The Shards is now streaming on Hulu for US viewers and Disney+ internationally, as it adapts Bret Easton Ellis' novel of the same name.

In my The Shards review, I was pleased to note that it was a welcome return to form for Ryan Murphy. I was also impressed by how well he adapts the source material into a sexy, glamorous yet dangerous TV series.

If you're here, you're wondering when the next episodes will stream. Much like the two episode premiere, we also get two episodes this week.

Here's what you need to know about the release of The Shards episodes 3 and 4.

What time can I watch The Shards episodes 3 and 4 on Hulu?

For US viewers, both The Shards episodes 3 and 4 will drop on Wednesday, August 12 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.

Here's when you can stream the new episodes in other countries.

• US – Thursday, August 13 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Thursday, August 13 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK – Friday, August 14 at 2am BST
• India – Friday, August 14 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Friday, August 14 at 9am SGT
• Australia – Friday, August 14 at 11am AEDT
• New Zealand – Friday, August 14 at 12pm NZDT

When do new episodes of The Shards come out?

After this week's double bill, episodes of The Shards will premiere on a weekly basis until the finale on Wednesday, September 9. We do have another double bill coming up too, which is good news for those who don't like to wait.

For dates as well as the episode titles for the upcoming The Shards releases, take a look below.

• The Shards Episode 1 “Pilot”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 2 “Don’t You Want Me”: Out now
• The Shards Episode 3 “Help Me! Rhonda!”: Wednesday, August 12
• The Shards Episode 4 “Robert’s Party”: Wednesday, August 12
• The Shards Episode 5 “Murder on the Dancefloor”: Wednesday, August 19
• The Shards Episode 6 “Homecoming Part One”: Wednesday, August 26
• The Shards Episode 7 “Homecoming Part Two”: Wednesday, August 26
• The Shards Episode 8 “Hamlet”: Wednesday, September 2
• The Shards Episode 9 “Stairway to Heaven”: Wednesday, September 9

"I big, I punch," is probably the most effective and concise way of summing up the last three seasons of Reacher on Prime Video. Alan Ritchson's titular hero has slammed, drop-kicked, and battered his way through three separate stories to date, but Reacher season 4 has something new to offer.

Instead of honing in on Reacher's past or personal vendettas, our eight new episodes are ones of political espionage. Adapting the Lee Child novel Gone Tomorrow, he instead becomes embroiled in a CIA conspiracy after suspecting a woman on a New York City subway train is actually a suicide bomber. It's drama that makes you think, for the first time ever in this franchise.

It's a big tonal swing, and probably a risk that the crime drama needed to take four seasons in — but that doesn't mean it's completely paid off. In a nutshell, getting to the bottom of a big city political scandal has never made me yearn for the small-town days of seasons gone by more.

Clearly, this is part of Reacher's big-picture thinking. Seasons 1 and 3 were based in more rural locations, with seasons 2 and 4 respectively based in New York and Philadelphia. We already know that Reacher season 5 will be set in Oklahoma (like the novel Make Me), and I'm desperate to get there.

Does Reacher really have the chops to dig deeper into its punchy action? Probably not. I doubt we'll see the show stray back into these waters again, and there's good reason why.

Jack Reacher isn't the right action hero to lead a political espionage investigation

If the line "Oh no, I got it wrong!" is your signal to the audience that a dramatic twist is about to take place, then you're likely in over your head. This dialogue passes Reacher's lips halfway through season 4, with our bullish hero a fish out of water, scrambling through a plot that's much bigger than he could ever properly cope with.

On the one hand, I like that this level of insecurity humanizes Reacher more. There's always been more to him than just being muscle and meat hooks in a T-shirt, but now he's able to put his money where his mouth is. Selflessness, understanding, and the ability to be vulnerable flow out of Reacher abundantly in a way it never could have before, and I appreciate that.

However, let's not do this kind of storyline again. Our overarching threat is simultaneously too complicated to fully sink your teeth into and too mundane to actually bother caring about it. The armchair detectives among us will work out who is the 'villain' underpinning Reacher's latest disaster in a matter of seconds, and between season 4's beginning and end, you'll need a notepad and pen to keep up.

I think that an obstacle hidden in plain sight is the fact that Reacher himself doesn't have the same gravitas in a city as he does in a town. Plop him in the centre of Georgia, and he'll obviously scare the crap out of everyone around him. But in New York and Washington, D.C., he's a mere fly in the ointment. Add in a subpar storyline, and Reacher season 4 isn't exactly making its mark in an already oversaturated genre.

However, this might be Reacher's best supporting cast to date

But let's stop being a Debbie Downer... It's clobbering time! For surface-level viewing, Reacher season 4 is ticking every box you'd expect after its last three seasons, and that makes for some satisfying weekly viewing.

The secret weapon, however, is its supporting cast, which may just be my favorite of all we've had to date. New additions Tamara Green (Sydelle Noel), Jacob Merrick (Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette), and Russell Plum (Kevin Weisman) are Reacher's unlikely gang of allies, and the uneasy friendships that develop between them are the relationships that you're really rooting for.

Together, the awesome foursome drive the excitement of the piece, and help us paper over anything that isn't really gelling together in the story itself. We're desperate for them to break the rules and stick two metaphorical fingers up at authority, and they routinely indulge us. Best of all, our trio of newcomers pulls out all of Reacher's caring traits that we're desperate to see, even if they all make a few bad decisions along the way.

Without giving anything away, there are definitely some distasteful tones bubbling underneath the surface, particularly around how the story approaches sex work and, well, women in general. But hey, who cares when Reacher is going to punch something and take his shirt off, huh?

Reacher season 4 begins airing on Prime Video from August 12.

• Spotify is introducing AI Persona tags in mid-September
• The platform aims to improve user transparency by differentiating real artists from AI-generated ones
• Spotify only reviews an artist's profile and images, and not the music itself

Spotify has fallen short on the AI transparency front compared to some of the other best music streaming services, with users pining for a fix — and now the platform is taking its biggest step yet towards combatting AI slop.

The streaming giant announced today (August 11) the arrival of new AI Persona tags, which are designed to differentiate human artists from ones that are AI-generated. Spotify says these tags will roll out to mobile in mid-September, and will appear in an artist’s profile banner, ‘About’ section, in Search, and in song rows in playlists.

Once they become available, users can be safe in the knowledge that the artists they’re listening to haven’t been generated by AI. Spotify added that artists with AI Persona tags will be excluded from all personalized recommendations by default, ensuring that your music-discovery regime remains uninfected by slop.

Though AI Persona tags won’t roll out for another month or so, Spotify says artists can already disclose if their profile is AI-generated. If an artist declares this, a tag reading ‘AI Persona’ will appear next to their name. ‘We hope artists will be transparent, so we are giving them the opportunity to disclose,’ the service shared in its announcement — but it’s not putting all its trust into self-disclosure.

Instead, Spotify says it will take matters into its own hands if need be, and will conduct reviews of profiles where it thinks an artist’s images have been created using generative AI to imitate a lifelike persona. If Spotify detects that an artist profile might be AI-generated, it will display a tag that reads ‘Likely AI Persona’, and the artist will be notified and given the option to self-disclose or appeal.

It’s taken Spotify a long time to catch up to the likes of Deezer when it comes to improving its transparency on AI-generated music. Deezer was the first major audio streaming service to roll out tags that explicitly say if a track has been AI-generated, and recently its Head of Research told us why we need AI filters more than ever.

Spotify’s own AI Persona tags mark a big shift for the platform, and will certainly improve the user experience by giving listeners more peace of mind. However, Spotify’s feature comes with an important caveat.

It reviews the profile only, not the music

AI Persona tags are just one of the ways Spotify has been working towards improving transparency for users. Verified by Spotify was launched a few months back — this is a certification feature that shows if an artist is legitimate, but it’s not as watertight as we’d hoped it would be.

Additionally, Spotify’s SongDNA gives listeners a comprehensive overview of the creatives behind their favorite songs, while AI Credits give artists the opportunity to share where and how they’ve used AI in their music production. It’s not as upfront as Deezer’s methods, but the measures are in place nonetheless, and AI Persona tags are the cherry on top.

That said, AI Persona tags target an artist’s public image, not how the music was made, which could present some issues, as it still leaves room for AI-generated music to slip its way onto the platform.

If Spotify detects that an artist is human-presenting, how are we to know that artist won’t upload AI-generated music to their profile? There’s nothing stopping that artist from publishing slop, because Spotify reviews their name, imagery, and public identity, not the music they upload.

It’s a tricky one, because while Spotify has measures in place that evaluate music and artist image respectively, it doesn’t have a comprehensive tool that reviews both components simultaneously, which again isn’t as upfront as Deezer.

As far as AI-generated content in Spotify goes, I’ve been one of the lucky ones who hasn’t encountered this issue. Because my love for physical media and radio impacts what I listen to on Spotify, I suspect that my algorithm has been trained enough to push AI slop out of my recommendations.

I do think that on top of my streaming habits, Spotify’s anti-AI music measures have helped to keep the fence up and block out unwanted songs to a certain extent — I just wish its approach to tagging was a bit more robust.

The Big Bang Theory's Bernadette as a demon is something I didn't think I'd ever see in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe — but, now that I have, it somehow makes complete sense.

Last week's episode saw us meet her in a wizarding world but, in this week's entry we're swapping the magical action for something a little more One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest-coded.

But who, if anyone, really is crazy? And when does Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 4 arrive on HBO Max?

What time can I watch Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 4 on HBO Max?

For US viewers, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe episode 4 will drop on Thursday, August 13 at 6pm PT/ 9pm ET.

Internationally, you're looking out for these timings:

• US – Thursday, August 13 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada – Thursday, August 13 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK – Friday, August 14 at 2am BST
• India – Friday, August 14 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore – Friday, August 14 at 9am SGT
• Australia – Friday, August 14 at 11am AEDT
• New Zealand – Friday, August 14 at 12pm NZDT

When do new episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe come out?

New episodes of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe will make landfall every Thursday in the US and on Fridays everywhere else. Here are the all-important dates you need to know about:

• Episode 1: out now
• Episode 2: out now
• Episode 3: out now
• Episode 4: August 13
• Episode 5: August 20
• Episode 6: August 27
• Episode 7: September 3
• Episode 8: September 10
• Episode 9: September 17
• Episode 10: September 24

House of the Dragon season 4 has plenty riding on it. With the high-fantasy show's next chapter set to be its final installment, it'll have to deliver a fittingly fiery conclusion to the Targaryen Civil War, and wrap numerous other subplots and character arcs before its final credits sequence rolls.

All of that, and the final season's 2028 launch, feel a long way off at this stage — but that doesn't mean we can't look forward to its eventual release. So, if you want to know more about its possible cast, expected storylines, and more besides, this guide to the Game of Thrones prequel's next chapter is geared towards you.

Hop on, dragonrider, and let's take flight together.

House of the Dragon season 4 release date: what we know

HBO hasn't revealed next season's official launch date yet. However, as part of a multi-show renewal announcement that confirmed House of the Dragon season 4 was in development, the US TV network's boss Casey Bloys said it would premiere sometime in 2028.

Of course, plans can change, but word is that the cameras will start rolling in early 2027. Should that be the case, I'll be more confident that House of the Dragon season 4 will make its HBO Max debut in 2028.

House of the Dragon season 4 trailer: is there one?

Unsurprisingly, no — and we won't see one for a long time yet. Once a trailer for House of the Dragon season 4 is unveiled, I'll update this section.

House of the Dragon season 4 likely cast

Full spoilers follow for House of the Dragon season 3, and Fire and Blood, aka the book the show is based on.

Here's who I expect to see in House of the Dragon season 4:

• Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen
• Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower
• Matt Damon as Daemon Targaryen
• Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon
• Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon II Targaryen
• Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen
• Bethany Antonio as Baela Targaryen
• Phoebe Campbell as Rhaena Targaryen
• Abubakar Salim as Alyn of Hull
• Clinton Liberty as Addam of Hull
• Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria
• Kieran Bew as Hugh Hammer
• Tom Bennett as Ulf the White
• Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Daeron Targaryen
• Freddie Fox as Gwayne Hightower
• Jefferson Hall as Tyland Lannister
• Gayle Rankin as Alys Rivers
• Joplin Sibtain as Jon Roxton
• Kyrt Egyiawan as Orwyle
• Archie Barnes as Oscar Tully
• Annie Shapero as Alysanne Blackwood
• Dan Fogler as Torrhen Manderly
• Amanda Collin as Jeyne Arryn

Three big names were taken off the proverbial chess board in last season's finale, meaning they won't return for chapter 4.

James Norton's Ormund Hightower and Tommy Flanagan's Roderick Dustin were both gravely injured as part of their Tumbleton duel. The pair were then burned alive by Ulf and his dragon Silverwing in the final throes of said conflict.

Meanwhile, Phia Saban's Helaena committed suicide by throwing herself from a window in Maegar's Holdfast as a way out of being Rhaenyra's perennial prisoner. This trio, then, won't be back for another round.

There are bound to be a few returning faces, including Jamie Kenna's Ser Alfred Broome, while individuals like Ser Marston Waters and an unhinged, so-called prophet known simply as The Shepherd, who are yet to appear in House of the Dragon, might also show up.

In Fire and Blood, Broome and Waters play integral roles in the Fall of Dragonstone and/or other late-game events. Meanwhile, The Shepherd is responsible for instigating the Storming of the Dragonpit, a hugely significant event that was teased as part of Helaena's dream sequence in season 3 episode 7. I have a wild theory about the identity of The Shepherd, though, which you can read more about in my season 3 ending explained article in this guide's plot section.

That all said, House of the Dragon has taken some creative liberties with its source material, so there's no guarantee that this triumvirate will be part of proceedings. Hopefully, it won't be too long until HBO confirms season 4's full cast roster, and we can say with certainty that they, plus other returnees and newcomers, will take part.

House of the Dragon season 4 story speculation

Full spoilers follow for House of the Dragon season 3. Fire and Blood spoilers are also discussed.

Season 4's story synopsis hasn't been revealed yet, but we've got a good idea of what'll happen next

My House of the Dragon season 3 ending explained piece contains some clues about where things will go from here. Meanwhile, those who've read Fire and Blood will definitely know what's in store for Rhaenyra, Aegon II, and everyone else moving forward.

I'm about to dig into some aspects of the latter, so this is your one and only warning: potentially big spoilers immediately follow for House of the Dragon season 4. Skip to the next section if you don't want any major story beats ruined ahead of time.

Still here? You'll already know — or want to know — that there are many more deadly events yet to be played out in the Dance of the Dragons.

Indeed, the Fall of Dragonstone and Storming of the Dragonpit notwithstanding, we should also see live-action depictions of the Battle Above the Gods Eye, the Second Battle of Tumbleton, and the final showdown between Rhaenyra and Aegon II.

Other moments, such as the Moon of the Three Kings, Battle of the Kingsroad, the False Dawn, and Hour of the Wolf could also be adapted. However, House of the Dragon season 4 already has plenty of destructive and life-threatening ground to cover, so I'd be surprised if the latter pair are shown in any great capacity, if at all.

That said, the series could end on an unexpected note. Asked by Business Insider about how he planned on concluding things, Condal replied: "We've talked about this being kind of a World War II movie: There are plenty of World War II movies that exist where you tell the story within this greater war, but the curtain drops at some point in the story, and it's not necessarily with Japan's surrender or Hitler dying in the bunker — these big kind of endpoints where you could say World War II truly ended. You're telling the story within the story.

"So, in no way to comment at all on how we're planning on ending this, but I think that was the trick," he continued. "Because Fire & Blood is a decades-spanning history, the question is really more 'Where do you drop the curtain on this particular story?. We're telling the story of the Dance of the Dragons... at what point do you drop the curtain on this, [in a way] that feels satisfying and like you've told a complete story, but also that leaves certain things open-ended? [By] telling the audience, intentionally, that history marches on."

Before things come to an end, there are many subplots and character arcs to tie up. Those include — but aren't limited to — Rhaenyra potentially losing more allies in Baela, Addam, and Corlys; Aegon and Aemond teaming up to tackle Daeron and Rhaenyra; Alyn having to deal with taking the life of the High Septon under Rhaenyra's orders; and Hugh reckoning with Cat's death, and how that'll impact his loyalty to Rhaenyra.

Furthermore, there will be Alicent learning of Helaena's death and Aegon II's return, Mysaria's possible role in instigating a rebellion against Rhanyera, and Ulf being a dragon-wielding wildcard whose no longer loyal to Team Black or Team Green — and that's just dealing with some of the show's expansive ensemble.

Of course, the biggest question of all is: will House of the Dragon be able to give closure to everyone in the eight, 60-minute-long episodes that remain before its final curtain call? That remains to be seen. But, with other popular shows recently failing to stick the landing from a finale standpoint, Condal and company will hope House of the Dragon doesn't become the latest one to under-deliver for its fanbase.

Will there be a fifth season of House of the Dragon?

Right now, no. Speaking to Deadline in January, HBO boss Casey Bloys replied "yes, that is the idea" when asked if the show will end with season 4. In a separate chat with Deadline this June, showrunner Ryan Condal also said "I think I have said what I have to say about Westeros" — the implication being that, once House of the Dragon's fourth season has ended, it won't return for another outing.

There's always the prospect of HBO replacing Condal with someone else if it felt that a fifth season was necessary, but it would be bizarre to see another individual helm a single season of it. It would be even weirder if House of the Dragon's story continued after season 4, because the show was only intended to cover the Targaryen Civil War as it's outlined in Fire and Blood.

There's plenty more ground to cover with House Targaryen and Westeros more generally post-The Dance of the Dragons. Those stories are arguably best told in separate Thrones spin-offs, though, rather than being the foundations on which to build a fifth season. In short: don't expect to see House of the Dragon season 5 once the show reaches what's expected to be its natural end with its fourth and final installment.

Nvidia's GeForce NOW cloud gaming service has been a popular way to access your games on the go without worrying about hardware. It has a free tier with titles like Fortnite, not even requiring a purchase, but the paid subscription enjoys much better specs and rate limits. As such, using the "Ultimate" tier, modder Zortos was able to gain full access to the Windows desktop inside GeForce NOW, allowing him to use it as a normal computer that can (ironically) run local AI models on it.

For context, GeForce NOW is only meant for gaming; Nvidia does not advertise it as a general, all-purpose cloud streamer like Shadow PC, for instance. Hence, doing all this is certainly against the terms of service, and you run the risk of your account getting banned. With that being said, ethically, you are paying for renting hardware, so trying to gain desktop access is predicated on how far your own moral scruples allow you to go.

Anyhow, the exploit begins with an I2P (Install-to-Play) game that you download from Steam — Zortos uses Trove. You click on the publisher's name to open the built-in browser, from where you go to your C: drive through the address bar and essentially hijack the index. You open the steamapps folder that was just created for Trove and copy the path of the main executable from the contents.

This file is replaced with a decoy that deceives Steam into thinking you're actually starting Trove when you click on the "Play" button. In reality, it's a modified executable developed by another modder, dpadGuy, that just opens the desktop instead. Once inside, it really is the full Windows environment with no apparent restrictions. The video below even shows Zortos installing Wallpaper Engine and customizing the taskbar.

However, users have reported some discrepancies between their experiences, such as GeForce NOW simply closing the session when it sees the File Explorer open, or the service blocking file downloads, which is a necessary step to replace the executable. Zortos insists that the exploit is still working on his X account, and he even says that if you have persistent storage, the exploit will remain active between different sessions.

Keep in mind that you need a paid tier of GeForce NOW to be able to pull this off, and even if you do, it's against Nvidia's ToS as you're not allowed to venture beyond games. Running local AI models on a setup like this doesn't make sense because of the session rate limits, but the Ultimate tier Zortos used does give you access to 48GB of VRAM (thanks to an RTX Pro 6000D) so it might be worthwhile for some.