Lying clickbait firms love photos of sexy women

Clickbait firms will use any old photo of sexy women to drive traffic. The photo can be completely unrelated to the article – it doesn’t matter to them. Clicks are all that matters.
For instance, a sponsored article by Forbes titled “Attention retirees: How this ETF pays a 7% yield” used a photo of an attractive young lady. The woman is Marian Rivera, a Filipina recording artist, actress and model. The photo is from FHM magazine. What does Rivera have to do with exchange-traded funds?

An article titled “33 photos from Woodstock” used a photo that was not from Woodstock. In the years that I’ve been covering lying clickbait, there have been many examples of supposed Woodstock photos that weren’t from the 1969 music festival. In this case, the photo is of celebrities Debbie Boone, Joyce DeWitt and Maren Jensen from “Battle of the Network Stars V” (1978).

An Outbrain article used a photo of stunning actress Halle Berry to draw clicks. The article was titled “Halle Berry’s daughter is probably the prettiest woman ever existed.” But her daughter is only 13 years old, you sickos.

Finally, a series of articles titled “NFL wives that are perfect 10s” ran photos of quarterback Tom Brady and coach Jon Gruden with a teenage Claire Abbott, who was an Instagram model more than 20 years ago. Abbott is not married to either man.

And here's a bonus clickbait article from Yahoo Finance alleges that conservative pundit Sean Hannity is gay. The article says “Sean Hannity is married to this man.” But he’s not married to a man. He is divorced from a woman. OMG!

Netflix DVD-by-mail service still kicking

Netflix’s DVD-by-mail business saw sales decline faster in 2021 than in the two prior years.
The U.S.-only service generated $182 million in revenue last year. But that was down 24% from the prior year. Revenue in the DVD business declined 19% in 2020 and the same percentage in 2019.
That’s not surprising considering that the streaming video giant doesn’t promote its legacy DVD service anymore. It barely merits a footnote in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But as long as it’s profitable, Netflix will continue to operate the business.
I love the Netflix DVD service, but I’m among a dwindling subscriber base.
And with many movies not being released on disc anymore, I’m worried about the physical media itself, including DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.
Consider this, my Netflix DVD queue now has 42 movies in it. But my “saved” queue of movies not yet available on the service is up to 65 titles. Many of those may never be released or are permanently out of print.
And my “saved” queue only includes movies that Netflix has indexed on its website. There are dozens more movies I’ve searched for on the service but just aren’t listed.

Tech industry stories getting the Hollywood treatment

The information technology industry has long been a fertile ground for documentary filmmakers. Now Hollywood is taking aim at the sector. Several major docudramas based on real-life stories in the tech industry are on the way.
On March 3, Hulu will premiere “The Dropout,” starring Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, the convicted fraudster who ran Theranos. The biotech company closed in scandal in 2018 after failing to deliver on its promise that all blood tests could be done with a single drop of blood. “The Dropout” is an eight-episode miniseries.
On March 18, Apple TV+ will premiere “WeCrashed,” a limited series starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway. The eight-episode series will tell the story of the rise and spectacular fall of WeWork. The company grew from a single coworking space into a global brand worth $47 billion in under a decade. Then, in less than a year, its value plummeted.
Meanwhile, Showtime is working on a series based on New York Times reporter Mike Isaac’s book “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.” It is slated to star Joseph Gordon-Levitt as former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.
Other movies or TV series have been announced based on Gamergate (see articles by the Wrap and Deadline), and the r/WallStreetBets and GameStop saga (see articles by Deadline, Variety and the Wrap.)
Also, Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas, the company behind HBO’s Emmy-nominated “McMillions,” is looking to do a limited docuseries on the rise and fall of MoviePass. (See articles by Deadline and AV Club.)

Related article:

‘Steve Jobs’ one of just a few movies based on tech industry true stories (Oct. 24, 2015)

Photos: “The Dropout” (top, from Hulu) and “WeCrashed” (bottom, from Apple TV+).

Talented musicians strutting their stuff online

I’ve previously spotlighted several websites featuring talented musicians. They include Postmodern Jukebox, Eclectic Method, Tronicbox and CDZA.
What follows are a few more super-talented music artists promoting themselves on social media.

There I Ruined It

There I Ruined It does fun genre mashups of popular music on YouTube. The site’s description says, “I lovingly destroy your favorite songs.”
Examples include Coolio’s “Gangsta Paradise” redone as a traditional Bavarian oompah march for Oktoberfest and Beck’s “Loser” set to a traditional square dance song.

Good Future

Manchester musician Nathan Shepherd of Good Future Music performs popular songs in the style of other artists.
For instance, he performed Drake’s “Hotline Bling” in the style of David Byrne and Talking Heads. He did “Save Your Tears’ by the Weeknd in the style of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” He also performed “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses in the style of the Smiths.
He posts his videos on YouTube and TikTok.

Too Many Zooz

New York City brasshouse trio Too Many Zooz posts great music videos on YouTube. Check out their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal.”

MiMo

Content creator MiMo posts “TikTok chain” musical collaborations that are quite entertaining. Two of my favorites started with viral videos of cats meowing that turned into complicated musical arrangements. They are the Num Num Cat TikTok Chain and the Luga Luga Cat TikTok Chain.

Sophie Lloyd

Sophie Lloyd is an amazing rock and metal guitarist. The U.K.-based musician posts a variety of content on her YouTube page including originals, shreds and covers. Her recent cover of the Guns N’ Roses classic “Welcome to the Jungle” is terrific. It doesn’t hurt that she’s drop-dead gorgeous.

Gamazda

Speaking of beautiful and talented musicians, check out Russian pianist Alexandra Kuznetsova, aka Gamazda. She does piano covers of hard rock and heavy metal songs. (See articles by Laughing Squid and Louder.)

Covid-inspired apocalypse movies populating Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video is a dumping ground for numerous crappy low-budget movies. That includes the post-apocalyptic genre that I closely follow.
In my most recent review of movies on the service, I counted nine exploitation films that seem to have been inspired by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
They include “Before the Fire,” “Covid-21: Lethal Virus,” “2025 – The World Enslaved by a Virus,” “American Apocalypse,” “Fear,” “Lockdown: 2025,” “Armageddon Tales,” “Infected: The Darkest Day” and “Positive Apocalypse.”
In four articles between November 2019 and July 2020, I documented 117 low-budget independent and foreign films in the post-apocalyptic genre on Amazon Prime. Most of these movies were poorly reviewed on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb, if they even merited reviews.
What follows are 46 more such post-apocalyptic movies on the service. They bring my total to 163 movies.

In the Year 2889 (1967)
Robot Holocaust (1987)
Ice (2000)
Steve Niles’ Remains (2011)
Ridge War Z (2013)
Collapse (2014)
Doomsday (2015)
Plan Z (2016)
Merrick (2017; France)
Beneath The Eyes Of God (2018)
Dystopia (2018)
Post Apocalyptic Commando Shark (2018)
Republic Z (2018; Russia)
Shangri-La: Near Extinction (2018)
Carroña (2019; Argentina)
Redcon-1 (2019)
Solar Impact (2019)
Transit 17 (2019)
A Feral World (2020)
After The End (2020)
Atomic Apocalypse (2020)
Before the Fire (2020)
By Day’s End (2020)
Deadlocked (2020)
Edge of Extinction (2020)
Girl With No Mouth (2020)
Go/Don’t Go (2020)
The Last Hope (2020)
The Wylds (2020)
When the Fever Breaks (2020)
2025 – The World Enslaved by a Virus (2021)
American Apocalypse (2021)
Armageddon Tales (2021)
Covid-21: Lethal Virus (2021; Spain)
Dead Life: Wormwood’s End (2021)
Deus Vult: God Wills It (2021)
Exodus (2021)
Fear (2021)
Infected (2021), aka Infected: The Darkest Day
Lockdown: 2025 (2021)
Nebulous Dark (2021)
Once Upon a Time in the Apocalypse (2021)
Positive Apocalypse (2021)
Survive (2021)
Unit Eleven (2021)
Zone Drifter (2021)

Photo: Movie poster for “Covid-21: Lethal Virus” (2021).

NRF retail conference follows CES lead with an in-person show

The National Retail Federation’s NRF 2022 conference opens Sunday at the Javits Center in New York City. “Retail’s Big Show” is the second major industry conference of the year after the CES consumer technology trade show in Las Vegas, which ran Jan. 5-7.
But NRF 2022 is facing much less resistance from exhibitors and the press than CES 2022 experienced for holding a show during the Covid-19 pandemic.
By all accounts the omicron variant of Covid is still raging. So why is there less outcry over the NRF show taking place in person?
For starters, CES has many haters in the press corps, who would love to see the show go away. They don’t like covering the massive conference, which takes place inconveniently right after the Christmas and New Year’s holiday break. These malcontents were the cheerleaders behind calls on social media to cancel CES 2022.
Also, NRF 2022, which runs Jan. 16-18, is a smaller show and is focused on the U.S. The last in-person NRF show in 2020 drew some 40,000 people.
This year’s international CES show attracted over 45,000 attendees amid the omicron scare. The previous in-person CES in 2020 attracted 171,000 attendees.
Both CES and NRF canceled their in-person conferences in 2021 because of the pandemic.
But now the conference industry and its participants want to get back to business.
However, NRF 2022 is likely to draw a much smaller crowd than in the before times. Organizers are estimating up to 15,000 attendees for this year’s show.
Also, several major exhibitors have backed out of the in-person NRF show. They include Aptos, Blue Yonder, Jesta, Manhattan Associates, Oracle, SAP, SAS and Unity Software.
“As we move from pandemic to endemic — a new environment in which we say life can and should go on — there’s going to be friction as we adjust,” NRF Chief Executive Matthew Shay said in a blog post on LinkedIn. “This year’s show is a step forward, and we believe it’s a necessary and meaningful one.”
While some groups are pressing forward with in-person events, others are still skittish.
The National Association of Television Program Executives canceled its NATPE Miami 2022 conference, which had been scheduled for Jan. 18-20 in Miami.
RSA Conference, a cybersecurity event, postponed its 2022 show from Feb. 7-10 to June 6-9. The physical event will remain at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
The Toy Association canceled its annual Toy Fair New York trade show, which had been scheduled to take place Feb. 19-22 at the Javits Center. Some of the biggest attendees, including Hasbro, MGA Entertainment, Walmart and Target, had bowed out, the New York Post reported.
Video game conference E3 canceled its show set for June in Los Angeles, citing the Covid pandemic. However, Mike Futter, an analyst at F-Squared, said the demise of this year’s show was months in the making and likely driven by a lack of support from game publishers, Bloomberg reported.

Photo: NRF 2020 in New York City (NRF)

Was CES 2022 the Covid superspreader event that some feared?

Before the CES 2022 tech conference opened in Las Vegas, there was much hand-wringing and worrying in some corners that it would be a superspreader event for Covid-19, given the surge in infections from the omicron variant. Were those fears valid?
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that about 70 members of the South Korean delegation to CES 2022 had tested positive for Covid after attending the show. They included employees from Samsung and Hyundai.
CES provided PCR tests to international attendees before their flights home. The Consumer Technology Association, which produces CES, would not say what percentage of those tests came back positive for Covid.
“We are currently auditing data and will have more information in the coming weeks,” said Jeanne Abella, senior coordinator of event communications for the Consumer Technology Association.
CES 2022 was the first big industry conference in the U.S. this year. As such, it was viewed as a test case for the conference industry and whether such shows could be managed safely during the ongoing pandemic.
CES 2022, which officially ran Jan. 5-7, took a host of health and safety precautions to prevent the spread of Covid at the show. Those precautions included requiring attendees to provide proof of full vaccination and to wear masks while indoors at the show.
CES 2022 drew “well over 45,000 attendees in person, including 1,800 global media,” the CTA said on Jan. 7.
There’s not enough information yet to discern whether CES 2022 was a superspreader event.
Anecdotal reports on Twitter indicate that more than a few people came down with Covid after attending CES 2022.

Great job! My boyfriend now has Covid from your convention you senseless profiteering people

— 12345 (@shoommie852) January 10, 2022

Great job, CES, you put small companies in a terrible situation by not canceling! My daughter and her boss brought Covid back from your show with a 70% reduction in attendance, you have no shame. I've been in the tech business for 30+ years and I'm furious with you for your greed

— Speed Mequeen Bruce A Smith (@Bsmithmia) January 9, 2022

Have to cancel as well as I caught Covid at CES and now I am stuck in Vegas. 😅

— Sven Naef (@svennf_) January 11, 2022

UPDATE CES 2022: Several members of my team now have Covid after working at CES 2022 in unsafe conditions without social distancing and around attendees with out masks! @GaryShapiro you are responsible, you promised safe working conditions and you failed! @CTATech @CES @CES2022

— Farilla (@Farilla2) January 11, 2022

I made it 2 years but COVID got my ass

watch your back my friends #CES2022 pic.twitter.com/5IW6r4mtXZ

— Taylor (@TaylorWebbIRL) January 9, 2022

Also of note Omicron is running wild. The line to pickup the free covid tests kits in the customer service area was much longer than it had been on #CES2022 days 1 & 2. One of our team tested positive & pretty much expect this event to be a super spreader.

— RDM (@RDM702) January 7, 2022

#CES2022 attendees, pls get/use your free #COVID self test kit. I used one as soon as I got home and it came out positive. Getting a PCR test tmr to make sure. (I tested negative last Sunday before entering the CES venue, and test negative again on Thursday morning) pic.twitter.com/cb86bG4yyp

— Yifan Yu (@YifanYuNews) January 8, 2022

I’ve been feeling sick all weekend, and I’m not sure if it’s covid or exhaustion from working CES…and the earliest test I can find is a week from today :)

— zach (@__zach) January 9, 2022

Everyone I know that went to #CES in vegas who were vaxxed that got covid, either had no symptoms or very little.

— Dan Landis (@DanLandis14) January 12, 2022

Due to the nature of business I had to go to CES. I was using n95 masks, I obsessively washed my hands, I passed out purell hand sanitizer at CES. I am double vaxed and boosted. Honestly would have been shocked if I hadn't tested positive for COVID-19 today.

— Blaze 🔜 CES (@blazecollie) January 13, 2022

Several friends got Covid during CES — take care out there.

— Kenson (@rikognition) January 16, 2022

I'm not shocked. I took every friggin precaution possible at CES and my happy-ass STILL caught COVID; you might be able to control variables at the event itself, but you can't control the external stuff. Godspeed friends, here's to health and the eventual return of LTX! 🤙🏼🍻

— The Manic Geek Just Wants Peace (@TheManicGeek) January 20, 2022

Photo: Ameca, a humanoid robot from British firm Engineered Arts, converses with CES 2022 attendees. (CES)

CES 2022 news in review: Digital health, augmented reality glasses, the metaverse

The following is a roundup of my coverage of the hybrid CES 2022 technology trade show.

Will 2022 be the year of augmented reality glasses? (Jan. 7, 2022)

How digital health firms are innovating far beyond your wrist. (Jan. 6, 2022)

Sony drives into electric car market at CES 2022. (Jan. 5, 2022)

AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Qualcomm tout chip advances at CES 2022. (Jan. 4, 2022)

Metaverse hype permeates CES 2022 tech show. (Jan. 4, 2022)

CES 2022: Electric vehicles, digital health, metaverse in focus. (Dec. 30, 2021)

In-person CES show will go on despite Covid surge, exhibitor dropouts. (Dec. 27, 2021)

Photo: CES 2022 arch at Las Vegas Convention Center. (CES)

The most talked-about things at CES 2022

While there were legitimately newsworthy products announced at CES 2022, the news media can’t help but focus on oddball gadgets at the annual tech trade show.
News at CES 2022 included electric vehicles from General Motors and Sony; Lingo “biowearables” from Abbott Laboratories; an autonomous tractor from John Deere; and new processors from AMD, Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm.
What follows are some of the weird gadgets the media couldn’t stop talking about from CES 2022:

• A cute robotic plush cat that nibbles on your finger called Amagami Ham Ham. The stress-release device is from Yukai Engineering of Japan.
• The color-changing BMW car. The vehicle was wrapped in e-ink material.
• Ameca, a humanoid robot from British firm Engineered Arts, captivated attendees. It’s basically an animatronic character linked to a chatbot like Alexa.
• The dancing Spot robots from Boston Dynamics at the Hyundai exhibit.
• The Samsung Freestyle portable video projector. It looks like a tiny klieg light.
• A top photo opportunity for attendees at CES 2022 was hugging the giant plush sloth at the Motion Pillow booth. Motion Pillow is a smart pillow from 10minds.
• The stark exhibit space by LG Electronics, which pulled out of CES 2022 because of Covid fears. The large, mostly empty space was one of the most-photographed booths at the show.
• Electric-car maker Tesla got tons of free publicity for providing vehicles that shuttled passengers underground between halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Vegas Loop was built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company.

Photo: Amagami Ham Ham (Yukai Engineering)

Celebrities at CES 2022: Tom Holland adds star power to Sony event

The CES 2022 tech conference in Las Vegas had far fewer attendees and exhibitors than the last in-person CES in 2020 because of the ongoing Covid pandemic. It also had fewer celebrities.
CES 2022, which officially ran Jan. 5-7, attracted “well over 40,000 attendees in person” in Las Vegas, organizers said. That compares with 171,000 in 2020. It featured more than 2,300 exhibiting companies, vs. 4,419 at CES 2020.
With attendance down roughly 75% and the number of exhibitors down almost 50%, you’d expect the number of celebrities at the show to fall also. And that’s what happened.
Actor Tom Holland was the highest wattage star in attendance physically at the show. He came on stage at the Sony media briefing. Holland was there to promote his upcoming Sony movie “Uncharted,” which is based on a series of popular Sony PlayStation video games.
Holland also took a victory lap of sorts for the huge success of Sony’s superhero movie “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Actress and comedian Sherri Shepherd appeared on stage during the Abbott Laboratories keynote presentation. She discussed Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre diabetes monitoring system.
Music artist Lexy Panterra made an appearance at the Liteboxer booth.
American rower and lead Hydrow athlete Dani Hansen shared her story on the TriNet stage at CES.
World Wresting Entertainment stars Bianca Belair and Montez Ford were interviewed on stage at the C Space section of CES 2022.
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt joined the Canon media event virtually via videoconferencing – like much of the media covering CES.
Usually at CES, companies like iHeartRadio, Spotify and Samsung’s Harman division hold big concerts for their customers. But they didn’t this year because of Covid.
However, rock band Weezer held a free concert at the DRL Vegas Championship Race presented by T-Mobile outside T-Mobile Arena. The DRL is the Drone Racing League, a professional drone racing sport.
NiftyAgenda, an NFT-focused event, held a launch party that included a jam session by some notable artists. The group included Pink Floyd sax player Scott Page and Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins.
A notable no-show at CES 2022 was socialite and reality-TV star Paris Hilton. She was supposed to talk on a panel about non-fungible tokens or NFTs. No reason was given for her absence.

Photo: Actor Tom Holland at Sony media presentation at CES 2022 on Jan. 4, 2022. (CES)

Well @SonyElectronics just brought @TomHolland1996 out to the stage so…show over! #MicDrop #CES2022 pic.twitter.com/DOdPRa8aLD

— John Sciacca (@SciaccaTweets) January 5, 2022

Look who showed up at the Sony #CES2022 conference to talk about the #Uncharted movie! It's spidey himself :) pic.twitter.com/3A9kOJuLbR

— Andrea Rene (@andrearene) January 5, 2022

#CES2022 Getting Tom Holland's perspective on his role in @SonyPictures upcoming #Uncharted movie. @CES pic.twitter.com/2RtFFbVgap

— Paul Erickson (@PaulEricksonAV) January 5, 2022

Thank You @AbbottNews!

Thank You @CES!

Las Vegas was one for the books & I’m grateful to have been there for this groundbreaking journey!#FreeStyleLibre #CES2022 #AbbottPartner pic.twitter.com/0lBYQU8RJs

— Sherri Shepherd (@sherrieshepherd) January 8, 2022

Fun with @LexyPanterra x @Liteboxer 💪✨

🎵: Want Him Now by @LexyPanterra pic.twitter.com/mUdh88raNX

— Dash Radio (@dash_radio) January 4, 2022

My version of taking on a @WWE superstar. @BiancaBelairWWE is as much fun to talk to as she is watch #CES2022 https://t.co/4TZtEfxQkA

— James Kotecki (@JamesKotecki) January 6, 2022

.@WWE power couple @BiancaBelairWWE and @MontezFordWWE are joined by @ShelleyZalis from @femalequotient at the WWE Lounge at #CES2022 pic.twitter.com/pPfv2ZRljq

— WWE Public Relations (@WWEPR) January 6, 2022

Dani Hansen is a multiple paralympic medalist and lead athlete for home workout equipment company @Hydrow_by_CREW. Today she shared her story with @mendenhallma on the TriNet stage at #CES. #incrediblehr #YourPeopleMatter #CES2022 pic.twitter.com/YeAwrh1zao

— TriNet (@TriNet) January 6, 2022

Joseph Gordon-Levitt @hitRECordJoe is making a virtual appearance @CanonUSA’s @CES Media Day presentation, talking about his collaboration with @HITRECORD pic.twitter.com/fkrYe9Jb3u

— Christine Maddela (@christnemaddela) January 4, 2022

@HITRECORD @hitRECordJoe crashing the #canon presser at #ces awesome #creatorup pic.twitter.com/oFG56IgnLx

— Dan Krolczyk (@krolczyks) January 4, 2022

Dope event @DroneRaceLeague, pilot cousin and I had a blast watching🤘🏽 pic.twitter.com/xZWBUBkCwW

— Ruigie Bilaro (@RuigieBilaro) January 6, 2022

.@DroneRaceLeague Championships and @Weezer concert at @TheParkVegas to kick off #CES Week! pic.twitter.com/d6oAzPTOp4

— Zobi Naqshband (@Zobi) January 6, 2022

Great concert @Weezer

Where was Brian Bell tonight?#Lasvegas #toshibaplaza pic.twitter.com/l2UAoVfyFM

— Marty Mankins (@martymankins) January 6, 2022

A concert to remember at #ces #ces2022 with #pinkfloyd Scott Page and #gunsnroses Roberta Freeman#niftyagenda #coinagenda #crypto pic.twitter.com/UoT8Y4AizM

— TheCESBible.com #CES2022 (@TheCESBible) January 7, 2022

Paris Hilton is heading to CES on Wednesday to discuss blockchain, crypto and how it gave rise to the NFT bubble.

Curious? So are we. https://t.co/5izYVIWxfw pic.twitter.com/Tc0gg6D74e

— CES (@CES) January 3, 2022

Off to @CES tomorrow to talk about the future or NFTs alongside @roham from @dapperlabs and @ArtOnBlockchain. What else should I check out when I’m there as everyone knows I love being part of the future 🚀🥳🥰

— ParisHilton.eth (@ParisHilton) January 4, 2022

looks like the talk got replaced with an @artblocks_io talk?? #rug #rugpull

— 🏅 𝕘ı𝕝@Đ.sol (@freeslugs) January 5, 2022

CES 2022 buzzword of the show: metaverse

The buzzword of CES 2022 was obvious even before the hybrid in-person/digital show began. Companies big and small glommed onto the buzzword “metaverse” to give their products a cutting-edge sheen in press releases and marketing materials ahead of the Jan. 5-7 show.
I started naming the CES buzzword of the year in 2010 when seemingly every company at the tech trade show was using the word “green” to describe their products and companies. Every year, one word usually stands out at the annual CES show.
This year that word was “metaverse,” a vague term to describe an immersive next-generation version of the internet. The metaverse encompasses virtual reality, 3D digital worlds, augmented reality, and crypto and blockchain technologies.
CES held panel discussions about working and learning in the metaverse. Large companies at the show like Accenture, Hyundai, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Samsung used the term to describe their visions for the future.
And a whole lot of smaller companies at CES promoted how their products will play a part in the coming metaverse.
Some attendees expressed frustration with the overuse of the term. One attendee, Nima Zeighami, even put together a Twitter thread of photos that showed exhibitors using the word metaverse in their booth messaging.
Runners-up for CES buzzword of the year included NFTs, digital health, lidar, Matter and, of course, Covid.

CES buzzwords through the years:

2010: Green
2011: Smart
2012: Ultra
2013: Super
2014: Curved
2015: Wearable
2016: HDR (high dynamic range)
2017: Voice
2018: AI (artificial intelligence)
2019: 5G
2020: Streaming
2021: Pandemic
2022: Metaverse

Related articles:

CES 2022 attendee photographs every weird use of ‘metaverse’ (PC Gamer; Jan. 7, 2022)

Metaverse Hype Permeates CES 2022 Tech Show (Investor’s Business Daily; Jan. 4, 2022)

Photo: Metaverse City at CES 2022 (Nima Zeighami)

Twitter hashtag misuse makes it tough to follow live events like CES 2022

I tried to follow the news from the in-person CES 2022 conference in Las Vegas this week using the hashtag #CES2022 on Twitter. But there was so much misuse of the hashtag that it made the show hard to follow.
Many Twitter users were attaching #CES2022 to photos and videos of things that weren’t at the show. Much of the misuse of the hashtag was by individuals trying to game the platform for clicks or to increase their influencer ranking.
Twitter should add tools to its search function to mute specific people quickly and easily and remember those filters for future searches.
A way to exclude posts by language would be another good filter. CES is an international event and there were a lot of #CES2022 posts in French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and other languages that I can’t read. (Update: Twitter has this feature, but you have to click on search settings and use the Advanced Search field.) An automated translation feature would be nice.
Or how about the ability to read tweets posted only by people in a certain area, such as Las Vegas, Paradise and Winchester, Nevada? That way you’d know when people were posting on site.

Photo: CES 2022 arch in the Las Vegas Convention Center (CES)

Top 20 celebrities predicted to die in 2022

With the death of Britain’s Prince Philip, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter moves up to the top spot among public figures most likely to die in the year ahead. That’s according to the Stiffs.com dead pool contest.
Carter narrowly edged out retired game show host Bob Barker for the “honor.”
Of the top 20 public figures marked for death in 2021 by players on Stiffs.com, nine died last year. They included Bob Dole, Rush Limbaugh, Tommy Lasorda, Cloris Leachman and Betty White.
What follows are the top 20 public figures (with their ages) predicted to die in 2022, according to Stiffs.com.

1. Jimmy Carter, 97, former U.S. president
2. Bob Barker, 98, game show host
3. Henry Kissinger, 98, former U.S. secretary of state
4. Queen Elizabeth II, 95, queen of the United Kingdom
5. Al Jaffee, 100, cartoonist known for Mad magazine work
6. Dick Van Dyke, 96, actor
7. Roger Angell, 101, American essayist known for writing on sports
8. Norman Lear, 99, television writer and producer
9. Angela Lansbury, 96, actress
10. Tony Bennett, 95, singer
11. Mel Brooks, 95, director, writer, actor, comedian
12. Larry Storch, 98, actor
13. Pope Benedict XVI, 94, retired prelate of the Catholic church
14. Glynis Johns, 98, British actress
15. Shannen Doherty, 50, actress
16. Barbara Walters, 92, broadcast journalist
17. Olivia Newton-John, 73, singer and actress
18. Bob Newhart, 92, actor and comedian
19. Sidney Poitier, 94, actor
20. Harry Belafonte, 94, singer and actor

Here are some notable younger public figures predicted to die this year by multiple Stiffs.com dead-pool players:

145. Britney Spears, 40, pop singer
152. Kanye West, 44, rapper, record producer, fashion designer
170. Bret Michaels, 58, singer for rock band Poison
173. Charlie Sheen, 56, actor
175. Demi Lovato, 29, singer
181. Jack Osbourne, 36, media personality
195. Prince Andrew, 61, member of British royal family
264. Bam Margera, 42, “Jackass” stunt performer
279. Christina Applegate, 50, actress
280. Corey Feldman, 50, actor
325. Matthew Perry, 52, actor
332. Owen Wilson, 53, actor

Photo: President Jimmy Carter. (Public domain)