Lying clickbait remains healthy during Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has shut down many parts of society, but it hasn’t slowed down instances of lying clickbait. Unscrupulous content promoters are still using fake or misleading photos and headlines to drive online traffic.
Let’s look at some recent examples.

Revcontent promoted an article titled “Rare Photos Not Allowed In History Books” that used a sepia-tone photo of what looks like a Native American woman. The photo is not historical. The picture shows model and actress Denyce Lawton, who is of African American and Korean descent.

Taboola ran a similar article titled “Rare Photos Not Appropriate For History Books.” It included a sepia-tone photo of a beautiful woman wearing what looks like Native American or hippy apparel.

But the photo isn’t very old. It’s a picture of model Catherine McNeil from Vogue in 2008. (See articles by Women Picture and Mr. Haddy on Tumblr.)

Outbrain SmartFeed posted an article titled “Pat Sajak’s Daughter Looks Like Her Iconic Mom.” It included a picture of the game-show host with some black or mixed-race girls. The implication of the headline and photo is that one or both girls are Sajak’s children. They aren’t. The picture shows Pat Sajak with children who have benefited from services provided by the Hope Institute for Children and Families, a charity he supports.
(See article by March 18, 2014, article by the Chicago Tribune.)

Another article, titled “At 74, Tom Selleck Is Still With His Partner,” shows actor Selleck speaking with another man. The implication is that Tom Selleck is gay and that’s his partner. But no. Selleck has been married to actress Jillie Mack since 1987.

A Taboola article titled “40+ Insane Classified Photos That The Government Was Forced To Release” used a photo of a UFO crash from “The X-Files” television series.
(See article by Business Insider.)

An article titled “Here Are The 20 Scariest Bridges In The World” used a deceptive photo of the Eshima Ohashi Bridge in Japan.
“Images of the bridge have been widely circulated on the internet, owing to its seemingly steep nature when photographed from a distance with a telephoto lens, but in actuality the Shimane side has a gradient of 6.1% and Tottori side of 5.1%,” the Wikipedia post on the bridge says.

And finally, a Taboola article titled “30 Craziest Shark Attacks In History” includes an obviously Photoshopped picture of a great white shark leaping onto a beach. The photo dates to at least March 2008, according to TinEye reverse-image search results.

CES 2021: Will it happen? And if so, how different will it be?

2020 will be remembered as the year we stayed at home, sheltering in place from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Millions of people have shifted to working from home and distance learning. Meanwhile, movie theaters, sports and concert venues, and other establishments have been closed to stop the spread of the disease. Restaurants and retail businesses have either shut down or transitioned to takeout and curbside delivery.
The year started off promisingly for me. I traveled to the annual CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas as one of more than 170,000 attendees. At the time, the as-yet-unnamed novel coronavirus was believed isolated where it began in China in December 2019.
CES 2020 ran Jan. 7-10, with preshow events beginning on Jan. 5. The World Health Organization declared the disease a “public health emergency of international concern” on Jan. 30 and a global pandemic on March 11.
Some media reports have speculated that CES 2020 could have been catalyst in helping to spread Covid-19 throughout the U.S. (See article by Mashable.)

The Consumer Technology Association, which runs the show, says planning for CES 2021 is underway, according to a May 7 post. The show is scheduled for Jan. 6-9, 2021, in Las Vegas.

On its website, the trade group says “major brands are committed for the show.”
“We will showcase our exhibitors’ products, technology breakthroughs and ideas to the world, both physically in Las Vegas and digitally,” it said. Organizers plan to expand the show’s digital reach by offering more livestreamed CES content and other virtual opportunities.
Those attending CES 2021 can expect changes to increase their safety. Those changes include asking attendees and exhibitors to wear face masks and avoiding shaking hands.
CES will provide “sanitization stations throughout,” which I assume means more hand-sanitizer dispensers. Show venues will be regularly cleaned and sanitized, especially product demonstration areas.
CES 2021 also will promote social distancing of attendees. This will include widening aisles in many exhibit areas and providing more space between seats in conference programs.
The conference also might implement “contactless thermal scans at key venue entry points.”
This is the current thinking of CES organizers, but a lot could change in the months ahead.
I have no doubt that the Consumer Technology Association is committed to holding CES 2021, even if it must be scaled back because some exhibitors and participants will be afraid to attend.
The trade group faced similar fears when it held CES 2002, just four months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It responded to those concerns with an increased security presence and bag checks and body scans at venues.
But companies are proceeding cautiously in the Covid-19 age. Many have canceled in-person events and business travel for the rest of the year.
Microsoft plans to make all its internal and external events digital-only until July 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Likewise, Facebook canceled all planned physical events with 50 or more attendees until June 2021.
Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin said in a Forbes column that companies planning to exhibit at CES 2021 need backup plans.
“The vendors who would be showing at CES 2021 need to start thinking of an alternative means to getting their marketing and product announcements out at the first of the year, in case a traditional CES does not take place,” he wrote.
The prevailing wisdom is that things won’t get back to normal until there’s a vaccine for Covid-19. That’s not likely to happen until mid- to late 2021 at the earliest and even then, supplies will be limited.
Las Vegas casinos have been closed for two months now because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their tentative reopen date is June 4, with restrictions, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Vox Media.
After a year of cancellations, it would be nice to see a return to some semblance of normalcy in 2021. That could start with CES 2021, which is an uplifting event that shows the promise of technology to improve our lives.
You can be sure that CES 2021 will highlight technologies that can provide solutions for day-to-day challenges created by the pandemic. It also could offer a look at how the technology industry is assisting medical fields in battling infectious diseases like Covid-19.
CES 2021 was scheduled to be the debut event for the expanded Las Vegas Convention Center. The LVCC expansion will include an underground transportation system built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company.

As one post-apocalyptic TV series ends, another begins

The seventh and final season of epic post-apocalyptic TV series “The 100” begins on Wednesday on the CW. Its season premiere follows the series premiere on Sunday of another post-apocalyptic series, “Snowpiercer,” on TNT.
With the debut of “Snowpiercer,” there are now 10 TV series set in post-apocalyptic worlds currently running. Of those, three, including “The 100,” are scheduled to finish their runs this year. The other two are “Van Helsing” on Syfy after five seasons and “The Rain” on Netflix after three seasons.
Other post-apocalyptic series currently airing include “The Walking Dead” and spinoff “Fear the Walking Dead” on AMC, “Black Summer” on Netflix, “See” on Apple TV+, “War of the Worlds” on Epix and “Into the Night” on Netflix.
“Snowpiercer” originally was set to debut on May 31 but was moved up to May 17 to bring the show to viewers stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, a second “Walking Dead” spinoff, “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” was delayed from it’s April 12 premiere until sometime later this year.
At least a dozen new post-apocalyptic set TV series are in development. So, the genre remains a popular category of escapist entertainment. However dark.

Related articles:

Comprehensive list of post-apocalyptic TV shows

Meet Iuliia Ciari, the stunning redhead behind a host of online ads

You’ve probably seen her face in your travels online. She’s hard to miss with her fiery red hair, piercing blue-gray eyes, fun freckles and warm smile.
Her name is Iuliia Ciari. She is a Russian-speaking model who has worked a fair bit with photographer Maksim “Max” Petrov, who has an eye for pretty women.
I first wrote about Ciari in 2017 when I noted that her face was being used to sell everything from online dating services to mystery novels. At the time, I emailed Petrov for information on the unknown woman he only identified as “Julia,” but he didn’t respond.
I didn’t pursue it further and let readers of Tech-media-tainment solve the mystery.
Last month, a reader was able to identify the model as Iuliia Ciari. She also has gone by Iuliia Kurdina (a maiden name perhaps?). The reader found her by examining Petrov’s social media connections.
Her picture is still be used in online advertisements and clickbait articles. They include recent ads for online dating, cosmetics and beauty treatments.
She is on Instagram and has an inactive Facebook account.

2020 presidential race gets its first porn parody

Every four years, the adult entertainment industry lampoons the U.S. presidential election with porn parodies of the key figures. The 2020 race now has its first porn parody with “Scorin’ with Warren,” which depicts a raunchy Elizabeth Warren on the campaign trail during her ultimately failed bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden reportedly is considering Warren, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, for the vice president job. She also would be a contender for a possible cabinet post if Biden is elected.
In “Scorin’ With Warren,” Jamie Foster plays Elizabeth Warren as she uses her feminine wiles to attract swing voters. In one scene, she gets dirty with Republican conservative and current Vice President Mike Pence, played by Jay Crew, according to a description of the movie. The “I’ve got a plan for that” policy wonk also gets down with Monica Lewinsky, a campaign manager and a black voter.
“I voted for Liz and am really sorry she’s too smart for America,” Foster said via email. “I am a stand-up comic as well and a lot of fans really like the impression. I do look like her.”
She added, “It was fun and I hope to do more Liz and see more of her, like on Biden’s ticket would be nice.”
No signs of a Biden porn parody yet, despite his creepy, handsy reputation with the ladies.
Also, there haven’t been any new Donald Trump porn parodies lately. They fell off after his election to president in 2016. The boorish Lothario has been featured in 19 porn parodies, including two from his “Celebrity Apprentice” reality-TV show days. Only actor Charlie Sheen has more porn parodies, with 20.

Related article: List of top real-life targets for porn parodies and exploitation.