'Percy Jackson and the Olympians': The official trailer is here!

Disney+ has unveiled the official trailer for its upcoming original series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, based on the bestselling novels by Rick Riordan. The trailer reveals exciting glimpses of the adventures of Percy (Walker Scobell), Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries), and Grover (Aryan Simhadri), who embark on a quest to restore the balance of Mount Olympus and save the world from a looming threat. Fans of the books were treated to easter eggs and hints on the official social media accounts (@PercySeries) in the week before the trailer’s release, sparking anticipation and speculation among the loyal fandom.

The epic series will premiere with two episodes on Wednesday, December 20, on Disney+, and will continue with new episodes every week. The series is created by Rick Riordan and Jon Steinberg, who also serve as executive producers along with Dan Shotz, Rebecca Riordan, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, Jeremy Bell, D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Monica Owusu-Breen, Anders Engström, and Jet Wilkinson.

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What you need to know about the Apple Vision Pro’s Eyesight feature and Persona Enrollment

M1 Astra / X

The Apple Vision Pro’s Eyesight feature lets you project your eyes on the front of the device, creating a more realistic and expressive VR experience. But this feature is not just for fun—at least, that's what we see from this video that surfaced on X detailing what else it can do. Eyesight supposedly also powers the Persona Enrollment feature, which allows you to customize and set up your virtual avatar via visionOS beta 6. 

The video posted by M1Astra on X shows how the front-facing cameras scan your face and capture your facial expressions to create a personalized VR persona. 

However, not everyone may want or need the Eyesight feature, which adds extra cost and complexity to the device. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is considering a cheaper version of the Vision Pro that would drop the external displays, cameras, and sensors, as well as use an iPhone chip instead of the MacBook chip. This would make the device more affordable and accessible, but also less immersive and interactive. 

If this version is in the works, we are left to wonder how Persona Enrollment would work on a headset like this. For now, what we are getting is the more premium US$3,500 (around CA$4,795) Vision Pro.

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Separate applause from speech and more with Adobe’s Project Sound Lift

Project Sound Lift is a new audio tool from Adobe that can use AI to isolate different sounds in a single recording. For example, it can separate applause from speech or traffic from music. You can choose from various sound categories, and the tool will create separate files for each layer. You can then edit them individually in Adobe Premiere Pro. This tool is still in development and not yet available to the public.

This technology is similar to what was used to restore John Lennon’s voice from a cassette tape and release the first Beatles song in almost 30 years. Project Sound Lift is branded as one of Adobe's "Sneak" previews, so it might be a while before this tool gets released. And we're hoping that they decide to launch it.

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Apple’s iPhone 15 to adopt the new Qi2 wireless charging standard

Apple

The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) introduced the Qi2 charging standard earlier this year, based on Apple’s MagSafe technology. And the iPhone 15 line is one of the first smartphones to use this new wireless charging method. This is a surprising move from Apple, which usually takes its time to adopt new technologies (although it has supported Qi wireless charging before).

The WPC announced that new wireless iPhone 15 chargers will be available soon, just in time for the holiday season. Several companies, such as Belkin, Mophie, Anker and Aircharge, have already revealed their Qi2 products that will work with Apple’s latest devices. More than 100 devices are currently being tested and will be released soon. 

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