Japan's greatest monster, Godzilla, turns 70 on November 3 2024, the anniversary of the first movie to feature the character. Godzilla (1954) was a stark exercise in processing the trauma of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings, but its success inspired the longest-running film franchise in history, with 37 sequels. The many Godzilla movies made by Toho, one of Japan's biggest film studios, reflect the country's complex history as victims of the only nuclear bombings and as a rapidly developing economy in the 20th century. The two most recent live-action films, Shin Godzilla (2016) and Godzilla Minus One (2023), updated these themes for this century. They respectively criticised the response to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and Fukushima meltdown. The films nostalgically captured a resurgent Japanese nationalism. King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) began life as King Kong vs. Frankenstein. The brainchild of American special effects luminary Willis O'Brien, it found its way to Japan when Hollywood studios passed on it. In changing Frankenstein to Godzilla, the film became a criticism of the 1960 security treaty between the US and Japan. But it developed into a scathing criticism of rampant consumerism in modernising Japan, focusing on a big pharmaceutical company's effort to exploit Kong for ratings....

The NYT Tech Guild announced its strike Monday, after setting November 4 as its deadline months earlier. The workers represented provide software support and data analysis for the Times, on the business side of the outlet. They have been asking for an annual 2.5% wage increase and to cement a current two days per week in-office expectation, among other things. The NYT's publisher, AG Sulzberger, criticized a strike two days ahead of the U.S. presidential election, saying in a statement, 'Hundreds of millions of people are depending on The Times's journalism on Election Day and afterward, and it is troubling that the Tech Guild would try to block this public service at such a consequential moment for our country.' Replying to Semafor media editor Max Tani quoting the publisher, Srinivas wrote: 'Hey AG Sulzberger @nytimes sorry to see this. Perplexity is on standby to help ensure your essential coverage is available to all through the election. DM me anytime here.' Many on X immediately castigated Srinivas for acting as a scab ' a derogatory term for people willing to perform the jobs of striking workers. It is widely considered a disreputable behavior in matters of labor and equity. By undercutting collective action, scabs limit the ability of workers to bargain with those in positions of power....

Instead of scouring the internet for a summary of a TV show, which often risks unintentionally revealing major plot points, Prime Video's latest feature aims to save viewers from encountering any spoilers. Amazon announced on Monday the launch of 'X-Ray Recaps,' a generative AI-powered feature that creates concise summaries of entire seasons, single episodes, and even parts of episodes. Notably, the company claims that guardrails were put in place to ensure the AI doesn't generate spoilers, so you can fully enjoy your favorite series without the anxiety of stumbling upon unwanted information. To use Recaps, visit the detail page of a TV show, where a new rewind icon will allow you to select from three choices: recap the current episode, recap the entire season so far, or recap the previous season. X-Ray Recaps is currently in beta and will only be available to Fire TV customers in the U.S. to start. At launch, users can access the feature on all Amazon MGM Studios original titles, including 'Daisy Jones & the Six,' 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith,' 'The Wheel of Time,' and 'The Boys.'...

After the 2016 elections, critics blamed Facebook for undermining American democracy. They believed that the app's algorithmic News Feed pushed hyperpartisan content, outright fake news, and Russian-seeded disinformation to huge numbers of people. (The U.S. director of national intelligence agreed, and in January 2017 declassified a report that detailed Russia's actions.) At first, the company's executives dismissed these concerns'shortly after Donald Trump won the presidential election, Mark Zuckerberg said it was 'pretty crazy' to think that fake news on Facebook had played a role'but they soon grew contrite. 'Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it,' Zuckerberg would say 10 months later. Facebook had by then conceded that its own data did 'not contradict' the intelligence report. Shortly thereafter, Adam Mosseri, the executive in charge of News Feed at the time, told this magazine that the company was launching a number of new initiatives 'to stop the spread of misinformation, click-bait and other problematic content on Facebook.' He added: 'We've learned things since the election, and we take our responsibility to protect the community of people who use Facebook seriously.'...