Hi! โHey! Welcome!
I hope you all had a great Christmas (for those who celebrate), and that you manage to get some well-earned rest in this 'in between' time before 2026!
TODAY: Salesforce's AI automation backfire and the star-studded 'Madden' movie teaser. Plus: The new Retroid Pocket 6 handheld, Chris Evans returning in Avengers Doomsday, and the fascinating condition of Aphantasia. There's also the very whacky 'Action Gourmet' anime genre and a retro-style Mac Mini stand.
๐คฃ After laying off 4000 employees and automating their work with Al agents, Salesforce executives admit they're not getting results.
"Salesforce, one of the world's most valuable enterprise software companies, is pulling back from its heavy reliance on large language models after encountering reliability issues that have shaken executive confidence."
Outstanding.
โ๐ฟ Here's a teaser trailer for the upcoming film Madden. Now, I can't even begin to tell you how much I don't care about the NFL โ but this cast is killer, and I confess I do love sports movies! Starring Nicolas Cage, Christian Bale, and Kathryn Hahn.
"After being forced into retirement by the Oakland Raiders, fiery former NFL head coach John Madden then teams up with a mild-mannered Harvard programmer to rewrite his fading legacy by building the world's first (American) football video game."
๐๏ธ Meet the Aphantasics, Those Who Canโt See Mental Images โ
"As soon as I close my eyes, what I see are not everyday objects, animals, and vehicles, but the dark underside of my eyelids. I canโt willingly form the faintest of images in my mind."
The link above isn't to a full article, since it's paywalled, but the summary and excerpt you'll find there is still an incredible read. I've never been so glad for the simple fact that I can picture things in my mind!
๐ฎ The Retroid Pocket 6 is now available to order, with shipping beginning in January!
Don't know what it is? It's the latest in a long line of powerful Android-based games machines that can play not only Android games, but also console games all the way up to the Nintendo Switch and the PS2. (Not that you'd engage in piracy!) Here are some gameplay demos (Youtube).
๐ฑ Fave app: Raindrop is a bookmarking service that works across just about every platform, including a terrific browser extension.
If you're a relentless collector of links like me (and you also have ADHD like me), Raindrop is an excellent way to keep them. It has an excellent organisation system of folders and tags, and a 'mood board' where you can save images for later inspiration, and it can download web pages so you'll always have a copy of a particular story even if it gets deleted from the web.
There are free and pro versions, but I've been on the pro version for years โ so I've frankly forgotten what the free version misses out on!
โ๐ฟ The teaser train for Avengers: Doomsday begins here! The film is still a full year away, but our first look is simply to confirm that Chris Evans is back as Steve Rogers. No surprises there.
๐ Did you know the Toyota logo spells out the company's name in both Latin script (what we use for English) and Japanese characters? There's a great video of it in action here on Threads.
๐ป Google's Chrome browser finally now lets you display side-by-side tabs on desktop! It might not be available to you as an official option yet, but you should be able to find it in chrome://flags by searching for split view. (That's what I had to do.)
My son has started watching an anime called 'Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill', which looks hilariously similar to Netflix's hit anime, Delicious in Dungeon.
โAccording to Polygon, these are just "the latest in an emerging genre of 'action gourmet' anime". ๐คฃ
๐งโ๐จ Nuri Durr is another artist recently added to my follows. A really cool and varied style, with a lot of nostalgic video games in their work. Check 'em out!โ
๐ฟ James Cameron โwill hold a press conferenceโ to reveal โAvatar 4โ and โ5โ Storylines If Fire and Ash underperforms and ends the franchise early.
๐ป This Mac Mini stand from Spigen, designed with classic iMac vibes, is super cool. I don't have a Mac Mini (I much prefer the MacBook), but I love this!
Okay, we're done for today. How was it?
๐ฃ Hey! Please note that I use affiliate links in my newsletters. If you purchase anything through those links, I might earn a commission or credits or similar. It's usually only a small amount, but it helps!
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