Daily Archives: September 21, 2020

SUCCESS INSIDER: What people in the C-suites of Apple, Facebook, Disney, and 90 other big tech and media compa – Business Insider India

Posted: September 21, 2020 at 6:59 pm

Earlier this month, S&P Global Market Intelligence reported that the average total CEO compensation for tech, media, and communications executives was higher than in all other sectors in 2019, at $26.3 million. The next highest-paid group of CEOs were those in the financial-services sector, whose average total compensation was $8 million less.

To help people better understand the compensation that technology and communications executives were receiving, we created a database of the most recent publicly available compensation data for information-technology and communications firms in the S&P 500.

Natasha Oakley has been an entrepreneur since graduating high school, when she founded her own production company out of her native Australia. Now with an Instagram following that tops 2 million, her business savvy has taken social media by storm, and the startup she cofounded on a $30,000 loan is a multimillion-dollar brand.

Betty Thompson likes to ask job candidates how they managed their last job change and she's listening for signs that they're proactive about their professional development. The most successful Booz Allen Hamilton employees, she said, take ownership of their careers.

Australias News Media and Digital Platforms Bargaining Code is Great Politics But Questionable Economics – ProMarket

Posted: at 6:59 pm

If the Australian government wants to subsidize high-quality journalism then it should, well, subsidize high-quality journalism. The new proposed ACCC code would mess with the entire business model of tech companies and ultimately harm consumers.

Editors note: follow our coverage of the dispute between Google, Facebook, and the ACCC here.

We Australians are rightly proud of a number of world firsts. We pioneered the secret ballot, were the first country to allow women to stand for elected office, and we initiated the use of ranked-choice voting.

And so it is, with both a degree of parochialism but also pride, that there has been considerable public fanfare about the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions (ACCC) proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Bargaining Code which is under consideration by the Australian parliament. According to the proponents of this code, when legislated, it will be the first in the world to force technology companies to strike a fair deal in paying for content from media companies, thereby helping preserve high-quality journalism and the ensuing public benefits that flow from such journalism.

So should we chalk up another win for Australian democratic exceptionalism? Im not so sure.

The ACCC code is often presented (for example, by ACCC head Rod Sims) as being a simple matter of tech companies paying for getting free content from the media companies that produce it. As Australias Treasurer Josh Frydenberg put it: It was going to be very difficult to reach an agreement between the parties to ensure that the traditional media businesses that prepare the content, that they get rightly and fairly paid for itThis is really a question of fairness. If you prepare the content and the digital platforms are using it to bring traffic to their websites, then they should pay for it.

The reality is considerably murkier.

Yes, tech companies play an important role in the media market through search, and social media in the case of Facebook. And yes, which articles rank highly in a news search have an impact on the profitability of media companies, and hence on their incentives to invest in high-quality journalism. But tech companies do not, in fact, make much money out of clicks on ads from news-related queries in Australia (Google reported that it made about A$10 million in such revenue in 2019).

Perhaps more importantly, the proposed bargaining code will force tech companies to give media organizations advance notice of changes to their algorithmsan extraordinary infringement on core intellectual property. And the code has substantial penalties built-in: Failure to comply with it could lead to tech companies paying fines equivalent to 10 percent of local revenue, on top of other payments to news organizations.

It is little wonder then that Google and Facebook have suggested that, if this is the price of being in the Australian market, then they might simply prefer not to be in itseverely compromising the user experience of millions of Australians who use Google, YouTube, and Facebook for news content.

Its not hard to understand how we got to this position. An overzealous competition regulator looking to make a splash has targeted Big Tech companies. The journalists who report on the issue blame Big Tech for the loss of jobs in the media industry. And the media companies for whom they work stand to benefit handsomely from the new rules. Politicianswho live and die at the hands of the medianaturally end up siding with the press. Throw into the mix a good dose of nativismthe Big Tech companies are foreign but the journalists working for the media companies are mostly Australiansand you have a perfect storm of tech-busting sentiment that gets little scrutiny.

But is the proposed bargaining code good economics? I have my doubts. And it seems likely that issues to do with horizontal competition among media firms and appropriate investment in high-quality journalism could be better addressed with other policy tools, rather than the ACCCs code.

To assess the ACCC bargaining code, one first needs to understand a few facts about the modern Australian media market.

The first is that, as in most countries, Australian newspaper revenues have fallen significantly in recent decades. Consulting firm AlphaBeta found that between 2002 and 2018, newspaper revenues fell from A$4.4 billion per year to A$3.0 billion. The overwhelming majority of this decline was the loss of classified advertising, which fell from A$1.5 billion in 2002 to just A$0.2 billion in 2018. As the following chart shows, most of that was captured by online pure-plays targeting specific market segments such as motor vehicle sales, job ads, second-hand goods, or real estate listings. Companies like Google and Facebook captured essentially none of this revenue.

Other sources of newspaper revenues have been relatively stable. Print subscriptions have declined but online subscriptions have increased sharply. Print display advertising has fallen but has been more than offset by increases in online display revenues.

Over the same period, tech companies like Google and Facebook have captured a large share of the overall online advertising market, as the following figure highlights.

The size of online search advertising has grown from almost nothing (A$0.1 billion) in 2002 to A$3.6 billion in 2018. Most of this growth came from new sources, with only A$0.8 billion of the A$3.5 billion in revenue growth estimated to have come from print directories.

The contrasting fortunes of media and Big Tech companies are important in two ways. First, it shows that traditional media has lost about one-third of its revenues because of classified advertising being decimated. One might call this the Craigslist phenomenon. Second, it shows that tech companies have done very well over the same period, but not by cannibalizing media company revenues.

Yet it is arguably the decline of one sector (traditional media) and the rise of another sector (Big Tech) that makes for a tempting exercise in scapegoating. There is some relationship between Big Tech and media, and during the period that media has been hammered, Big Tech has flourished. But this is more a tale of one industry in secular decline while another is in the ascendancy, rather than tech companies outcompeting traditional media in the same industry.

This is more a tale of one industry in secular decline while another is in the ascendancy, rather than tech companies outcompeting traditional media in the same industry.

That said, Google and Facebook are important gatekeepers of news traffic in Australia. About one-third of news content comes from Google searches and a further one-sixth via Facebookso about half in total. But these tech companies do not allow users to bypass paywalls erected by media companies. Many major mastheads in Australia: the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, The Australian, The Age, and Daily Telegraph (all owned by either News Corporation or Nine Entertainment) have paywalls for accessing digital content. Indeed, these companies now generate around 50 percent of their revenues from subscriptions. And these companies employ a significant number of Australian journalists producing original content.

There are also sites like the Guardian, the national public broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), The Conversation, New Daily, and others that offer free content. They also employ many Australian journalists producing original content. Both paywalled and non-paywalled sites also report news from other sources like the Associated Press wire service, their competitors, and broadcast media.

All these sites benefit from internet search. Search directs traffic to their sites, where the media companies can show paid advertising or even convert those customers into subscribers. Deloitte estimates that such search generates about A$218 million a year for Australian media companies through these channels. The real point of contention is one about competition among different media organizations, not between media organizations and Big Tech.

Media companies with paywalls complain that their sites rank low down the list of searches on, say, Google. This is, in general, true. Just try searching for news yourself and see which news sites are near the top. In fact, a few years ago paywalled sites werent even indexed by Google. These companies complain that they are disadvantaged relative to free media sites. They are.

It is unclear that Google does this intentionallyit would be natural to conclude that free sites have better click-through and therefore do better according to Googles algorithm. In any case, it is the existence of these free sites apparently satiating the needs of many media consumers that causes grief for News Corp, Nine Entertainment, and other Australian media companies with paywalls.

This raises the question of whether Google or other tech companies are doing something that is not in the public interest with the way they order search results. Consider for a moment if one was a social planner designing search algorithms for news from scratch. Which results would rank near the top? It might well be socially optimal that free sites are ranked highly.

Moreover, competition in the market for news from media companies that dont charge for content is almost surely good for consumers. It expands choice and it has, as an empirical matter, led to some high-quality entrants into the Australian media landscape such as The Guardian and The Conversation. To the extent that tech companies facilitate competition that is good for consumers, it is hard to see why they should be sanctioned for doing so, especially by the competition regulator.

Regardless of where one comes out on the above issues, the question remains as to whether the way in which the ACCC code reallocates bargaining power is the most efficient one. As a matter of principle, an intervention that seeks to remedy a market failure should do so in a way that preserves as much economic value as possible, consistent with correcting the market failure.

Does the ACCC code do this? Again, it appears not.

The two key elements of the code are that:

There is also a requirement that tech companies inform media organizations about the nature of consumer data the tech companies collect through interactions with news pages.

The arbitration process involves an arbitration panel appointed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). The arbitration follows so-called baseball arbitration, where each party makes an offer and whichever offer is closer to the panels determination becomes binding.

As all economists know, the gains from trade in a bargaining situation are split among the parties to the bargain. The most useful framework for thinking about how those shares are determined is due to Nobel-prize winning mathematician John Nash (of A Beautiful Mind fame). Under (generalized) Nash bargaining, each party gets her outside options plus some share of the gains from trade (that share being reflective of the relative bargaining power). This share is known as the Nash bargaining weight.

The arbitration procedure above does something more than alter the Nash bargaining weight. It changes the outside options of the parties (potentially dramatically) and inserts the value judgment of a government-appointed panel. Given the relish with which politicians have sided with media organizations and against the tech companies, there is every reason to suspect that the panel members chosen will be more sympathetic to the media companies.

Given the possibility of losing a dramatic amount of completely unrelated advertising revenue in such an arbitration process, it is of little wonder that the tech companies might want to avoid being involved altogether by simply having nothing to do with media searches in Australia. This would lead to a significantly diminished consumer experience for Australians of all agesfrom kids doing school projects to citizens unwilling or unable to pay for subscription services wanting to stay informed. In short, it is a highly value-destroying regulation.

The algorithm-sharing provision is potentially even worse. We will have to wait until seeing the final details of the legislation to understand exactly how it would work, but it is hard to see how one can give effect to the intent of it without requiring tech companies to share important details of their algorithm. Those details are, in short, the very heart of their business. One could expect tech companies to avoid having to do so at essentially all costs. Lets not forget that Google became Google when its founders had a really good idea and built a better search mousetrap. Giving other companies visibility into that mousetrap constitutes an extinction-level risk for the tech companies.

As a side note, opaqueness around search and other algorithms is important to prevent gaming of those algorithmsa core component of what it means for them to work well. This optimality of opacity is an important phenomenon in a range of contexts (especially in incentive schemes), as I pointed out in a 2018 paper with Florian Ederer and Margaret Meyer.

One thing there is fairly general agreement about is that high-quality news and journalism is a critical component of a well-functioning democracy. Whatever the market forces aresuch as the demise of classified advertisingthat have put the funding of such journalism under threat, there is a strong case for government intervention.

The most natural intervention is to subsidize high-quality journalism. This is something that has been done for decades through national broadcasters such as the BBC in the UK and, indeed, the ABC in Australia. This occurs in a more decentralized fashion in the US through organizations such as PBS, which rely on private fundraising.

To put this all in perspective, the figures outlined above show that the entire media industry in Australia has lost roughly A$1.4 billion per year in revenue. This is, according to the media companies themselves, the sum total of what has put journalism at risk. Lets be generous and adjust for wage inflation and call that A$2 billion a year.

We could discuss clever mechanisms to raise this money and then how to allocate it to the right media firmsperhaps acknowledging that there is something odd about taxpayers writing checks to Rupert Murdoch. But lets bracket all that.

If the Australian government wants to subsidize high-quality journalism then it should, well, subsidize high-quality journalism. Given that the 10-year bond rate in Australia is currently about 90 basis points, the carrying cost of A$2 billion a year of media subsidies would be A$18 million a year. Thats 72 cents per Australian per year. Seventy. Two. Cents.

I think we can cover that.

Messing with the entire business model of tech companies that deliver huge value to Australian consumers would be a vastly inferior option.

See the original post:

Australias News Media and Digital Platforms Bargaining Code is Great Politics But Questionable Economics - ProMarket

Posted in Big Tech | Comments Off

Let’s take a closer look at the latest Cyberpunk 2077 trailers – PC Gamer

Posted: at 6:58 pm

During the last Night City Wire we saw two new trailers for Cyberpunk 2077, one highlighting the city itself and the other detailing its main gangs. Both trailers are hefty downloads of information, some of it already mentioned in sources like the recent World of Cyberpunk 2077 book published by Dark Horse, some of it elaborating on things we've already seen.

About 30 seconds into Postcards from Night City we get a glimpse of Johnny Silverhand at a food stand. He 's probably not really there, of course, since he's just a manifestation of the digital Johnny inside the protagonist's head. Shame he can't enjoy the meat skewers.

An overview of the Night City media includes a montage of local TV programs and celebrities, like Ziggy Q, the guy in the gold jacket who is apparently the host of a variety show called 'Night After Night with Ziggy Q'. One of his guests looks like she might be Lizzy Wizzy, the pop star voiced by real-world singer Grimes. Ziggy Q may not be as big a name as he seems, though. Take a closer look at the moment where he struts past his screaming fans, and you'll see those fans are all mannequins.

After that come the pop stars with cybernetic eyes. The spider look is particularly freaky. According to the World of Cyberpunk 2077 book these are members of Us Cracks, a manufactured pop group sponsored by Kiroshi Opticals who all sport Kiroshi-brand eyes.

Following some nightclub scenes, we see the protagonist's POV as they take 20 milligrams of something or other. Pay attention to the hands in the scene immediately following and you'll see they're different. The ring and tattoo are the same as Johnny Silverhand's, and the next scenewhere he's taking a swig from a bottle while a lady, er, does something below the view of the camerais probably one of his memories we'll see in flashback.

The illustrations of homelessness, crime, and the police response that follow include a view of a MAX-TAC officer from one of the 'psycho squads' who deal with sufferers of cyberpsychosis. His gear looks almost exactly the same as the gear worn in the very first Cyberpunk 2077 teaser trailer all the way back in 2013.

After one more look at digital Keanu Reeves, this trailer ends with a promo for the Night City tourism website, which is real and full of pop-up versions of the billboard advertisements that populate all these moody shots of the cityscape. One of them is for a car called the Aerondight, a name it shares with one of the best swords Geralt can find in The Witcher 3.

The second trailer, Gangs of Night City, opens on Takemura, an NPC we don't know very much about except that he must be important since he already has an action figure and a Funko Pop (yes, really). There's also a quick namedrop of the Scavs. From what other sources have said, they're the gang who deal in aftermarket cybernetics, which is a polite way of saying they kill people and harvest their augmentations. And their organs, and anything else of value.

The first gang properly featured are the Maelstrom, who are into illegal body modification and rock a lot of subdermal plating. Their headquarters is the Totentanz Club, which players of the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG will remember, along with the Maelstrom themselves. This is what they looked like back then.

Sidekick NPC Jackie introduces the Valentinos, who seem to have evolved from the posergang of Cyberpunk 2020 to become a primarily Hispanic gang with a thing for Santa Muerte iconography. Their rivals are 6th Street, proud American suburbanites who Johnny Silverhand is apparently not a fan of. That's Keanu complaining they "vomit lofty patriotic bullshit all day".

Next up are the Voodoo Boys, who are hackers, or netrunners in the slang of Cyberpunk. The cybercop talking about the "blackwall" is a member of NetWatch, the computer police who prevent rogue AIs from the Old Net from breaking through the blackwall into the safe and regulated cyberspace of 2077. The Voodoo Boys want to tear down that wall for reasons of their own. Though we see one of them presumably about to cut off a chicken's head, whether they do much with the voodoo theme remains to be seen. Maybe he's just about to get a stew going.

Here's Mike Pondsmith discussing the Voodoo Boys and the Animals, a boostergang who bulk up with vat-grown implanted muscles, ultratestosterone, and equine growth hormone. And yet in the trailer they howl like wolves instead of neighing like horses. Missed opportunity if you ask me.

According to the World of Cyberpunk book the Tyger Claws are based out of Japantown, but contain members whose heritage comes from other parts of Asia as well. They've got close ties to the Arasaka corporation, who provide them with gear. The guy with the glowing red mantis blades on his arms is rocking a Tyger Claw mask with an Arasaka logo on it, and his shoulderpad is Arasaka-branded as well. I don't know about you, but I will probably spend a lot of time killing them and taking their stuff. Yes, I want a katana.

The Mox protect Night City's sex workers, and are based out of Lizzie's Bar. It's a braindance club where patrons can plug themselves into VR recordings. Braindances, including illicit ones that are potentially harmful to those who experience them, will apparently be a central part of Cyberpunk 2077's plot.

Finally, the trailer covers two groups of nomads who live in the wasteland between cities. Both are from the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG, where the Wraiths were one of the "Raffen Shiv", groups who were outcast even among the nomads due to their banditry. Meanwhile, the more respectable Aldecaldos were the original nomads, the first family to leave the deteriorating cities and make a new life on the road. For a couple of years Johnny Silverhand hid out with them while he was on the run, so they'll probably play a part in his storyline.

The trailer ends with an aerial map of Night City, though there's one thing missing from itthe Orbital Air Space Center that ferries passengers into Earth orbit. Whether that's just an omission or something to be explained in the next round of trailers, or in the game itself, is something we'll have to wait and see.

If you're still hungry for more, here's everything we know about Cyberpunk 2077 so far, and here's a timeline of major events in the Cyberpunk RPG's setting.

Read the original here:

Let's take a closer look at the latest Cyberpunk 2077 trailers - PC Gamer

Posted in Cyberpunk | Comments Off

Cyberpunk 2077 will be ‘slightly shorter’ than The Witcher 3 – PC Gamer

Posted: at 6:58 pm

RPGs can be quite long, and just thinking about starting a new one ages me. That's another grey hair just appeared. Especially these days, where game length is wielded like a weapon by marketing teams, so many games seem to want us to spend 100 hours on them. Cyberpunk 2077, however, is not among them.

Chatting with streamers Alanah Pearce, Deejay Knight and Cohh Carnage after the last Night City Wire, senior quest designer Patrick K. Mills didn't offer a number, but he did say Cyberpunk 2077 would be shorter than The Witcher 3's main story. You can watch the clip below (cheers, Datsaucy).

"We do know the main story run in Cyberpunk 2077 is slightly shorter than The Witcher 3 because we got a lot of complaints about Witcher 3's main story just being too long," Mills said. "Looking at the metrics, you see tremendous numbers of people played through that game really far but never made it to the end. We want you to see the full story, so we did shorten the main story, but we have lots to do."

I put around 120 hours into The Witcher 3, which took me through the main story, DLC quests and expansions, though it wasn't quite a completionist runI did leave a few question marks on the map. According to How Long to Beat, just the main story takes players an average of 51.5 hours, which is considerably shorter but still a big chunk of time.

Only a quarter of players actually stick around until the credits, at least on Steam, so most people don't get the complete story. That's actually a pretty respectable number, even for a much shorter game, but if I spent the better part of a decade working on an epic RPG like Cyberpunk or The Witcher, I'd probably like a few more people to actually experience it in its entirety too.

Game length is a poor way to measure a game's quality, but if you are looking for something to gobble up all of your hours, Cyberpunk 2077 might still have you sorted. With side quests and exploration, it could be as long or even longer than Geralt's adventurewithout more details on a completionist run we just don't know.

When I finally finished The Witcher 3, I just wanted more of it, but I've started to favour shorter games more and more in the five years since then, simply because they're easier to fit into my life. Even if I end up devouring every morsel and spending an unhealthy amount of time in Night City, it's nice to know I can wrap it up in less than 50 hours if I want. I won't, but I like having the option.

See the original post here:

Cyberpunk 2077 will be 'slightly shorter' than The Witcher 3 - PC Gamer

Posted in Cyberpunk | Comments Off

Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements revealed, here’s what you’ll need to play – GamesRadar+

Posted: at 6:58 pm

The Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements have finally been revealed, and they're surprisingly approachable even if you have a low-to-mid tier machine.

Developer CD Projekt Red shared both the minimum system requirements and the recommended system requirements on the latest episode of Night City Wire. Here are both sets:

That's way more modest than I was expecting! Especially in terms of the GPU, which is nowhere near requiring those shiny new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000 cards, and the hard drive space. There have been Call of Duty: Warzone updates that were almost as big as the entire Cyberpunk 2077 game.

Granted, you'll still get even better visuals and performance if your PC exceeds those specs. For instance, We know that Cyberpunk 2077 will capitalize on Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics effects, since the game got a beautiful trailer showcasing its performance on the new GeForce RTX 3000 series. Ray-traced reflections on shiny surfaces, beautifully fuzzy halos around bright neon light sources, and more all await if you're playing with an RTX card.

For your reference, these are the specs of the machine that CD Projekt Red used to run its big E3 2018 demo:

You'll be able to do missions or just get drinks with a lot of Cyberpunk 2077 companions - though some of them will probably end up wanting you dead.

Read the rest here:

Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements revealed, here's what you'll need to play - GamesRadar+

Posted in Cyberpunk | Comments Off

PureArts’ ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Johnny Silverhand Statue Comes With an LCD Screen and Speakers – HYPEBEAST

Posted: at 6:58 pm

Ahead of the highly-anticipated release ofCyberpunk 2077, premium collectibles maker PureArts has crafted a revolutionary statue of Keanu Reeves character Johnny Silverhand, featuring as much tech as youd expect from a cyberpunk franchise.

Officially licensed from the games developer CD Projekt Red, the polyresin statue comes in a 1/4 scale and boasts all the details featured in the game itself, including his Tony Stark-like shades, his iconic silver cyborg arm, and even a replica of his guitar. It also comes with a series of interchangeable accessories such as Malorian Arms and a cigarette, but the most impressive part of the collectible is the tech it comes with: aside from an LED display base, Johnny Silverhand stands in front of a 13.3-inch HD LCD screen displaying various game-themed graphics while a dual speaker system plays tunes from the upcoming titles official soundtrack.

Expected for delivery during the first half of 2021, PureArts new Cyberpunk 2077 Johnny Silverhand multimedia statue will be available in either a Deluxe or Regular Edition, both limited to just 2077 units made. The former will retail for $900 USD, while the latter will go for $850 USD. Head over to the companys website to order yours.

For more things design, mastermind JAPAN and Medicom Toy have released a BE@RBRICK aroma diffuser.

Go here to see the original:

PureArts' 'Cyberpunk 2077' Johnny Silverhand Statue Comes With an LCD Screen and Speakers - HYPEBEAST

Posted in Cyberpunk | Comments Off

Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire: How To Watch Today’s Stream – GameSpot

Posted: at 6:58 pm

As the November release for Cyberpunk 2077 draws closer, developer CD Projekt Red has prepared the third part in its Night City Wire series. The new episode will be streamed today, September 18, at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET and will focus on Night City and the gangs who inhabit it.

You'll be able to watch the latest Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire video in several different places, including the official CD Projekt Red Twitch channel. You can also check the developer's official YouTube channel, or to make it even easier for you, we've embedded the stream below.

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire Episode 3 - With Pre and Post Show

Size:640 360480 270

Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can't access this content!

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Year2020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900

By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

enter

The first Night City Wire episode revealed Cyberpunk 2077's districts and the Braindance gameplay mechanic that allows players to hack into the psyches of various characters and explore their memories. A new anime adaptation called Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners was also announced, which will be produced by Kill La Kill's Studio Trigger for Netflix.

August's second episode revealed more of the various weapons that players will be able to wield, which include sub-machine guns with tracer rounds, sniper rifles that can pierce through barriers, and thermal katanas that can slice through enemies. Cyberpunk 2077 will launch on November 19 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and will include a free next-gen upgrade to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

For more on Cyberpunk 2077, be sure check out our hub where you can get the latest news on the game as well as deep dives into the lore of the sci-fi RPG series.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Continue reading here:

Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire: How To Watch Today's Stream - GameSpot

Posted in Cyberpunk | Comments Off

Hackers Is a Glorious Cyberpunk Classic That Might Actually Say Nothing About Technology – Jezebel

Posted: at 6:58 pm

Hackers (1995)Screenshot: United Artists

No movie encapsulates the oft-maligned cyberpunk style of the 90s and 00s better than 1995s Hackers, 25 years old today. The film stars Dade Zero Cool Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller), Kate Acid Burn Libby (Angelina Jolie and her haircut), Ramon The Phantom Phreak Sanchez (Renoly Santiago), Emmanuel Cereal Killer Goldstein (Matthew Lillard), Paul Lord Nikon Cook (Laurence Mason) and Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford long before he reaches heartthrob status in Bring It On) as a group of high school-aged, roller-blading hackers who use their intellect for run-of-the-mill delinquent debauchery that eventually leads to real criminal activity and the necessity of finding a fraudster in order to save themselves from prison time. Or maybe they felt the altruistic need to do the right thing in the face of corrupt authority? Really, the motivation doesnt matter, nor does the scheme, because Hackers is ultimately just a fun movie about rave clothes, a dance soundtrack (Orbital, The Prodigy, and Underworld are all represented), and an alternative reality where hacking is a skillset held by precocious, well-read teens and not political trolls looking to dismantle democracy, or whatever it is that real-life hackers do. In many ways, Hackers feels like proto-Mr. Robota collective of punk-y outcasts ripe for MIT who band together to create some good in the world and are almost destroyed because of it.

Ill try not to spoil the movie, even though it is now old enough to rent a car. But the plot to Hackers isnt what makes it worth watchingthe real attraction is the snapshot of now-vintage technology, a glimpse at what top-of-the-line gadgets looked like at the time and how optimistic a future run by floppy-disc-toting teens seemed. Everyone wore colored leather and helped each other out, and nothing hurt.

I rewatched Hackers on its 25th anniversaryhoping to draw some through-line between the retro-futurism depicted on screen and the tech-driven dystopia of modern-day existence. But that undercuts the true excellence of the film, which lies in the setting, not the plot. These teenage savants hang out at a New York City night club thats equal parts arcade, rave, laser tag, and roller rink while chain-smoking cigarettes, downing soda, and sharing classified digital security information with one anotheran image Ive carried with me since first watching the film and internalizing it as a pinnacle of 90s cool, as well as what I imagine the inside of Berghain to look like. Needless to say, it is a potent image.

The group of hackers, too, are more diverse than, say, Cher Horowitzs Clueless crew, another coming-of-age classic released in 1995. And yet, unlike Clueless, which doesnt sacrifice story for world-building, Hackers can get a little lost in its own ornamentation. The gadgety new world that these techno types inhabit [attracts] legitimate movie interest, even if it still hasnt proved gripping enough to sustain a whole film, critic Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times in 1995. At first, Hackers stays enjoyable just by showing off the principals and their toys... But eventually Hackers turns tedious, perhaps not realizing that an audience can get tired of the same old equations floating in cyberspace. The same remains true in 2020.

That said, the specificity of the films aesthetic lends itself to revisionist viewing. Perhaps theres something to dissect about the teens ability to do what the government cannot and stop a massive cyberattack, but in reality, they wouldve been thwarted. I dont think any of it is that serious. Hackers might simply be a movie about technology that says very little about technology 25 years on, save for the fact that an interest in techno-futurism that was once subcultural is now a dominating force in everyday life. Or that technology becomes outmoded quickly, but when tethered to cultural iconographythe roller blades, the leather jackets, the asymmetrical punk haircuts all portrayed in a celebratory filmit becomes an art object worth feeling nostalgic over.

G/O Media may get a commission

However, would the kids of Hackers exist today, Im sure theyd all be found drinking soylent in Silicon Valley, and who wants to consider that reality? Instead, watching the movie so many years later, Im struck by the same details that drew me the first time I watched it: a comprehensive image of a well-developed world and the fascinating characters that live within it. Also, mesh tank tops and chain wallets. They still look cool as hell.

Daily Archives: September 21, 2020

SUCCESS INSIDER: What people in the C-suites of Apple, Facebook, Disney, and 90 other big tech and media compa – Business Insider India

Australias News Media and Digital Platforms Bargaining Code is Great Politics But Questionable Economics – ProMarket

Let’s take a closer look at the latest Cyberpunk 2077 trailers – PC Gamer

Cyberpunk 2077 will be ‘slightly shorter’ than The Witcher 3 – PC Gamer

Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements revealed, here’s what you’ll need to play – GamesRadar+

PureArts’ ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Johnny Silverhand Statue Comes With an LCD Screen and Speakers – HYPEBEAST

Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire: How To Watch Today’s Stream – GameSpot

Hackers Is a Glorious Cyberpunk Classic That Might Actually Say Nothing About Technology – Jezebel

The Prometheus League

Breaking News and Updates

Prometheism

Forbidden Fruit

The Evolutionary Perspective

Transtopia Menu

Library Updates

Library Books

Future Euvolution

Lucid Dreams from Childhood

Genetic Revolution

Speciation + Self-Directed Evolution