Another wave of streaming service price hikes may be on the horizon: Peacock just announced a $3 increase for each of its plans, which makes its ad-supported option more expensive than almost all of its competitors.

A former cop in the United Kingdom was sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to covering up his theft of 50 bitcoins seized during an investigation into the now-defunct illicit dark web marketplace Silk Road.

In 2014, the former UK National Crime Agency (NCA) officer, Paul Chowles, assisted in the arrest of Thomas White, a man "who had launched Silk Road 2.0 less than a month after the FBI had shut down the original site in 2013," the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a press release.

Chowles was tapped to analyze and extract "relevant data and cryptocurrency" from White's seized devices, specifically due to Chowles' reputation for being "technically minded and very aware of the dark web and cryptocurrencies," CPS said.

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Karl Urban takes a break from The Boys to play a washed-up Johnny Cage in the trailer for Mortal Kombat II, a sequel to 2021's Mortal Kombat reboot and the fourth live-action film in the franchise based on the 1990s video game series. It comes one day after Warner Bros. released a (very entertaining) fake trailer for a new in-universe, faux 1990s Johnny Cage movie, Uncaged Fury. (Cage's prior fake film credits apparently include Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.)

The first live-action Mortal Kombat film turns 30 this year. It was a box office success but a critical failure, although it has since evolved into a campy cult classic—and Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa is still considered by many to be the definitive portrayal of sorcerer Shang Tsung.  A 1997 sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, however, bombed both critically and financially. And Midway, the game publisher, filed for bankruptcy soon after.

However, Warner Bros. bought the rights and eventually tapped Simon McQuoid to direct a reboot more than 20 years after the original's release, focusing on MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan). The 2021 film earned mixed reviews, but performed sufficiently well at the box office for Warner Bros. to green-light a sequel, also directed by McQuoid. The 2021 film ended with Cole heading to Los Angeles to look for martial arts movie star Johnny Cage, who is the main protagonist of Mortal Kombat II.

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Gamers of a certain age will remember a period roughly 15 years ago when the industry collectively decided stereoscopic 3D was going to be the next big thing in gaming. From Nvidia's "3D Vision" glasses system to Nintendo's glasses-free 3DS to Sony's 3D TV aimed specifically at gamers, major gaming companies put a lot of effort into bringing a sense of real depth to the flat video game scenes of the day.

Unfortunately for those companies, the stereoscopic 3D gaming hype faded almost as quickly as it rose; by 2012, most companies were scaling back their stereoscopic investments in light of underwhelming public demand (case in point: Nintendo's pivot to the 3D-free 2DS line of portables). And while some stray upstarts have tried to revive the stereoscopic gaming dream in the years since, the idea seemed destined to be a footnote in gaming tech history.

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The current trend in USB chargers isn’t adding more power or ports, it’s integrating charging cables that disappear when not in use. Anker was one of the first companies to release a charger with a built-in retractable USB-C cable last October, but its latest charger brings the same convenience to the desktop alongside three AC outlets you won’t need to climb under your desk to access.

Nearly a year ago Anker released a desktop charger with a dial on the side that could be used to adjust the power output of its six USB ports, but at $169.99 it was expensive and required you to supply all your own cables. Anker’s new 7-in-1 Nano Charging Station can only charge four devices over USB, but at $89.99 it’s cheaper and potentially more versatile as you can add additional USB ports by plugging other power adapters into the back of it.

The Nano Charging Station’s biggest selling point is its pair of 2.3-foot long USB-C cables that retract with a quick pull and keep their connectors securely stored using magnets. They’re joined by an additional USB-C and USB-A port on one side. 

Another reason this charging station is almost half the price of Anker’s $169.99 option is that it offers less power output. The more expensive option can deliver up to 140W of power to a device, but the Nano maxes out at just 100W when nothing else is plugged in. If you’re charging two devices, the maximum power output drops to between 50W and 88W, depending on which ports are in use.

With devices connected to all four USB ports, the maximum power output is just 30W, which isn’t enough for a laptop. To help ensure you don’t find out the hard way your laptop isn’t adequately charging when it suddenly dies, the charging station includes a 1.3-inch LCD display that shows how much power is being delivered to each connected device.

Although the promises of a completely wireless world through technologies like Wi-Fi and Qi haven’t quite materialized yet, the recent proliferation of chargers and power banks with retractable cables is a suitable consolation prize while we wait for our truly cordless future to arrive.

A subscription to Peacock is about to cost more. NBCUniversal announced on Thursday that it’s raising the price of its ad-supported Peacock Premium from $7.99 to $10.99 per month, while its ad-free Premium Plus plan will go from $13.99 per month to $16.99 per month, as reported earlier by Variety.

For new customers, the price increase will go into effect on July 23rd. Existing subscribers will see the hike on or after August 22nd, depending on when their next bill is. Peacock’s yearly plans will see similar increases, with Peacock Premium now priced at $109.99 per year (up from $79.99) and Premium Plus costing $169.99 (up from $139.99).

Peacock raised its prices by $2 in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympics, an event it will continue to stream for at least another decade. NBCUniversal has filled out Peacock with a growing slate of original content, which includes shows like Poker Face, Love Island, and Dr. Death. It will also air NBA games later this year.

Along with the price increase, NBCUniversal also announced that it’s going to test a new ad-supported Peacock “Select” tier for $7.99 per month ($79.99 / year). The plan will offer access to content from NBC and Bravo, as well as some other titles.

Razer's new Pokémon collaboration is a missed opportunity. The four PC gaming peripherals in this lineup are simply reskinned versions of products that already exist, and which cost $20 to $40 more than their all-black counterparts. You really should be getting more for your money here.

For example, the themed BlackWidow V4 X keyboard should include at least one highly detailed custom keycap (switching out Alt for pokéball designs doesn't cut it). Maybe the Kraken V4 X headset could have included themed pop filters of pokémon silhouettes. I'm just spitballing, which I guess is something that neither Razer nor The Pokémon Company did enough …

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The CEO seemingly having an affair with the head of HR at his company at the Coldplay concert is a viral video for the ages, but it is also, unfortunately, emblematic of our current private surveillance and social media hellscape.

The video, which is now viral on every platform that we can possibly think of, has been covered by various news outlets, and is Pop Crave official, shows Andy Byron, the CEO of a company called Astronomer, with his arms around Astronomer’s head of HR, Kristen Cabot. The jumbotron cuts from one fan to this seemingly happy couple. They both simultaneously die inside; “Oh look at this happy couple,” Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin says. The woman covers her face and spins away. The man ducks out of frame. “Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy,” Martin said. The camera pans to another company executive standing next to them, who is seemingly shaking out of discomfort.

It is hard to describe how viral this is at the moment, in a world in which so many awful things are occurring and in which nothing holds anyone’s attention for any length of time and in a world in which we are all living in our own siloed realities. “Andy Byron” is currently the most popular trending Google term in the United States, with more than double the searches of the next closest term. 

There are so many levels to this embarrassment—the Coldplay of it all, the HR violation occurring on jumbotron, etc—that one could likely write a doctoral dissertation on this 15 second video.

OpenAI just rolled out its most autonomous AI product yet: ChatGPT Agent. Announced Thursday by CEO Sam Altman in a post on X, the new system doesn’t just help you think through a task—it actually does the task for you. […]

The post OpenAI launches ChatGPT Agent: An AI assistant that can book trips, analyze data, and take action first appeared on Tech Startups.

Nothing has just announced new updates to Essential Space, its AI-powered hub, which includes support for Google Calendar as well as updates to the new “Flip to Record” feature on Phone (3).

This afternoon’s lineup of the best Android game and app deals is now ready to roll down below. On your way down be sure to scope out the deals we have today on the Sonos Ace ANC over-ear headphones at $150 off, these Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra configs at up to $400 off, and the deals on how to score Galaxy Buds 3 Pro for FREE with a FREE case alongside your Galaxy Z Flip 7 pre-order. As for the apps, highlights include titles like Old Man’s Journey, Front Armies [RTS], ELOH, Titan Quest: Ultimate Edition, and more. Head below for a closer look.