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HBO officially developing ‘decade-long’ Harry Potter TV series with new cast

Warner Bros. Discovery has confirmed that it’s developing a live-action Harry Potter TV series for HBO.

The company says this will be a seven-season series, with each season focused on one of author J.K. Rowling’s seven novels. As a result, a new, younger cast will be featured, rather than the now-adult actors who starred in the Daniel Radcliffe-led films. Altogether, Warner Bros. says this will be a “decade-long series.”

News of the series surfaced earlier this month but is only now being confirmed by Warner Bros. Discovery. As that original report stated, Rowling will remain involved as an executive producer, giving her some degree of creative control, although an actual showrunner and writer have yet to be hired. Additionally, Warner Bros. is in talks with David Heyman, the producer of the eight Harry Potter films, to serve as executive producer on the series.

An estimated release window for the first season of the series was not provided. Given that the series is being produced for Max — a newly rebranded combination of HBO Max and Discovery+ — in the U.S., it’s likely that it will stream on Crave in Canada.

For years, there have been many rumblings about how Warner Bros. would continue with the mainline Harry Potter series after 2011’s The Deathly Hallows — Part 2. While there’s been speculation that the company might want to adapt the sequel The Cursed Child play with the likes of Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, nothing official was ever confirmed.

Instead, the company has released three spin-off prequel films in the Fantastic Beasts series — all of which have been written or co-written by Rowling — between 2016 and 2022. However, reception to the Fantastic Beasts series has been middling, with last year’s Secrets of Dumbledore even garnering negative reviews and becoming the lowest-grossing movie in the entire ‘Wizarding World’ franchise.

Given that this will be the first attempt to adapt Harry Potter’s story without Radcliffe and co. playing the beloved characters, it remains to be seen how audiences will receive the series. Additionally, Warner Bros. Discovery has to navigate the ongoing controversies surrounding Rowling herself.

Since 2019, the author has made repeated comments about transgender people that have been condemned for helping to spread hatred and abuse toward an already marginalized community. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have criticized Rowling for her anti-trans rhetoric, as have Harry Potter cast members like Radcliffe, Watson and Grint. Most recently, Rowling led many to call for a boycott of Warner Bros.’ best-selling Hogwarts Legacy, a video game based on the Wizarding World, due to the fact that she would ultimately profit from its success.

Image credit: Warner Bros. Entertainment

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Mobile Syrup

Elon Musk reveals that owning Twitter has been ‘quite painful’

In a recent live interview with the BBC, Elon Musk said that running Twitter has been both “quite painful” and “a rollercoaster.”

What’s Musk going to do about it? Well, with the tech billionaire’s eccentric personality, no one can know for sure. However, he goes on to say that if the right person came along, he’d be open to selling the company.

Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion USD (roughly $59 billion CAD) back in October of last year. Since then, he’s been no stranger to offering ‘creative’ approaches to running the company, including covering up the ‘w’ on the Twitter headquarters building to have it read ‘Titter’ instead.

The interview with BBC covered a variety of topics, including the company’s mass lay-offs, the CEO’s work habits and the spread of misinformation on the platform.

Musk said the “pain level has been extremely high, this hasn’t been some kind of party,” when asked if he had any regrets about acquiring the company.

Despite being open to selling just months after initially completing the takeover, Musk stands by his decision, saying that buying the company was the right thing to do.

Mr. Musk goes on to say that although it was the right decision, it’s come with its fair share of challenges. “I sometimes sleep in the office”, he said, admitting he crashes on a couch in a library “that nobody goes to.”

Apart from the workload, Musk also touched on his controversial tweets, saying that he’s shot himself in the foot multiple times and that he thinks he should stop tweeting after 3am.

The multi-billionaire found himself in more hot water recently when a label was added to the BBC’s main Twitter account describing it as ‘government-funded media,’ something that Musk says the corporation is “generally not thrilled with.”

In the same vein, Canadian MP Pierre Poilievre has officially called for Twitter to label CBC as government-funded media, to “protect Canadians against disinformation and manipulation by state media.” In the tweet, Poilievre attached a signed letter to Twitter asking for the change.

In an effort to be accurate, Musk has said Twitter is changing the label to state ‘publically funded.’

Musk goes on to address several other concerns during the over the hour-long interview, but the key takeaway is that he seems to have realized that he’s bitten off more than he can chew with his role as Twitter CEO.

Source: BBC

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Mobile Syrup

Redfall won’t launch on Xbox Series X/S with 60fps support

Redfall‘s official Twitter account has announced that you won’t be able to play the game at 60fps on consoles — at least not at launch.

What seemed at first like a bad late April Fools’ joke was recently confirmed by the company, stating that Redfall would be launching on the Xbox Series X and S consoles in ‘Quality mode’ only, locking in the 30fps as the only option.

Looking at the details, the upcoming first-person shooter will run in 4K at 30fps on the Xbox Series X and 1440p at 30fps on the Series S.

The news comes as a tough blow, as 60fps has become the standard for most first-person shooters, especially on current-gen systems.

PC users’ frame rates are dictated based on their hardware, so if you’re dead set on slaying vampires at 60fps, that might be your best option for now.

Surprisingly, Arkane Studios also announced that 60fps ‘Performance mode’ will be added via a game update at a later date. It’s unclear when that update will release, however.

With Redfall already being previously delayed, it looks like Arkane is eager to release the game as soon as possible, even if it means sacrificing technical performance at launch.

Redfall launches on May 2nd, 2023 on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. The game will release on Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription platform.

Image credit: Arkane Studios

Source: @playRedfall

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Mobile Syrup

Amid Netflix controversies, what’s your favourite streaming service in Canada?

There are a lot of streaming services in Canada, to say the least.

What was once viewed as an all-in-one alternative to cable has become an oversaturated space in which pretty much every big entertainment company has its own platform and associated exclusive content. That space only gets messier when you consider FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) channels like Pluto TV and frequent confusion over where to stream titles in Canada that are produced exclusively for U.S.-only services like Peacock.

Given that, we’re thinking about favourite streaming services. After all, there’s likely one that you gravitate toward the most, be it Disney+ for the original Marvel and Star Wars content, Crave for HBO titles like The Last of Us and Succession or even Amazon’s Prime Video simply because it’s included with Prime.

Admittedly, we’ve asked this twice in the past — once in 2019 (before the launches of Disney+ and Apple TV+) and later in April 2022. But even in the year since our last poll, we’ve seen a lot of streaming developments, particularly when it comes to Netflix, whose recent show cancellation spree and password-sharing crackdown have been met with significant pushback.

With all of that said, what’s your favourite streaming service? Let us know in the poll below.

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Mobile Syrup

Android AirPods users need to head to an Apple Store to update

Typically tech devices receive updates that improve their stability or add new features.

With this in mind, if you’re one of the few AirPods users without any other Apple products like a Mac, iPhone or iPad, you’ve probably been missing out on several important updates since Apple’s wireless earbuds require another device to update their firmware.

Now, according to an updated AirPods support firmware document, Apple suggests that if you don’t have a way to update your AirPods, you can head to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Retailer to get your hands on the latest AirPods update.

While going to an Apple Store just for an update is undeniably annoying, most people who use AirPods probably own an iPhone or MacBook, so this method targets a small number of Android users. That said, Apple’s Beats line of headphones and earbuds can receive software updates via Android devices, and the tech giant likely could have done the same with its AirPods if it really wanted to.

If you’re an iPhone/iPad/MacBook user and you’re wondering why your AirPods haven’t updated recently, the document now states that Apple’s wireless earbuds update automatically when they are charging or if there’s a companion Apple device connected to Wi-Fi nearby.

The latest update to hit the AirPods is firmware, ‘5E133,’ brings bug fixes and other improvements to 2nd-Gen AirPods, 3rd-Gen AirPods, AirPods Pro, 2nd-Gen AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.

Source: Apple Via: MacRumors

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Mobile Syrup

Aeroplan hack causes two Ontarians to lose years worth of loyalty points

Two men from Ontario found themselves without their Aeroplan loyalty points after their accounts were hacked by thieves who redeemed the points for gift cards.

The two men, Richard Chen and Ritwik Ray had both been collecting loyalty points from the company for years, with Chen revealing that he lost 150,000 points when they were taken from his account.

Aeroplan was acquired by Air Canada in early 2019, with the airline company saying that weak passwords are partially at fault for the breaches. Air Canada also said clients caught in phishing schemes contributed to the account hacks.

A spokesperson for Air Canada has said that the company has looked into the issue and has confirmed that both customers were victims of fraud.

The company has gone on to say that they continually remind its clients of safety protocols to protect them from instances of fraud, including the importance of updating passwords.

“Whenever possible ensure Multi-Factor Authentication is enabled on your online accounts. Passwords should never be the same for multiple services and customers should ensure the password being used is strong and not easy to guess,” a spokesperson for Air Canada told CTV News.

Air Canada has confirmed that the fraudulently redeemed points have been returned to the affected customers.

Via: CTV News Toronto

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Mobile Syrup

Bell sues alleged copper thief, asks governments to assist with network protection

Telecom giant Bell says it’s suing an alleged copper thief.

Bell reports more than 170 incidents of copper theft over the past 15 months. The incidents see thieves cut down pole cables, causing $3 million in damages and hours of service interruptions. A majority of the cases have taken place in New Brunswick, Ontario and northern Québec, the company says.

The company has filed a lawsuit against Sylvain Fleury, who was arrested for stealing copper wire.

“The lawsuit is another step we are taking to protect our critical infrastructure against recurring theft and vandalism,” Nick Payant, vice president of operations services and core network at Bell, said.

The company also wants provincial and federal governments to assist in the matter by increasing fines and making changes to the criminal code.

“We need the government’s help in prioritizing increased fines and amendments to the criminal code to protect our critical infrastructure,” Payant said. 

Source: Bell

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Mobile Syrup

Koodo raises several plan prices by $2/mo

MobileSyrup recently reported on a series of changes Telus made to the plans it offers, including locking its base $85/mo plan to bring-your-own-phone (BYOP) customers and raising or lowering some other prices by about $5/mo. Now Telus’ flanker brand Koodo is getting in on the price change action.

Koodo has increased the cost of several of its plans by $2/mo. Following the end of Koodo’s double data offer earlier this month, the provider briefly offered $60/15GB and $65/20GB plans.

Since then, Koodo has increased the prices of those plans to $62/mo and $67/mo, respectively. iPhone in Canada first spotted the increase, which applies to both Koodo’s BYOP plans and to plans on Koodo’s Tab Fido has also increased its plans to match Koodo, read more here.

As a refresher, the Tab is a system that allows customers to get a phone for a reduced upfront cost and pay off a Tab amount on top of their monthly plan. Koodo offers three Tab tiers: Basic (up to $10/mo for 24 months), Mid (up to $15/mo for 24 months) and Plus (up to $39/mo for 24 months).

Koodo also limits the plans you can get on Tabs to just the $62 and $67 plans, though Tab Basic customers can also get unlimited talk and text — but that just got more expensive too.

Koodo’s plan price increases as of April 12th, 2023.

Alongside those plans, Koodo also increased the cost of its basic unlimited Canada-wide talk and text plan from $33/mo to $35/mo. The plan does not include data, and Koodo charges $13 per 100MB of data used, which works out to about $130 per gigabyte. Koodo seems to be following Bell’s Virgin Plus here – the flanker brand recently increased its unlimited talk and text plan by $1/mo to $34. Rogers’ Fido remains the most expensive, charging $40/mo (up from $38/mo) for unlimited talk and text, though it offers a $5/mo automatic payments discount that brings the cost down to $35 like Koodo.

It’s worth noting that in January 2022, these plans cost $30/mo and in August briefly cost $27/mo as part of a promotion. Customers can get the plans for around $25/mo at some other providers.

While price increases are always frustrating for Canadians, these recent increases are particularly frustrating, coming on the heels of several periods of decent deals. Just last week, Koodo, Fido and Virgin ended double data and $10/mo credit offers that, combined, enabled Canadians to get $55/mo 30GB and $50/mo 20GB plans.

Moreover, back during Black Friday, Canadians could get $45/mo 50GB plans. Suffice it to say, if you can wait to get a new plan or phone, you should. These new, more expensive plans are not worth your money.

Source: Koodo Via: iPhone in Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Fido increased some plan prices by $2/mo

Rogers flanker Fido joined Telus’ Koodo in increasing several of its plans by $2/mo.

Like Koodo, Fido now charges more for its 15GB and 20GB  plans, as well as its unlimited talk and text plan. However, unlike Koodo, Fido offers a $5/mo automatic payments discount and inflates the cost of its plans so that you pay the same as other providers when you use the discount. That means the 15GB plan costs $67/mo at Fido and $62/mo with the auto-pay discount — Koodo just charges $62 for its version of the plan and doesn’t offer an auto-pay discount.

Similarly, Fido charges $72/mo for the 20GB plan or $67/mo with auto-pay. As for the unlimited talk and text plan, Fido charges an absurd $40/mo for the plan ($35/mo with auto-pay).

Fido increased the cost of some plans as of April 12th, 2023

It’s worth noting that the unlimited talk and text plans cost $30/mo in January 2022 and $27/mo in August 2022, thanks to a promotion. Since then, the cost of unlimited talk and text has steadily increased, though Canadians can still get similar plans for about $25/mo at other providers. Bell’s Virgin Plus kicked off this round of unlimited talk and text price increases by upping its plan by $1/mo to $34, but Koodo and Fido have gone further.

This latest round of price increases at the flanker brands will be particularly frustrating, coming after a period of relatively decent deals. Just last week, Fido, Koodo and Virgin Plus wrapped up double data and $10/mo credit offers that, combined, allowed Canadians to get $55/mo 30GB and $50/mo 20GB plans. Before that, Canadians could get $45/mo 50GB plans from the providers during Black Friday.

Though it likely goes without saying, you should probably hold off on getting a new phone or plan for now. Wait for the next deal because these newly increased prices frankly aren’t worth your money. In other rate hike-related news, Koodo recently increased the cost of several plan prices by $2.

Source: Fido

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Mobile Syrup

AirPods (2nd-Gen) now $147 on Amazon

AirPods (2nd-Gen) are on sale once again at Amazon Canada, now down by a very respectable 18 percent to $147.

The AirPods (2nd-Gen) offers several features and upgrades compared to the first-gen model, including wireless charging, improved battery life, better connectivity and hands-free “Hey Siri” support. With a single charge, users can expect to get around five hours of listening time, or three hours of talk time. With the charging case, users can get up to 24 hours of listening time or 18 hours of talk time.

The 2nd-Gen AirPods also come equipped with Apple’s H1 chip, which offers faster and more stable connectivity than the first-generation AirPods. This makes it easier for users to switch between devices and enjoy a seamless listening experience.

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Source: Amazon Canada