Category Archives: Blog

Even before the U.S. National Women’s soccer team’s match with Mexico kicked off on Sunday, the crowd at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey was brought to its feet by Pete DuPré, a 96-year-old World War II vet and his pregame harmonica performance of the national anthem.

While the crowd began the anthem in relative silence, they started sing along about halfway through before roaring as DuPré brought the anthem to a close. 

DuPré served as a medic during World War II and his parents were both part of the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War I. He also already had a pretty sterling reputation for his harmonica performance even before Sunday’s nationally televised performanceKnown as “Harmonica Pete,” DuPré has performed the anthem for a variety of sporting events and ceremonies over the years.  Read more…

More about National Anthem, Uswnt, Culture, Sports, and Web Culture

You know the Star Wars universe. You know the DC Extended Universe. You know the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

How about the Talking Animal Cinematic Universe?

Movies and television shows allow us to peer inside other worlds, worlds where almost anything is possible. Sometimes these worlds are real. Sometimes they’re fiction. Sometimes they are shared worlds set across multiple features or series.

What if — and stay with us for a minute here — the live action movies and TV shows starring talking animals are all part of a shared universe?

How? We have three conflicting theories, each of them completely plausible and foolproof. One of them is a biological miracle. One of them is horrifying for the animals. And the last one is terrifying for humans. Read more…

More about Movies, Entertainment, Animals, and Movies Tv Shows

When you first heard about Disney’s live-action remake of the 1992 classic, Aladdin, you probably had a pretty strong opinion.

So did critics, throwing down divided reactions to the studio’s latest major redo of an animated classic. But that hasn’t stopped Aladdin from flying high at the box office.

Aladdin was one jump ahead of the competition, beating John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,  Avengers: Endgame, and Detective Pikachu, along with fellow new openings Booksmart and Brightburn to top the weekend U.S. box office with an estimated $86.1 million over the three days, according to Box Office Mojo. Read more…

More about Movies, Disney, Box Office, Aladdin, and Entertainment

Snapchat could soon get more musical.

Snap has been “in talks” with a number of record labels in an effort to broker deals that would let the company add more music to its app, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal. The talks are not yet final but have “intensified in recent weeks.”

If these talks do progress to actual licensing deals, it would mean Snapchat would be able to add musical features akin to Instagram and TikTok, both of which allow users to add short clips from popular songs to their posts. It’s also the latest sign that Snap wants to do more to lure fans of TikTok to its service. Read more…

More about Tech, Snapchat, Social Media Companies, Tiktok, and Tech

Tesla owners will soon find that they can no longer charge up to 100 percent at some Supercharger stations. 

The car maker has opted to limit charging to 80 percent at some of its busiest stations, according to a report in Electrek. “Today, we released a new Supercharger feature that will limit owners’ State of Charge (SOC) to 80% at select high-traffic sites,” Tesla told employees in a memo obtained by the site.

The new limits will reportedly apply to 17 percent of U.S. charging stations. In some cases, the limit will be in effect at all times, while some stations will only have limits during holidays and “large regional events,” like music festivals. Tesla says it expects the change to “result in a 34% improvement in throughput at our busiest Supercharging locations” and that Tesla owners will be alerted to the limit when they show up at an affected station.  Read more…

More about Tech, Transportation, Tesla, Tech, and Transportation

Netflix teamed up with Latin American YouTubers to create three Little Black Mirror mini-stories, but they’re only available in Latin America.

The Little Black Mirror series is a promotional campaign aimed at Spanish-speaking audiences, according to a report from Variety. Netflix confirmed to Mashable that the videos, which will be published on the Netflix América Latina YouTube channel, are only available in Latin American countries and will not be released in English.

That’s a bit of a bummer for Black Mirror fans outside of Latin America. But hey, you’re not the target here.

Little Black Mirror stars actors and YouTube personalities Alesso, Delaney Glazer, Anwar Jibawi, Rudy Mancuso, Maia Mitchell, Lele Pons, Hannah Stocking, Jeff Wittek, and Juanpa Zurita. Mancuso, who saw massive popularity on Vine, directed the three episodes and scored the music for them. Read more…

More about Television, Netflix, Black Mirror, Entertainment, and Movies Tv Shows

Tidying master Marie Kondo is working on a children’s book about friendship, tidying up, and, of course, embracing joy.

More about Marie Kondo, Entertainment, Books, and Movies Tv Shows

Congratulations to the referee in the Netherlands who scored a goal against the Harkemase Boys football club on Saturday.

During a match between the Harkemase Boys and HSV Hoek in the Netherlands, the Harkemase Boys’ defense were scrambling to stop the Hoek offense from scoring inside the penalty box. One of the defenders tried to clear the ball away from the goal but kicked it right at the referee and the ball bounced back into the goal.

After a second, the referee signaled that the goal counted much to the dismay of Harkemase players.

Unfortunately for the Harkemase Boys, the referee made the correct call. FIFA considers referees to be part of the field of play, so balls that touch them are still in play. Read more…

More about Soccer, Culture, and Sports

A laptop infected with some of the most destructive pieces of malware ever may sound like the kind of ticking time bomb you’d expect only in sci-fi movies. But one man has created just such a machine, and it can be yours — if you have about $1 million to spare. 

No, this isn’t some shady dark web marketplace. It’s an art auction, and the current bidding price is around $1.2 million. 

The piece, by artist Guo O Dong, is titled “The Persistence of Chaos,” and the name is apt because the laptop could wreak some serious havoc. The old Samsung Netbook that runs Windows XP is infected with half a dozen extremely dangerous pieces of malware that, cumulatively, have caused nearly $95 billion in damages, according to Dong.  Read more…

More about Tech, Cybersecurity, Wannacry, Tech, and Cybersecurity

Gaming disorder, which basically boils down to video game addiction, was officially recognized by the World Health Organization Saturday.

After a year and a half of deliberation on the new revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11), which included gaming disorder in its 2017 draft, all 194 member states of the WHO agreed to adopt ICD-11. The new revision goes into effect Jan. 1, 2022.

So what exactly is gaming disorder? It sits in the subcategory in ICD-11 called “Disorders due to substance use or addictive behaviors” alongside alcoholism, gambling addiction, and, curiously, a section devoted to harmful cannabis use dependence. Read more…

More about Addiction, World Health Organization, Gaming Disorder, Entertainment, and Health