Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 97
August 15, 2017
Robert Pattinson says ‘yes’ to another Twilight film
The Twilight series ended in 2012 but Robert Pattinson recently hinted that fans may not have seen the last of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan yet. With the demands of a Twilight reboot growing by the minute, FKA Twigs’ fiance’ and Kristen Stewart’s reunion in the big screen might not be far from happening.
According to Lionsgate, the studio that distributed the romantic fantasy film, there are still “a lot more stories to be told” in Twilight, which is why adding a new installment will make a lot of sense. After learning that people are still interested in another addition of the mega-successful novel-turned-movie, Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) hinted that he’s not against playing the famous vampire again.
As if that’s not enough good news for the Twilight fans, Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) did not totally shoot down the idea when asked about a possible reboot.
Although a new Twilight installment seems promising, author Stephenie Meyer has to be down to revive the saga as well to finally make it official.
While Kristen Stewart revealed that she is definitely okay for another team-up with her former co-star and ex-boyfriend, Robert Pattinson, she revealed that she wants to do other films as well. The 27-year-old actress and model shared that it’s definitely hard to be a part of a successful project as people tend to be so aggressive about it that they forget that the actors in the film have personal lives too.
Meanwhile, Kristen Stewart shocked the world when she started to date women after her very public split from Robert Pattinson. The duo ended their whirlwind romance after the Twilight actress was caught romancing her Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders.
Although the Personal Shopper star has never officially declared her sexuality, her recent relationships confirmed that the star may finally be done dating men. Many believed that her blossoming relationship with model and Miley Cyrus’ ex, Stella Maxwell, led Kristen Stewart to try to save it by keeping their romance as private as possible.
Rumor has it that the pair are so in love that they are ready to finally take things to the next level. However, just like the rest of the whispers about Kristen Stewart and Stella Maxwell’s relationship, the wedding rumors remain to be a speculation for now as well.
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August 14, 2017
Snapchat now lets you Pikachu yourself
Snapchat is teaming up with The Pokémon Company to introduce a new Pikachu filter to the app. The official Pikachu filter applies the electric mouse’s trademark rosy cheeks, pointy ears, black nose and big eyes to faces in the app, and when users open their mouth the iconic Pikachu cry rings out as an animated version of the characters leaps into frame.
The Pikachu filter is a pretty perfect tie-in for Snapchat, which aims at a demographic that is already pretty gaga for the most recognizable of Nintendo’s pocket monsters. Plus, Snapchat could use some brand juice, and Pokémon and Pikachu have proven to offer that for a lot of other platforms, including any of Nintendo’s hardware consoles and even AR via Pokémon Go.
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Snapchat’s Pikachu filter is a limited run option, so if you want to capture yourself looking like Ash’s best pal you’d better get on it. The best strategy is probably to stockpile a wide range of selfies of yourself as Pika so you have one for every possible emotional response you can possibly make.
Will Snapchat Pika reach the lofty heights of Dancing Hot Dog? Only time will tell.
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Snapchat now lets you Pikachu yourself
Dawn of the Social Media Influencer as Entrepreneur
Over the past week, I have been working with the model, social media star and actress Alexis Ren to launch her own brand, REN Active (http://www.renactive.co). Many social media stars have launched merchandise: most is usually the typical banal array of t-shirts, hoodies and caps sold at concerts and events by stars and celebrities. What distinguishes REN Active is that it has been beautifully crafted and designed in the very same minimalist aesthetic and style that her 10 million followers have already come to know from her. Alexis Ren has not only launched products, but a genuine brand with a message.
21st century society has become accustomed to the newly-formed celebrity of emerging You Tube talent, Instagram “hotties” and blogging fashion and beauty mavens. Over the past several years, so-called “digital talent” have matured from being the millenial outliers of the media world to being becoming part of daily life for middle America and the rest of the globe. Unlike the awe fans feel for traditional celebrities, actors and pop-stars, followers of social media talent are immersed inside the daily life and routine of the influencers they follow.
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Because of this direct relationship between follower and influencer, a global marketplace has developed between brands and social media stars buying and selling their influence over the millions of constituents they react with on a daily basis. An entire economy of agents, agencies, media networks and brand consultants has emerged around influencer marketing. Because technology is so closely linked with social media, never before has it been easier to target any particular demographic or measure the direct success of any influencer-based marketing campaign. In the “good old days”, it was just a well-founded guess how successful an expensive ad campaign gracing the pages of Vogue might have been. Today, a brand knows exactly how many consumers have clicked through to, commented on or “liked” any digital social media campaign they have invested in.
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Major ecommerce and brick and mortar retailers are now also looking to partner and create joint ventures with social media stars and celebrities to help launch new businesses. From my own experience representing “new-age” digital talent, Walmart, Jet.Com, Target and even traditional department stores are moving into the game. A new class of incubators, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are also emerging, seeing the opportunity to partner with social media talent by contributing their expertise, capital and management skills to help launch new brands.
Will Alexis Ren and her fellow social media standouts be the Ralph Laurens, Oprah Winfreys and Donna Karans of the future? No one really knows, but it is certain that they will have an impact on the landscape of media, entertainment and commerce in the foreseeable future.
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Afghan Tech Entrepreneur Uses Bitcoin To Empower Women
Sometimes, with all the buzz around women’s empowerment, it’s easy to forget just how new that concept is in the world of finance. American women could not legally own independent bank accounts until the 1960s, nor could women in the United Kingdom until 1975. Still today, millions of women throughout the developing world don’t have access to institutional financial services because cultural stigmas linger long after the laws on the books recognize women’s rights.
According to the World Bank’s Global Findex database, women in the developing economies are 20 percent less likely to have an account at a financial institution, and often even accounts under their names are de facto controlled by male relatives. Roya Mahboob, one ofAfghanistan’s leading tech entrepreneurs, overcame this dilemma by paying female employees in bitcoin.
According to Forbes, one employee with a violent and abusive husband who confiscated the employees’ money was reportedly able to use secret bitcoin savings to file for a divorce. The early bitcoin advocate Mahboob was deemed one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2013. Since then, she’s been busy supporting women technologists across Afghanistan, even sponsoring the all-girls robotics team that recently overcame controversial visa restrictions to win second place at a competition in Washington D.C.
Meanwhile, Mahboob’s Kabul-based nonprofit Digital Citizen Fund has enrolled 9,000 women and girls in educational programs covering topics like blockchain technology, bitcoin and Ethereum.
“We helped 100 women start their own businesses,” Mahboob told International Business Times. “The next step is we are going to have a bitcoin conference in Afghanistan so we can showcase their projects.”
Source:
http://www.ibtimes.com/afghan-tech-entrepreneur-uses-bitcoin-empower-women-2575881
Bruno Mars Donates $1 Million to Flint Water Crisis Efforts at Michigan Concert
Bruno Mars did a seven-figure solid for the city of Flint, Mich., during his show on Saturday night (Aug. 12) in suburban Detroit.
As he closed his main set with “Just The Way You Are” at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mars told the crowd that he was donating $1 million to “our brothers and sisters in Flint, Michigan” to provide aid for the continuing wake of the city’s water crisis. Mars and Live Nation directed funds from the sold-out concert to the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, which addresses both immediate concerns as well as future needs of children exposed to lead in its water supply.
In a statement, Mars said, “I’m very thankful to the Michigan audience for joining me in supporting this cause. Ongoing challenges remain years later for Flint residents, and it’s important that we don’t forget our brothers and sisters affected by this disaster. As people, especially as Americans, we need to stand together to make sure something like this never happens in any community ever again.”
After announcing the donation in concert, Mars told the Palace crowd, “This is why we love what we do. We get a chance to go up on stage every night and perform … and the fact that we can show up here and celebrate under one roof together, all this positive energy that’s flowing. This is the world we want to live in.”
Mars added, “I love this state” and spoke about walking around Detroit and visiting the Motown Museum the day before the show. He and his band, the Hooligans, added a bit of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” to start their encore as an added local touch.
Saturday’s concert was part of Mars’ continuing 24K Magic World Tour, which wraps up its North American leg with four November shows at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., followed by swings through Latin America Oceana, Asia and Mexico into June of 2018.
The Flint Water Crisis was identified in 2014 when the source for drinking water was switched from Detroit water to the Flint River. Due to insufficient treatment an estimated more than 100,000 residents were exposed to tainted water with high levels of lead, which as been linked to an increase in Legionnaires’ disease and other health issues. Flint has switched back to Detroit for its water supply, and several state officials have resigned or are under indictment for negligence.
Other celebrities, such as Eminem and Cher, have also made donations and supported Flint in the wake of the crisis. More information about the situation in Flint and the Community Foundation can be found at www.cfgf.org.
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The Walking Dead Will Tell Negan’s Backstory
The Walking Dead TV series has done little to tell the story of how its villainousNegan arrived in his powerful position but that may soon change.
The popular AMC series has plans to tell the villains backstory which was recently told in its entirety on the comic book pages of Here’s Negan, a 16-partbackstory special from writer/creator Robert Kirkman and artist Charlie Adlardpublished in the Image+ preview magazine. When asked by YahooTV if Negan’sstory would be adapted to the TV series, showrunner Scott Gimple says there is a “loose plan” for it already.
“I do believe yes, it’s in the future,” Gimple said. “You know, I’m always careful about this, [because] things can absolutely change. There’s a loose plan in place I have.”
More specifically, Gimple promises Negan’s backstory will stay true to the comic book source material, at least in part. “I take that Here’s Negan story as thebackstory,” Gimple said. “There’s some aspects of it that will probably be cool [on the show]. It’s some fairly far-flung stuff… in the future, you will see some stuff from that.”
Gimple’s comments came during the show’s seventh season, just before the midseason finale aired. The remainder of the seventh season steered clear of the villain’s backstory, meaning audiences have only gotten closer to the story being told.
Negan’s backstory caught most reader’s by surprise, as some aspects of it actually earned the villain a touch of sympathy from readers…
Spoilers for Negan’s backstory as told in the Here’s Negan comics follow.
The common word of Negan being a car salesman prior to the apocalypse is incorrect — having spawned in an years old Letter Hacks section where Kirkman teased the possibility.
Prior to the zombie virus taking over, however, Negan was a high school gym teacher and a ping pong coach. He wasn’t just any gym teacher, though. Negan wanted to be the cool teacher. He cursed at his students and gave them a hard time when they would fail, which he saw as a method of pushing them — even when they would feel bullied and start to cry.
Before everyone around him started to die, Negan had a wife. During his marriage, however, Negan began having an affair. His wife had full knowledge of the affair and allowed it to happen as she saw that Negan was happy with it, despite how it hurt her.
When Negan’s wife became diagnosed with terminal cancer, he immediately cut off his relationship with the other woman and tried to spend as much time with his wife as possible. The villain finally realized that he loved her, but she was furious that it took her cancer to make him cut off the affair. Still, he pushed her around in her wheelchair in the park and stayed by her side in the hospital until the end.
Negan’s wife’s name was Lucille.
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When Would It Air?
If The Walking Dead TV series wants to tell Negan’s story at the same time the comics did, the character’s rise into villainy, an episode – or series of episodes – would likely be featured around Season 10 or Season 11. By the time Negan’s story is told in the Here’s Negan book, the main Walking Dead comic series had already concluded the All Out War story and launched its Whisperer War story a couple of years later.
Luckily for fans hoping to see more of the villain, Negan actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan tells ComicBook.com he is with the series for “the long haul.” No one should expect the villain to go anywhere any time soon.
Of course, certain aspects of The Walking Dead‘s comic book story have been altered to accommodate the TV series’ needs. The Oceanside community, for example, was introduced well ahead of its debut in the comics. The Walking Dead reserves the right to tell Negan’s story as early as Season 8 while the character is the hottest topic of the series.
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http://comicbook.com/thewalkingdead/2017/08/14/the-walking-dead-negan-backstory-season-8-/#3
Bitcoin passes $4,300 after breaking $4,000
The price of bitcoin broke through $4,000 per coin for the first time on Sunday and is posting new records on Monday.
Bitcoin crossed the $4,000 mark at close to 1.00 a.m. on Sunday. It has kept rising on Monday, reaching an all-time high of $4,311.12 per coin at close to 2.30 p.m. BST on Monday.
Iqbal V. Gandham, UK MD of trading platform eToro, said in an emailed statement: “Bitcoin hitting $4,000 is another milestone in long list of big moments the cryptocurrency has witnessed in recent weeks. Following a fall to $1,800, it has come back strongly and relatively steadily. This is encouraging.
“Furthermore, the ecosystem is also getting stronger. You now have more places to spend Bitcoin, more regulators thinking about the right infrastructure, and more investors learning about the asset. Speculation is rightly moving away from price and focusing on use cases.”
Bitcoin has been on an incredible rally this year, up over 300% since the start of the year. The digital currency only passed $3,500 for the first time earlier this month.
Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency space, Bitcoin Cash, the new cryptocurrency that was split off from bitcoin at the start of the month, is also rallying strongly.
Bitcoin Cash is up 2.88% to $307.
Source:
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-bitcoin-cash-ethereum-price-bitcoin-breaks-4000-2017-8
Apple Aiming to Bring Apple Watch to 23 Million Aetna Subscribers
Apple and Aetna are discussing ways to offer discounted Apple Watch models to millions of consumers with Aetna insurance, reports CNBC. Citing people with knowledge of Apple’s plans, the site says Apple and Aetna held discussions last week that included senior officials from Apple, Aetna, and several hospitals.
Aetna already offers a program that provides the Apple Watch at no cost to its 50,000 employees and subsidizes the cost for some subscribers, but the insurance company is said to be negotiating with Apple to offer a free or discounted Apple Watch to all Aetna members.
Apple’s Myoung Cha, who has the title “special projects, health,” led the discussions, said one of the people. The move by Aetna is part of its push to increase customer interest in a healthier lifestyle and a better tracking of diet, said one of the people.
Aetna is said to be aiming to implement some kind of program early in 2018, and its goal seems to be an expansion of plans that were announced back in September. At that time, Aetna said it was planning to subsidize the cost of the Apple Watch for large employers and individual customers.
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Aetna also said it would develop several iOS health initiatives with “support” from Apple, offering “deeply integrated” health apps for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch to Aetna customers.
The company’s plan to offer discounted or free Apple Watch models to subscribers comes as Apple is on the verge of introducing a third-generation Apple Watch. Rumors suggest the upcoming device features an LTE chip that allows it to be decoupled from the iPhone and there’s also a possibility we’ll see a redesign.
We expect to see the third-generation Apple Watch introduced alongside new iPhones in September.
Source:
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/08/14/aetna-apple-watch-23-million-subscribers/
‘Game Of Thrones’ Just Changed Everything You Know About Jon Snow
Episode 5 of “Game of Thrones” Season 7, “Eastwatch,” featured some moments fans have been waiting for, and other surprises No One saw coming (yeah, we’re talking about Arya).
Jon Snow (Kit Harington) touched a dragon; Gendry (Joe Dempsie) finally returned; Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) reunited with Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to talk about joining the fight against the White Walkers; Cersei (Lena Headey) revealed she’s pregnant; Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) fooled Arya (Maisie Williams) by planting a mysterious scroll written by Sansa (Sophie Turner) in his chambers; and Dany (Emilia Clarke) took a slightly evil turn, burning Randyll (James Faulkner) and Dickon Tarly (Tom Hopper) for not bending the knee. (But it is a war after all, what is she supposed to do?)
And with all that going on, the show quietly seemed to confirm the missing piece to the Jon Snow puzzle.
Remember those documents that Archmaester Ebrose (Jim Broadbent) gave Sam (John Bradley) to preserve earlier in Season 7?
Well, while Sam is working on them, Gilly (Hannah Murray) comes across a passage from a High Septon Maynard saying someone named “Prince Ragger,” aka Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, had his marriage annulled and was remarried in a secret ceremony in Dorne.
This is finally some proof that Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark (Aisling Franciosi), the parents of Jon Snow, were married, making Jon a legitimate Targaryen heir.
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Like the former mystery of Jon Snow’s real parents, the legitimacy of Jon is something that’s been theorized about for years. The fact that Rhaegar left some of his Kingsguard to protect Lyanna in the Tower of Joy raised fans’ suspicions, but proof has been lacking.
Up until now, we’ve been expected to believe Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna, who was already betrothed to Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), and this led to the events that started Robert’s Rebellion and removed the Targaryens from the Iron Throne, thus setting up everything that’s happened on “Game of Thrones.”
With the reveal that Rhaegar had his marriage annulled, likely his marriage to wife Elia Martell, it seems more likely that the prince and Lyanna actually ran away together, got married and welcomed baby Jon Snow.
In George R.R. Martin’s novel A Clash of Kings, Dany seemingly sees Rhaegar talking about this in one of her visions in the House of the Undying (these events were changed in the on-screen version):
The man had her brother’s hair, but he was taller, and his eyes were a dark indigo rather than lilac. “Aegon,” he said to a woman nursing a newborn babe in a great wooden bed. “What better name for a king?”
“Will you make a song for him?” the woman asked.
“He has a song,” the man replied. “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” He looked up when he said it and his eyes met Dany’s, and it seemed as if he saw her standing there beyond the door. “There must be one more,” he said, though whether he was speaking to her or the woman in the bed she could not say. “The dragon has three heads.”
There is a lot of speculation about this prophecy and what it actually means, but many believe it’s because of this that Rhaegar wanted a third child. (The third head of the dragon.)
We know Lyanna was that third baby’s mama. Now, we can assume Rhaegar was her husband, too.
More evidence: after Gilly reads the passage about the annulment, an annoyed Sam complains that while he’s preserving Maynard’s documents, the secret to defeating the Night King could be sitting on some shelf somewhere.
Uh, hello, Sam. This could be a nod that Jon Snow is the secret.
Also, he likely isn’t actually named Jon Snow, since that’s a bastard name. A theory last year predicted Snow’s real name would be Jaehaerys, but it could also be something like Aegon, since that’s the name used in the vision Dany has about Rhaegar.
All praise Jon Snow, King in the North, possibly rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and the secret to defeating the White Walkers.
Long may he reign and long may he brood.
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Target Agrees to Buy Software Firm to Compete With Amazon
Target Corp., looking to improve its digital business amid increased competition from Amazon.com Inc., agreed to acquire a software company that manages local and same-day deliveries.
The discount chain is buying Grand Junction, a San Francisco-based startup that links retailers and other distributors to a network of more than 700 carriers across North America. Grand Junction currently handles the same-day delivery service for Target’s store in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood.
The deal is part of a broader overhaul of logistics operations at Minneapolis-based Target. The company aims to enhance the efficiency and profitability of a web business that has suffered setbacks in recent years, including a data breach, website outages and the departure of digital chief Jason Goldberger in 2016. Though Target’s online sales rose 22 percent in its most recently reported quarter, that was well behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s 63 percent growth.
With Grand Junction, Target could get deliveries to customers faster.
“Speed matters,” Arthur Valdez, Target’s chief supply chain and logistics officer, said in an interview. “Grand Junction’s platform, along with our 1,800 stores, allows for speed to the guest that can be very competitive.”
Terms of the deal, Target’s first acquisition since 2013, weren’t disclosed. As part of the agreement, Grand Junction’s 13 employees will relocate a few blocks to Target’s downtown San Francisco office and set about helping the retailer bring delivery to more areas.
The same-day service will expand to other New York City stores by October and to additional U.S. cities early next year, Valdez said. Target and Wal-Mart are playing catch-up with Amazon’s Prime service, which already lets members in about 30 metropolitan areas receive orders in as little as an hour. Four out of five shoppers want same-day shipping, according to a survey by fulfillment software maker Temando, but only half of retailers offer it.
“There’s clearly an arms race going on from the mass merchants, recognizing that getting everyday essentials in the hands of customers is critical,” Michael Lasser, an analyst at UBS Group AG, said in a note. “The purchase of Grand Junction should help Target compete on these terms in a more economical fashion.”
Valdez and Grand Junction Chief Executive Officer Rob Howard — who first met when Valdez worked at Amazon and Howard ran another logistics company — spent about three months putting together the deal.
Merging with Target will force Grand Junction to close out its work for other retailers like Office Depot Inc. and CVS Health Corp. Howard said he’s not worried about the lost business, as “the pie in local delivery is getting larger.”
Founded in 2014, Grand Junction coordinates about 6 million local deliveries a month, about double the volume it handled two years ago. Howard wouldn’t disclose its revenue, but he said the business is profitable.
The acquisition is Target’s second investment in e-commerce this year, after plowing $75 million into online mattress seller Casper Sleep Inc. The retailer had considered a bid for the entire business, a person familiar with the situation said in May.
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