Tech
Amazon Backs Up The Brink’s Truck, Purchases MGM For A Whopping $8.45 Billion
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: SOPA Images / Getty Amazon Prime Video just got a big boost. Wednesday (May 26), Amazon backed up the Brink’s truck and dropped an $8.5 billion bag for the iconic Hollywood studio company that is the home of James Bond and Rocky. The deal is the largest since Amazon’s $13.7 billion acquisition of the grocery chain Whole Foods in 2017. The deal will give Amazon Prime Video a boost with new programming created from MGM properties while strengthening Amazon Studios’ original productions. So what can we expect as viewers? Well, possibly spinoffs, reboots, and sequels, being that Amazon revealed it would be digging into MGM’s film and TV franchises. “The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reima...
Doja Cat, John Legend Join Eco-Friendly Music NFT Marketplace OneOf
Most NFT marketplaces operate on the Ethereum blockchain, which runs on a “proof-of-work” model. In this model, computer “miners” race to validate transactions to be added to the blockchain, and earn cryptocurrency as a reward. Although the system is meant to discourage tampering with the blockchain, it sucks up an enormous amount of energy in the process. The exact amount is widely disputed and difficult to quantify, but Digiconomist estimates that the Ethereum network has nearly the same annual carbon footprint as the country of Jordan. By contrast, OneOf is built on the Tezos blockchain protocol, which uses a “proof-of-stake” model. Long hailed as a potential solution to these environmental problems, proof-of-stake means that miners lock up some ...
HHW Gaming: ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’ Reportedly Will Be Free-To-Play Ahead of Memorial Day Weeke
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Treyarch / Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War If you’re one of the few who has not played Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer, Activision is reportedly giving folks a chance to take it for a test run for FREE99. As spotted on GameSpot, reputable Call of Duty News source @charlieINTEL announced on Twitter that gamers could look forward to a Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War free-to-play weekend ahead of Memorial Day weekend sharing an advertisement announcing the upcoming event. While the news has not been confirmed by Activision or co-developers Raven Software and Treyarch yet, according to the tweet, it will kick off May 27 and will last until June 1. According to GameSpot, players will be able to enjoy Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s multipla...
Blue Checks For All : Twitter Is Now Slowly Rolling Out Its Revamped Verification System
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: NurPhoto / Getty After months of speculation and leaks, Twitter’s “revamped” verification system is here. Twitter announced on Thursday (May.20) it has begun to roll out its new verification process slowly plus shared what criteria have to be met to obtain the highly-coveted blue checkmark details on how it will approve applications from now on. The announcement comes after months of speculation and “leaks” hinting at the return of the process. As detailed in a blog post, Twitter says it has been working on the new verification process for the past several months and that the new policy is shaped by public feedback and should bring some much-needed clarity to the process that was put on ice in November 2017 after it was criticized for verifying a white su...
HHW Gaming: PS5 Crushing Xbox Series X In First Quarter Sales, Nintendo Still King of Consoles
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Future Publishing / Getty The console wars aren’t really that much of a thing, but based on these numbers, it’s clear who’s winning the battle of the next-gen systems. Despite them being painstakingly hard to find, the PS5 is currently king when it comes to what next-gen console gamers spend their money on. Currently, Sony has managed to more than double Microsoft’s console sales, moving an impressive 2.83 million PlayStation 5 units, while Microsoft’s Xbox Series X has sold at 1.31 million units. That’s quite a feat to pull off despite a chip shortage that could last until 2023 IBM confirmed that even has President Joe Biden and his administration concerned. Regardless, many expect those numbers to hold with the PS5 continuing to outsell the Xbox S...
Reducing Artists’ Royalties for Promotion — Haven’t We Heard That Before? (Guest Column)
At the moment, Spotify says Discovery Mode will only apply to the radio and autoplay playlists (the tracks you hear when the playlist or album you were listening to ends). Make no mistake, Spotify is explicitly clear that they intend to expand this “pay for play” program to other “personalized” areas of the service. More opportunities to connect with new listeners and innovative tools are always appreciated, but Discovery Mode brings into question the credibility of Spotify’s recommendation engine. From its beginning Spotify proudly stated that it would be a good partner and maintain a democratized service that would never allow the proverbial “thumb on the scale.” Again, and again, we were assured that all artists would have a fair and impartial chance of success. We were promised that th...
Syng’s New $1,799 Cell Alpha Speaker Will Allow Users To “Hear, See, & Touch Sounds”
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Syng / Syng Cell Alpha Triphonic Speaker Former Apple Designer Christopher Stringer is looking to bring new life to the 90-year-old, stagnant audio industry that seems to have moved its focus from speakers to headphones. Stringer spent 20 years at Apple and helped design groundbreaking devices like the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch. He is trying to bring that same energy to the audio world with Syng’s new Cell Alpha, the world’s first Triphonic speaker. Stringer teamed up with Damon Way (DC Shoes, Incase) to help usher in a new era of sound, and the Cell Alpha, the company’s flagship speaker, is leading that charge. Source: Syng / Syng Cell Alpha Triphonic Speaker Introduced to the world on May.14, the Cell Alpha promises to deliver users a...
Google Is On A Mission To Improve Image Processing of Photos Featuring Black & Brown People
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Vladimir Vladimirov / Getty As the camera systems on smartphones drastically improve year by year, they still have one glaring issue, capturing and processing Black skin tones properly. During its I/O 2021 keynote, Google announced it was taking some steps to rectify this problem. Capturing Black skin and natural hairstyles in photos and properly processing them has been an issue dating back to when using film was the only option for photographers. Now that we are in the digital age, there have been some improvements, but even with flicks taken on smartphones, the images are still come up flat. Google is well aware of the issue and revealed that it would be making a valiant effort to address the issue in its cameras by focusing on photos of Black and Brow...
HHW Gaming:80s Action Heroes Rambo & Die Hard’s John McClane Coming To Call of Duty Games
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Activision / Call of Duty The addition of these two iconic movie characters to the world of Call of Duty makes all the sense in the world. Tuesday (May 18), Activision revealed that 1980s action heroes John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) of the Rambo movie franchise and John McClane (Bruce Willis) of Die Hard fame would be making their “explosive debuts” in Call of Duty video games. Revealed in an action-packed 1-minute trailer, players can use either one of the characters to dish out damage and rack up kills in either Call of Duty®: Warzone™, Black Ops Cold War, and Call of Duty: Mobile as part of the latest mid-season update. Both characters had their own respective video games based on their films. Rambo would go onto be a guest fighter in...
HHW Gaming: StockX Confirms Scalpers Sold A Ridiculous Amount of PS5 Consoles
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Future Publishing / Getty StockX confirmed what we already knew about the PS5 console being sold on the online marketplace. There are still many gamers out there who don’t have a PS5 and have no clue when they can rectify that issue, being that Sony themselves aren’t so sure when production of the consoles will finally meet demand. One of the many reasons contributing to the fact it’s just so damn hard to buy a PS5 is because of scalpers, aka resellers on the internet. Video Games Chronicles reports the company has shared some eye-opening and infuriating data regarding the number of PS5 consoles sold in the United States. A ridiculous 55,000 units of the digital edition and 83,000 units of the disc edition have been sold on StockX alone. To make matters w...
HHW Gaming: The NBA Lands On The Fairway In Latest Update For ‘PGA Tour 2K1’
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: 2K / PGA Tour 2K1 For those who don’t know, HB Studios has an excellent golf game out with PGA Tour 2K21, and now with this latest update, you can rep your favorite NBA team. Tired of rocking those boring golf polos and hats? 2K and HB Studios said no problem and announced Monday (May 17) the arrival of NBA team logo gear for players to throw on their created players when they tee off f on the links. All 30 NBA franchises are represented and accounted for, and players can now bring their NBA fandom to the fairway and show their love for their favorite squad while landing hole-in-ones. The gear is available for all MyPLAYERs and can be purchased in the game shop. PGA Tour 2K1 launched in August 2020 and alongside the release of a hilarious launch tra...
New Merger Alert: AT&T Announces It Is Merging WarnerMedia With Discovery
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: SOPA Images / Getty After fighting to make the initial merger happen, AT&T has decided to switch things up by creating a new media giant. Monday (May 17), AT&T announced that it would be spinning off WarnerMedia by merging it with the TV company Discovery leading to the creation of a new media giant that could compete with streaming titans Netflix and the new kid on the block Disney+. The new deal will see WarnerMedia properties like HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, and the Warner Bros. movie studio plus channels like HGTV, Animal Planet, Food Network, and TLC which Discovery operates under one tent. Both companies also have their own streaming platforms with HBO Max and Discovery Plus. As per the press release announcing the move, the b...
