Apparently, Vin Diesel’s social media accounts are the official source for any and all news regarding xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.
The actor announced his return to the adrenaline-fueled franchise via Instagram back in August, and Coming Soon reports that Diesel recently rattled off a string of announcements about the third xXx film on both Facebook and Instagram.
Diesel announces that Samuel L. Jackson will reprise his role as the spectacularly named NSA Agent Augustus Eugene Gibbons:
Excited to work with Sam again… his portrayal of Gibbons was so good … timeless.Welcome to the Xander Zone!
Posted by Vin Diesel on Monday, December 14, 2015
Diesel gives us a sneak peak at concept art for the upcoming film:
Diesel announces that UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor will appear in the film:
Timing and precision… The casting of the new XXX gets more exciting everyday. #Iliveforthisshit A photo posted by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on
Wow. If this film has a PR team on staff, he’s making their jobs pretty easy for them.
We’d have to say the most newsworthy of the actor’s trio of posts is the first, where he announces the return of the highest-grossing actor in moving history. Seriously, look it up.
Jackson was well received as Gibbons in the first two xXx films and, ironically, when he appears in the third, he’ll have starred in more of the franchise’s films than Xander Cage himself.
Remember, Ice Cube (aka Darius Stone) took Diesel’s place for xXx: State of the Union, while Jackson stayed on as Gibbons.
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage is currently in pre-production and has yet to set a release date, meaning you’ve still got a bit of a wait ahead of you.
In the meantime, Diesel fans can check out Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which hits theaters November 11, 2016.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.