Disney has digitally removed a lone crew member who accidentally appeared in the background of a recent Mandalorian episode. The Verge reports: The crew member, who the internet lovingly dubbed "Jeans Guy," appeared at the 18:54 mark in season 2, episode 4. Back flat against the wall, the crew member was not in the shot for very long, but they made an impact on Star Wars fans everywhere. People even made mock designs for action figures based on the crew member! You can't buy that kind of love. The Verge has reached out to Disney about the digital erasure. Upon revisiting the scene, however, the crew member is nowhere to be found, something I was worried would happen. The beauty of digital editing technology is that shows and movies can be worked on in homes around the world at a time when it's impossible to be in a shared office space. The downside is that accidental gaffes we've come to love are erased, lost forever in the digital wavelengths of time.

European Union lawmakers are considering whether current rules aimed at limiting the practice of geoblocking across the bloc should be extended to cover access to streaming audio-visual content. From a report: Access to services like Netflix tends to be gated to individual EU Member States, meaning Europeans can be barred from accessing libraries of content offered elsewhere in the region. So if you're trying to use your Netflix subscription to access the service after moving to another Member State, or want to access inventory offered by Netflix elsewhere in Europe, the answer is typically a big fat no, as we've reported before. This undermines the core concept of the EU's Single Market (and the Digital Single Market -- aka the frictionless ecommerce end-goal which rules such as those limiting geoblocking aim to deliver). The Commission is alive to ongoing issues around online access to audio-visual content. In a review of the two-year-old Geo-blocking Regulation published today, it says it will kick off discussions with the audiovisual sector on ways to improve consumer access to this type of copyrighted content across the bloc.

Reuters reports: David Prowse, the English actor who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films, has died aged 85, his management company said on Sunday...

The champion weightlifter-turned-actor starred as the body, but not the voice, of one of cinema's best-known villains. Director George Lucas opted to dub another voice onto Prowse's portrayal of the towering, masked antagonist Darth Vader in "Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi".
More from the Los Angeles Times: Born in Bristol, southwest England, in 1935, Prowse represented England in weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games in the 1950s before breaking into movies with roles that emphasized his commanding size, including Frankenstein's monster in a pair of horror films [and also in the 1967 comedy Casino Royale].

Director George Lucas saw Prowse in a small part in "A Clockwork Orange" and asked the 6-foot-6-inch actor to audition for the villainous Vader or the Wookiee Chewbacca in "Star Wars." Prowse later told the BBC he chose Darth Vader because "you always remember the bad guys."

Physically, Prowse was perfect for the part. His lilting English West Country accent was considered less ideal, and his lines were dubbed by actor James Earl Jones. Prowse was also known to a generation of British children as the Green Cross Code Man, a superhero in a series of road safety advertisements.
An anonymous reader writes: In 2011 he authored an autobiography titled Straight from the Force's Mouth (with a foreword by bodybuilder/Incredible Hulk actor Lou Ferrigno), and his differences with Lucasfilm are chronicled in a 2015 documentary about his career titled I Am Your Father. (You can watch its trailer on its page on Amazon Prime, though the full documentary is currently listed as "unavailable.")
Wikipedia lists some of Prose's other roles, including:

• A Minotaur in the Doctor Who serial The Time Monster
• The Black Knight in the Terry Gilliam film Jabberwocky
• A small role as Hotblack Desiato's bodyguard in the 1981 BBC TV adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Residents of an Austrian village will ring in the new year under a new name -- Fugging -- after ridicule of their signposts, especially on social media, became too much to bear. From a report: They finally grew weary of Fucking, its current name, which some experts say dates back to the 11th century. Minutes from a municipal council meeting published on Thursday showed that the village of about 100 people, 350km (215 miles) east of Vienna, will be named Fugging from 1 January 2021. Increasing numbers of English-speaking tourists have made a point of stopping in to snap pictures of themselves by the signpost at the entrance to the village, sometimes striking lascivious poses for social media.

Some have reportedly even stolen the signposts, leading the local authorities to use theft-resistant concrete when putting up replacements. Finally, a majority of the villagers decided they had had enough. "I can confirm that the village is being renamed," said Andrea Holzner, the mayor of Tarsdorf, the municipality to which the village belongs.

Microsoft is in the early phases of rolling out its xCloud streaming service on mobile devices, but TVs are the next logical step. From a report:In an interview with The Verge, Xbox chief Phil Spencer has revealed we'll likely see an Xbox app appear on smart TVs over the next year. "I think you're going to see that in the next 12 months," said Spencer, when asked about turning the Xbox into a TV app. "I don't think anything is going to stop us from doing that." Spencer previously hinted at TV streaming sticks for Microsoft's xCloud service last month, and this latest hint suggests we might see similar hardware or an Xbox app for TVs during 2021. Microsoft is currently working on bringing xCloud to the web to enable it on iOS devices, and this work would naturally allow xCloud to expand to TVs, browsers, and elsewhere. Microsoft was previously working on a lightweight Xbox streaming device back in 2016, but it canceled the hardware. Microsoft has been testing the idea of streaming and TV sticks ever since the company originally demonstrated Halo 4 streaming from the cloud to Windows and Windows Phones all the way back in 2013.

thomst writes: Variety is reporting that uber-champion Ken Jennings will be the first of a series of guest hosts to substitute for the late, great Alex Trebek on trivia-maven game show Jeopardy! Executive Producer Mike Richards revealed that, when production resumes on November 30, Jennings will be the first of a series of guest hosts of the program, as the show begins its search for a permanent replacement for the much-beloved Trebek.

Odds are good that the "beauty pageant"-style guest host format will, in effect, be a series of auditions for the permanent position. Jennings, who is legendary for the number of games he won as a regular contestant, as well as for triumphing over fellow Tournament of Champions contestants, IBM's Deep Blue expert system, and two other "winning-est" players to be crowned Greatest of All Time, has hosted trivia game shows in the past, and has made no secret of his desire to take the Trebek's job full-time.

As the saying goes, "Stay tuned for more on this story!"

New submitter SirKveldulv shares a report from Nikkei Asia: Livestreaming platforms now must limit the amount of money a user can give hosts as a tip. Users must register their real names to buy the virtual gifts, in addition to the ban on teens giving such gifts. The [National Radio and Television Administration, China's media watchdog] also asked the platforms to strengthen training for employees who screen content and encouraged the companies to hire more censors, who also will need to register with regulators.

The media regulator will create a blacklist of hosts who frequently violate the rules, and ban them from hosting livestreaming programs on any platform. "The livestreaming platforms should prioritize social benefits and spread the positive energy," the notification said. The administration also asked the platforms to strengthen training for employees who screen content and encouraged the companies to hire more censors, who also will need to register with regulators. The media regulator will create a blacklist of hosts who frequently violate the rules, and ban them from hosting livestreaming programs on any platform. "The livestreaming platforms should prioritize social benefits and spread the positive energy," the notification said.

"The Queen's Gambit," a Netflix exclusive about an orphan chess prodigy, set the record as the most-watched scripted limited series to date on the streaming platform -- with 62 million member accounts tuning in to the show in the first 28 days, according to the company. Variety reports: There's a caveat, though: The way Netflix reports viewing is based on the number of viewers who have watched at least two minutes of a piece of content, which is very different from how the TV industry measures audience. And the streamer cherry-picks which originals it decides to tout with the proprietary metric. Netflix boasted about the success of "The Queen's Gambit," saying that the show made the Top 10 in 92 countries and ranked No. 1 in 63 countries, including the U.K., Argentina, Israel and South Africa.

"The Queen's Gambit" premiered Oct. 23 on Netflix worldwide. The seven-episode limited series stars Anya Taylor-Joy alongside Marielle Heller, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling and Bill Camp. For now, "The Witcher" Season 1 remains Netflix's biggest original series overall in the first 28-day window with 76 million households choosing the title, at least based on the two-minute minimum viewing methodology (which the company introduced in the fourth quarter of 2019). Meanwhile, docu-series "Tiger King" was sampled by 64 million member accounts in the first month of its release, per Netflix.

Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: It seems like it's inadvisable to sit in a movie theatre during a pandemic. Thousands of theatres still tried showing movies this weekend — but the number of open theatres is dropping, perhaps because the number of people actually buying tickets appears to be plummeting.

For example, there were 2,154 movie theatres open in America this weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter — roughly 40% of about 5,449 theatres (according to figures they cite from the American media measurement/analytics company Comscore). But the previous weekend there were 2,800 locations still open — over 50%. "Heading into the weekend, 646 movie theaters in the U.S. closed down again virtually overnight amid an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases, according to Comscore. There were also 60 cinemas reclosures in Canada, meaning that in the span of several days, the North American box office lost 706 locations compared to a week ago... Factoring in Canada, the total number of theaters open in North American dropped from 3,096 sites over the Nov. 13-15 weekend to 2,390 theaters..."

But those figures don't tell the whole story. In that same week the box office dropped "as much as 50 percent" — bringing in a nationwide total somewhere around $5 million, the lowest figure since they started re-opening in August. In fact, the #1 film in America — the campy body-swapping horror film Freaky — pulled in a total of just $1.2 million. "The average gross per complex, with 60 percent of these having eight or more screens, was around $4,000 or $500 per screen," reports IndieWire. If you estimate a ticket cost around $10, that comes out to a total for the entire weekend of just 50 people at each screening. "That can't even cover operating costs, especially with half of the revenue going to film rental." (And they also report that some movies did even worse. Jackie Chan's new movie averaged $291 per theatre.)

It could be a chicken-and-egg effect. Movie theatres are reluctant to release their best movies to limited audiences — but then audiences have even less reason to go to the theatres. But another possibility is that millions of people who used to go to the movies decided that it just wasn't worth the risk during a surging pandemic.

For 108 years Americans have helped their postal service perform "Operation Santa." But this year's program will be fully digital and nationwide, reports CNN: The program allows children and families to write letters to Santa, which will then be processed and shared online beginning on December 4 at USPSOperationSanta.com. Once the letters are live, anyone in the U.S. can go online and adopt a letter, and help make a child or family's holiday wishes come true. Companies also can help adopt letters as teams.

While anyone and everyone can write a letter, the program was started to help families and kids in need, said Kim Frum, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). "The program has always been about providing holiday gifts for families who may not have the means to provide for anything more than basic everyday needs," Frum told CNN in email. Over the last 108 years, the USPS has received hundreds of thousands of letters as part of the "Operation Santa" program, Frum said. Last year alone, more than 11,000 packages were sent to people who wrote to Santa and had their letters adopted. USPS first launched an online pilot of USPS Operation Santa in 2017 in New York City, Frum said. It expanded to seven cities online in 2018, and 17 cities in 2019. The success of the digitization of the program helped pave the way for this year's expansion.

The decision to go fully digital comes as coronavirus cases continue to surge nationwide, leaving the nation to grapple with the consequences, including the economic impact.

78-year-old filmmaker Werner Herzog shared some interesting thoughts before the release of his new documentary on asteroids, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds now available on Apple TV+.

From Herzog's new interview with the science site inverse: Herzog tells Inverse he's less concerned than ever that a meteorite will destroy the Earth, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't still be worried about our own extinction. "It may be 100 million years to go until then," Herzog says, before adding, "within the next thousand years, we may have done such stupid things that we are not around anymore to contemplate it...."

There's a theory that all life on Earth came from a meteorite. Do you think that's possible...?

[I]f you expand the question, it wouldn't surprise me if we found life somewhere outside of our solar system, or even within our solar system, because we share the same chemistry with the universe. We share the same physics with the universe. And we share the same history with the universe. So with trillions and trillions and trillions of stars out there, it's highly likely that somewhere there are some forms of life. Probably not as good and interesting as in movies. We can be pretty certain there are no creatures out there like in Star Wars...

Have you heard the theory that we're living inside a simulation?

Yes, but I don't buy it. Because when I kick a soccer ball from the penalty spot, I know this is for real. If the goalie saves it, oh shit, this is for real.
He also discusses the 1998 asteroid disaster film Deep Impact and his own appearance on Rick and Morty, as well as part on The Mandalorian — and the experience of watching its premiere with 1,000 hardcore Star Wars fans. ("It was unbelievable. The first credit appears and there's a shout of joy that you cannot describe... It's evident Star Wars is a new mythology for our times, whether you like it or not.")

But though Herzog's films "often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals who are in conflict with nature," according to Wikipedia, Herzog insists to Inverse that Elon Musk's plan to build a city on Mars is a "mistake."
In a blistering criticism, Herzog describes the idea as "an obscenity," and says humans should "not be like the locusts...."

Herzog is not opposed to going to Mars at all. In fact, the German filmmaker would "love to go [to Mars] with a camera with scientists." But the long-term vision of a Mars city is a "mistake." Herzog's main concern is that humanity should "rather look to keep our planet habitable," instead of trying to colonize another one.

In short, Mars is not a livable place. There is no liquid water at the surface, or air to breathe. Solar wind means inhabitants would be "fried like in a microwave," Herzog says.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: AT&T has announced another round of price hikes for DirecTV satellite and U-verse TV services, with monthly prices set to rise up to $9 starting January 17, 2021. "Due to increased programming costs, we're adjusting the price of our video packages," AT&T said in a notice on its website. "Periodically, TV network owners increase the fees they charge DirecTV for the right to broadcast their movies, shows, and sporting events." Of course, AT&T itself determines some of these programming prices because it owns Time Warner.

A $5 monthly increase is coming to DirecTV's 160-channel "Entertainment" package, which currently has a standard rate of $97 a month. A $7 monthly increase is coming to the 185-channel Choice package, currently at $115 a month. A $9 increase is coming to both the 250-channel Ultimate package (currently $142) and the 330-channel Premier package (currently $197). New customers can get those packages for $64.99 to $134.99 under promotional pricing that expires after 12 months. "If you currently have a DirecTV TV promotion, you'll keep that discount until it expires," AT&T said. "Once your promo period ends, you'll pay the new price for your package."

There are also $1 and $3 increases for DirecTV's Basic and Preferred Choice packages for international customers, $6 increases for certain Spanish-language packages, and $8 increases for "Xtra" packages. Only the Minimum service, Family, and ChineseDirect Plus plans are not getting increases. AT&T is raising U-verse TV prices by $5 to $9 a month depending on the package, while keeping the price of the most basic U-verse package the same. U-verse provides TV over AT&T's wired network. As with DirecTV, customers on U-verse promotional pricing won't see the increase until the promotional period ends. DirecTV is also adding a "Federal Cost Recovery Fee of $0.19 per month," similar to a fee that used to be charged once per year. Despite the name, the fee is not mandated by the government. AT&T said the fee covers "expenses that DirecTV pays to the Federal Communications Commission." Ars Technica notes that AT&T did not include any increases for the Regional Sports Network and Broadcast TV fees. It's also decreasing the price of some premium channels. "That includes $3 decreases for Starz, Cinemax, and Showtime," the report says. "There are also decreases of up to $3 for certain add-on bundles that include sports channels. But even with premium channels, there are some price increases, including a $2.96 boost to an add-on bundle that includes HBO Max, Starz, Showtime, Cinemax, and a sports-channel pack."

The full list of price changes can be found here.

wiredog writes: Disney has developed a radical new theory of copyright. When Disney bought Lucasfilm and Fox, they acquired the copyright licenses that enabled them to sell Alan Dean Foster's books -- but not the liability, the legal obligation to actually pay him for those books. They have apparently also done this to numerous other authors.

The statement from the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) is here, and also a Twitter thread from Cory Doctorow. Foster's complaints go beyond Star Wars. His letter also states that Disney failed to pay royalties entirely for his Alien novelizations. "He noted that he and his agent have tried to negotiate with Disney to resolve it all -- mainly because he and his wife have ongoing medical issues and the royalties would help with bills -- only for Disney to ask Foster to sign an NDA before talks could even commence," reports Gizmodo.

Here's part of his letter sent to the company: "When you purchased Lucasfilm you acquired the rights to some books I wrote. Star Wars, the novelization of the very first film. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the first sequel novel. You owe me royalties on these books. You stopped paying them. When you purchased 20th Century Fox, you eventually acquired the rights to other books I had written. The novelizations of Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3. You've never paid royalties on any of these, or even issued royalty statements for them. All these books are all still very much in print. They still earn money. For you. When one company buys another, they acquire its liabilities as well as its assets. You're certainly reaping the benefits of the assets. I'd very much like my minuscule (though it's not small to me) share."

SFWA president Mary Robinette Kowal said: "The larger problem has the potential to affect every writer. Disney's argument is that they have purchased the rights but not the obligations of the contract. In other words, they believe they have the right to publish work, but are not obligated to pay the writer no matter what the contract says. If we let this stand, it could set precedent to fundamentally alter the way copyright and contracts operate in the United States. All a publisher would have to do to break a contract would be to sell it to a sibling company." The group is asking Disney to either pay Foster foor back and future royalties or cease publication -- either permanently or until new contracts can be signed. They're also asking any other writers who may have had the same experience with Disney to come forward.

Although COVID-19 is surging in the United States and around the world, Warner Bros. still plans to release "Wonder Woman 1984" on Christmas Day -- but its plans are are no longer limited to a theatrical release. From a report: Director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot both posted tweets last night announcing that in in the United States, the film will be released simultaneously in theaters and on WarnerMedia's streaming service HBO Max. "THE TIME HAS COME," Jenkins wrote. "At some point you have to choose to share any love you have to give over everything else. We love our movie as we love our fans, so we truly hope that our film brings a little bit of joy and reprieve to all of you this holiday season." A press release from HBO Max offers a few more details: The film will debut in theaters internationally on December 16, then launch in U.S. theaters and on HBO Max on December 25. It will be available to the streaming service's U.S. subscribers for one month at no additional cost.

Last month, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" wasn't aired on TV, marking the first time since 1965 that the Peanuts special wasn't broadcasted. Instead, it was streamed on Apple+. Now, according to The Associated Press, the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Christmas specials will return to the air. From the report: On Wednesday, Apple bowed to the backlash, announcing it had teamed up with PBS for ad-free broadcasts of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (on Nov. 22) and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (on Dec. 13). Both specials will also be available for free during three-day windows on Apple TV+ (Nov. 25-27 for "Thanksgiving" and Dec. 11-13 for "Christmas.") For subscribers, the specials will be available beginning Nov. 18 and Dec. 4, respectively.

An anonymous reader shares a report: The pandemic is helping Japan's demon slayers, monsters and robots make the leap to the global market. Animated video in the Japanese style -- aka anime -- has long been a niche taste for fans in the U.S. and elsewhere, and some anime films such as those by Hayao Miyazaki have become mainstream hits. Now, with the pandemic putting a premium on escapist video content, the business is getting hotter. Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are scouring the globe for fresh content, from documentaries to calming videos, and anime has an advantage over live-action content because it doesn't require actors and crew to expose themselves to virus contagion. With the latest anime hit bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in Japan, industry players say the next year is likely to bring more deals and more content for the U.S. "I used to have the sense that the anime category was spreading widely around the world, but what we're seeing these days is a big leap beyond that," said Taiki Sakurai, Netflix's chief anime producer. "The global anime fan base is expanding rapidly." Last month, Netflix said it had 16 projects in the works at its Tokyo-based anime production hub, including "Godzilla" and "Transformers" titles, with plans for global distribution that it said were pushed forward by the evidence of higher demand.

Netflix, which hired a creative team dedicated to anime production in Tokyo four years ago, said more than 100 million households around the world watched at least one anime title on the streaming site in the year to September 2020, growing by 50% from a year earlier. Anime titles have appeared in the top-10 list in nearly 100 countries this year, it said. Amazon Prime also features a wealth of anime titles. The financial reports of Tokyo-based Toei Animation, the studio responsible for anime such as the "Dragon Ball" and "Sailor Moon" franchises, give a glimpse into how the industry is changing. Four years ago, revenue received from outside Japan accounted for one-third of Toei Animation's overall revenue. The overseas portion rose to half of the total in the year ended this past March, and overseas revenue more than doubled to the equivalent of $243 million, with "Dragon Ball" programs available on streaming services such as Hulu in the U.S. In the most recent six months, overseas sales rose to nearly three-fifths of the total.

Hulu's live TV bundle is getting more expensive. From a report: The new prices are $10 per month higher than Hulu's current fees and will go into effect Dec. 18, 2020. The higher rates apply to both current and new subscribers. Hulu began notifying subscribers of the price hikes Monday. Under the new pricing, the baseline Hulu + Live TV with ads in the VOD content bundle is rising to $64.99 per month (an 18% increase) and the version with no VOD ads is rising to $70.99 per month (up 16%). Both bundles provide more than 65 live channels, including the four major broadcast networks, and access to Hulu's large on-demand library.

"The Radiophonic Workshop has always broken new sonic ground, from the Doctor Who theme to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Now they're at it again — this time using the internet as a musical instrument," reports the Guardian.

"The band includes composers from the original BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which created soundtracks for most BBC shows from the 60s to the 90s and influenced generations of musicians from Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and Mike Oldfield to Aphex Twin, Orbital and Mary Epworth..." A performance of Latency will take place at a special online event on 22 November using a technique inspired by lockdown Zoom calls... The internet has an unpredictable natural lag, or latency, caused by the milliseconds it takes for electrical signals from one computer to reach another, as anyone using Zoom has experienced. The trick that Bob Earland and Paddy Kingsland discovered was that they could extend the internet's delay from a few milliseconds into several seconds. Instead of trying to play at the same time, the Radiophonic Workshop will play one after another — in sequence, rather than in parallel.

"We had the bright idea of using that latency to make a loop of music," Earland said. "The sound gets sent to someone, and they add to it, and it keeps going round. So you're not relying on everyone being on the same clock..." Workshop member Peter Howell, who is also a lecturer in film and TV music, said: "It does feel like live playing, it's just that every person has a little bubble of time in which they're playing live."

The performance comes the day before 23 November, the anniversary of the first transmission of Doctor Who in 1963 which is also Delia Derbyshire Day, in honour of the Radiophonic Workshop's leading light, who created the sound of the show's famous theme tune.

Wednesday Twitch warned its users to delete any videos containing copyrighted music. PC Gamer reports on what happened next: Since October, Twitch has been deleting significant quantities of videos over copyright claims, leaving the affected streamers with no way to respond or issue counter-claims. Twitch eventually explained that the number of DMCA notifications it receives from major record labels has surged, going from "fewer than 50" each year to "thousands" beginning in May. The recommendation offered to streamers was to play games with the music muted, which obviously isn't great advice when it comes to rhythm games, or games that don't have the option to mute music separately from other audio. Meanwhile, some streamers have had videos muted due to sound effects, with claims coming via automated content recognition software Audible Magic. These claims can be contested, but it's still frustrating for those affected by content ID software that can't tell the difference between copyrighted audio and the noise of a grandfather clock chiming in a horror game.

In response, streamers have been protesting by playing games with the sound off completely to highlight the absurdity of the situation, some using the hashtag #DMCAsoundoff. Watching Rocksmith players grunt or silently nod along to songs nobody can hear highlights the problem while still entertaining their viewers, as does hearing them improvise their own the sound effects for games like Resident Evil 2.
Polygon argues it's "alarming that these are the lengths players are going to in order to try and protest Twitch's policy..." But they also applauded the creativity of the protesters It's a surprising look at the transformative nature of streaming. When players are forced to play in dead silence, people still tune in and watch. Even while complying with copyright law to the absolute letter, each stream is different, and each act of protest feels wholly unique.

Twitch recently posted a long statement in response to the controversy, writing: "Your frustration and confusion with recent music-related copyright issues is completely justified. Things can — and should — be better for creators than they have been recently. We should have developed more sophisticated and user-friendly tools long ago. To all the creators who lost their community's best moments, we're sorry. This shouldn't have happened."

Despite the statement, Twitch has yet to provide concrete solutions for the ongoing problem, and the platform has yet to address the issue of in-game audio triggering the DMCA process (besides a suggestion to mute in-game audio.)

In a Wall Street Journal article comparing Apple's HomePod Mini against the competition, a Google spokesperson hinted that the company is working on integrating its Chromecast streaming devices and Nest Audio speakers. The Verge reports: Being able to combine a streaming platform with a smart phone speaker makes a lot of sense for these companies. After all, customers already have all the hardware in their living room -- why not repurpose those speakers to improve the sound of your Netflix movies? Plus, there's the added bonus of inciting customers to stay within a company's ecosystem. You're more likely to buy a HomePod mini if it works with the Apple TV you already have. The ability to link smart speakers to streaming boxes is also something that both Apple and Amazon already offer.

Google's plans are extremely vague for now -- The Wall Street Journal makes no mention of which devices the company is looking to link together, when the feature will arrive, or what sort of use cases it's looking to achieve. But with Google increasingly looking to push users toward its smart home devices, making them all work better together just makes good sense.