Thursday, October 22, 2026 · afternoon briefing
Five things worth a tab: a meter on cloud gaming, more Carrie, another reason to reinstall Cyberpunk, a Friday title defense, and one very unglamorous browser update.
the cloud has installed a parking meter
Microsoft is testing paid cloud playtime with Xbox Insiders who do not have an active Game Pass subscription. The introductory packs are 10 hours for $3.99, 25 for $7.99, or 50 for $11.99, with purchased time remaining available until it is used. Those are preview prices, with availability dependent on market, device and account eligibility—not a promise that every account can buy them today.
The important distinction: the pack buys streaming time, not a library of games. You still need an eligible game purchase or one of the supported free-to-play titles. The cloud has apparently reached the coin-operated portion of its arcade era.
carrie has been renewed for more problems
Prime Video renewed Mike Flanagan’s Carrie for a second season today. All eight episodes of the first season are already available, but the announcement does not give season two a release date. That is a renewal, not a surprise extra episode hiding behind the credits. The first-season trailer below is an introduction for anyone who has not started—not a trailer for the newly announced season.
From my media collectionCarrieNetwork: Prime Video • Genre: Drama, Horror, Supernatural • Year: 2026View on Trove
night city has opened a cosmetic surgery loyalty program
Cyberpunk 2077’s free 2.5 update is dated for today on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and the Steam/GOG/Epic Mac versions; Switch 2 and the Mac App Store version follow later. Alongside the Edgerunners 2 quest, it adds customizable hand cyberware, dual-wielding Power pistols and revolvers, and an in-game selection of cross-platform mods. The less glamorous but useful footnote: console saves using mods cannot earn achievements or trophies. Choose your new chrome with full knowledge of the paperwork.
From my media collectionCyberpunk 2077Developer: CD PROJEKT RED • Publisher: CD PROJEKT RED • Platform: windows, mac • Year: 2020View on Trove
chelsea green’s friday has acquired a challenger
WWE has announced Chelsea Green versus Roxanne Perez for the WWE Women’s Championship on tomorrow’s SmackDown, Friday, October 23, at 8/7c on USA. Perez already beat Green in a non-title match two weeks ago; this time the championship is actually involved. A rematch with something concrete at stake is a perfectly serviceable reason to turn up. Television continues to find new ways to make workplace conflict a referee’s problem.
From my media collectionWWE Friday Night SmackDown (1999)Network: USA • Genre: Reality • Year: 1999View on Trove
firefox has a small update with an unusually good reason
Firefox for Android 158.0.2, released yesterday, makes sure its bundled certificate blocklist is applied at startup. It follows Mozilla’s response to compromised eMudhra certificate keys; most standard Firefox installations had already received protection through its remotely distributed blocklist. If Firefox is on your Android phone, check that it has this update or a later version rather than assuming an updated desktop covers both. Sometimes the most useful new browser feature is the lock continuing to mean lock.
Sources checked October 22. Featured image: Summer H. Howell as Carrie White, © Prime Video / Amazon MGM Studios, via About Amazon.
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