Saturday, April 28, 2018

Rihanna Photoshopped with bigger booty, breasts in online fakes

People love Rihanna, the pop singer and fashion icon. But some fans apparently wish she had a little more meat on her bones.
Lately I’ve noticed people posting Photoshopped pictures of Rihanna on Google Plus Collections. These pictures show Rihanna with bigger breasts, bigger butt and chunky thighs.
I’ve called out these Photoshop fakes in the comments section, but some internet trolls treat me like a killjoy for posting the original photos and links to news articles with them.
With the tide of fake news and information growing online, people need to step up and stomp on these types of activities, so the truth will rise to the top.
I’ll post a couple of examples of real and fake Rihanna photos here. (Real photo first, followed by fake photo.)




Saturday, April 21, 2018

What happens when studios stop releasing movies on disc?

I still subscribe to Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service because it offers an unparalleled selection of movies to watch.
Unlike the company’s streaming video service, Netflix’s DVD service offers movies from every major film studio. If it’s available on disc (DVD or Blu-ray), Netflix is likely to carry it, thanks to the first-sale doctrine in U.S. copyright law.
In the streaming sector, movie rights have Balkanized so films are spread out among different subscription video-on-demand services.
The nice thing about Netflix’s DVD service is that it’s the great equalizer. It gets movies from everywhere, regardless of studio. It even gets TV series from HBO, Showtime and others once they’re released on disc.
But Netflix’s DVD service has been steadily losing subscribers, in part because the parent company puts most of its marketing efforts behind streaming.
Lately I’ve been wondering what will happen when studios stop releasing movies on disc.
Major Hollywood blockbusters likely will continue to be available on disc for some time, but smaller budget movies, independent films and foreign films might skip physical media distribution.
Already retailers like Best Buy have reduced the store space they allot for DVDs. Redbox has cut back on the number of kiosks it maintains for renting discs.
The future appears set. Digital streaming via subscriptions will rise while movies for sale or rental on physical media will disappear. I just hope that takes a long time to happen.
When DVDs disappear, so will Netflix’s DVD business. But I intend to stay a subscriber to the bitter end.
Netflix’s DVD service had about 3.3 million subscribers last year. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said he could see the service lasting for at least another five years, USA Today reported in March.
Last month, the Netflix DVD business celebrated 20 years of operation. I hope it has many more years ahead of it.
Without DVDs, consumers will have to sort through various streaming options to find the movies they’re looking for or else watch them on a pay-per-view basis.
Film buffs will mourn the loss of such DVD features as deleted scenes, director and actor commentaries and behind-the-scenes videos, which likely will go away when the shift to digital distribution is complete.
Streaming might be a more convenient way to watch movies, but it will be less satisfying when it’s the only option.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

President Trump depicted as pig, naked on latest magazine covers

Magazine publishers continue to find new ways to try to embarrass President Donald Trump with artwork on their magazine covers.
New York magazine gave Trump a pig nose for its April 2 issue. The New Yorker depicted a naked Trump standing behind a lectern for its March 26 issue. Time magazine showed Trump being swamped by a wave for its April 20 cover titled “Stormy,” a reference to his alleged mistress Stormy Daniels.
What follows are the latest covers featuring the 45th president of the United States.








Thursday, April 12, 2018

A eulogy for music CDs

Music CDs appear to be breathing their last gasp at retail. And they could soon disappear entirely as consumers shift to subscription streaming music services.
Best Buy plans to pull music CDs from its stores by July 1, citing slumping sales and a desire to use that retail space for other items. And Target could follow suit. (See articles by Business Insider and the Los Angeles Times.)
Consumers like the convenience of on-demand streaming music services like Spotify and Apple Music. People no longer have to load a compact disc into a CD player to queue up their favorite tunes.
However, the end of CDs is changing the music business in ways other than losing a physical distribution channel.
With digital distribution, artists big and small are on equal footing, battling for attention on streaming services. When CDs were king, artists with major label backing dominated the retail racks and earned consumer mindshare. Packaged media has significant additional costs in manufacturing, shipping and handling that digital distribution does not.
With digital music released online, consumers are starting to feel overwhelmed with all the choices. It likely will be harder for music artists to break through to a large audience. (See Wall Street Journal article subtitled “The sea of music that the industry is producing has both artists and fans feeling submerged.”)
Music fans used to take pride in their physical music collections and were devoted to their favorite performers. But as ownership gives way to subscriptions to all music, there’s bound to be a weaker connection between fans and performers.
Also likely to go away is the notion of albums. With no physical media to fill, artists can release a new track every few weeks instead of once a year.
The decline of CDs also is likely to give more clout to DJ producers. Some artists like Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber now seem to be building their careers as singers for hire for DJs rather than trying to create their own albums.
CDs aren’t going to disappear overnight, but the shift to streaming is clear. Last year, streaming accounted for 65% of recorded music sales in the U.S., up from 51% in 2016 and 34% in 2015.

Photo: Pathetic music CD section at Target store in Reston, Va. (Patrick Seitz)

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Fake historical photos, deceptive pictures and other lying clickbait tactics

For a few weeks earlier this year, lying clickbait in the form of sponsored articles by Taboola, Revcontent and Outbrain seemed to disappear from websites. But unfortunately it’s back in a big way.
Let’s check out the latest lies from content promotion services.

A Taboola article titled “Rare photos not suitable for history books” featured a sepia-tone photo of a pretty woman. But the picture isn’t old. It’s a modern photo of model Gabby Grave in lingerie. (See her profile at Model Mayhem and Facebook.)



An article titled “Photos from Woodstock 1969 you can’t unsee” from Outbrain used a photo an attractive young lady. But the picture is not from Woodstock. It’s of British actress Madeline Smith, who was photographed in May 1971, according to Getty Images.



Another Taboola article titled “Why North Korea shouldn’t agitate the U.S. Navy” used a photo of a demonstration vessel that isn’t used by the Navy. The watercraft is the Ghost attack boat from Juliet Marine Systems. (See article by Tactical Life.)



Actresses Rebel Wilson and Melissa McCarthy are common subjects for lying clickbait articles about weight loss.
A Revcontent article titled “After losing 70 lbs. Rebel Wilson is unbelievably gorgeous” juxtaposed photos of Wilson with English model Iskra Lawrence.
Another Revcontent article titled “After losing 200 lbs. Melissa McCarthy looks like a model” used a Photoshopped picture of the actress. (Original photo below.)





Lying clickbait articles often tease photos of grown-up celebrity children, but use deceptive pictures.
Revcontent recently promoted an article titled “Remember Sandra Bullock’s son? Try not to gasp when you see how (he looks now).” It juxtaposed a picture of Bullock and her adopted son Louis with a photo of author and YouTube celebrity Derrick Jaxn, who apparently has no connection to the other two.




A Taboola article titled “Denzel Washington’s son has grown up to be gorgeous” used a photo of Washington and his “Flight” co-star Kelly Reilly to exploit the curiosity gap. Reilly is not the mother of Washington’s son.



A Taboola article titled “Canceled TV shows: The complete list of television cancellations 2017” uses a photo from the Netflix series “Marvel’s Luke Cage,” which has not been canceled.


A Revcontent article titled “Once a star, now totally broke” uses a photo of actress Julia Stiles from the movie “10 Things I Hate About You.” She has been used to promote so many fake articles that BuzzFeed wrote a story titled “Why Does The Internet Hate Julia Stiles?
Her photos have been used to promote articles about dead celebrities, transgender celebrities and former celebrities that now have normal jobs. All not true.



Finally, Taboola recently ran a clickbait article titled “Mysterious photos that science cannot explain.” It used a photo of Instagram model Claire Abbott. The only thing science can’t explain about her is how freaking hot she is.
Hopefully Abbott is making some money off all the clickbait advertisements she’s being used in over the years. Other recent examples include articles titled “These photos were not Photoshopped – look closer” and “Can you deal with a sugar mama?”







Related articles about Claire Abbott:

Clickbait cuties: The sexy sirens of sponsored articles (March 27, 2017)

Lying clickbait: Sloppy mistakes or deliberate errors? (Dec. 9, 2017)

Sunday, April 1, 2018

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ on CBS All Access: Binge watch, then cancel

On my spring vacation last week, I signed up for a free week of CBS All Access, streamed all 15 episodes of its big-budget exclusive series “Star Trek: Discovery” over six days and then canceled the service.
I’ll probably sign up for a month of service when season two is finished sometime next year, binge watch the show and then cancel again.
There’s nothing else on CBS All Access that interests me. Besides, I already get more than enough programming from Verizon Fios TV and Netflix. Plus, I have Amazon Prime, but I never get around to watching their video service.
Judging from Twitter commentary, I’m not the only one who canceled after watching “Star Trek: Discovery.” The science-fiction franchise has a loyal following, but most aren’t going to stick around and watch lawyer drama “The Good Fight” and reruns of old sitcoms.
This is probably going to happen a lot in the current over-the-top internet video market. People will sign up for a month to see a show or two, binge watch, cancel and move on to another service. Unless a service has a deep bench of content, subscribers aren’t going to stick around.