VIDEO – Samsung, Elon Musk, AI, Avatar – Playtech News Bytes 21

Playtech News Bytes has reached episode twenty-one, which is why, once again, we’re drawing attention to the most interesting topics of the past week in a friendly and easy-to-follow format, especially from your phone screen.

Samsung’s best phones in 2022

Samsung continued its tradition in 2022 of releasing top gadgets for a huge variety of usage scenarios and, obviously, budgets. Whether you’re looking for a super picture phone or a more affordable smartphone, the Korean giant’s portfolio has something for everyone.

The best picture phone is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G, an ultra-premium handset that doesn’t compromise on performance, no matter what frame you want to capture. It’s particularly accurate at capturing the right shades in a scene. Colours are vivid and white balance is impeccable. It does a really great job in low light and is as quick as you can get with the focus process, even when you’re on the run.

Now in its fourth generation, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is as versatile a foldable gadget as you can get. Its strength, however, lies in gaming. With a generously sized screen, 7.6 inches when open and a refresh rate of 120Hz, it’s safe to say it’s the best gaming phone around. This is where the state-of-the-art processor helps, but especially the 12GB RAM. Plus, because it comes bundled with the latest version of Android 13, installing your favourite titles is quick and easy.

If you’re looking for a budget smartphone without compromising on performance, the best solution is the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G. It hides behind a 6.5-inch screen, has up to 8GB RAM and a generous 5000 mAh battery. If you’re a photography enthusiast, the 64-megapixel camera is surprisingly good in a thick set of contexts, while video capture enthusiasts can shoot 4K HDR at up to 30 frames per second. Plus, it’s also waterproof, being IP67 certified.

A good phone goes great with a top pair of headphones, and no matter which of the ones listed above is your favourite, you don’t go wrong when you dive into the new Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Compact but as capable as they come, they sound better than ever thanks to two-way speakers and 24-bit Hi-Fi Audio compression compatibility via Samsung Seamless Codec. Plus, if you want to concentrate on what you’re listening to, an active background noise cancellation system with 3 SNR microphones leaves you in awe.

Finally, the new Avatar can be seen in cinemas. This film took about 13 years

What people don’t know is that the first Avatar was also filmed over many years, with the project starting in 1994 and the film not being released until 2009. After the resounding success the film had back then, director James Cameron decided to come up with a sequel. 13 years have passed since that thought and here we finally get to see this film. If you’re wondering what the director has been doing all this time, well, he built a submarine to explore the Mariana Trench. This expedition helped him better understand the mysteries of the water, so the chances of the film being impressive were higher. After this episode, James decided to make five Avatar films, not three as originally planned. It took him four years to write the screenplay for all future productions and another three years to shoot the film. While filming Waterways, the director also shot Avatar 3, which will be released in 2024.

Phone notifications are our main source of stress. But there are solutions

Phones are our life! That’s where we have family, friendships, bank accounts and the list goes on. However, our relationship with our mobile phone can become a toxic one, that’s because more often than not, the device distracts us from the really important things. The average person checks their phone 85 times a day. These distractions are a big source of stress. However, we can do something about it. First, we can turn off notifications for apps we don’t use every day. At night, we can put our phone on Do Not Disturb and perhaps the most important thing would be to leave our phone at home for 2-3 hours and go for a walk in the park, away from the blue light and notification ringers. Our brains will thank us.

Elon Musk is no longer the richest man in the world. He has been dethroned by Bernard Arnault

Musk’s fortune is worth around €178 billion. This year he was dethroned by billionaire Bernard Arnauld, CEO of the LVMH group, which owns many luxury brands including Louis Vuitton. His fortune is $188 billion. Elon Musk has topped the list of the world’s richest people since 2021, after taking over the title from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Filmmakers are threatened by the presence of artificial intelligence

We see more and more how artificial intelligence is impacting our lives. So far, we’ve had good experiences that have revolutionized the way we do things. The film industry has also been strongly touched by the presence of AI. As early as 2015, we had the opportunity to see for the first time scenes made with AI. Now, we learn that Disney will be using a device called FRAN, which will age actors “by pen” and drastically reduce production costs. In addition, the first film festival dedicated to AI-based creations was recently announced. The festival will be held on 15 January in New York. Now a question arises. Do you think great filmmakers are in danger from AI or will they team up well together to make new cinematic masterpieces? I await your answers in the comments.