The Lincoln Aviator SUV is back and making some noise after the American car maker pulled the three-row SUV back in 2005. 

The noisy return might have something to do with its revamped sound system. As part of a collaboration with audio company Revel, the car interior features 28 speakers dispersed nearly everywhere throughout the car, including the doors and seats. Eight speakers sit above passengers’ heads in the ceiling.

This makes for what the company calls a 360-degree listening experience, and it can be customized into three modes: stereo with the listener between the speakers; audience for a wider sound; and on-stage with an all-round experience. It’s basically like a concert blasted into your car and you’re on the stage.

SEE ALSO: These speakers stack like legos and communicate ‘like a hive’

Your typical car, say a Honda Accord, usually comes with about six speakers. So the difference is more than incremental.   

The sound experience goes beyond just the speakers. The windshield and side glass are laminated to keep outside noise out. The doors and wheel arch liners were also built with acoustics in mind. A double-lined wall behind the dash separates the engine and main cabin to keep out even more sound. The bottom of the car is supposed to make fewer rumbling noises, even at different speeds.

The car is even more musically-inclined than most: the infotainment system plays notes from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as alerts for 25 car features. 

The Aviator, which starts at $51,000, will be available starting this summer for the first time since 2005. 

If you’ve ever wished that sweet family films would have more existential despair in them, Toy Story 4 may be for you. And not just because of Forky.

At Disney’s CinemaCon presentation Wednesday, producer Jonas Rivera revealed that the Pixar sequel would see Tom Hanks’ Woody “questioning everything — maybe even his own purpose.” 

SEE ALSO: People are relating hard to a new ‘Toy Story’ character’s lust for the void

The first 17 minutes of the film, screened at CinemaCon, certainly seem to bear that out. 

The film opens “nine years ago,” when Woody was still Andy’s toy. He successfully spearheads a rescue mission for a toy lost outside in the rain, but the adventure comes to a bittersweet end when he discovers that Bo Peep (Annie Potts) is being given away.

Woody tries to save Bo, but she declines. “It’s time for the next kid,” she tells him, and Woody lets her go. 

A montage catches us back up to the present, where Woody (as established at the end of Toy Story 3) is now Bonnie’s toy. Except Bonnie doesn’t actually seem all that interested in playing with him — she keeps leaving him in the closet while she brings out other toys like Dolly (Bonnie Hunt), Jessie (Joan Cusack), and Buzz (Tim Allen). 

Woody’s clearly bothered by this, but nevertheless does what he can to make Bonnie happy. When she seems upset by the prospect of going to kindergarten orientation, he stows away in her bag to keep her company.

It’s in that classroom that Bonnie creates Forky (Tony Hale), and it’s on the way home that Woody realizes, thanks to an ear-splitting scream, that Forky has become sentient. 

Once they’re back home, Woody tries to introduce Forky to the rest of the group, as Forky, trembling and terrified, makes a run for it and jumps into the trash, where he thinks he belongs. (Forky was made of discarded scraps, you see.)

“Oh, chutes and ladders,” says Woody. 

While the opening scenes of Toy Story 4 aren’t terribly depressing — this isn’t Up, folks — they establish some intriguing emotional throughlines for the rest of the story to follow. 

Woody, throughout the Toy Story movies, has generally taken for granted that his life’s purpose is to make his human happy. But between Bo Peep’s departure, Forky’s birth, and his own not-terribly-close bond with Bonnie, he seems primed to rethink some things. 

Then there’s the simple fact of Forky’s existence. Exactly what turns something from an inanimate object to a sentient toy? I need Toy Story 4 to tell me before I fill up my entire house with trash on the off chance that I’ve played with it one time and thus willed it into existence.

Answers to all those and more — hopefully — when Toy Story 4 opens June 21. 

The X-Men are part of the Disney family now, and never has that felt clearer than at the studio’s CinemaCon presentation Wednesday.

Disney touted both Dark Phoenix and New Mutants as part of its upcoming slate, alongside the usual Avengers and Star Wars and Pixar projects.

SEE ALSO: Jessica Chastain takes an online quiz to find out which of the ‘X-Men’ she is

What exactly the X-Men’s future looks like at the Mouse House, though, remains unclear. 

Deadpool clearly isn’t going anywhere. “You’ll be seeing more of Deadpool in the years ahead,” promised studio chairman Alan Horn, after sharing Ryan Reynolds’ cheeky tweet about Fox joining Disney.

And New Mutants, despite delayed release dates, reports of reshoots, and rumors of a straight-to-streaming distribution plan, does seem to be headed to cinemas — it was included on a slide of Disney’s 2019 theatrical releases.

But the core X-Men franchise led by James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Sophie Turner is evidently coming to a conclusion. Dark Phoenix, out this summer, was described by 20th Century Fox’s Emma Watts as “the perfect sendoff” to the X-Men series.

At least we can hope it goes out on a high note. Though most of the Dark Phoenix trailers have not, to be perfectly frank, inspired much confidence, the CinemaCon footage looked appealingly dark.

The scene opens with the X-Men in space, on a mission to save some stranded astronauts, with Nightcrawler’s teleportation and Quicksilver’s super-speed coming in especially handy. 

Things take a turn for the disastrous, however, when they run into a mysterious force and Jean finds herself absorbing an enormous amount of power. She screams.

Jean makes it back to earth, but she’s different now. “When I lose control, bad things happen,” she says, tearfully. “But it feels good.” 

Jessica Chastain’s still-mysterious villain seems into it, though. “My power destroyed everything it ever came into contact with, until you,” she says. “They fear you, and what they fear…” 

“They seek to destroy,” Jean says.

The others are less enamored of this new Jean. Xavier warns that “she’ll kill us all,” while Magneto confronts her directly. 

“Are you threatening me?” Jean asks.

“That’s right,” Magneto says.

“That would be a bad idea,” she responds. And she means it. We see her pulling at him with her telekinesis like it’s nothing, while his face contorts in pain.

As teases for superhero movies go, this one’s solid. The explosions look expensive, the emotions seem acute, the characters (especially Chastain’s) seem intriguing. If Fox’s X-Men movies truly are done — and it sounds like they are — there are worse ways to go out than with a loud, bright bang.

And after that? We’re guessing these characters are too well loved to stay gone for long. Perhaps we’ll see them rising from the ashes once again, rebooted and reborn this time as Disney heroes.

Australia has announced tougher penalties on social media platforms to ensure they act on violent content.

The laws threaten executives of social media companies with jail, and fines placed on these companies if they fail to remove “abhorrent violent material” from their platforms. 

SEE ALSO: Facebook makes vague noises about ‘restrictions’ on live video after tragedy

The amendment, only just announced by the country’s prime minister on Saturday, was passed in Australia’s parliament on Thursday. 

It’s in response to the highly-shared livestream of the Christchurch terrorist attack, which social media companies struggled to wipe off their platforms. 

Facebook revealed that it removed 1.5 million instances of the video, with 1.2 million blocked at upload. Internet service providers in New Zealand and Australia opted to block sites which hosted the video, and unblocked them when it was removed.

“Big social media companies have a responsibility to take every possible action to ensure their technology products are not exploited by murderous terrorists,” Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement.

“It should not just be a matter of just doing the right thing. It should be the law.”

Despite this, the laws have been criticised by industry figures for being a knee-jerk reaction, given the lack of consultation around the bill, and how swiftly the idea was rushed to law.

What the law says

The Criminal Code Amendment (Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material) Bill requires internet companies remove “abhorrent violent material” from their platforms, defined as the streaming of terrorism, murder, attempted murder, torture, rape, and kidnapping on social media.

If companies don’t remove the content within a “reasonable time” they could face fines of 10 percent of their annual turnover. The law also threatens jail time, of a maximum of three years, to individuals who are found guilty.

Companies around the world are also required to notify the Australian Federal Police if they are hosting “abhorrent violent material” which originates from Australia on their platforms within this undefined “reasonable time.”

It’s unclear exactly how much time companies are given to remove the content. The circumstances could vary, depending on how much content needs to be removed, and the capabilities of the company to do so.

Laws passed without ‘meaningful consultation’

DIGI, an industry group which represents Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Verizon Media in Australia, said the laws were passed without “meaningful consultation.” 

It added the laws do nothing to address hate speech, which it points to as the “fundamental motivation” for the Christchurch terrorist attack. 

“Let’s be clear: no one wants abhorrent content on their websites, and DIGI members work to take this down as quickly as possible,” Sunita Bose, managing director of DIGI, said in a statement.

“But with the vast volumes of content uploaded to the internet every second, this is a highly complex problem that requires discussion with the technology industry, legal experts, the media and civil society to get the solution right — that didn’t happen this week.”

“This is a highly complex problem that requires discussion with the technology industry.”

Bose said Australia’s laws are out of step with the notice and take down regimes operated in the U.S. and Europe, and encourage “companies to proactively surveil the vast volumes of user-generated content being uploaded at any given minute.”

But some say Australia’s laws ignore how the internet works, like Lucie Krahulcova, policy analyst for Australia and Asia Pacific at digital rights organisation Access Now.

“Overall, this is the most recent incident in a downhill trend to ram through short-sighted and reactionary legislation that will hurt individuals, undermine the economy, and place Australia alongside repressive governments around the world,” Krahulcova said.

“This approach is totally out of place in a functioning democracy. This signals a green-light to all governments who consider human rights as an afterthought and a byline to follow suit.”

Whether or not Australia’s laws will prove effective remains to be seen. In a statement on Wednesday, Digital Rights Watch chair Tim Singleton Norton warned that the laws would create unintended consequences.

“The reality here is that there is no easy way to stop people from uploading or sharing links to videos of harmful content,” he said.

“No magic algorithm exists that can distinguish a violent massacre from videos of police brutality.”

Disney’s remake train is still chugging along mightily, and the next stop on this nostalgia tour is Aladdin. 

The studio unveiled a never-before-seen clip from the upcoming remake at CinemaCon Wednesday, featuring Will Smith’s take on the much-loved number “Friend Like Me.” 

SEE ALSO: Disney’s first full ‘Aladdin’ trailer shows extended look at Will Smith in all his Genie glory

And while it’s certainly a little odd to hear Smith’s Genie boast that we’ve never had a friend like him when we literally did have a friend almost exactly like him, in 1992, Smith’s enthusiasm sells the song well enough.

The exclusive footage opens with Aladdin (Mena Massoud) in the cave of wonders, having been instructed to obtain the lamp and touch nothing else. Abu, however, picks up a red gemstone, bringing forth fire and lava all around the cave. Just as all seems to be lost, they’re whisked away by a magic carpet.

Back on solid ground, Aladdin examines the lamp and notices something swirling inside. As he rubs off the dust to get a closer look, an enormous blue genie emerges. “Oh great one who summons me, terrible one who commands me, I stand by your oath, loyal to your wishes three,” he booms.

Aladdin barely has time to be intimidated before the Genie assures him that he’s kidding, magics a drum set and a trumpet for Abu, launching into “Friend Like Me.” 

Those concerned by Smith’s blue Genie look may be relieved to hear that it actually looks just fine in this context.

By the end, Aladdin and Genie find themselves dancing in a cave full of animals and fireworks, until Genie magics everything back to the way it was. “You can clap now,” he says, miming a mic drop.

The video then transitioned into a sizzle reel of other scenes from the movie: Aladdin asking Jasmine (Naomi Scott) to trust him and join him on the magic carpet ride, Jasmine’s tiger licking Aladdin’s face, Jasmine and her friends dancing at a ball, Aladdin sprinting across rooftops in a high-speed chase.

In contrast to The Lion King, Aladdin seems less like a shot-for-shot recreation of its ’90s original than an attempt to recapture some of its energy. 

It approximates the colorful freneticism of the original number, cycling through eye-poppingly bizarre scenarios so fast we can barely keep up — but the specific details of those scenes are different. 

Likewise, Smith’s performance seems to owe a lot to Robin Williams’, but feels more straightforward, relying less on wacky voices and impressions and more on Smith’s easy charisma. 

Those concerned by Smith’s blue Genie look may be relieved to hear that it actually looks just fine in this context, perhaps because it’s no stranger than anything else on display in this sequence. 

Here’s hoping it works just as well in the rest of Aladdin. The film opens May 24.

Elon Musk let us know earlier this year that when he drives, he uses Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system called Autopilot. For the the electric car company CEO, the “Navigate on Autopilot” feature makes highway traffic somewhat bearable. 

Musk will be happy to know that on Wednesday, the lane-changing suggestions from the car’s computer system just got easier to use.

Instead of approving the suggestions to change lanes or get over to make a highway exit every single time, you can now change the settings before you drive. You used to have to utilize the turn stalk to confirm the lane change suggested by Navigate. Tesla says that 9 million suggested lane changes have happened since the feature came out in October. Now, three new Autopilot settings: “Enable at start of every trip,” “Require lane change confirmation,” and “Lane change notification” give more streamlined options on how the highway assistance tool works.

If you select “no” on “require confirmation,” the car will go ahead and make the lane changes and adjustments. If you choose to have notifications, you’ll get a chime, visual notification, and for some car models, a vibration on the steering wheel about the upcoming change. No matter how you configure the settings, you always have the option to cancel the suggestion on the screen or with your turn signal. 

Someone like Musk might choose to have the tool turn on any time they’re on the highway (Navigate on Autopilot can only be used on freeways in certain places) and using the navigation system. No need to turn it on. 

It’s tempting to call this an autonomous feature but Tesla is firm that this still requires drivers pay attention, check surroundings, and make sure their hands are detected on the wheel. It won’t work otherwise. It’s still up to the driver to override any of the car’s decisions, especially if they see something. 

SEE ALSO: Tesla’s latest Autopilot update warns drivers about red lights

The update is available through an over-the-air update for Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability users as of Wednesday.

This might not be an update for Tesla owners like singer Sheryl Crow, who tweeted Wednesday that she has the “basic model, nothing overly fancy.” Autopilot is an additional $3,000 while ordering the car or $4,000 to add the semi-autonomous feature after you have the car. So we’d wager her basic Tesla doesn’t have the driver assistance, although it does sound like she could use some help with her car.