Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 101
August 8, 2017
‘Walking Dead’ Creator Says ‘Old Rick’ Will Be Explained In Season Premiere
A week after the Season 8 trailer landed at Comic-Con ― sending viewers into hysterics over the final shot of Rick waking up as a much older man ― the show’s creator is stoking the flames.
At a Television Critics Association panel held Saturday in Beverly Hills, California, “Walking Dead” executive producer and comic series creator Robert Kirkman said that the “old Rick” scene will be explained in the first episode of Season 8, but inferred that fans of the comic book series may be taken aback, referencing a “time jump” plot point that many are expecting.
“Or was it the time jump? I don’t know, maybe it was Rick waking up from his coma. Wouldn’t that be weird? That is an intriguing tidbit that we did throw out there on purpose, and we’re hoping that people continue to question how it is that fits into the story line and what it is. Comic book fans know where a scene that kind of looked like that would fall, but it also doesn’t seem like we would be getting to that just yet if you were a comic book fan, so there’s a mystery to that.”
Season 8 of “Walking Dead” premieres Oct. 22 on AMC.
H/t ComicBookMovie
Two Game of Thrones Theories Point Toward an Important Meeting for Jon Snow
Although Jon Snow has been spending plenty of time getting to know their mother, he’s yet to come face to face with one of Daenerys’ dragons. But judging by the promo for next week’s episode, that’s all about to change.
Despite the fact that Drogon was wounded while laying waste to the Lannister forces, it looks as though he’s still going to be able to fly Dany back to Dragonstone in time to catch Jon before he heads north. Some fans believe this meeting will be the first step on the road to Jon discovering his true parentage — i.e., that he is not the illegitimate son of Ned Stark but rather the child of Ned’s sister Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen.
“I feel like that will be the first big moment where Dany realises something is up with Jon,” wrote Reddit user LtRavs. “Drogon perhaps acting submissive or something like that to indicate he’s special in some way.”
Not to mention this detail from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series — the books on which Thrones is based — that seems to support the theory that dragons will always know a Targaryen. After Quaithe — the shadowbinder from Asshai who made a brief appearance in season two — shares a prophecy for Daenerys in A Dance With Dragons, she leaves with some memorable parting words. “Remember who you are, Daenerys,” she says. “The dragons know. Do you?”
[image error]
If Drogon does seem to recognize Jon as a Targaryen, it would also lend credence to the theory that Jon is one of the prophesied figures known as the three heads of the dragon: one of three people who will eventually ride Dany’s three dragons. (Thanks to Tyrion’s friendly introduction to Rhaegal and Viserion last season, some think he will complete the trio.)
And what better time to realize you have the ability to ride a dragon than when you’re racing to beat an army of the undead to a castle thousands of miles away?
“Eastwatch,” the fifth episode of Game of Thrones‘ seventh season, airs Aug. 13 at 9 p.m. on HBO.
Source:
http://time.com/4890649/game-of-thrones-jon-snow-dragon-daenerys/
YouTube roll out in-app video sharing and messaging to users worldwide
YouTube today is launching a new sharing feature in its mobile app, previously in testing with users in select markets. The feature allows YouTube users to send their friends videos and chat from within a new tab in the mobile app – effectively turning YouTube into a mobile messenger of sorts.
The feature has been in testing since the middle of last year, and, at the beginning of 2017, rolled out to users in Canada as something of a “soft launch.” It later expanded to parts of Latin America, the company tells us.
Following the feedback gained from these long-term initial tests, YouTube felt it was ready to debut the sharing feature to a global audience. That roll out begins today, but won’t reach all YouTube users worldwide for a few days. In other words, if you don’t see the sharing option yet – just wait, you will soon.
Since its debut in tests, YouTube says it has made some slight changes to the user interface for sharing, including the way the chat interface appears to users, and it made the video stick to the top of the chat when scrolling down. It also introduced the ability to allow replying and chatting while users are watching a video, which gives the feature more of a real-time feel. However, it hasn’t gone as far as to integrate the emoji responses and co-viewing found in the company’s experimental YouTube app, called YouTube Uptime.
However, YouTube says that more improvements will be rolled out in time.
The idea behind the sharing feature’s development is to transition some of the social activity that takes place around videos – including the sharing of links and chats about the video themselves – back into YouTube instead of other messaging apps. It’s unclear if it will be successful in that regard. People’s preferred mobile messengers already have their established social graphs, and YouTube is having to build its social network of people’s friends and family from scratch.
The feature itself is easy to use – perhaps too easy. While it allows you to find friends from your phone’s Address Book, there’s currently no way to block requests from those you don’t know. You can, of course, deny those requests, but for public figures or those whose name or contact information is more freely available, this can be a problem. I had access to the feature while in testing, and found that I had a slew of incoming requests from strangers, for example – and this was before the public launch.
Source:
YouTube roll out in-app video sharing and messaging to users worldwide
Amazon and Cesar Millan launch audiobooks for dogs
I am going to get through this without any literary dog puns.
No, you’re not even going to bait me into suggesting that the new audiobooks for dogs series — launched on Monday by Amazon subsidiary Audible.com and famed Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan — would never allow “The Great Catsby” onto its list. Nor, indeed, “The Cat of Monte Cristo.”
Instead, I’ll simple tell you that Millan believes classic works read by soothing voices will create calm for your dog while he or she is home alone.
He insists that research proves that 76 percent of dogs who listened to great literature while their owner was absent felt calmer and behaved in a more relaxed manner.
I cannot confirm that the other 24 percent were forced to listen to “The Diversity Myth” by David O. Sacks and Peter Thiel and Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg’s “How Google Works.”
Among the titles going to the dogs in the Audible series are “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein, “Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood” by Trevor Noah and, of course, Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”
Audible insists that dogs prefer to listen to voices of the same gender and type as their “primary” owner, which might cause one or two tiffs in a loving two-person household.
No, darling. I’m Roughshod’s primary owner. You’re just a subsidiary. Surely you see that Roughshod loves me more than you, don’t you?
The company also says that the preferred method of dissemination is an in-home listening device. Oh, this isn’t some sneaky way of selling an Amazon Echo, is it? I asked Audible whether the Echo is the best way to listen to these books.
“Yes. Or any smart speaker,” replied a spokeswoman diplomatically.
How, though, were the books chosen?
“We looked for consistent and soothing narrations resulting in calm, happy dogs. And we looked for titles that we knew dog owners would enjoy as well,” Audible’s chief content officer Andy Gaies told me.
An alternative, of course, is just to record yourself reading any book you like — “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” for example. Or “Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President.”
Or would that be too much effort? After all, you might be away for 10 or 12 hours a day if you work in tech, so to have to record hours of text when you get home or at weekends might be laborious.
Better, perhaps, if you just teach your dog to code. I hear that’s a relaxing pursuit too.
Tech Culture: From film and television to social media and games, here’s your place for the lighter side of tech.
Source:
https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-is-now-offering-audiobooks-for-dogs/
Will Jon Snow Ride A Dragon In ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7? His Dragonstone Greeting Hinted At His True Heritage
Season 7 of Game of Thrones has been all about payoff. After tiptoeing around Jon Snow’s parentage for six seasons, the revelation that he is half-Targaryen is making viewers look at Jon Snow in a different way. If he had landed on Dragonstone as a Stark, fans likely would’ve reacted to the wonder and confusion that Jon Snow felt seeing dragons for the first time. Because of his lineage, however, the only way to react to that scene is to ask, “When is Jon Snow going to ride a dragon on Game of Thrones?”
When Jon Snow went to meet with Daenerys Targaryen, he was aware that she had dragons. Despite that, Jon was still in awe of the flying beasts when he landed on Dragonstone. This is mostly due to the fact that dragons are giant flying lizards and there is no way that you wouldn’t freak out upon seeing them. Tyrion Lannister even admitted that you “never really get used to them.” While Jon may feel foreign to the them, fans know that being a Targaryen gives him a special relationship to the dragons that could prove incredibly useful in the coming war against the dead. Jon Snow is one of the few living people in Westeros who could gain the trust of a dragon, saddle up, and fly into battle.
Poor Jon Snow fell flat on his face when he saw the dragon.
HBO hackers leak Game of Thrones stars’ phone numbers and addresses
A recent security breach at HBO has led to the personal phone numbers and email addresses of some Game of Thrones actors leaking online. Hackers broke into HBO’s systems and reportedly stole 1.5 terabytes of data, including scripts for upcoming Game of Thrones episodes and two unreleased episodes of Ballers and Room 104. The Guardianreports that hackers have released 3.4GB of data, and that they’re demanding that HBO pay an undisclosed ransom to prevent further leaks.
Contained within the leaked data are draft scripts from five Game of Thrones episodes, and technical documents detailing HBO’s internal network and administrator passwords. The Verge understands that one document includes a list of personal phone numbers, home addresses, and email addresses for all of the season 7 Game of Thrones actors, including Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, and Emilia Clarke. A month’s worth of emails from HBO’s vice president for film programming, Leslie Cohen, is also part of the latest leak alongside a large number of confidential documents.
HBO says it is reviewing what data has leaked as part of an ongoing forensic investigation. In a statement to Wired, HBO spokeperson Jeff Cusson says “the review to date has not given us a reason to believe that our email system as a whole has been compromised.” If HBO’s email systems haven’t been fully accessed then it will spare the company an embarrassing repeat of what happened to Sony Pictures. Hackers broke into Sony Pictures back in 2014, and the leaked emails did the most reputational damage to the company.
[image error]
It seems unlikely that the HBO hackers have obtained copies of actual Game of Thronesepisodes. While there have been threats of more leaks, only scripts for the TV series have surfaced online so far. In a separate incident, a Game of Thrones episode leaked last weekbefore its public TV airing. The leak wasn’t part of the HBO hack, and distribution partner Star India accidentally published it online. Either way, it’s clear HBO’s security nightmare is far from over.
Source:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/8/16111868/hbo-hack-game-of-thrones-personal-details-leak
Facebook says it’s removing accidental clicks from its ad network
Advertisers on Facebook’s Audience Network will no longer have to worry that they’re paying for users who accidentally clicked on their ads.
I’m betting we’ve all had moments where we were scrolling or swiping or clicking through a website/mobile app and we ended up clicking on an ad without really meaning to. (Those moments probably outnumber the times I’ve intentionally clicked on an ad.)
So Product Marketing Manager Brett Vogel said Facebook won’t be charging for those clicks in its Audience Network (where Facebook runs ads in other apps), and those clicks won’t be included in the metrics shared with advertisers and publishers.
Facebook is sorting out unintentional clicks by discounting instances where a user bounces back after two seconds or less. After all, if you clicked on an ad and then immediately clicked back, you probably didn’t care about the ad.
Still, Vogel said the two-second threshold is a “starting point” that Facebook can adjust if necessary.
Publishers may worry that this change could hurt their bottom line, but Vogel said the “vast majority” will not be affected, because their ads aren’t driving a significant number of unintentional clicks. He added that Facebook is making the change for the good of the ecosystem.
“Unintentional clicks end up delivering really poor experiences for people and advertisers,” he said. “It’s not a good path for publishers to build sustainable businesses.”
In addition, Facebook is also announcing that it’s making new ad metrics available (it’s been making a broader push around this).
Those metrics including gross impressions, a number that combines billable impressions with non-billable impressions — advertisers aren’t paying for things like non-human traffic, but some of them have still asked to see the numbers. Facebook is also adding auto-refresh impressions (those are ad impressions for banners on the right-hand side) and gross auto-refresh impressions.
Source:
Facebook says it’s removing accidental clicks from its ad network
What Dany’s Brilliant Attack on the Lannisters Means For Game of Thrones
And just like that, Daenerys is back in the game. The fourth episode of Game of Thrones season seven sees the Dragon Queen take matters of strategy into her own hands after Tyrion’s “clever plans” fail. After three episodes of hanging out in Dragonstone as her allies fall all around her, Daenerys takes Drogon and the Dothraki to attack the Lannister army as they are preparing to deliver their sudden influx of gold, courtesy of the siege on Highgarden, to the Iron Bank.
The move is a wise one for Daenerys to make because instead of raining fire down on King’s Landing and the capital’s citizens, she targets only the army. In this way, it can be seen as a clean battle with little to no civilian casualties, which is more than Cersei can claim since her first act as Queen is to blow up the Great Sept of Baelor and the surrounding area. Daenerys’s attack on the Lannister army will have lasting ramifications for everyone involved. Let’s take a look at what this fiery battle will mean for all of Game of Thrones‘s major players.
Daenerys Has Shown Her Strength
Up until this point, Cersei and her army have had the upper hand. When Euron attacks Daenerys’s fleet, Cersei essentially starts the war between herself and the Dragon Queen. Since then, Daenerys has lost all of her major allies in Westeros as the Sand Snakes, the Greyjoy siblings, and the Tyrells all fall to the Lannisters. The Mother of Dragons needs a win, and she gets one by attacking the Lannisters when their guard is down.
By taking the army unaware, she shows both a mastery of strategy and the brute force of her Dothraki army. The people of Westeros have never had to fight anyone like the Dothraki before, and they certainly haven’t dealt with dragons firsthand. Daenerys is truly the queen who can make impossible things happen, and by laying waste to the Lannister army so soon after their victory at Highgarden, she proves she’s a true threat to the throne and sets up a scenario where she could be seen as a viable option to lead the Seven Kingdoms in the eyes of the people.
Yes, Cersei Can Still Pay Her Debts
Though it wasn’t initially clear, the gold from Highgarden was sent ahead of time, so it’s safe. The dragon only torched the food and supplies. Daenerys doesn’t need gold to win this war, but the Lannister queen does. She’s in debt to the Iron Bank, and if she couldn’t pay back the money her father borrowed, she wouldn’t be able to secure funds to build up her fleet or add more men to her army.
The Dragon Killer Is Destroyed
That fancy giant crossbow Cersei had built to kill Daenerys’s dragons is officially gone. Sure, she can have someone rebuild it, but it isn’t as effective as she had hoped it would be. The arrow does pierce Drogon’s hide, but it doesn’t kill him. More importantly, Daenerys will now know to expect to see the weapon on the battlefield and plan accordingly next time. Cersei has just lost the element of surprise.
Jaime May Be a Hostage
Jaime’s fate is uncertain at this point, but Tyrion sees Bronn knock his brother into the lake before Drogon’s blast of fire can kill him. The Kingslayer may be taken hostage as a result. As Cersei’s lover and brother and leader of her Queen’s Guard, he could be a valuable bargaining chip for Daenerys.
Tyrion’s Loyalties Could Become Conflicted
While he loathes his sister, Tyrion genuinely loves his brother. He also owes him his life. If Jaime survives falling into the water in full armor and is taken hostage by the Dragon Queen, Tyrion’s loyalty to Daenerys could be tested. The temptation to set his brother free will be high. After all, a Lannister always pays his debts, and Jaime has a favor to call in.
Daenerys Can Finally Speak to the People of Westeros
So far, Cersei is using fear to gain allies against Daenerys. Had the Khaleesi gone full scorched-earth on King’s Landing, then the war would be over, but she would be forced to rule with fear. That’s not Daenerys’s style. By attacking the Lannister army in a secluded area, she ensures that most of the people who witness the bloody battle are soldiers and not civilians. In the preview for next week, she seems to be giving those who live a chance to join her. If she also makes sure the people in the southern area keep the grain and food supplies that the Lannisters were taking from them, then she will be seen as benevolent.
If she can sway members of the Lannister army over to her side and show the common people that she is a just leader, then she can begin to make inroads with the people of Westeros — and that will be the true key to winning this war.
Source:
https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Why-Did-Daenerys-Attack-Lannisters-Game-Thrones-43843070
