From the Cambridge Analytica scandal to countless other privacy issues, 2018 hasn’t been such a banner year for Facebook when it comes to its users’ private data.

Facebook undoubtedly realizes this and would like to get back in its users’ good graces. So, on Thursday, in Manhattan’s Bryant Park, Facebook set up its own pop-up shop. While the temporary IRL Facebook location was filled with holiday-themed directions, its true purpose was to spread tidings of comfort and joy via educating New Yorkers on the social network’s privacy setting options.

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The World of Ice and Fire books are filled with so much that never makes it onto Game of Thrones. But newly released art for the 2020 calendar has renewed hope that we’ll see a fan-favorite beast mentioned only once on the show.

Giant. Goddamn. Ice. Spiders.

In Season 1, Old Nan (a true prophet ahead of her time) tells Bran of all the horrors living beyond the Wall. She describes how long ago White Walkers (#BelieveOldNan), “swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds.” Read more…

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The weeks after Christmas always involve a brutal massacre — of trees.

New York City is already a hideous, odiferous noxious cesspool of waste. The city is magically even more toxic in the days following December 25. All along along our broken streets you’ll see the bodies of the Christmas dead: Balsam, Douglas Fir, Frasier Fir.

It doesn’t have to be this way. People can make a different choice: they can foster a lil’ Christmas tree and help it grow into a beautiful adult tree. 

Fostering a Christmas tree isn’t so different from fostering, say, a pet. But, instead of taking care of some nasty cat you’re responsible for watering a silent plant. What a dream.  Read more…

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It may seem like some of your favorite films came out just yesterday, but I regret to inform you that many of them will be turning 20 this coming year.

From the hit teen comedies Never Been Kissed and 10 Things I Hate About You, to intense dramas like Eyes Wide Shut and Boys Don’t Cry, there are a bunch of films you probably didn’t realize came out in 1999.

For anyone curious about revisiting the films of their youth, or someone who fancies checking out older movies, here are 17 films turning 20 in 2019: 

110 Things I Hate About You

2The Matrix

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Future acoustic prodigies, I regrettably must inform you… your services will not be needed. The peak of mankind’s musical ability has already been reached. 

There are a lot of reasons to see Aquaman, not the least of which is the absurd banger that is Pitbull’s contribution to its soundtrack, titled “Ocean to Ocean.” An aquatic and very Pitbull take on Toto’s “Africa,” this soon-to-be chart-topper features original verses alongside Rhea covering the original’s iconic “I bless the rains” lyrics. 

The track accompanies a sequence in which Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Mera (Amber Heard) head to the Sahara Desert. Get me an ambulance. I’m simply not ready. Read more…

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While facial recognition is increasingly being used by authorities to keep track of wrongdoers, entertainers have employed the tech as well – to keep track of stalkers.

As per Rolling Stone, at Taylor Swift’s Rose Bowl concert in May, a kiosk was set up where it was playing clips of the pop star’s rehearsal.

Little did concertgoers know was that a camera was hiding behind the kiosk’s screen, where a facial recognition camera was snapping photos and transferring them to a Nashville-based “command post.”

The images were then checked with a database of the singer’s known list of stalkers, which numbers in the hundreds. Read more…

More about Tech, Celebrities, Taylor Swift, Facial Recognition, and Tech

It seems almost too easy to steal an electric scooter. 

They’re light, only about 30 pounds, and usually aren’t locked to anything, so you can simply lift them and throw them in your car. As long as you don’t try to ride one while locked, the alarm shouldn’t go off. And a guide on a scooter forum recently spread on Twitter, showing people how a $32 kit from China could be used to rejigger a $500 scooter from Bird into your own personal vehicle.  

So why don’t scooter companies seem worried?

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There’s no easy way to say this: YouTube Rewind 2018 was … pretty cringey. But YouTuber Jacksfilms made the best of it and created a surprisingly good song out of Will Smith’s bizarre grunting. The resulting musical homage to Smith — The Fresh Prince of Bell-Air star, award-winning actor, and most recently, vlogger — is an absolute bop. 

“YouTube’s hot, but he made it hotter,” Jacksfilms raps, with a lighthearted jab at the awkward fact that YouTube Rewind 2018 is the second most disliked video in the site’s history.

But maybe not for long: It’s well on its way to beating Justin Bieber’s “Baby” in dislikes. At the time of writing, a live count of the two videos shows YouTube Rewind 2018 just over 260,000 dislikes behind “Baby.”  Read more…

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The CDC is reminding people not to consume raw cookie dough, even if it is egg-free. Egg-free dough isn’t safe if it includes raw flour

Products with cookie dough, such as ice cream, have killed the germs by heating up the dough.  Read more…

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