocalypse Z will introduce several new maps and game modes that will feature zombie content. While details on the new modes are a bit sparse, we know that there will be a continuation of the classic Zombies story called “Alpha Omega” and it will allow players to jump in as both the Primis and Ultimis characters for the first time. Gamers will get their hands on new weapons and will be able to operate the combat robot Reaper. The game’s Blackout battle royale-style map will also get a zombie-themed overhaul.

While Apocalypse Z should keep gamers killing zombies for quite some time, it’s worth noting that some of the multiplayer maps — including the latest addition to the Zombies storyline — requires Black Ops Pass. While the pass was available with some versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, gamers can pick one up for an additional $50 from most major retailers.

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Maryland is already out of EV tax credits for 2019

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The fact that the state burned through the funds so quickly speaks to the growing popularity of EVs and plug-in hybrids. The number of EVs registered in Maryland reportedly doubled from 2017 to 2018, and it reached more than 18,000 in February. Maryland has a goal to register 300,000 EVs by 2025, and it doubled its funding for the 2019 EV tax credits. But a backlog of applicants from the previous fiscal year meant that all of the money for 2019 was spoken for before July 1st. Unless the state can come up with more funding, it’s likely a similar scenario will play out next year, too.

EV owners are still eligible for federal tax credits, but those aren’t a guarantee, either. The Trump administration has toyed with slashing the incentives (up to $7,500 on the purchase of a new EV) from the 2020 budget. As EV sales continue to increase and funds for tax credits dry up, states might have to get creative and look toward incentives like fast charging and low power rates.

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1989 promo shows the ‘Terminator’ NES game that never was

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The game hadn’t been in development for long before the CES promo tape was ready, and Sunsoft couldn’t show much more than the splash screen and cutscenes. That didn’t stop the studio from dishing out the hyperbole, though. It claimed this was the first game to include “movie footage and interactive graphics technology,” and bragged that this would be the “most amazingly lifelike” home console game you’d ever seen. No one was going to mistake this for the 1984 movie, of course, but Sunsoft was clearly hoping that cinematic look would sell copies.

The developer reportedly lost the license after the game basically abandoned the movie plot. Instead of Sarah Connor escaping the T-800 with the help of Kyle Reese, it had Reese fighting Terminators in a Skynet-controlled future.

You may know the rest of the story. Sunsoft’s big movie tie-in at the time would be Batman, and the first Terminator game was Bethesda’s 1990 first-person PC title. The first console games didn’t surface until 1992, well after T2: Judgment Day hit theaters. Still, it’s interesting to imagine what would have happened had Sunsoft kept the license. While the NES release might not have blown anyone away (Silius wasn’t a timeless classic), it might have set a different tone for Terminator games going forward.

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Apple re-released its decade-old iOS ‘Texas Hold’em’ game

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Apple actually released Texas Hold’em back in 2006 — before the App Store even existed. It was initially available for iPod before iPhone card sharks were able to get their hands on it in 2008. Apple pulled the game from the App Store in 2011.

Now, it’s back under the same app listing, which says Texas Hold’em has returned to “celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the App Store” instead of the 11th anniversary, for some reason. In any case, the decade-long gap between version histories in the patch notes just has to be a record.

Texas Hold'em App Store version history

Texas Hold ’em 2.0 includes 10 poker venues, and winning at one means you’ll move onto the next. It works offline, though you can pit your wits against up to eight friends in multiplayer. You’ll have the option between first-person and top-down gameplay, while you can call up hints, stats and player ratings. If you look closely enough at your opponents, you might even pick up on tells when they have a particularly strong or abysmal hand. All those updates mean the app will take up a sizable 1.5 GB of space on your iPod touch, iPhone or iPad.

Apple, of course, is placing a bigger focus on gaming with its Apple Arcade subscription service arriving soon. It also worked on Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard game a couple of months back — the first time it had developed a game since Texas Hold ’em. Maybe Apple’s been bitten by the game dev bug again, which might please some of the folks who reviewed its “sick” poker game back in the day.

Texas Hold'em App Store reviews

Texas Hold'em App Store reviews

Texas Hold'em App Store reviews

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Instagram’s anti-bullying tool lets you ‘restrict’ problematic followers

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Today, Instagram announced two new tools meant to combat bullying. The first will use AI to warn users if a comment they're about to post may be considered offensive. In theory, it will give users a chance to rethink their comments. The second will a…

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