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  Katherine Langford stars as Nimue, a young fey woman viewed with suspicion by her own people. [credit: Netflix ]

A young fey woman with magical gifts finds herself hurtling toward a tragic destiny in Cursed, the latest reimagining of Arthurian legend, this time from the perspective of the Lady of the Lake. The 10-episode Netflix series is an adaptation of the young adult novel of the same name, written by Tom Wheeler and illustrated by none other than the legendary Frank Miller (Sin City, 300, The Dark Knight Returns).

(Only the mildest of spoilers and no major reveals below.)

As we reported last month when the trailer dropped, the YA novel was published last year by Simon & Schuster—with eight full-color and 30 black-and-white original illustrations, making it a collector's item for diehard Miller fans. Wheeler is a well-known screenwriter, producer, and showrunner, with such credits as Empire (ABC) and The Cape (NBC), as well as the Oscar-nominated Puss in Boots and The Lego Ninjago Movie.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Bill Oxford)

"Bad-actor" phone companies that profit from robocalls could be blocked by more legitimate carriers under rules approved unanimously yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission.

Under the change, the FCC said carriers can block calls "from bad-actor upstream voice service providers that pass illegal or unwanted calls along to other providers, when those upstream providers have been notified but fail to take action to stop these calls." Carriers that impose this type of blocking will get a safe harbor from liability "for the unintended or inadvertent blocking of wanted calls, thus eliminating a concern that kept some companies from implementing robust robocall blocking efforts."

This expanded level of blocking—spurred by a new law in which Congress directed the FCC to expand safe harbors—could be implemented by companies that sell phone service directly to consumers. That includes mobile carriers Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, traditional landline companies, and VoIP providers.

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  Dirt 5's racing doesn't immediately look like a step above current-gen consoles, but its trailer did emphasize reflections and particle effects, which the Xbox Series X may boost.

For months now, Microsoft has been talking up the raw power increase coming to consoles courtesy of the Xbox Series X. At the same time, though, Microsoft is encouraging internal and external studios to make Series X games that continue to work on seven-year-old Xbox One hardware as well.

"As our content comes out over the next year, two years, all of our games, sort of like PC, will play up and down that family of devices," head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty said in a January interview with MCV. "We want to make sure that if someone invests in Xbox between now and [Series X] that they feel that they made a good investment and that we’re committed to them with content."

Does that mean developers will have to hold back their truly "next-generation" ideas to accommodate players with outdated consoles? Microsoft's Head of Xbox Phil Spencer doesn't think so. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz last week, Spencer also referenced the PC gaming ecosystem as an analogy to explain how support for the Xbox One would continue to work:

Enlarge / WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 08: US Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing at the US Department of Education July 8, 2020 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty | Alex Wong)

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not release new guidance documents on school reopening this week, contrary to recent comments from officials in the Trump administration.

A CDC spokesperson told NPR in an exclusive that new documents would instead be published sometime before the end of the month. The delay comes amid fierce nationwide debate about schools reopening and how it can be done safely.

Vice President Mike Pence announced July 8 that the agency would release new documents this week that would better guide schools in their efforts to safely reopen classrooms shuttered by the COVID-19 pandemic—which is still engulfing much of the US. That announcement came just hours after President Trump blasted the CDC’s current recommendations in a series of tweets, calling them “very tough & expensive.” He also threatened to cut funding from schools that do not open before the November election.