There's something about a good heist movie that makes going to the multiplex worthwhile.

With the high stakes, and the top-shelf actors and directors who seem to gravitate to the genre, when it's done right, it can be a thrilling cinematic experience.

As Steven Soderbergh dives back into the genre with the excellent "Logan Lucky" on Friday (in which Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig try to rob a NASCAR race), we thought it was a good time to look back on the classics of the genre.

Here are the 21 best heist movies of all time, ranked:

SEE ALSO: Steven Soderbergh has a new plan to make Hollywood movies outside the control of big studios

21. "A Fish Called Wanda"

John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin play a bumbling group who commit a robbery of very pricey diamonds and then try to con one another out of the loot. Cleese and Palin are at top form, and Kline's portrayal of a cocky American earned him an Oscar win for best supporting actor.  

20. “Mission: Impossible”

Though Tom Cruise's first time playing Ethan Hunt showed off all of the fun spy aspects of the franchise, it also had a very elaborate heist element. Hunt breaking into CIA headquarters to steal the "NOC" list is a highlight of the film.

19. “Bottle Rocket”

For Wes Anderson's directorial debut, he cast then-unknown brothers Luke and Owen Wilson as friends who plan the heist of a factory only for things to go horribly wrong.

• Sean Parker's video chat app Airtime is attracting a following in its second incarnation.
• The company's president says millions of people are using the app to virtually hang out and watch content together.
• Original shows are a "gigantic opportunity" down the road.

Airtime flies.

The video chat app was launched by Napster cofounder and former Facebook president Sean Parker with massive fanfare in 2012, only to disappear just as quickly.

But it was reborn last year as a group video viewing/social product, and Airtime now has "has millions of users," according to president Daniel Klaus, who joined the company in 2013 following the initial product's shutdown. According to Klaus, every night "thousands or rooms light up with three to five people, and they hang out and sit and watch videos together."

That's the basic idea of Airtime. Think of Skype or Facetime, but with groups of friends talking to each other, and seeing each others faces in virtual rooms all via their smartphones. And besides talking, friends can share videos from YouTube or playlists from Spotify on Airtime, letting everybody hang out and experience the content together.

Since rebooting last year, Klaus told Business Insider that Airtime has proven particularly popular among teens and college kids, though he predicts the behavior will soon become universal. Currently the average user spends more than 15 minutes a day on Airtime and roughly an hour a month co-consuming content. The biggest Airtime fans come back seven times a day.

"Sean Parker has always had this vision that the next wave of the internet was going to be about being together," said Klaus. "The next whole phase of growth we'll see is that you can be in real time with real people."

Parker – famously portrayed by Justin Timberlake in "The Social Network" – may have been a bit early in his vision. Back in 2012, the original Airtime rolled out with a splashy, celebrity-filled launch featuring the likes of Jimmy Fallon and Snoop Dogg. But the product, which was at the time was likened to Chatroullette, fell flat among consumers.

Klaus said that 2012 was so long ago in terms of the evolution of social media, and more importantly mobile, that it's a completely different era.

Now he thinks the world, particularly young people, are ready. "Humans have sought to replicate real world communications on digital since the beginning of time," he said. "They crave that."

And they're not getting that from existing social media, he added. "I think Facebook is one of the great social products of our time, and one of the great social tragedies or our time. Kids feel bored and lonely. You have 500 friends and you don’t really know anyone."

But as apps like the popular Houseparty have proven, group video chat is gaining steam. So much so that Facebook is actively looking to co-opt the trend, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Denisia Milas, a 21-year old college student from Arizona, said she spotted an ad on Instagram for Airtime two months ago and decided to download it after another group chat app her friends had been using proved glitchy.

Now, roughly twice a week she and her friends watch YouTube videos on Airtime, including one featuring her getting her head shaved. Milas said watching her friends reactions are sometimes as fun as the videos themselves

"It's almost like we are all together," she said.

That's the idea. 

Airtime still doesn't have a revenue model. The company is kicking around ideas for monetization, including potential subscription offerings and microtransactions, said Klaus.

"We have the most sophisticated video engineering team that exists outside of Facebook and Google in North America," he said. "We've spent a lot of time watching how people use video. I don’t believe anybody has figured out an ad unit in live mobile video."

Still, Airtime is also exploring original content. "We think that's a gigantic opportunity," said Klaus, who noted that MTV is trying to revive its former live music show "Total Request Live." "Our platform is where that kind of show should exist," he said. "Those kids don’t even know what MTV is."

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O'Shea Jackson Jr. is best known for being the son of Ice Cube. But that's going to change soon.

Since playing his father in the hit N.W.A. biopic "Straight Outta Compton" in 2015, the rising star has been keeping a low profile. However, it seems he was just waiting for the right role, and it finally came with the dark comedy, "Ingrid Goes West" (currently playing in theaters).

In the movie, in which Aubrey Plaza plays Ingrid — a social media stalker who is obsessed with an Instagram star (played by Elizabeth Olsen) — Jackson Jr. plays Dan Pinto, Ingrid's landlord and eventual love interest.

With a role that could have easily been forgettable, Jackson Jr., 26, uses it to become the movie's secret weapon. From his constant vaping to his obsession with Batman (specifically "Batman Forever"), Jackson Jr. elevates the movie's comedy while showing audiences there's a lot more to his talents than impersonating his father's gangsta rap days.

"I looked at 'Ingrid Goes West' as an opportunity to show my versatility as an actor," Jackson Jr. told Business Insider earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. "People see 'Straight Outta Compton' and they look at that as a big family project, but those people don't know that I went to film school. I went to the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, so cinema's a very big part of my life."

Jackson Jr. said a big reason why he hasn't gotten the steady work of his fellow castmates from "Compton," Corey Hawkins ("24: Legacy") and Jason Mitchell ("Detroit"), is simply because he was looking for something different than what he was being offered.

"This was the only script where I didn't get a gun," Jackson Jr. said of "Ingrid Goes West."

In fact, it was Jackson Jr.'s fun personality that evolved the Dan Pinto role.

"We realized we had this goldmine and we were just like, 'How can we use this for the betterment of the story?'" director Matt Spicer said of casting Jackson Jr.

That led to Spicer and his cowriter, David Branson Smith, scrapping some of the things about the Pinto character they had in the screenplay, and tweaking it to better fit Jackson Jr.'s colorful personality.

We caught a glimpse of that at Sundance. With a big wide grin and infectious laugh, he's far from the introvert he depicted his father to be in "Straight Outta Compton." And when our interview ended, instead of going straight to his phone as most, Jackson Jr. jumped up and walked over to where his costars Plaza and Olsen were doing interviews, and began making funny faces at them. The two couldn't help but laugh while trying to answer questions. 

It might be a little while before we see Jackson Jr. in a comedic role again. He'll next be starring in the bank heist movie "Den of Thieves," and the sequel to 2014's "Godzilla." It seems his master plan is to try out all kinds of roles.

"I came up with this phrase today, I want to be Black Pitt," Jackson Jr. said. "I don't want to be typecast into one role, I want to be versatile. I want to have a long career in cinema."

SEE ALSO: Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen talk about the "scary" side of social media that inspired their new movie about an Instagram stalker

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When MoviePass announced this week that it would be lowering the rates for its unlimited movie buffet to only $10 a month it immediately became a trending topic. With the average movie ticket in the US about $9, and a ticket in a city like New York costing more than $16, the deal was impossible to ignore.

MoviePass makes it all really easy. Select the theater and film you want to see on its app, and the cost for the ticket at that location magically appears on a special debit card they provide  you with. 

But for many people I spoke to, excitement about the deal is mixed with a good dose of suspicion. What's the catch? If you're only paying $10 a month, and MoviePass is paying the full price for each movie ticket you buy, how could it possibly stay in business?

As someone who has been a MoviePass subscriber for the better part of the past two years, I understood the gym membership model that they employed. Each month, I would pay MoviePass $50 and they would bank on me not using the service enough times to make it worthwhile. 

At $10 a month though, that model seems less viable. Even if I only see one movie during the entire month, there's not much left over from my monthly fee for MoviePass to keep. Indeed, since I first wrote about the new plan, I've received a flood of questions from people who are intrigued by the service, but simply don't understand how it could really work. 

The following is my best attempt at explaining how MoviePass' $10-a-month model works:

So how does it make money? 

The short answer is, it's not clear if the company actually does make money. AMC Theatres has complained about the $9.95 pricepoint and called it unsustainable, but MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe told Variety that they simply don't understand the business model. 

"We need to offset costs in Manhattan and L.A. by getting a lot of people in Kansas City and Omaha, and places where the average ticket price is five or six bucks to sign up," he explained. 

MoviePass settled on the $9.95 price point in an effort to rope in as many consumers as possible. Because the company is after something much more valuable than your monthly fee: your data. 

MoviePass is playing the long game

The same day it announced the $10-a-month plan, MoviePass raised cash by selling a majority stake to the data firm Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc.. With a new price-point designed to attract as many subscribers as possible, MoviePass is hoping to attract a large enough user base so as to be able to monetize it. 

In an interview with Wired, Helios and Matheson CEO Ted Farnsworth explained how MoviePass hopes to turn its user base into a cash cow. 

“If you get a trailer right now for Spiderman on Facebook, Facebook can’t tell if you ever actually go to the movie. We can,” he told Wired. “We can tell if you look at 'Spider-Man' and look at 'Wonder Woman' and 'Mission: Impossible,' we can tell you exactly what movie you went to out of all three trailers.”

Farnsworth envisions movie studios using MoviePass' valuable data to do targeted marketing for their films. Once MoviePass has millions of subscribers, its ability fill seats can make the difference between a hit movie or a flop, he explained. MoviePass plans to hold an IPO in March, he noted. 

AMC's big worry about the new MoviePass model

When MoviePass still had a gym-style membership and was flying under-the-radar with only 20,000 subscribers, AMC Theatres tolerated the partnership. But when the subscription service announced its dirt-cheap rate on Tuesday, the theater chain spoke out. 

"AMC believes that holding out to consumers that first-run movies can be watched in theaters at great quantities for a monthly price of $9.95 isn't doing moviegoers any favors," AMC said in a statement. "In AMC's view, that price level is unsustainable and only sets up consumers for ultimate disappointment down the road if or when the product can no longer be fulfilled."

In short, the theater giant is worried that MoviePass will go bankrupt before it is able to turn a profit, and that when it's gone, its subscribers will have developed an expectation that a visit to the theater should cost next-to-nothing. 

AMC's nightmare is that in a post-MoviePass world, theatergoers will view even a $9 movie ticket as a ripoff, and will stop going altogether. 

MoviePass envisions a future where a single subscription can take care of your entire night out

One thing that MoviePass CEO Lowe thinks could win over movie theaters is the fact that his company's subscribers spend an average of 123% more on snacks than the regular moviegoer. And with customers able to see more movies due to the unlimited service, it means more money in theaters' coffers. 

Taking it one step further, Farnsworth told Wired that businesses such as restaurants and parking services will want to get in on the action once they see the data Helios and Matheson is able to provide.

“Helios’s mapping of the area around the theater, and all the different things you might encounter in that area, will allow us to do much more than we currently do," he explained. “You’re going to be able to pay for your concessions, pick your seats, and probably be able to pay for things at adjacent businesses and get one monthly bill.”

Whether or not this cheap, utopian future comes to fruition remains to be seen. But for now, you may as well see some movies.  

You can read more about MoviePass on Wired and Variety.  

SEE ALSO: Everything you ever wanted to know about MoviePass, the $10-a-month service that lets you see one movie per day in theaters

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NOW WATCH: British special forces are testing out a bulletproof combat helmet that looks like something Boba Fett would wear

The summer movie season is limping to the finish line as this August features no major blockbuster releases from any of the major studios. That has opened the door for midsize and independent distributors to show off what they can offer.

Sadly, it isn't anything that is going to scare off the majors.

Despite a lot of hype in how he was releasing his first feature film in four years, Steven Soderbergh's "Logan Lucky" opened in theaters with only an estimated $8 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.

The auteur released the heist movie — which stars big names like Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig — through his own company and controlled the distribution (Bleecker Street handled the nuts and bolts of the release) and marketing for it. It was the first time Soderbergh has been able to have that power.

But the plan of releasing the movie wide on over 3,000 screens with a small marketing campaign that focused more on the midwest and south instead of New York and Los Angeles seems to have backfired. Soderbergh said an opening at $15 million — a modest figure seeing the number of screens it was released on — would be a win. But the movie couldn't even crack double digits.

That led to Lionsgate's conventional release of its action comedy "The Hitman's Bodyguard," starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, to run away with the weekend. It blew away all titles with an estimated $21 million opening, according to The Wrap.

Soderbergh and Bleecker Street must be scratching their heads on what they did wrong.

"Logan Lucky" has a much stronger Rotten Tomatoes score (93% compared to 39%), placed perfectly on the release calendar where it went up against zero studio fare, and arguably had a more eye-catching cast compared to "The Hitman's Bodyguard," but it still came up short.

The silver lining here is because the movie got most of its production budget ($29 million) in pre-sales of the movie, a big studio isn't taking a cut of its box office receipts, and much of its $20 million marketing budget may be intact (only 15% of it was gone three weeks out from its opening). So the movie may not be looking at a major loss.

However, the "Logan Lucky" experiment isn't going to inspire other auteurs to take on the releases of their movies, which is pleasant news for big studios and distributors.

SEE ALSO: The 5 biggest winners and losers at the box office this summer — including "Wonder Woman," Rotten Tomatoes, and sequels

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NOW WATCH: 7 details you might have missed on season 7 episode 2 of 'Game of Thrones'

The summer movie season is supposed to be the time of year when movie studios and theaters cash in.

The big event movies are placed in the summer months to specifically draw in the kids who are out of school. In the past, that's led to a period when the movie industry makes a large chunk of its revenue for the year.

But both studios and exhibitors are suddenly seeing that the game has changed.

Summer movie ticket sales dropped 10% from the previous year in 2016 at the domestic box office. And they were down 12% this summer compared to 2016. The effects can be seen at the country's biggest multiplexes, which saw shares plummet.

It's hard to tell if the summer movie season will ever return to its former glory — especially when it seems the last few summers things on the small screen captured the zeitgeist more, whether it was Netflix's "Stranger Things" or HBO's "Game of Thrones."

But there will always be movies that break through and find an audience, and this summer was no different ("Wonder Woman," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2").

It's just becoming more evident that studios need to rethink what they release during the summer to compete with our addiction to streaming and mobile devices.

To look back on summer 2017 at the box office, we broke down the five big winners and losers:

SEE ALSO: "Straight Outta Compton" star O'Shea Jackson Jr. is a scene stealer in his new movie

WINNER: 'Wonder Woman'

Warner Bros.'s long-awaited theatrical version of the legendary DC Comics character brought legitimacy to the studio's DC Extended Universe, and won the domestic box office this summer by taking in over $400 million. It's earned close to $800 million worldwide.

Director Patty Jenkins found the perfect combination of action sequences and inspiring origin story to make the movie into a can't-miss event of the summer, which is what Hollywood has craved.

LOSER: The Multiplex

AMC, the nation's largest theater chain, announced in early August that its shares dropped 27%, the biggest one-day decline in the company's history. This was due to the company saying it would record a second-quarter loss. And none of the other chains are doing any better: Regal's net income fell around 30% in the second quarter, while Cinemark's dropped 5%.

For many, most of the movies that hit the big multiplexes felt tired and unoriginal. It also didn't help that many had poor Rotten Tomatoes scores. Speaking of which ...

WINNER: Rotten Tomatoes

The review aggregator site really flexed its muscles this summer. With studies now having data to back up the claim that most moviegoers look at the site before deciding on buying movie tickets, more and more studios and distributors are using the "Tomatometer" score in their marketing of a movie — when the score is good.

And this summer when a studio anticipated a bad score, it delayed critics from seeing the movie as much as possible. Sony did that with the releases of "The Emoji Movie" (which on the day of its opening had a 0% rating) and "The Dark Tower." Though both received rotten scores on the site, they had respectable opening weekends ("The Dark Tower" won its weekend). This was partly because there was little competition on those weekends, but also because critics chimed in much later than usual.

The power of the Tomatometer is real!

• BuzzFeed says some of its original shows like "Worth It" pull in audiences as big as top TV shows.
• The company is ready to tell that story to advertisers in an attempt to get a slice of TV ad budgets.
• BuzzFeed's focus on original shows comes as Facebook rolls out its Watch video hub.

Like many digital-media companies, BuzzFeed would like to steal a piece of the $72 billion US TV ad market. Increasingly, BuzzFeed believes its original web series are pulling in audiences on par with cable TV shows – and it's ready to tell that story to the ad community.

It's not an easy story to tell, something BuzzFeed executives acknowledge. TV shows have historically been mostly watched live, web shows on demand. And many people have not traditionally watched web shows habitually, but rather stumble upon them in their social-media feeds.

That difference in viewing habits is reflected in the way TV show audiences are tracked versus web video – and the kind of ad money they can bring in. For example:

• TV advertisers care about metrics like commercial ratings (how many people watch the ads in a show) and average minute audience (how many people are watching a show at a given moment), which all factor into how TV ads are priced.
• Web video is usually measured using some sort of raw "view" numbers, which don't typically factor in length or ad viewership. One view can be recorded for a 30-second video or a 30-minute video.

It's imperfect at best. A few years ago, Yahoo took some major heat for crowing about getting 15 million people to stream part of an NFL game. It turned out the average audience relative to a typical TV broadcast was more like 2 million people, on average.

Regardless, BuzzFeed believes that its growing slate of originals are approaching TV territory in terms of audience size and viewer loyalty.

Take the show "Worth It," which feature two buddies comparing meals at high-end restaurants with cheap alternatives (like $13 ribs versus $225 ribs, or $2 New York pizza slices versus $2,000 pizzas). It's not uncommon for episodes, which run 12 to 16 minutes, to generate 10 million views on YouTube.

To date, the 19 episodes of "Worth It" have accumulated over 280 million views on YouTube and nearly 2 billion minutes of watch time. A 10-episode third season is set to debut August 27. Here's the season-three trailer.

BuzzFeed TV

Matthew Henick, BuzzFeed’s head of development, said that when BuzzFeed pushed into making original video in 2012, the focus was short videos – 90 seconds or less – designed to be shared on social media. Most videos were self-contained and people them when they found them.

"Early on, we were building a business around 'non-intentional' videos, or videos that people were not necessarily seeking out," he told Business Insider. Think off all those eye-catching videos of someone making a crazy dessert in 30 seconds on Facebook.

"They were trusting an algorithm feed that tries to give you what you want, and they were not necessarily watching them on a BuzzFeed’s channel.

"We didn’t necessarily set out to figure out 'shows,'" Henick added. "But all of a sudden, over the past six to nine months, both audiences and the audience and platforms have been changing. People are setting aside time for shows and coming back."

"The platforms have gotten to where they can go with social video, and I think they are realizing now that they are in a fight for incremental money, that $72 billion market."

It's early, but BuzzFeed says it is working on an analysis that finds that during the most recent first quarter, "Worth It" would have ranked as a top five cable show among adults between the ages of 18 to 34 and in the top 10 among adults between 18 and 49.

BuzzFeed surveyed the shows' fans via a Google Consumer Survey in June and found that 60% said they were more likely to watch if they were aware that new episodes were released on a set day and time.

"This show has a broadcast size audience and broadcast viewing patterns," Henick said.

Some ad buyers, particularly TV veterans, will surely poke holes in that data. But one ad buyer said he believed that advertisers are looking for alternative to TV to reach younger viewers, particularly brand-safe digital content.

A new kind of intentional web show

Steven Lim knows something about how traditional marketers think. His first job out of school was at Procter & Gamble as an engineer working on the Tide Laundry Pods business in 2012 and 2013.

He eventually quit that job and took a swing at becoming a YouTube influencer, an endeavor he says did not go well. But then he posted a video featuring people telling Asian parents that they love them, and it went wild, generating half a million views in its first week. BuzzFeed came calling.

Initially Lim wasn't sure. "I really wanted to make sure I could make videos featuring Asian-American themes," he said. BuzzFeed assured him he could, while promising to help him experiment with lots of other formats.

In 2016 he had an idea for a video asking the question about whether taking someone on a date at a super-expensive sushi restaurant was worth it compared to California-roll takeout. In one week it got 10 million views.

So he made a similar video the next week. Then another the following week. By episode four, it was clear the audience loved the concept and "Worth It" was born.

"Food is the ultimate cultural touchpoint. Anybody can relate to it," Lim said between bites of an off-the-menu, cured-bacon-topped burger at New York's Gramercy Tavern in New York, one of the spots featured on "Worth It." "I'm not a burger guy, but this one is my favorite."

Plus, "Worth It" is quintessential BuzzFeed, according to Lim. It features travel (the show has made stops in Japan), a taste-test format, along with price comparisons and elements of friendship (he and his colleague Andrew Ilnyckyj host the show). "It's more fun to watch it with your friends."

Over time, Lim has seen "Worth it" emulate appointment TV. The first hour after an episode posts, lots of viewers show up. "Every week that first hour was becoming more significant," he said.

The new model

BuzzFeed now wants more "Worth It"-type series, especially as Facebook pushes its new Watch video tab and ramps up more video ad opportunities for publishers.

"These feel like shows," Henick said. "They are not completely scaled-down versions of TV. They are delivering and setting audience expectations. It's important if we are going to people who are used to buying TV ads."

Besides trying to land more TV advertisers, one obvious question for Lim is, would "Worth It" work as a TV show? Does he even want that? After all, BuzzFeed is making shows for Oxygen as part of the company's partnership with NBCUniversal.

Lim doesn't think so. For one thing, "I wouldn't be able to watch it," he said, since he doesn't have cable. Neither do most of his friends.

Plus, his thinking is that "Worth It" wouldn't be "Worth It" if you took away the social elements, like sharing and commenting. "I don't really want to go to TV. I think you lose too much."

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The next version of Microsoft's long running Xbox line of video game consoles is named Xbox One X. It costs $500, and launches November 7. You can pre-order one starting on Sunday.

There's even a fancy "limited edition" version of the console — dubbed the "Project Scorpio Edition," in honor of the console's original codename — that will also be available in November. All pre-ordered Xbox One X consoles are part of the "Project Scorpio Edition" production run, at least until supplies run out. Here it is:

There are a few subtle differences in the pre-order version of the Xbox One X. "The Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition features a custom design with the words 'Project Scorpio' printed on the console and the controller, and we’ve incorporated a sophisticated and dynamic graphic pattern across the exterior," corporate Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Xbox, Mike Nichols, said in a blog post about the console. And yes, the vertical stand is included.

To be clear, the Xbox One X isn't the next version of the Xbox line of game consoles.

It's considered part of the Xbox One platform, meaning that all games on the original Xbox One function on the Xbox One X (and vice versa). It's a more powerful iteration of an existing game console: the Xbox One. So what makes it worth $500 when a standard Xbox One — brand new — costs just $250?

For starters, it makes most games look far prettier than they already do.

The Xbox One X is capable of powering so-called "4K" gaming — the next step up in graphical fidelity after HD — as well as 4K Blu-ray discs. It's got "six teraflops" of processing power, which means it's far more powerful than the current models of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 — even the new, more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro. It also takes advantage of HDR lighting, which makes visuals "pop"; colors are more vibrant and shadows are more detailed. You'll need a 4K TV with HDR support to take full advantage of all that power.

The console is being touted as the most powerful game console ever made, and Microsoft says it's also the smallest Xbox ever made.

Rather than launching the Xbox One X as a successor to the original Xbox One, the Xbox One X joins the slimmer iteration of the original Xbox One (known as the Xbox One "S" — are you confused yet?) seen above.

Though games and movies will look better than ever on the Xbox One X, Microsoft has a mandate that any games on the Xbox One X must be playable on all other Xbox One consoles as well. This is part of Microsoft's ongoing push toward a unified gaming ecosystem across various Windows 10-powered devices; like millions of PCs around the world, the Xbox One and the Xbox One X are powered by Windows 10.

Regardless of the "limited edition" console, there's something else that's important to remember here: When the console arrives this November, it's likely to be in short supply. 

Rather than fighting holiday crowds at your local retailer, you can pre-order the console starting today at all the usual places: Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and more. 

SEE ALSO: Microsoft's most powerful Xbox yet is called 'Xbox One X,' and it costs $500

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NOW WATCH: Watch Microsoft announce the next Xbox — Xbox One X

Steven Lim acknowledges two major worries in his job: Trying to avoid putting on an extra 20 pounds or so, and trying not to become a total restaurant snob.

"This is going to ruin me," he said.

This, in this case, is "Worth It," a BuzzFeed original series Lim helped create and stars in. "Worth It," features Lim and co-star Andrew Ilnyckyj comparing high end menu items like $70 cheesecakes with $4 variations. 

That means suffering through multiple variations of high-end and low-end burgers, lobster tails, tacos and donuts while getting to hang with celeb chefs like Marcus Samuelsson and David Chang.

"Worth It" is one of a new breed of shows that BuzzFeed is touting as its answer to TV hits in hopes of landing budgets from traditional marketers, as Business Insider reported.

Ironically, Lim's first job out of school was at Procter & Gamble as an engineer working on the Tide Laundry Pods.

Around 2013, he left P&G and took a shot at becoming a YouTube influencer, an endeavor he says did not go well. But then he posted a video featuring people telling Asian parents that they love them, and it went wild, generating half a million views in its first week. BuzzFeed came calling.

Initially Lim wasn't sure. "I really wanted to make sure I could make videos featuring Asian-American themes," he said. BuzzFeed assured him he could, while promising to help him experiment with lots of other formats.

In 2016 he had an idea for a video asking the question about whether taking someone on a date at a super-expensive sushi restaurant was worth it compared to California-roll takeout. In one week it got 10 million views.

So he made a similar video the next week. Then another the following week. By episode four, it was clear the audience loved the concept and "Worth It" was born.

"Food is the ultimate cultural touchpoint. Anybody can relate to it," Lim said between bites of an off-the-menu, cured-bacon-topped burger at New York's Gramercy Tavern in New York, one of the spots featured on "Worth It." "I'm not a burger guy, but this one is my favorite."

Season 3 of "Worth It" – which debuts on Aug. 27 – will bring Ilnyckyj and Lim to locales like Syndey, Australia and features the pair sampling caviar. Yeah, he may already be ruined.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Amazon has an oddly efficient way of storing stuff in its warehouses

• Shelby Bonnie helped found CNET in the 1990s. Now he wants to build an artificial intelligence platform for a voice-controlled digital home of the future.
• Pylon ai aspires to be the connective tissue for media companies and advertisers creating content for devices like Amazon's Echo.
• The first publication built for Pylon ai is Tasted, an instructional cooking product.

Shelby Bonnie was one of the earliest pioneers in digital publishing when in 1993 he and Halsey Minor cofounded the tech site CNET.

Now Bonnie sees a chance to be early in a new medium once again – one that may have just as much transformative potential as the web did a quarter century ago.

He's set to roll out Tasted, an audio media brand built for voice assistant devices like Amazon's Echo and Google Home. And the plan is for Tasted to be the first of many new voice-centric "publications" built on a new tech platform Bonnie and his team have produced, dubbed Pylon ai.

While Tasted aims to help chefs access recipes from the web by talking to their various digital assistants (and never having to have their sticky hands touch a keyboard) it's Pylon ai that Bonnie sees as revolutionary.

He's calling the artificial intelligence technology a "conversational development platform," and the aspiration is that it becomes the glue that connects all of a person's devices in a soon-to-be-realized digital home. The vision is that numerous publishers and advertisers will build apps, tools, services and publications using the Pylon software.

"We think [voice] is one of the biggest transformational trends we’ve seen," Bonnie told Business Insider. "It's only meaningful if someone connects them in a really smart way. So imagine if you begin to take AI tech and connect all the things about my life, remember things about me and learn."

"I think this has the ability to be that piece we’ve been missing."

That missing piece will probably take a bit of time to be fully realized. In the near term, Tasted promises to offer some practical content for the growing number of consumers putting Amazon or Google-powered voice devices in their kitchens.

Bonnie and cofounder Mike Tatum has assembled a collection former product and engineering executives from companies like OpenTable, Stubhub and CNET Networks to build out Tasted. In addition, Regan Cafiso, former food editor at Food Network, Martha Stewart and the foodie website Chow has been installed as Tasted's head of content.

Pylon has received seed funding from Index Ventures, Allen & Co and a slew of digital media investors.

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NOW WATCH: Everything we know about the new iPhone that Apple will announce in September

Warning: Huge spoilers for "Game of Thrones" season seven, episode six, "Beyond the Wall." If you aren't caught up on the series or the season, read at your own risk. 

This week's episode of "Game of Thrones," "Beyond the Wall," was one of the most anticipated of the season.

After the amazing ending last week, we get to see Jon Snow and his team of Westerosi misfits go beyond the wall (hey, that's the title of the episode!) to fight the dead and capture a wight to prove this threat is real.

In addition to the action in the far North, there's trouble in Winterfell with the Stark sisters, Brienne heads to King's Landing to reunite with Jaime, and Daenerys shows off a new coat, losing a child in the process.

Here's our recap of "Beyond the Wall:"

SEE ALSO: This hilarious map shows how far Jon Snow has traveled compared to the White Walkers on 'Game of Thrones'

Jon Snow, Tormund Giantsbane, The Hound, Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, Gendry, and Jorah Mormont try to capture a wight.

The Dream Team catches a wight but loses Thoros of Myr, who gets bitten by the White Walker bear and freezes to death during the long stand-off. Beric uses his flaming sword to burn his body so he doesn't turn into a wight. 

Before the showdown with the wights, Jon Snow sends Gendry back to Eastwatch to send a raven to Daenerys. 

Jon Snow offers his Valyrian steel sword, Longclaw, to Jorah Mormont.

Longclaw has been in the Mormont family for centuries, but Jorah declines the offer. He says that it was given to Jon for a reason, and that he doesn't deserve it since he's considered a disgrace to his house for selling slaves.

Tormund tells The Hound that he wants to have children with Brienne of Tarth.

Apparently Tormund is convinced that Brienne is into him, but, like The Hound, we think that he might be a little bit delusional. 

The latest episode of "Game of Thrones" focused heavily on the action north of the Wall, and we saw a few major characters meet their doom. While the battle between ice and fire raged on, here are some of the callbacks and references you might have missed.

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The new "Star Wars" game is outrageously pretty. Don't just take our word for it — look at this star destroyer:

That's not concept art from the upcoming Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC game — it's a shot of the game in action. It's quite a looker!

It's in this outrageously pretty setting that you'll take on legions of TIE fighters, A-wings, and the specialized spacecraft of the heroes and villains of "Star Wars." As you might expect, Darth Vader gets his own fancy vehicle, as do the likes of Darth Maul and — yes, seriously— Yoda. 

Though the previous "Battlefront" game featured space battles and dogfighting, it felt limited and one-note. The folks behind "Battlefront 2" are promising more variation in "Battlefront 2" — EA is saying the starfighter assault mode has been, "improved and expanded." 

We'll find out for ourselves in the not-so-distant future, as "Star Wars Battlefront 2" launches for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 17. Check out the new trailer right here:

SEE ALSO: People are going nuts over this new 'Star Wars' game — here's what we know

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NOW WATCH: Disney revealed what Star Wars Land will look like

Warning: Spoilers for "Game of Thrones" season seven. If you aren't caught up with the series, read at your own risk. 

Season seven of "Game of Thrones" has already proven to be one of the most brutal yet. Some major battles have brought some major deaths, including one that made dying look really, really cool.

This week, the Night King and the Wights were responsible for the batch of deaths, coming to your TV very soon. 

Here is your guide to who died on "Game of Thrones" so far this season:

SEE ALSO: All the biggest moments from this week's action-packed 'Game of Thrones'

Obara Sand

Time of death: Episode two, "Stormborn."

Cause of death: In his attack on Yara's fleet, Euron Greyjoy stabs the daughter of Oberyn Martell in the gut with a spear. By the end of the battle, her body is hanging from the ship, so she's definitely dead. 

Nymeria Sand

Time of death: Episode two, "Stormborn."

Cause of death: In Euron's attack, he strangles Nymeria, who is a daughter of Oberyn (and not Arya Stark's direwolf, who shares the same name). At the end of the battle, her body is also hanging from the ship.

Tyene Sand

Time of death: Episode three, "The Queen's Justice" (kind of).

Cause of death: Cersei locks Ellaria up in a dungeon with her daughter, Tyene, who she poisons the same way Ellaria poisoned Myrcella: with a kiss and a poison called "The Long Farewell." So Ellaria has to watch her own daughter die a brutal death, and in another sick twist, decompose before her own eyes, and there's nothing she can do about it.

Warning: Minor spoilers if you have not seen "Game of Thrones" season seven, episode six.

Fans are loving the formation of an unlikely friendship on the latest episode of "Game of Thrones." 

Tormund Giantsbane and Sandor "The Hound" Clegane strike up an interesting conversation as they continue on their journey beyond The Wall in search of White Walkers, with Jon Snow and the Brotherhood Without Banners.

Tormund first asks The Hound about the burn scars on his face, ruffling his feathers. The conversation then turns to Tormund's love interest, Brienne of Tarth (who he says he wants to have babies with). While The Hound seems mildly irritated by Tormund, their conversation has enchanted the internet, and fans want to see more of Tormund and The Hound together. 

Here are some of the best reactions to Tormund and The Hound's budding bromance:

SEE ALSO: Every 'Game of Thrones' romantic relationship, ranked from worst to best

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NOW WATCH: 6 details you might have missed on season 7 episode 6 of 'Game of Thrones'

The backbone of Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 4 video game console is the PlayStation Network. It's the online service that powers Sony's digital storefront, all online gaming on the PS4, and much more. If you're using a PlayStation 4 online in any capacity, you're using PSN.

On Sunday evening, hackers claimed to have breached PSN and stolen database information. The group, named "OurMine," was able to overtake Sony's official PlayStation-branded Twitter accounts to announce the alleged hack:

The accounts were quickly retaken by Sony, and the tweets from the hackers were deleted. A handful of Twitter users captured the moment before it was gone, as seen above.

When contacted, a representative for OurMine told Business Insider the following:

"We got only registration info [usernames, names, emails, etc.]. No, we are not going to release it. We are a security group; we will only send it to Sony to prove it. And no, Sony haven't contact us yet."

Sony didn't respond to our request for comment as of publishing.

Despite OurMine's claim to be a "security group," its official website describes the group as "an elite hacker group known for many hacks showing vulnerabilities in major systems." The concept is simple: OurMine hacks services operated by major corporations, publicizes those hacks, then sells its security services to the company it hacked. In the case of Sony's PlayStation Network database, OurMine is claiming it hacked in and stole user information stored in a database. 

It's not clear if that information was actually taken; Sony hasn't confirmed or denied the hack, though it's clear that at least Sony's social media accounts were indeed compromised. Following the breach on social media, Sony scrubbed the tweets from OurMine and hasn't issued any statements publicly.

SEE ALSO: The latest PS4 blockbuster is a gorgeous and dangerous romp through India

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Warning: Spoilers for "Game of Thrones" season seven episode six, "Beyond the Wall."

This week's action-packed episode of "Game of Thrones" set up a gloomy future for our heroes (and villains) in Westeros. The Night King has a dragon now, making his army of the dead an even bigger threat than ever.

In between the battle for the living beyond the wall, the Stark women can't get along in Winterfell, thanks to Littlefinger and his obsession with creating chaos.

Based on developments in the story this week, and the brief peek at the season finale from the trailer, we have some burning questions that will keep us awake at night.

Here are all the biggest questions we have after this week's episode of "Game of Thrones":

SEE ALSO: Here's everyone who has died this season on 'Game of Thrones,' and how they bit the dust

Are Sansa and Arya playing Littlefinger?

The entire point of Arya's story line in season six is that she isn't — and can never be — no one. She is loyal to her family and always will be. Her story line with the actress in Braavos also proves that she still cares about innocent people. This was also the point of her scene with Ed Sheeran and the young Lannister soldiers in the season seven premiere: Not everyone deserves to die for where their loyalties lie, because not everyone has a choice.

Sansa has spent most of her time on this show in Littlefinger's shadow, minus her time alone with the Boltons. She knows him more than she's letting on. It's also possible that Bran has told his sisters what he knows about Littlefinger.

Arya and Sansa probably have something bigger planned, and this sister fight could be a trap for Littlefinger. It's important to note that while it appears Arya and Sansa were alone during both of their intense conversations this week, one took place outside, and one in a bedroom with the door open. Littlefinger could be lurking anywhere, pleased to see his schemes playing out.

If Sansa and Arya are sparring, then why is this even happening? Why can't these sisters accept their differences and the fact they are both somehow alive and have a long dinner to catch up on their traumatizing experiences? Geez, ladies.

What does Cersei have planned in King's Landing? Surely she won't welcome her enemies without a fight.

Cersei has a thing for wildfire, and she's about to welcome her enemies with open arms into a dragon pit in King's Landing. There is no way she plans on this meeting beginning and ending in peace. What tricks does she have up her sleeve? It's possibly more wildfire, and Jaime could stop her (by killing her) before it's too late.

It's also entirely possible that Tyrion and Daenerys have something bigger planned that even Cersei won't see coming, assuming they're in King's Landing to be nice.

Why do characters who are obviously not going to die (yet) keep almost drowning?

First Jaime, then Jon. Why jerk us around when we know they're not going to drown? Come on. Will one of our favorite characters actually drown sometime soon?

Warning: "Game of Thrones" spoilers ahead.

Leadership skills can really come in handy in Westeros, especially when dealing with fighting siblings, snowy hiking trips, and anti-dragon ice javelins.

A few weeks ago, we ranked the "Game of Thrones" characters based on their leadership abilities. So here's an update, based on all that's happened in this season so far.

A few notes: This list counts only characters who are still alive on the show, not in the books. So keep in mind that a bunch of people have died recently.

Also, this list takes into consideration only people who could be counted as "leaders" — some characters who aren't currently in leadership roles aren't on here, like Arya Stark, Jorah Mormont, or Sandor Clegane. The same goes for anyone who is basically out of commission at this point.

Lastly, this ranking looks into characters' track records but heavily favors things that happened this season. This list examines leadership ability, not overall power, importance, or title.

Here are the leaders of "Game of Thrones" that have survived the season so far, ranked from worst to best:

SEE ALSO: 6 effective leadership styles we can learn from 'Game of Thrones'

9. Petyr Baelish

Successful people aren't necessarily good leaders.

Just look at Littlefinger. He seems to be making some big moves within the dimly-lit halls of Winterfell, passing around knives, planting scrolls, and pitting the Stark girls against one another. So far, things seem to be going his way. Arya appears just about ready to add Sansa to her infamous list.

Lord Baelish doesn't have to demonstrate much in the way of leadership abilities — he prefers to fly solo. He is a chaotic force unto himself.

But, when it comes to the Starks, the lone wolf dies and the pack survives. We can only hope Littlefinger's solitary style will ultimately catch up with him. With winter ravaging the North and the army of the dead on the march, no one has time for his games anymore.

8. Brienne of Tarth

Brienne brought up some excellent points when Sansa chose to send her away this week. Namely, Littlefinger can't be trusted.

You can tell this valiant knight has the best interests of the Stark girls in mind. Plus, she's confident in her abilities to guide and protect Sansa and Arya. Keeping a strong warrior like Brienne around could dissuade some of Baelish's mind games — or potentially break up the seemingly looming fight between Arya and Sansa.

Hopefully Brienne will get more time to demonstrate her leadership smarts in the finale.

7. Cersei Lannister

Cersei's had a good season, so far.

Sure, Jaime's army got burned to a crisp, but it looks like her adversaries are currently more interested in ice zombie-related diplomacy than fighting at the moment. Cersei seems content to play along for now, which is a smart move. She's already eliminated several of herenemies, after all.

Now that Cersei is pregnant, she has even more of a motivation to fight for the future. And you can bet she has some tricks up her sleeves for the finale.

However, as Tyrion aptly pointed out, this Queen only rules through fear. That might be an effective short-term strategy, but her ruthless style is sure to burn her kingdom out in the long term. Her ruthlessness and penchant for torture haven't endeared her to many allies, outside of Qyburn and Jaime.

"Minecraft" has been called ugly. We'd call it minimalist.

Whatever you think about how "Minecraft" looks, it's hard to argue about this adorable, "Minecraft"-themed Xbox One S console:

Not bad, right? This new Xbox One S isn't just a pretty face — it's the perfect package for the "Minecraft" superfan in your life. 

Here's everything that comes in the box:

SEE ALSO: You can finally buy the most powerful Xbox ever made: The $500 Xbox One X

The console itself is obviously distinct. The 8-bit style is intentionally reminiscent of the block-by-block nature of "Minecraft."

In "Minecraft," you literally build a world block-by-block. It's a game about securing resources — from dirt to wood to stone to diamond, and much more — and then using those resources to survive. That means building houses, and weapons, and tools, and creating irrigation systems and the other staples of human life.

Thus, the "Minecraft" edition of the Xbox One S is a nod to the very nature of the game. 

The reference goes far deeper when you flip the console over. This is what's known as a "Redstone circuit." It's the electricity system within "Minecraft," essentially.

The idea with this reference is that this the Redstone circuitry that's powering the Xbox One S. It's a relatively deep cut, and it's one that you'll only ever see when you look at the bottom of the console — a nice, very fan-servicey reference for folks who know. It's also strong incentive to put the included vertical stand to use (it's normally sold separately, unbelievably).

Beyond the console, the new "Minecraft" Xbox One S bundle comes with a fantastically creepy gamepad.

Do you see it? How could you not see it? 

Yes, the gamepad is a face — and not just any face, but the face of the notorious Creeper. For those unfamiliar, the Creeper is a diabolical enemy in "Minecraft." You'll find him lurking in underground caverns, or sneaking up on you when you least expect it. Before you've been exploded by him, you'll hear the quiet hiss of dynamite. And then: Whammo! Creepers explode, of course, thus killing you in one shot. They're real jerks.

Which is why it's hilariously satisfying to use their faces as gamepads! There's even a little TNT box on the back of the gamepad — an allusion to the inner nature of Creepers. 

These gamepads are also being sold separately, of course — they cost $74.99 and arrive on September 5.

Warning: major spoilers for season seven of "Game of Thrones" lie ahead, including some speculation from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" books. Read at your own risk. 

One of the biggest threats to Cersei right now is Daenerys Targaryen, who has a large army and dragons. Dragons!

Unfortunately for Cersei, there's not much known about how to kill the magical, violent, and long-dead creatures.

But in the second episode of season seven, Qyburn (who seems to serve every position on the Queen's council now), shows Cersei an invention that might work. 

That weapon is put into action later on in episode four, "The Spoils of War." Bronn, fighting for the Lannisters, shoots Drogon with it. Although the dragon falls, he does not die. 

And now, in an unfortunate turn of events, the Night King has made himself a zombie dragon. He successfully took down Viserion with his spear, and brought him back to "life" at the end of episode six.

Although there's no proven and concrete way to kill a dragon, here are some of the ways that dragons could be killed, based on knowledge from the books and the show. 

SEE ALSO: All the biggest moments from this week's action-packed 'Game of Thrones'

Spears (with a lot of force)

In season seven, episode two ("Stormborn"), Qyburn shows Cersei a secret weapon he's developed that could kill Daenerys Targaryen's dragons. Upon hearing that Dany's dragons were wounded in Meereen by spears, he created a giant ballistae that shoots giant spears. He has Cersei test it out on the skull of Balerion the Black Dread. The spear goes through Balerion's skull, and Cersei has a look of satisfaction that rivals her look as she watched the Sept of Baelor collapse. 

Could it work? Maybe. Possibly. In season seven episode four, "The Spoils of War," Bronn hits Drogon with the weapon. Drogon falls, but he doesn't die, and he's not terribly wounded. In the story ofUrrax and Serwyn of the Mirror Shield from the books, Serwyn kills the dragon Urrax with a spear through the eye. The spear Cersei shot at Balerion's skull was through the eye. Meraxes, one of the great dragons used by Aegon the Conqueror to conquer Westeros (his the second largest dragon), was killed by an iron bolt to the eye from a scorpion, a weapon similar to what Qyburn made. 

Qyburn's device may work on Dany's dragons in the future, but they'll have to be really careful, and aim well. Unlike dragon skulls, living dragons move, fly, and breathe fire. And even the fall of a dragon can kill those near it. 

Other dragons

The Dance of the Dragons was a civil war between two Targaryens fighting for the Iron Throne about 170 years before the events of "Game of Thrones." It was the only major war that had dragons fighting on both sides. Most dragons were killed during the war, killing each other.

After Aegon III (who hated dragons) defeated his half-sister, Rhaenyra, he put the remaining dragons in chains. They went extinct within a few years. 

Could it work?It's possible, but only if someone can find a way to pit Dany's dragons against each other . . .

Dragonbinder

Dragonbinder, also known as the hellhorn, is a large dragon horn that is supposed to control dragons. In the books, Euron Greyjoy has Dragonbinder.  It is said that anyone who blows the horn will die but any dragons that hear it will obey the horn's master. Valyrian glyphs on the horn read, "I am Dragonbinder ... No mortal man should sound me and live ... Blood for fire, fire for blood." 

Could it work?If the writers introduce Dragonbinder to the series, it could help someone make Dany's dragons turn on each other. But since it hasn't been introduced yet in the show, Dragonbinder probably won't make it into the series.