Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 60
November 2, 2017
Beyonce to Star in Disney’s Live-Action ‘Lion King’
Disney his officially introducing the full cast for its upcoming Lion King.
Beyonce, who was previously reported to be eyed for the film, has been confirmed as Nala, Simba’s (Donald Glover) childhood friend and later love interest. Jon Favreau is directing the film as his follow-up to his successful Jungle Book remake.
“It is a director’s dream to assemble a talented team like this to bring this classic story to life,” Favreau said Wednesday in a statement.
Here’s the full list, with some new names as well as others that have been reported over the last few months:
James Earl Jones reprises his role from the 1994 original as Simba’s father Mufasa, while Chiwetel Ejiofor is stepping into the villain role as Simba’s uncle Scar. Alfre Woodard is voicing Simba’s mother Sarabi, with child actor JD McCrary playing the young version of Simba (stepping into the shoes of Jonathan Taylor Thomas from the original film). Shahadi Wright Joseph is voicing the young Nala. Other actors playing the good guys include John Kani as the baboon Rafiki and John Oliver voicing Mufasa’s confidant, the hornbill Zazu.
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Simba will along the way meet two new pals, warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) and meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner). The three menacing hyenas will be voiced by Black Panther actress Florence Kasumba, Eric Andre and Keegan-Michael Key.
Favreau showed off the jaw-dropping first footage for the film over the summer at D23. The footage included photo-real African landscapes and animals, ending with the iconic moment in which Rafiki introduces an adorable young Simba on Pride Rock as “Circle of Life” plays.
The original Lion King grossed more than $968 million worldwide and featured memorable songs from Elton John and Tim Rice.
The new Lion King is set to open July 19, 2019.
Source:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/lion-king-cast-remake-confirmed-1054014
How much should I charge for a blog post or sponsored post?
And the first place I wanted to start is with how to figure out exactly what the value is of one of your blog posts. And it’s not just knowing what you can charge, but knowing why you can charge it. Because once you know the actual value of your product (which is what your Sponsored posts are), then it makes it so much easier to sell when a brand comes knocking as well.
Now there are three factors that need to be considered when pricing anything you do.
1 – How much time and skill is creating this going to take (that is, how many hours do you need to actually create the post)?
2 – How much coverage and value is the brand going to receive from having this on your blog (this is all down to your number of visitors, how much interaction you get etc).
3 – What is the market willing to pay? Sadly, advertising is still a free market, and so you do still have to take what buyers expect to pay into consideration as well (but just because a brand only wants to pay you $100 doesn’t mean you should take it!).
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How you actually calculate your Sponsored post rate should be roughly as follow:
Number of hours spent creating/writing the post x Your post creation hourly rate (aka $50) + Number of specialist hours spent aka styling and photography x Your specialist hourly rate (aka $100)
= This equals the bare minimum you should be charging.
ie: 2 x $50 + 1 x $100 = $200 (minimum Sponsored post cost)
As a minimum I would say you should charge at least $50 per hour for post creation, $100 per hour for photography, and $150+ per hour if you are a real expert in your field.
Next we figure out how much your sponsored posts are actually worth as far as the coverage they provide to the brands you work with.
And you calculate that as follows;
Minimum Sponsored post cost (as above) + (Average number of comments per post x $5) + (Average number of views per post x $1.50) + (Average number of Social Media shares per post x $5)
= Total value of your sponsored posts.
ie $200 + (20 x $5) + (500 x $1.50) + (10 x $5) = $1100 per Sponsored post
Source:
https://secretbloggersbusiness.com/how-much-should-i-charge-for-a-blog-post/
Tyrese Gibson vows to quit ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise over feud with the Rock
Tyrese Gibson might have just played the wrong hand here. The ‘Fast & Furious’ star has ramped up his feud with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, saying that if Johnson returns to the high-octane movie series for the ninth movie, he will quit.
“Hello world………. hello loyal fans and loved ones from OUR fast universe…….. I’m sorry to announce that if Dewayne is in Fast9 there will no more Roman Peirce,” he wrote in a post on his Instagram page, perhaps purposely misspelling Johnson’s name, but also managing to bungle the name of his own character too, Roman Pearce.
“You mess with family and my daughters survival I mess with yours.”
He also appeared to allege that Johnson uses performance-enhancing drugs to maintain his physique in the rambling message.
“Close your eyes dude you’re a ‘Clown’…… #CandyAssBitchMade All my real one…. Men on integrity… my real ones out here stand UP…… folks that GP to the gym and get big naturally #NoJuice #NoOJ spin off huh? Spin off these nuts selfish champ…… pause notice who’s got his arms around my shoulder and who’s standing alone – #OurChildrenMatter.”
The feud is a long-standing one, but intensified following recent news that Johnson had signed up for a spin-off movie for his character, special agent Luke Hobbs, alongside Jason Statham.
The move appears to have delayed the next ‘Fast & Furious’ movie for a year, which it’s thought is the reason why Gibson has gone on the offensive.
In previous posts, he’s said that he begged Johnson, who has called out his male F&F co-stars in the past, not to take on the spin-off, but his pleas were ignored.
Johnson has so far not responded to the latest outburst.
But Gibson appears to be beset by personal issues at present, notably an ugly and public custody battle for his daughter Shayla with his ex-wife Norma Gibson.
She alleges that Gibson assaulted the 10-year-old, holding her down and beating her so badly that she could not sit, and is seeking a restraining order against him.
Gibson, who remarried earlier this year, says that he only hit her once on the behind.
He was spotted last weekend spending time with his daughter, but in the company of a court-appointed monitor.
Source:
https://sg.style.yahoo.com/tyrese-gibson-vows-quit-fast-furious-series-rock-returns-111601857.html
November 1, 2017
Audible’s new romance audiobooks service uses machine learning to jump to the sex scenes
Let’s admit it: you probably aren’t reading that romance novel for the plot. Or its literary value. Audible knows this, and is today launching a new collection of romance-themed audiobooks that come with a handy feature that lets you skip right to the action. Called “Take Me To The Good Part,” the feature will fast-forward you to the steamy sections of the audiobook, says Audible.
The feature was built in response to romance reader and listener feedback, the company notes. And Audible has doubled down on these customers’ desire to do away with the pretense that they’re actually interested in reading by debuting “Take Me To The Good Part” in over 100 Audible Romance package titles. The company plans to bring the technology to more selections over time, it says.
The feature is part of a new package of books under the Audible Romance brand, which is being sold as an add-on to an Audible membership for $6.95 per month, or as a standalone service for $14.95 per month. The package includes access to thousands of romance audiobooks, including best sellers and Audible Originals. There’s no limit on how many you can “read” monthly, either, as with Audible’s main subscription.
Participating authors include Nora Roberts, Sylvia Day, Debbie Macomber, Robyn Carr, and others.
There’s technology under the hood that’s powering Audible’s ability to find the “good parts.” Audible is using machine learning to identify key words and phrases, as well as groups of words, in order to determine where things get hot and heavy. The company has even gone so far as to identify 10 type of so-called “good parts,” such as “flirty banter,” “first meeting,” “first kiss,” and one it dubs “hot, hot, hot” – aka the sex scenes.
But just like how porn often drives technological innovations that later become mainstream – like adoption of the VCR back in the day, for example – we can only hope that this machine learning technology is later rolled out to all digital books, audio and otherwise, to classify scenes that are also “good parts,” but for non-romantic reasons.
Along with the Romance package and its flagship feature, Audible has also rolled out a way to classify books by level of steaminess. (You know, so you can find those with more “good parts.”) Its illustrated “steaminess meter” ranks books on a scale that goes from sweet to simmering to sizzling to hot damn and o-o-omg. Yes, really.
And you can delve into your particular fetishes micro-genres more easily too, as the new Audible Romance service can identify 32 of these romance sub-genres and 122 story and character tropes that will let you find those that are a direct match with your interests.
The program is live now and includes a free trial.
Source:
Audible’s new romance audiobooks service uses machine learning to jump to the sex scenes
Apple won’t let apps turn the iPad’s camera into a button
Earlier this month, drawing app developer Astro HQ released a video of a really clever new idea for its apps: it turned the iPad’s front camera into a button, letting you tap on the lens to activate things on screen. It was a smart way to free up screen space, but as it turns out, Apple doesn’t agree. Astro said today that its app was rejected from the App Store for violating Apple’s guidelines.
In particular, Apple pointed to a section saying that apps couldn’t “alter or disable the functions of standard switches, such as the Volume Up/Down and Ring/Silent switches, or other native user interface elements or behaviors.” While Astro’s app, Astropad Studio, wasn’t strictly altering a switch, it did make the camera stop acting like a camera, which seems to at least break the spirit of the rule.
Apple is extremely strict about what it does and does not allow into its App Store, so this rejection isn’t a huge surprise. The company uses its position as a gatekeeper to make sure that apps don’t alter the experience of using its devices, maintaining consistency in a way that’ll be clear to users. It seems hard to argue that a small tweak like this in an app meant for professional illustrators really would have had a deleterious effect on the platform, but Apple has rejected apps for less.
Source:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/31/16582838/apple-rejects-camera-button-ipad-app-idea
Three men charged with raping and killing Airbnb guest
A trio of Aussies is charged with murdering an Airbnb guest who booked a room in their Melbourne home.
Ramis Jonuzi was allegedly raped and murdered last Wednesday while staying at the $30-a-night East Brighton home, according to the Guardian.
Craig Levy, 36, Ryan Smart, 37, and Jason Colton, 41, were each charged with murder. Colton also faces charges of using an object to rape the 36-year-old victim, according to The Age newspaper.
Jonuzi had only met the three men a week before he died. He planned on staying at the home while working through personal issues but wanted to cut his stay short because he didn’t like the “energy,” he told a friend.
His cause of death has not been determined, but paramedics said he suffered from cardiac arrest.
A spokesman for Airbnb called Jonuzi’s death an “abhorrent act.”
“We have removed this listing from our platform and will fully cooperate with law enforcement on their investigation,” he said.
Source:
http://nypost.com/2017/10/31/three-men-charged-with-raping-and-killing-airbnb-guest/
Why The DC Movies Have Struggled, According To Henry Cavill
The DC films created by Warner Bros. (formerly known as the DCEU) have proven divisive since the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While the films have made money at the box office, critically, they have had mixed results. This contradiction has spawned inevitable comparisons to Marvel’s financially and critically successful films. This fact is not lost on the stars of the film, including Superman himself, Henry Cavill. The actor recently explained his nuanced take on why the DC movies have struggled, noting,
Even if Marvel didn’t exist, we’d struggle. There was a style they [DC] were going for, an attempt to be different and look at things from a slightly different perspective, which hasn’t necessarily worked. Yes, it has made money but it has not been a critical success; it hasn’t given everyone that sensation which superheroes should give the viewer.
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Henry Cavill’s take here is pretty intriguing. He seems to be judging the DC films on their own merits and not based on how they compare to Marvel’s films. He believes that the tonal and stylistic differences compared to other superhero films may have been admirable in their attempt, but he feels they didn’t necessarily work for the subject matter or what the audience expects. This is an honest and sober analysis that doesn’t defer to the standard refrain of ‘we didn’t make this for the critics’ that so often accompanies blockbusters that fail critically. Despite the struggle thus far, Henry Cavill seems optimistic and positive about the future of the DC films. He also told The Rake (via @sliickslack):
I feel like now the right mistakes have been made and they haven’t been pandered [to], and we can start telling the stories in the way they need to be told. It is even better to come back from a mistake or stylistic error into the correct vein because it will make it seem that much stronger. Wonder Woman was the first step in the right direction.
Wonder Woman could not have come at a better time for Warner Bros. and the DC film universe. The film was a massive critical and commercial success that Henry Cavill sees as the first course correction down a better path for the DC films. In sports, it is often said that you learn more from a loss than you do from a win and that silver lining outlook will hopefully serve the DC films well going forward. The hope would be that fans would give DC’s superhero movies the benefit of the doubt and judge each movie on its own merits. And they will get that chance soon as Henry Cavill will presumably be seen in the upcoming Justice League.
Source:
https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1719709/why-the-dc-movies-have-struggled-according-to-henry-cavill
October 31, 2017
An AI detected colorectal cancer with 86 percent accuracy
A new computer-aided endoscopic system that probes for signs of tumor or cancer growth in the colon may very well be the future of cancer detection. Assisted by artificial intelligence (AI), the new diagnostic system is able to tell if clumps of cells, called colorectal polyps, that grow along the walls of the colon are benign tumors known as colorectal adenoma.
The computer-assisted diagnostic system was trained using more than 30,000 images of colorectal polyps, each magnified 500-times, and operates using machine learning. The AI can check approximately 300 features of the polyp, which it compares to its existing “knowledge”, in less than a second. After having been used successful in preliminary studies, prospective trials followed. The results of these trials, the first for AI-assisted endoscopy in a clinical setting, were presented at the 25th UEG Week in Barcelona, Spain.
The prospective study was conducted by a team led by Dr. Yuichi Mori from Showa University in Yokohama, Japan. Mori and his colleagues tested the new system in 250 patients previously identified to have colorectal polyps. The AI predicted the pathology of each polyp, comparing it with final pathological reports taken from the resected specimens. The results were highly encouraging — the system assessed 306 polyps in real-time, with a 94 percent sensitivity, 79 percent specificity, and 86 percent accuracy. In identifying abnormal tissue growth, the system demonstrated 79 percent positive and 93 percent negative predictive values.
AI IN HEALTHCARE
In short, the AI was able to fairly accurately identify which abnormal colon cell growths were most likely to be cancerous. “The most remarkable breakthrough with this system is that artificial intelligence enables real-time optical biopsy of colorectal polyps during colonoscopy, regardless of the endoscopists’ skill,” Mori said, speaking during the Opening Plenary at the UEG Week. “This allows the complete resection of adenomatous polyps and prevents unnecessary polypectomy of non-neoplastic polyps.”
Furthermore, the researchers presented the results of their prospective study to prove that their system was ready for clinical trials.”We believe these results are acceptable for clinical application and our immediate goal is to obtain regulatory approval for the diagnostic system,” Mori added.
While this may be the first AI-enabled, real-time biopsy, as Mori described it, it’s not the first time AI has been used to improve medical diagnosis and overall medical research. For example, there is an AI effective in identifying skin cancer, and chipmaker NVIDIA is working on a moonshot project to accelerate cancer research using deep learning. Also working in cancer diagnosis is IBM’s Watson, which in some cases has proven to be 99 percent accurate in recommending the same treatments as doctors. Improved cancer detection can spell the difference between a treatment that works and one that doesn’t, so these advancements are potentially life-saving.
Moving forward, Mori’s team plans to conduct a multicenter study to aid eventual clinical tests. They’re also working on an automatic polyp detection system. “Precise on-site identification of adenomas during colonoscopy contributes to the complete resection of neoplastic lesions” said Dr Mori. “This is thought to decrease the risk of colorectal cancer and, ultimately, cancer-related death.”
Source:
https://futurism.com/ai-assisted-detection-identifies-colon-cancer-automatically-and-in-real-time/
Apple could drop Qualcomm components in next year’s iPhones, iPads – sources
Apple Inc has designed iPhones and iPads that would drop chips supplied by Qualcomm Inc, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The change would affect iPhones released in the fall of 2018, but Apple could still change course before then, these people said. They declined to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
The dispute stems from a change in supply arrangements under which Qualcomm has stopped providing some software for Apple to test its chips in its iPhone designs, one of the people told Reuters.
The two companies are locked in a multinational legal dispute over the Qualcomm’s licensing terms to Apple.
Qualcomm told Reuters it is providing fully tested chips to Apple for iPhones. “We are committed to supporting Apple’s new devices consistent with our support of all others in the industry,” Qualcomm said in a statement.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Apple could drop Qualcomm chips Monday.
Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said Apple’s move is not totally unexpected.
Though Qualcomm has for several years supplied Apple’s modems – which help Apple’s phones connect to wireless data networks – Intel Corp has provided upward of half of Apple’s modem chips for iPhones in recent years, Rasgon said. Intel in 2015 acquired a firm that would let it replace more of Qualcomm’s chips in iPhones, Rasgon said.
Rasgon said it’s too early to say definitively whether Apple fully intends to drop Qualcomm next year because Apple can likely make multiple contingency plans for different supplier scenarios.
“Apple is big enough that they want to support multiple paths, they can do that,” Rasgon said. “Samsung (Electronics Co) did this too. A couple of years ago, Samsung designed Qualcomm out, but Qualcomm didn’t even know until it was close to time to ship” Samsung’s phones, Rasgon said.
Source:
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