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A few months ago my original HomePod died. Its early death was likely an unfortunate side effect of a bad software update. And since Apple no longer sells the original HomePod after discontinuing it early this year, the only option is to buy a HomePod mini, buy a used HomePod, or look elsewhere entirely. Though it doesn’t possess the amazing sound quality of the original HomePod, the HomePod mini is a good smart speaker, and is better than the original in other ways....

The Harry Potter: Wizards Unite potions are a huge part of the game, and so, we’ve put together a helpful guide on the potions lists, recipes/ingredients, and brewing. Wizards Unite is poised to take the mobile gaming world by storm now that it has released in most major markets. The game previously received a pseudo-beta period of a few weeks, during which time only users in Australia and New Zealand could take a spin on Niantic’s newest killer app....

If you want to be alerted to security breaches of user IDs and passwords, Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) is one of the most useful sites around – and it’s about to get even more so … Background You can visit the site to search on your email address or phone number, and it will list known breaches that included your details. Each one will reveal what data was exposed. For example:...

Director Luc Besson’s upcoming action movie Anna, currently being set up by Lionsgate and EuropaCorp, has landed Helen Mirren and Luke Evans to head up the cast. News of Anna comes after Besson himself refuted reports that he is cranking up a sequel to his 2014 Scarlett Johansson-starred sci-fi action thriller Lucy. The always-interesting Besson’s box office track record took a hit in summer 2017, when his hugely ambitious science fiction epic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets tanked with audiences, grossing just $40 million domestically and $224 million worldwide against a reported budget of $177 million....

Microsoft Studios dropped a new trailer for Ninja Theory’s Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga at The Game Awards 2019. The game is a sequel to 2017’s critically-acclaimed Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which featured a young Pict woman, Senua, with a mental illness who is attempting to bring her lover back from the dead. Her journey takes her through the depths of Helheim, where she encounters objects and creatures from Pict and Viking lore....

As a user on Reddit points out, Microsoft has begun to what appears to be pushing the first advertisement of Windows 10 to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. On the pop-up, the company is reminding users about the impending update, and also giving them an easy option to ‘reserve’ an upgrade to the forthcoming operating system when it becomes available. First of all, the ad is showing up on computers that have the optional KB3035583 update installed on them....

After unveiling a look at its new MagSafe charger back at CES, LINE has launched the unique LINESTAND. Built from a solid block of aluminum, the 3-in-1 charger for iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch works flat on a surface or floats with a VESA mount. Read on for our hands-on details. With countless wireless and MagSafe chargers on the market, Line is looking to stand out from the crowd by offering distinctive design and functionality with LINESTAND....

Hannah Brown, the former star of The Bachelorette, visited ex-flame Peter Weber on his debut episode of The Bachelor. Hannah revealed to him that she only reconnected with Tyler Cameron because Weber never reached out. Last summer Hannah was cast as the star of season 15’s The Bachelorette. Fans rooted for her as she sifted through the eligible bachelors in search of the love of her life while confronting serious issues like slut-shaming, religion, and lying....

Harry Potter is definitely one of the most popular fandoms out there. The book series, and then the movies, appealed to a wide audience and have firmly been secured in pop culture for now and for decades to come. Since so many fans love Harry Potter, it’s definitely the type of thing where people are quoting iconic moments and lines from the books as well as the movies. But, in some cases, these quotes ended up being repeated incorrectly or words get added or left out of these iconic quotes....

Warning: SPOILERS for Batman #52 Bruce Wayne is facing his greatest challenge yet: publicly proving that Batman isn’t a hero. To make matters worse, Bruce Wayne will have to convince some of the most famously stubborn people in the world. That’s because his audience is a jury of his peers who believe in Batman as a force for good, and who just want to convict a confessed criminal and go home with their lives....

James Bobin is set to direct the forthcoming Action Man movie for Paramount, based upon the popular toys of the same name. The Action Man dolls may not be hugely familiar to U.S. moviegoers as they were essentially Hasbro’s British adaptation of the G.I. Joe toys and first hit stores in the 1960s. The Action Man range expanded over time to include a multitude of characters and accessories, and has continued to prove popular throughout the decades....

The Deuce season 3 teaser trailer brings the HBO porn series into the 1980s. David Simon and George Pelecanos first achieved critical acclaim for their series The Wire, which probed the troubled city of Baltimore from varying socio-economic perspectives, weaving a complex 5-season multi-character tapestry that revolutionized television storytelling. With season 1 of The Deuce, Simon and Pelecanos turned their probing eye on a very different environment, the city of New York in the early 1970s, and specifically the sex industry that boomed in Times Square during that period....

As mentioned on an earlier Happy Hour podcast, I have a giant collection of iPad styluses, having tested dozens of them since the first iPad debuted in 2010. Earlier this week, my colleague Zac Hall reviewed the best (and most expensive) iPad stylus, Apple’s brand-new $99 Apple Pencil, which is hard to find in stores, and only works with the 12.9″ iPad Pro. Since the Apple Pencil is two to six times as expensive as some other options, I wanted to spotlight its key strengths and weaknesses relative to rivals, all of which are more broadly compatible and readily available to purchase....

The Starling Home Hub is a core part of my HomeKit experience, as it bridges my Nest Thermostat and Google Home Mini to HomeKit and AirPlay, respectively. One notable feature that’s been a wishlist item for many Starling customers is Nest support for Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video. Now, with the latest 11.0 firmware update, a handful of Google Nest cameras are now compatible with HKSV. HomeKit Secure Video enables a suite of additional tools for supported HomeKit cameras, including recording clips to iCloud, downloading and sharing event video clips in the Home app, Activity Zones, Face Recognition, and notifications for animals/people/packages, etc....

On Monday iOS 13 beta 2 was released to developers and, as expected, it comes with a whole host of new changes and features. The update is headlined by the SMB server functionality in the Files app, which was not working in the previous beta. Beta 2 also includes several new Memoji stickers and new Portrait mode functionality in the Camera app. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for a look at what’s new in iOS 13 beta 2....

This week Benjamin and Zac discuss the latest Apple Watch Activity Challenge and upcoming improvements to watchOS, the curious removal of a useful 3D Touch gesture, possible ProMotion iPhone displays, fewer color options, and Touch ID potentially being replaced by facial recognition. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/332097911″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] New episodes of Happy Hour are available every week. As mentioned, you can download this podcast via iTunes or plug in our RSS feed link into your favorite podcasting app....

We still can’t believe it’s been eight years since the Harry Potter movies concluded with the release of Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Sure, the Fantastic Beasts franchise has kept our appetite for all things magical alive in recent times, but there’s still a part of us pining for more about not just Harry, but the world he lives in too. In this day and age where the likes of the MCU and DCEU are able to release solo movies about multiple individuals, think how awesome it would be if Harry Potter went down the route of giving us more about certain characters?...

Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood share a touching friendship throughout the Harry Potter series. The two characters first meet in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix while on their way to Hogwarts, with Luna quickly developing a vital role in Dumbledore’s Army and becoming a beloved character in the fandom. The series is currently complete and Harry ultimately found love with Ginny Weasley. Harry and Ginny are a well-matched couple, though he shares a special connection with Luna that would have made for an interesting romantic relationship....

Adam McKay is getting no small amount of attention for directing the premiere of HBO’s new series Succession, a darkly comic look into the lives of a dysfunctional family in charge of an enormous fictional media conglomerate. McKay, a recent Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay on The Big Short, an award he shared with co-writer Charles Randolph, is perhaps best known for his zany Will Ferrell comedies, like Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys....

Don’t expect Henry Cavill to sport the mustache he was rocking in Mission: Impossible - Fallout anytime soon, as he doesn’t have any plans to regrow it, at least in the foreseeable future. Joining the Tom Cruise-led thriller franchise last year as CIA agent August Walker, Cavill’s character quickly became a fan-favorite thanks to his cool, suave demeanor and undeniable chemistry with Ethan Hunt. But he also turned out to be the film’s mysterious villain, John Lark, and part of his character’s overall look is 1970s-style facial hair....