Jason
Keeping up with the news is a full-time job. And not a very fun one! But learning about a few things going on in the world today can’t hurt — if for no other reason than having something to make awkward-small talk about at your office or during happy hour!
These are some things we think it mostly can’t hurt knowing today:
1. NBCUniversal unveils streaming service Peacock – it’s good, but intentionally not *too* good.
NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast) just unveiled details behind becoming 12,395,567th player in the streaming space, “Peacock.” Here’s how much you’ll pay/get with NBC’s streaming option:
Basic version: A free, ad-supported service with lots of shows, including live sports/news (and all seasons of The Office, which leaves Netflix in 2021)
Premium version: Double the number of shows/movies as Basic (also ad-supported). But free for Comcast/Cox cable subscribers and $5/month if you’re not. This one gets you the Olympics and late-night talk shows too (Basic doesn’t).
Extra premium: For an extra $5/month (for both cable subscribers and cord-cutters) the ads go away.
The main selling point Comcast executives say is that the main version of Peacock will be free and that the company expects to make most of its money by selling ads.
So, basically, this is Comcast’s plan to recoup some of the losses of cord-cutters by having them resume ad-based TV as Peacock subscribers. This makes sense given that unlike other services, Comcast owns the means of delivering content as well as the content itself.
We’ll see if it plays out.
I don't really know what it's like to try to leave the Church of Scientology but I have tried to cancel my Comcast TV service, so
— Chapin (@Chapinc) November 8, 2019
2. Deepfake app turns you into your favorite GIFs.
A new cellphone app is cashing in on the deepfake craze by allowing users to place their faces into animated GIFs.
Known as Doublicat, the app was recently launched for Android and iPhone and utilizes artificial intelligence to swap users’ faces with those of celebrities.
Here are some of the best from their Insta.
And by “best” I mean most utterly terrifying.
3. Pornhub sued by a deaf man who wants closed captioning in videos.
A deaf man is suing Pornhub over claims that the site is violating federal law by not providing closed captioning in videos, TMZ reports.
The lawsuit, initiated by a man named Yaroslav Suris, argues that the lack of options for hearing-impaired users goes against the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Suris, who reportedly pays for the site’s premium service, says in court documents that he has failed to comprehend the dialogue in numerous videos due to the lack of closed captioning. Those videos include Hot Step Aunt Babysits Disobedient Nephew, Sexy Cop Gets Witness to Talk, Daddy4k, and Allison comes to Talk About Money to Her Boys’ Naughty Father, according to TMZ.
In a statement to TMZ, Pornhub Vice President Corey Price stated that the website does have a section dedicated solely to videos with closed captioning.
At the time of publication, Pornhub’s “Closed Captions” section offers 410 videos in total. For comparison, the site’s “Amateur” section offers 287,768 videos.
This is, and I shit you not, an actual caption from one of the videos:
4. Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump officially begins today.
The third Senate impeachment trial of a US president in history convened on Thursday with the reading of the impeachment articles against President Donald Trump and the swearing-in of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and the senators who will decide whether Trump should be removed from office.
The outcome of the trial is all but determined, as the two-thirds vote required to remove the President would need 20 Republican senators to break ranks.
Regardless of how you feel about the trial, please enjoy this pretty amazing Tweet about it:
this tweet is even funnier if you read it in a mock Italian accent https://t.co/pbcDPSdlmz
— Fred Delicious (@Fred_Delicious) January 16, 2020
5. ‘OK boomer’ meme makes it to the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, while the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing a case regarding the standard a federal employee must meet to prove that he had been a victim of unlawful age discrimination by his employer, Roberts evoked the meme.
“What if a hiring person were to say, ‘OK boomer,’” the 64-year-old justice asked. “Is that actionable?”
The hallowed chamber reportedly broke out in laughter as Roberts evoked the phrase. However, the lawyer for the defendant, Roman Martinez—who happens to be born in 1978, for what it’s worth—did not see it as a joke.
More worthy LINKZ:
- Top 10 Disturbing Facts About The “Night Stalker” Richard Ramirez – Listverse
- Tortoise Believed Extinct For 100 Years Reemerge In Galápagos – NedHardy
- Mapping Filthy Rich Families Around the World – How Much
- Poodle Cats Exist, And They’re Fluffy, Smart And Affectionate – RuinMyWeek
- People Are Sharing The Trivial But Annoything Things Their Parents Say Wrong – WorldWideInterweb