From Star Wars to 'Bare Necessities'
One thing that was clear at the biennial D23 EXPO in Anaheim this past weekend: Disney rules the entertainment world. With presentations from Star Wars to Marvel, Pixar to Disney Animation, the event attracted plenty of superfans (including our first sighting of Kylo Ren cosplay, four months before the opening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and contained a few surprises. Amongst them: a glimpse of the Avengers-packed Captain America: Civil War, news on Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, and a whole host of Disney and Pixar animation announcements, from Toy Story 4 to Incredibles 2.
We also learned that in celebrity guest stakes, Harrison Ford > Ellen DeGeneres > The Rock -- the latter of whom took to the stage to reveal his character in upcoming Disney animated film Moana. But the surprise highlight of the whole weekend? Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book, which received the event's first standing ovation for its insanely realistic CGI and a Bill Murray-voiced Baloo, humming "Bare Necessities". Plenty to look forward to then, and not just in a galaxy far, far away.
Oliver Franklin-WallisAssistant editor, WIRED
Our favourite WIRED articles this week
](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/one-nation-under-cctv)
An estimated 5.9 million CCTV cameras keep watch over the UK, but the volume of footage creates a problem: when the police or security services need to actually analyse it, things move very slowly. That could be about to change.
This will get a whole lot worse before it gets better.
](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/anita-sarkeesian-sexism-online-harassment)
Games commentator and video producer Sarkeesian is not just an expert on culture and feminism -- she's also an expert at analysing her abusers.
](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/artificial-leaf-photosynthesis-could-replace-fossil-fuels)
A new system developed at Monash University in Melbourne can turn water into fuel, using nothing but solar energy.
](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/burning-man-2015-alternative-art-showcase-tetris-boeing)
A five-storey mesh dancer, a giant game of fire Tetris and -- if rumours are to be believed -- a hacked Boeing 747 are just a few of the oversized artworks on show at Burning Man (August 30 to September 7).
E-cigarettes are 95 per cent less harmful than smoking and should potentially be offered on the NHS according to an independent review by Public Health England
](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/thames-marine-mammals-thriving)
The last decade has seen the River Thames return from the dead to become a teeming habitat for a diverse range of marine mammals, according to new data from the Zoological Society of London.
](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/hitchbot-death-robot-ethics-human-psychology) "I honestly was a little bit surprised that it took this long for something this bad to happen to hitchBOT," said Kate Darling, an expert in robot ethics at MIT Media Lab.
](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/jeff-bezos-amazon-working-conditions-response)
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has claimed he doesn't "recognise" the company described in a damning report by The New York Times.
A molecule that destroys HIV and hepatitis C particles in semen has been successfully tested in zebrafish and mice.
Five articles we enjoyed this week
- The short-termism myth (The New Yorker)
- Behind TIME’s cover shoot with Donald Trump and an American bald eagle (TIME)
- Meet the most powerful political players in Silicon Valley (Re/code)
- Unraveling the enigma of Nintendo's Virtual Boy, 20 years later (Fast Company)
- Read the dream journal of the man who discovered neurons (Nautilus)
Behind the scenes at WIRED
WIRED's Oliver Franklin-Wallis headed to San Francisco for Disney D23, the company's biennial exposition. Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo, was amongst the news. (Right, top) As was Star Wars, which was acquired by Disney from Lucasfilm in 2012. The first film released under Disney, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is scheduled for December 2015. (Right)
Follow @WiredUK on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
Elsewhere in the WIRED world
Ashley Madison, CCTV. Listen now or subscribe on iTunes.
We reveal the 2015 WIRED 100 and Europe's 100 hottest startups. Out now in print, iPad and our new, better-than-ever iPhone app. Subscribe now and save.
We're looking for an associate editor to run our agenda-setting Start section, a deputy editor for WIRED.co.uk and an editorial intern to join the digital team. Interested? Apply here.
Our fifth flagship event will convene at London’s Tobacco Dock on October 15 and 16. Last year’s event sold out, so secure your WIRED2015 place now. WIRED subscribers save 10 per cent on tickets. We also have a limited number of half-price tickets available for startups and registered charities.
Find out more about WIRED2015 and WIRED Next Generation.
Want daily WIRED updates? Never miss an important story -- get WIRED Awake, our daily news briefing, sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning by 8am. Click here for a sample or sign up now.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
