With an episode high on action, mystery and intrigue, Star Trek: Discovery – the latest addition to the five-decade-old franchise, airing on CBS All Access in the US and available on Netflix in India and around the world – closed the lid on the first chapter of its maiden voyage. The show will return with its second half of six episodes in almost two months’ time, on January 7. That makes this the perfect time to reflect on what we’ve seen yet, and predict what we can expect come 2018.

Unlike its TV predecessors, Discovery has opted for the high-octane pace and sleek stylishness that J.J. Abrams brought to Star Trek with his 2009 reboot, which has since spawned a trilogy with more on the way. It’s a much more recognisable form of Trek to recent fans – one that involves CGI streaks when a ship goes into warp, among other things – and it’s also why so much of the first season is based around a Federation-Klingon War, since that inherently increases the excitement…

After removing thousands of videos featuring slain extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (pictured above) from its platform earlier this week, YouTube is expanding its takedown policy to cover even more content that includes “people and groups that have been designated as terrorist by the U.S. or British governments,” reports Reuters.

The change will affect videos that don’t feature acts of violence or hateful speech (which are already barred), and the move signals further efforts by the company to prevent the spread of extremist propaganda that could help radicalize viewers, as it comes under pressure from various governments to do so.

That’s a shift from the changes Google outlined in June, when it noted that videos containing inflammatory religious or supremacist content would appear behind an interstitial warning and wouldn’t be recommended to viewers or be eligible to be monetized through ads.

While Juniper Downs, YouTube’s global director…

Panasonic has been making some interesting choices with regard to its TVs. It sold some of the best plasma panels all the way up to 2014, long after all other companies had moved on to LCDs. With 4K HDR TVs now becoming mainstream, Panasonic has recently launched its EX600 range of in three sizes: 43, 49, and 55 inches. The latter two models come with a bundled wireless wireless home speaker, the Panasonic SC-UA7.

We had the 49-inch TH-49EX600D TV for review, and it boasts of some interesting features. It runs Firefox OS, has loads of apps in its library, and supports common HDR formats including HDR-10 and HLG. It’s priced at Rs. 1,41,000, which seems a bit high for a 49-inch LCD TV, even if it does offer a bundled speaker. Does its performance justify the price? That’s what we sought to answer through our review process.

Panasonic EX600 design and connectivity

The Panasonic TH-49EX600D looks simple enough from the front, with a small frame, and the Panasonic logo with a power…