Scientists and engineers around the world are working to improve quantum bits, or qubits, the minuscule building blocks of the quantum computer. Qubits are incredibly sensitive, making it easy for errors to be introduced, lowering device yield. But a new cluster tool at MIT.nano introduces capabilities that will allow researchers to continue advancements in qubit performance. Passersby outside MIT.nano may have recently noticed a complex looking piece of equipment being installed on the first-floor cleanroom. What looks like a sci-fi movie prop is actually a state-of-the-art, custom-built molecular beam epitaxy (MBE): a physical vapor deposition system that operates under ultra-high vacuum to produce high-quality thin films. With the ability to grow different crystalline materials on a wafer, the tool will support quantum researchers and materials scientists by allowing them to study how film growth affects the properties of the materials used in making qubits. 'To realize the full promise of quantum computing, we need to build qubits that are robust, reproducible, and extensible,' says William D. Oliver, the Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and professor of physics at MIT. 'To date, most of the improvements to superconducting qubit performance are traceable to circuit design ' essentially, designing qubit circuits that are less sensitive to their environmental noise. However, those improvements have largely run their course. Going forward, we need to address the fundamental materials science and fabrication engineering required to reduce the sources of environmental noise. This multi-chamber, cassette-loaded, 200-millimeter wafer MBE system is exactly the right tool at the right time. And there's no place better to do this research than at MIT.nano.'...

The Devil Wears Prada took place amid the glorious roar of capitalism. The hit 2006 comedy took place in a world where magazines were still triumphant, with Runway, a fictional, Vogue-esque publication the film was centered on, sitting firmly atop the heap. The only concern was whether Andy Sachs, a plucky aspiring journalist played by Anne Hathaway, could survive working as the assistant to Runway's imperious editor in chief, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), without totally losing her sense of self. But in The Devil Wears Prada 2, Hollywood's latest nostalgia-baiting follow-up film, the crisis is no longer personal'it's existential. Ahead of watching the sequel, I worried about what I thought would be a lazy parade of fan service; I feared that the movie would lob catchphrases and cameos at the audience like dead fish to a herd of clapping seals. (This often seems to be Hollywood's view of its customer base too.) At first, the story is a bit of a retread: 20 years later, Runway still exists, and Miranda still rules it with a relatively iron fist. But the magazine's budgets are no longer limitless, the September issue is not quite as thick with glossy ads, and dreaded words such as content and traffic are bandied about during meetings that used to be focused on which passed appetizers would be served at an upcoming gala. The sequel thus finds a good reason to exist: It has plenty of breezy fun probing the dilemmas of modern media, without abandoning the glitz that made the original so enduring....

The best way to sneak a comedy into theaters these days, it seems, is to make it a crime drama. Over Your Dead Body is billed as the latest effort from the director Jorma Taccone'a surprising name to be attached, considering his filmography. His previous features are Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and MacGruber, two of the better comedies released in the 2010s (back when such things still regularly appeared in cinemas). But that resume sits somewhat uncomfortably against a poster with five stone-faced actors wielding guns and knives'announcing a rather grim-looking thriller in which blood will be shed and tough life lessons learned. What a riot. Taccone's film is certainly much more serious than the spoofy, anarchic projects he's made in the past, including his work as a writer on Saturday Night Live. But it's still, at its core, an attempt at a riotous black comedy, one indebted to obvious masters of the form such as the Coen brothers and the more horror-adjacent auteur Sam Raimi. Over Your Dead Body is a remake of the 2021 Norwegian film The Trip, and Taccone is doing his best to maintain its transgressive Nordic roots by mixing sex, gore, and deep marital discord with carefree aplomb. The movie is bleak, but it's brazen enough to sometimes recall Taccone's earlier, punchier work. With films of that ilk now a dying breed, even just bringing them to mind is perhaps the most that fans of his humor can hope for....

Letterboxd has surged in popularity in recent years. Once a niche site for only the most fervent of film nerds, the site ' which allows users to rate, review, and recommend movies to one another ' has continued to add accounts by the tens of millions, thanks largely to interest from millennials and Gen Z. Now, the company's controlling investor has apparently made it known that they are looking to cash out. Semafor reported Sunday that Canadian holding company Tiny, which owns some 60% of Letterboxd, has been courting various potential buyers, including Versant, the parent company of CNBC and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC). Another potential buyer is The Ankler, a popular Hollywood newsletter, according to Semafor. Tiny bought the platform in 2023, valuing it at over $50 million. It's unclear whether the company has neared any sort of deal. Founded in 2011, Letterboxd saw a jump in users in the past few years, climbing to about 26 million users this year, up from 1.7 million in 2020, according to The New York Times. In recent years, the site has seen interest from movie studios, which see it both as a vehicle for marketing films and a source of information about moviegoer trends, as well as from the Oscars, which teamed up with the social platform in a digital content partnership several years ago....