Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Netflix price changes are always controversial. But luckily, it looks like the streaming company’s latest strategy for getting more money out of users won’t affect most of us (for now).

The streaming giant confirmed to CNET that it has been testing out a new tier for its pricing models for select users in Europe: a €16.99 per month “Ultra” subscription plan, which would provide exclusive access to HDR (high dynamic range) content.

“We continuously test new things at Netflix and these tests typically vary in length of time,” Netflix spokeswoman Smita Saran told CNET. “In this case, we are testing slightly different price points and features to better understand how consumers value Netflix.” Read more…

More about Entertainment, Netflix, Technology, Streaming Services, and Entertainment

When Facebook removed a piece of “hate speech”  from its platform, it raised quite a few eyebrows. The reason? It was part of the Declaration of Independence. 

A Texas newspaper, The Liberty County Vindicator, was sharing the historical document in “small bites” to make it a “little easier to digest” for readers leading up to July 4. Everything was going fine until the paper’s 10th post, which included this passage from Thomas Jefferson on King George III’s abuses against the colonies: 

“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” Read more…

More about Facebook, Censorship, Thomas Jefferson, Tech, and Big Tech Companies

It’s dark out. It’s always dark these days. Something about ash from all the fires blocking out the sun? You can’t remember. It’s not like it matters. The MIT Cheetah 3 robot doesn’t need sun to hunt you down and dance on your soon-to-be lifeless corpse. 

You recall when you first read about the “full-grown Labrador” sized robot. It was a Thursday in July, and you somehow happened across press release from EurekAlert. The document (remember documents?) described a 90-pound bot designed to navigate without relying on what would then be described as traditional visual cues. Instead, according to the MIT researchers who developed it, it used “tactile information” to move around.  Read more…

More about Robots, Mit, Tech, and Other

The long-standing king of Alaska’s Brooks River, Bear 856, killed a recently born cub along the river bank on July 3.

The killing event of a cub, or infanticide, happened beyond view of the bear cams situated near the river’s waterfall, where salmon collect and bears congregate, so streamed footage of the lurid event wasn’t captured. However, the killing was photographed and confirmed by rangers as well as former Katmai National Park ranger Mike Fitz, who has returned to the river to report on bear activity for explore.org, which operates the wildlife cameras. 

“Cubs face significant risks, and they are especially vulnerable in their first summer,” Fitz said over email. “For me, this event is a powerful reminder of nature’s harsh realities.” Read more…

More about Science, Bears, Killings, Webcam, and Cubs

The internet is collectively rejoicing now that Scott Pruitt has resigned as EPA head. 

Trump announced Pruitt’s resignation, effective Monday, through Twitter. The now former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator not only did the complete opposite of protecting the environment with Reagan-like policies, but also led an administration ridden with ridiculous scandals. 

Despite what Trump called “an outstanding job,” Pruitt’s legacy will forever be known as the grifter who spent a ridiculous amount of taxpayer money not doing his job. 

More about Memes, Scott Pruitt, Culture, and Web Culture

Looking for a fun way to mess with complete and utter strangers who love buying bananas?

That’s a super specific and kinda weird thing to be seeking in life, but oddly enough, Twitter user @kbiegel has you covered.

On Thursday, @kbiegel learned the following perfect produce-related prank: When you scratch messages onto the peel of a banana, the letters will eventually  turn brown and reveal the words. 

So essentially, you could write messages on bananas in-store, and banana-loving strangers will find your words hours later when they take their fruit home. Creepy, right?  Read more…

More about Food, Pranks, Culture, Banana, and Culture

If you were one of the few people who had heard of the film Khali The Killer before this week, you may have just missed out on your opportunity to catch the movie online for free.

On Tuesday, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment mistakenly uploaded the entire full-length feature film — all 1:29:46 of it! — to its YouTube channel. The company meant to upload a red-band trailer for the film, but somehow the whole thing wound up as a free-to-watch video for the entire public to see. It has since been taken down. 

According to the Independent, the entirety of Khali the Killer remained up on YouTube for approximately 6 hours and was viewed around 11,000 times before being removed from Sony’s YouTube channel. There is no longer any mention of the film on its Upload page. The snafu was first noticed by CBR. Sony never uploaded the intended trailer in its placeGizmodo grabbed the follow screenshot before the video was removed from YouTube. Read more…

More about Film, Youtube, Movies, Sony, and Sony Pictures

Life is full of existentially difficult questions. Here’s one of them: Out of all the non-dairy milks, which milk should I use?

To be honest, that’s a super personal Q, and it’s not one we can answer on a broad scale. There are so many different milks, after all, and so many different human bodies with different dietary needs. How could an objective “best milk” possibly exist?

What we can do, however, is recommend milks for different scenarios. That way, you can make an informed milk decision the next time you have to choose a side in the Milk Wars. And you will have to choose a side. Read more…

More about Milk, Culture, and Food

In the midst of Chris-mas in July, on the very day Americans celebrate Independence (and inhale an exorbitant amount of hotdogs), Captain America is celebrating 100 years of fighting the good fight.

The patriotic Marvel supersoldier also known as Steve Rogers was honored by his onscreen representative, Chris Evans, on Thursday. 

One quarter of the Hollywood Chrises, Evans took to Twitter to celebrate both the 4th of July and a century of the Cap. 

“I love this country and I’m proud of how far we’ve come. Be safe today!” he wrote. “Also, Happy Birthday to a very good friend of mine. I hear 100 is the new 20.” Read more…

More about Entertainment, Marvel, Avengers, Captain America, and Chris Evans

Did you think the internet forgot about Fergie’s  questionable performance of the national anthem during the NBA All-Star game?

Nope.

In celebration of the Fourth of July and whatever the hell came out of Fergie’s mouth that night in February, Bad Lip Reading released a very patriotic rendition of the performance. 

Poor Fergie. Nobody wants her bread.  Read more…

More about Bad Lip Reading, Fergie, National Anthem, Culture, and Web Culture