IHOP annoys everyone again with another name change

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So we’re doing this again, huh, IHOP?

A year after the restaurant chain caused a stir by changing its name to “IHOb” to tease its new burgers, and experienced some pretty hilarious burns as a result, it’s right back to teasing a new name. 

But, this time, no one’s having it.

On Monday, IHOP shared the following tweet:

It’s hard to make sense of this because the chain actually reverted back to its original IHOP name only a month after the June 2018 “IHOb” stunt, even shuttering its “IHOb” Twitter account. So is it doing something special with pancakes or is there more tomfoolery afoot? 

Maybe the “P” will now stand for “Pancizza,” their bizarre pizza-pancake hybrid they created for a special promotion in select cities in February.  Read more…

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Teen who hacked Apple told to use ‘gifts for good rather than evil’

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One sharp Australian teen caught a break this week after being caught hacking tech giant Apple. 

The 17-year-old Adelaide student was one of two teens who were charged with hacking Apple twice, once in 2015 and once in 2017, and downloading a digital ton of internal documents. 

After putting the teen on nine months of probation instead of jail time, Magistrate David White said, according to ABC News Australia: “He is clearly someone who is a gifted individual when it comes to information technology, that being said, those who have this advantage of being gifted doesn’t give them the right to abuse that gift … You must remain on the straight and narrow and use your gifts for good rather than evil.” Read more…

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‘Observation’ is a gripping, thought-provoking sci-fi thriller that anyone can play

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Everything is creepy in outer space.

It’s a dark, hostile environment where sound doesn’t travel and death comes quickly for those who lack the proper protection. Habitable spaces can be built, but these costly creations are cramped on the inside and fraught with danger. Even the smallest malfunction can turn deadly.

This is familiar ground for sci-fi thrillers, but none have taken quite the same approach as Observation, from No Code (published by Devolver Digital). The title is the name of a space station where most of this story unfolds, but it’s also a reference to how you spend the bulk of your time in the game. Read more…

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Google Doodle marks Memorial Day with grayed-out look and ‘Taps’

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It’s Memorial Day and Google is doing its part to encourage users to remember those who’ve died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

All day long, Google’s logo on its homepage will be posted in gray. And starting at 3 p.m. locally, the official National Moment of Remembrance, the entire desktop version of the page will turn gray. Users will also be able to play “Taps,” the bugle call performed at Armed Forces memorials and funerals. 

Clicking a U.S. folded flag featured on the homepage will take users to this blog post by Google Veterans Network Lead Nick Ralston, who shares his thoughts on the holidays.  Read more…

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Adult swipes foul ball from kid, but there’s a happy ending

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Adults are the worst but, thankfully, there was karmic justice for one baseball-loving kid.

At the Big Ten baseball tournament in Omaha, Nebraska on Sunday, one young Ohio State fan thought he was about to snag the ultimate game token, a foul ball, when a grown-up Iowa fan swooped in to swipe the ball for himself.

The moment stirs memories of this drama that unfolded last year when an adult fan took a foul ball from a youngster at a Chicago Cubs game. There turned out to be more to that particular story, but the sight of an adult nabbing the souvenir from a kid is one that triggers a lot of reactions.  Read more…

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Watch a 96-year-old veteran wow a packed stadium with his harmonica skills

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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…

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Welcome to the Talking Animal Cinematic Universe

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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…

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‘Aladdin’ flies high at the box office despite mixed reviews

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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…

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Music could make Snapchat more like TikTok

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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…

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Tesla will limit charging to 80 percent at some Supercharger stations

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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.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk explains why you shouldn’t charge your Tesla battery to 100%

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…

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