League of Legends show Arcane renewed for a second season
The show only just debuted but Netflix has already renewed Arcane for the second season, which has already started production. Stars from the first season Ella Purnell (Jinx), Hailee Steinfeld (Vi) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn) will all make a return and reprise their roles. This shouldn’t come as a surprise given the reception the show received on launch. Netflix subscribers spent around 34.2 million hours watching the show in its first week on the top 10 chart.
If you’re at all interested in League of Legends (LoL), the game from which the show draws its inspiration, the success of the show is to be expected from a show based on one of the most played video games in the world. 115 million players have played LoL in the last 30 days and with a player base like that, you can believe Riot has the cash to put behind advertising. Could this be the start of a wave of video game-based shows for the streaming service? We wouldn’t be surprised.
Source: Engadget
Barbie goes green
The LA Auto Show started up last Friday and while there’s plenty of flashy vehicles of all shapes, sizes and powertrains from the manufacturers you’d expect, there is also one on show that you definitely wouldn’t expect. Barbie’s newest ride, The Barbie Extra Car, made its debut as a life-sized, drivable electric vehicle and it is as extra as the name suggests.
Sparkley-silver paint covers the winged-door exterior, complemented by the five-spoke rainbow wheels, star-shaped taillights and bubblegum-pink fluffy interior and headrests. Under the hood, you’ll find the internals from a Fiat 500e convertible. Its electric powertrain provides 111hp and can manage 170km on a single charge. That might be all well and good but Mattel isn’t planning on producing the life-sized version. If you want to get your hands on a Barbie Extra Car it’ll have to be the toy version, exclusively from Walmart for $30 (R470).
Source: The Next Web
New Disney voice assistant coming in 2022
If it feels to you that Disney, like the larvae of a tapeworm, is burrowing into every avenue of revenue it can, we’re about to confirm that for you. The multinational entertainment and media conglomerate revealed that its “hey, Disney” voice assistant is coming to your Disneyland hotel room in 2022. The assistant will be available from the Echo speaker in your room and can help with requests like room service, telling stories or jokes and listening to every conversation you have to provide better-targeted ads. Okay, that last part wasn’t announced but it’s definitely possible.
Along with the helpful voice assistant, guests of Disneyland will also get access to MagicBand+ wearables at the park. Guests can use the bands to enter the park and buy things, all contactless. The band also features lights, haptic feedback and gestures to ‘enhance your experience’, whatever that means. We don’t see much worth in this other than Disney trying to persuade everyone it’s keeping with the times.
Source: Engadget
El Salvador wants to start a volcano-powered Bitcoin city
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has announced plans to start a city in the south-eastern region of La Unión. The site will be at the base of the Conchagua volcano in order to take advantage of the geothermal power to mine the cryptocurrency and power the new city, which will be circular to mimic the shape of the virtual coin. This is shortly after El Salvador became the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender. This news was met with mixed opinions, some of which were stronger than others. So strong in fact, they started protests over fears of economic instability in the impoverished country.
President Bukele tried to calm an antsy crowd and explained that the city would “include everything”. “Residential areas, commercial areas, services, museums, entertainment, bars, restaurants, airport, port, rail – everything devoted to Bitcoin.” He also mentioned that the city would be income tax-free, only Value Added Tax (VAT) would be levied in the city. No dates were provided for when construction will start but the estimated cost was – around 300,000BTC or nearly R272 billion.
Source: BBC