• Kanye West released his eighth studio album, "Ye," on Friday.
• Early fan reactions to the album — and to its livestreamed listening party in Wyoming on Thursday night — were largely positive.
• The album is available to stream now on all major services. 

Kanye West dropped his eighth studio album on streaming services early Friday, hours after livestreaming a star-studded listening party for the project on a ranch in Wyoming.

The album, "Ye," is now available on Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. It clocks in at just over 23 minutes for seven songs. Kid Cudi, Ty Dolla $ign, and Nicki Minaj are among the handful of guest artists who appear on the LP.

The album's cover features a photo of a mountain range in Wyoming; Kim Kardashian West said in a tweet that her husband shot it "on his iPhone on the way to the album listening party." The words "I hate being Bi-Polar its awesome" appear in green, corresponding with West's frank lyrics on the album discussing his mental health.

Early fan reactions to the album on social media were largely positive, particularly amid the livestreamed unveiling.

The album's release follows a promotional cycle that saw West draw intense criticism for his vocal support of President Donald Trump and his calling slavery "a choice" in an appearance on "TMZ Live."

Nonetheless, the majority of social-media chatter about the music on the album — an eclectic mix of trap and electronic influences, gospel and soul, featuring a good deal of humor and some affecting lyrics about his relationships with his wife and his children — appeared to be positive as of Friday morning.

But several ostensibly former fans of West were not looking to downplay his latest controversies.

Listen to the album below:

Join the conversation about this story »

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• ABC is reportedly considering a spinoff of "Roseanne" without Roseanne Barr, but with the rest of the cast.
• Producers and writers will reportedly meet in the coming days to discuss ideas in which Barr would not benefit financially from the new show.
• But there are obstacles, like whether the actors will even return. If the show isn't ready by the fall, ABC will have to figure out how to pay the actors for the canceled season 11.
• The "Roseanne" reboot was canceled this week after Barr posted a racist tweet comparing a former Obama adviser to an ape. 

What's "Roseanne" without Roseanne Barr? ABC might try to find out. 

According to Entertainment Weekly, ABC is considering a spinoff with "Roseanne" actors — such as John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and Sara Gilbert — that isn't technically "Roseanne" so that Barr wouldn't benefit financially from the show (she is its co-creator).

ABC canceled its "Roseanne" reboot on Tuesday after Barr posted a racist tweet against Valerie Jarrett, an adviser to former President Obama, in which she compared Jarrett to an ape. The move was followed by an outpouring of different reactions to the news. Many were glad ABC canceled the show, as this wasn't the first controversy surrounding the reboot and this isn't the first time Barr has made racist comments. 

But people also called for Goodman and Metcalf to get their own show, and if ABC really pursues a spinoff, maybe they'll get their wish. Mindy Kaling even tweeted "Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman let me write things for you."

ABC probably considers a spinoff starring the "Roseanne" actors, without Barr, a good compromise to salvage what is left of the reboot (despite the controversies, it was still a ratings success and the most popular show of the year). But there are obstacles to overcome. 

Sources told Deadline that the chances of a spinoff with the rest of the "Roseanne" cast were "possible but not probable" and that it's a "long shot" to be ready by the fall. If it's not, as Deadline points out, ABC will have to figure out payment for the actors for the scrapped season 11. 

At any rate, Deadline reports that executive producers Tom Werner and Gilbert are expected to meet with series writers and showrunner Bruce Helford in the coming days to discuss ideas. 

But getting the actors on board a spinoff could be difficult. According to Entertainment Tonight, Goodman was reluctant to address the possibility of a spinoff, saying "you've heard more than I have." He also didn't seem too torn up about the show's cancellation: "I wasn't gonna get an Emmy anyway. I've been up there [11] times already, and if I didn't get one I'm not gonna get one."

Barr herself has been on a Twitter spree since the show was cancelled, deflecting blame and calling out her co-stars. But on Thursday she tweeted that she "begged" Disney-ABC Television Group President Ben Sherwood to not cancel the show. "I begged4 ppls jobs," she tweeted.

Maybe those jobs will be saved after all if ABC can pull together a "Roseanne" spinoff — just not Barr's.

More on "Roseanne":

• President Trump is mad at Disney's CEO because he apologized for Roseanne Barr's racist comments
• Roseanne Barr said she was sorry, but then went on a Twitter spree deflecting blame for her racist tweet
• Canceling 'Roseanne' may have cost ABC $100 million — but it saved Disney a whole lot more
• ABC cancels 'Roseanne' hours after racist tweet by its star
• Roseanne Barr is under fire after a racist tweet

SEE ALSO: Every controversial step that led toward ABC's 'Roseanne' cancellation — from Pizzagate to Parkland to the final racist last straw

Join the conversation about this story »

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Kanye West debuted his eighth studio album, "Ye," at a star-studded album-listening party on Thursday night at a ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

West invited 150 people, according to Variety, one of the outlets that attended the listening party. The rapper reportedly flew several journalists and artists into Wyoming on private jets. Democratizing access to the event, West also livestreamed it on the free streaming app WAV with a multicamera broadcast.

The actor Jonah Hill, the comedian Chris Rock, and West's collaborators Nas, Kid Cudi, Pusha-T, and 2 Chainz were among the notable people in attendance. At midnight on Thursday, the party gathered around a bonfire on the picturesque Wyoming ranch to listen to West's eclectic, revealing, and humorous LP.

Rock introduced the album with a few brief jokes, crowd work, and commentary on West's role in the history of rap music.

"Rap music, hip-hop music, is the first art form created by free black men, and no black man has taken more advantage of his freedoms than Kanye West," Rock said.

Hill told Pitchfork at the listening party that West was "the one person who I have an unending childhood kind of fascination with."

"I still look at him like I'm a little kid and he's a superstar," Hill said. "When I decided to come here, I thought: It's like if someone got to hear [Michael Jackson's] 'Thriller' in the middle of Wyoming."

Here are photos and footage of some of the notable people who attended the "Ye" listening party:

SEE ALSO: Kanye West has a new album out and fans are loving it despite his latest controversies

Jonah Hill

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KimYe with @JonahHillpic.twitter.com/fxnpTA59Ft

Chris Rock, introducing the album

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Chris Rocks intro to #Ye in Wyoming ...classic 😂pic.twitter.com/q3zUEdy3xY

Nas with Hill and Rock

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Chris Rock Calls Kanye A "Free Black Man" At Ye' Album Listening Party In Wyoming https://t.co/SpgdwpSrhFpic.twitter.com/CrDj57n3u8

As the chief programming officer at iHeartRadio, Tom Poleman oversees the music programming for over 850 radio stations nationwide and for the company's music streaming service.

His corresponding wealth of industry knowledge and access to up-to-the-minute data on popular music trends  make Poleman an ideal candidate to wager a prediction on the trajectory of this summer's pop charts.

Poleman spoke to Business Insider last week and walked us through his process of predicting "the song of the summer."

Poleman said he works with his team to analyze the movements of streaming and radio charts. To get ahead of the game, he also speaks with artists and label managers about the new music they're set to release.

And through iHeartRadio's various listening platforms, Poleman said he can gather intensive data on fan reactions to fledgling hits, both on broadcast radio stations and in curated playlists on the company's streaming service.

"There's a symbiotic relationship between when we play a song and what all those data indicators say, so we can check that cause and effect pretty quickly and find out if something's going to connect," he said. 

Radio is still the main source of "mass awareness"

Poleman explained how, even in the age of streaming, broadcast radio remains the most dominant influence on the pop charts and the strongest predictor of a song's commercial success. He said that broadcast radio still accounts for around 86% of all music consumption, while digital listening and streaming account for just 14%. 

"If you look at music consumers overall, streaming is actually a relatively small portion of that universe," he said. "Streaming is an incredibly important piece of the puzzle, especially for record labels and artists, because it's a massive income source, but in radio, we have to think beyond just that small subset of consumers to the wider audience."

In ranking his "songs of the summer," then, Poleman said that he picked artists whom he had seen or could see generating "mass awareness" across multiple markets of broadcast radio. 

"The ones that can cross multiple genres are the ones that can obviously get mass awareness," he said. "An artist like Cardi B can cross multiple formats, as can Ariana Grande. And Post Malone — I mean, the guy's got hits at multiple genres right now."

Here are the top 11 candidates for the song of the summer, according to iHeartRadio's Tom Poleman:

SEE ALSO: The 50 best-selling music artists of all time

11. Drake — "Nice For What/TBD" (Album drops in June)

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10. Shawn Mendes — "Nervous"

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9. Anne-Marie — "2002"

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With just a few weeks left until the biggest game show of the year, the unthinkable has happened: A massive leak.

The image below was taken from Walmart's Canadian website, which accidentally posted placeholder artwork for just shy of 40 games.

Many of the games are known quantities, but a bundle of them were accidentally revealed by the listings — and at least one major surprise was already confirmed in an announcement, which lends a lot more weight to the rest of the listings. 

Here's everything new that was revealed:

SEE ALSO: The 34 hottest video games you shouldn't miss in 2018

First, some context:

Retail listings with placeholder artwork aren't confirmation of anything, and it's entirely possible that the list is nothing but guesswork.

But there's at least one good reason why that's unlikely in this particular case: "Rage 2." 

It's been years since the first "Rage" came and went — seven years. "Rage" is far from a beloved franchise, nor is it a hated franchise. It's more of a forgotten game than anything else. It had a relatively forgettable open-world, and a story to match. It sold well enough, but wasn't a runaway success either.

In short: It's not the kind of game that was demanding a sequel.

So when it showed up on Walmart's Canadian site, it was held up as evidence that the list was false. Which is why it was so interesting when "Rage 2" was announced soon after — an apparent response to having been outed by Walmart — much to the surprise of people like myself.

If "Rage 2" is real, then the more obvious stuff in the leak is all the more likely to be true.

1. "Gears of War 5"

It's been about two years since "Gears of War 4," and a new entry in the series is a foregone conclusion.

Not only is "Gears of War" a marquee Xbox franchise directly produced by Microsoft's own studios, but the previous game in the series introduced a whole new slew of protagonists. It would be more surprising if there wasn't a follow-up to "Gears of War 4." 

Microsoft has yet to announce "Gears of War 5," but it would be entirely unsurprising if it debuted on stage during Microsoft's press briefing at E3 2018 in mid-June.

2. "Forza Horizon 4" (mislabeled as "Forza Horizons 5")

Perhaps the only game more expected than "Gears of War 5" on this list of rumored announcements is a new entry in the "Forza Horizon" series.

The "Forza" franchise operates on a rotating schedule. In 2016, "Forza Horizon 3" came out; in 2017, "Forza Motorsport 7" came out. The simulation-style racing series, "Forza Motorsport," is the big highlight one year, and the arcade-style racing series "Forza Horizon" is the big highlight the next.

Thus, 2018 is the year for "Forza Horizon 4."

The game is labeled in the leak as "Forza Horizons 5," which would indeed be a big surprise — what a bizarre name change! I'm guessing that's just an error, but who knows.

• Kanye West dropped his new album "Ye" on Friday.
• In it, he says he has bipolar disorder and calls the mental illness his "superpower."
• The controversial statement follows several months of recent controversy on Twitter in which the artist proclaimed his support for President Trump, opined that "love is infinite," and alleged that slavery was a choice.

Kanye West's new album "Ye" is shaping up to add fuel to the controversy the artist started on Twitter last month.

After taking to the social media platform to alternately proclaim his support for President Donald Trump, suggest that slaves had a choice, and wax philosophical with statements like "love is infinite," West dropped his new album "Ye" on Friday in which he says he has bipolar disorder, a serious mental illness that West calls his "superpower."

In album art from the new cover, West wrote, "I hate being Bi-Polar / it's awesome."

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that’s estimated to affect close to 6 million Americans, or 2.8% of the US adult population, according to data from the National Institute of Mental Health.

In one of the most widely-known recent representations of the disorder in the media, the hit Showtime television series "Homeland" featured a main character with bipolar disorder, CIA agent Carrie Mathison, played by actress Claire Danes. As somewhat accurately portrayed in the show's first season, people with bipolar disorder experience sharp swings in mood that shift from mania — or an extremely high-energy phase in which they may feel agitated, jittery, and paranoid — to severe depression, in which they have little to no energy and a pervasively negative outlook on life. For most people, symptoms start to emerge around age 25.

Although it can seem extreme, many cases of bipolar disorder are treated successfully with a combination of talk therapy and medication.

What we know — and don't know — about bipolar disorder

Because of its wide range of symptoms, bipolar disorder can frequently go undiagnosed or be mixed up with other disorders like ADHD, schizophrenia, and depression.

That's a significant challenge not only for psychiatrists and medical professionals who seek to accurately diagnose the condition but also for people with the disorder who are looking for help. The risk of suicide among people with bipolar disorder is high — roughly 6% of people who have it attempt to take their own lives over a 20-year period, according to a recent study in the British Medical Journal. Other harmful behaviors like cutting are common in people with bipolar disorder as well, oc curing in an estimated one third of those who have it.

As with so many mental illnesses and neuropsychiatric disorders, scientists still aren't sure what causes bipolar disorder.

The brain is our most complex and enigmatic organ, and researchers are only just beginning to lift the curtain on what goes on inside of it. In most cases, researchers can only characterize mental illnesses by the external symptoms that people display; we still don't understand how — or even to what extent — specific brain regions or patterns of activity contribute to each individual condition.

It is believed that genetics play a strong role in the overall risk of developing bipolar disorder, but environmental factors may influence this risk as well. A handful of small recent studies are emerging, which have begun to highlight some clues about better ways to identify these causes and diagnose the condition sooner — a factor that is key to good treatment.

One study published in 2016 in the journal Psychological Medicine suggested that testing the blood of children as young as nine could help determine their risk of developing bipolar disorder later in life.

Another study published last week in the journal Schizophrenia Research found that although bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are often confused, we may one day be able to distinguish the conditions by means of specific biologic markers — such as those found in the blood of young people — and that machine learning and artificial intelligence could help us do this faster and with greater accuracy.

So although there's much to learn about mental illness as a whole, there are signs of progress on the horizon. In the meantime, artists like West are doing what they can to make the most out of their diagnosis.

In the new song "Yikes," West calls his "bipolar sh*t" his "superpower" and says, it "ain't no disability."

SEE ALSO: Experts say the new season of '13 Reasons Why' has a dangerous problem that the show fails to address

DON'T MISS: A depression drug that researchers have called 'the most important discovery in half a century' just got a big lift

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Rapper Kanye West released his shortest album yet on Friday, titled "Ye."
• The album clocks in at just over 23 minutes. By comparison, West's longest album is his first, "The College Dropout," at 76 minutes long. His last album, "The Life of Pablo," was over an hour.
• The chart below shows how short "Ye" is compared to his other albums, including eight solo albums and a collaborative album with Jay-Z.

Rapper Kanye West released his eighth studio album, titled "Ye," on Friday. The album has only seven tracks and clocks in at just over 23 minutes in length, making it West's shortest album yet.

It's a sharp contrast to his past work. West's last album, 2016's "The Life of Pablo," was over an hour long. His first album, "The College Dropout" in 2004, remains his longest at 76 minutes.

The Business Insider graph below shows the length of all of West's albums, including his eight solo albums and his 2011 collaborative album with Jay-Z, "Watch the Throne."

West announced a number of new projects in April, including this new solo album and a collaborative album with Kid Cudi that will be released June 8. But a number of controversies followed West's announcement, including vocal support of President Trump and when he said that slavery sounded like a "choice" during an appearance on "TMZ Live" last month.

Despite the controversies, fans are reacting positively to "Ye." West even addresses his slavery comments in the song "Wouldn't Leave" ("Wife calling screaming saying we’re about to lose it all, I had to calm her down ‘cos she couldn’t breathe," West raps). 

At only seven tracks, the album is a quick listen for an artist known for having a lot of things to say.

The graph below shows how short "Ye" is compared to West's past albums:

SEE ALSO: What it was like inside Kanye West's star-studded album-listening party on a ranch in Wyoming

Join the conversation about this story »

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No plans this weekend?

It's a new month, and that means new releases on Netflix.

To make your decisions on what to watch a lot faster, we look through Netflix's selection each week and pick several movies you should watch.

We select a few that have come on the service recently and mix in a couple available movies you might have missed. We also tell you why you should watch them and provide the Netflix synopsis and Rotten Tomatoes critic and audience scores.

From the hilarious women-led Netflix original "Ibiza" to the historical thriller "The Imitation Game," these are wonderful movies on Netflix that you can watch over the weekend.

Here are the movies on Netflix you should check out this weekend:

SEE ALSO: An inside look at how MoviePass will make money distributing movies, and what will happen if the company goes bust

"Ibiza" (2018) — a Netflix original

Netflix description: When Harper's two best friends tag along on her work trip to Barcelona, they ditch work and fly to Ibiza for Harper, who against her better judgment, falls for a hot DJ.

Critic score: 78%

Audience score: n/a

"Ibiza" is a hilarious movie that takes advantage of gross-out comedy clichés rather than shying away from them, and that's what makes it so great. The three leads — Gillian Jacobs, Phoebe Robinson, and Vanessa Bayer — are excellently cast as quirky but somehow relatable characters, and Richard Madden (aka Robb Stark, RIP) plays an EDM DJ.

"The Imitation Game" (2014)

Netflix description: During World War II, a gay mathematician leads a team of cryptanalysts as they work feverishly to break the Germans' notorious Enigma code.

Critic score: 91%

Audience score: 91%

This important and not-often-told story is one everyone should know. It's well-paced for a historical drama, and Benedict Cumberbatch — who earned his first Oscar nomination for his role as Alan Turing — is fantastic, as is Keira Knightley.

"Cargo" (2018) — a Netflix original

Netflix description: Amid a terrifying pandemic, a father searches the wilds of Australia for someone willing to protect and care for his infant daughter.

Critic score: 82%

Audience score: 71%

Critics are praising "Cargo" for inserting some solid and quite unexpected character-driven drama into a zombie movie, a genre that has been slightly overdone throughout the years. Martin Freeman is great in this film, which one of the best and most exciting original movies Netflix has released.

• The Sun: Benedict Cumberbatch spotted a food delivery cyclist being attacked in London and stepped in to help.
• The cyclist was not seriously hurt but the attackers escaped.

LONDON — Superstar actor Benedict Cumberbatch saved a Deliveroo cyclist from four muggers in London, according to The Sun newspaper.

The Dr. Strange star turned into a real-life superhero during the recent incident, jumping out of an Uber he was travelling in after spotting the assault.

The Sun on Saturday reported that the Sherlock rushed to the aid of the food delivery cyclist. In a strange coincidence, the incident took place near Baker Street, the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes.

Uber driver Ma­n­uel Dias, who was transporting Cumberbatch, told the paper: "He stood there instructing them in the street, shouting, ‘Leave him alone’.

"It was only then I recognised Benedict. Then it all got a bit surreal. Here was Sherlock Holmes fighting off four attackers just round the corner from Baker Street."

Avengers star Cumberbatch confirmed to the paper that he had been involved in the incident, saying: "I did it out of, well, I had to, you know."

The four attackers escaped from the scene. The Deliveroo driver was not seriously hurt in the attack.

SEE ALSO: 'Patrick Melrose' is a wickedly funny drama series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, who critics say gives a masterful performance

DON'T MISS: Benedict Cumberbatch says eating Skittles and drinking coffee were the 'horrible' secrets to looking good in that shirtless 'Doctor Strange' scene

Join the conversation about this story »

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There's a ton of television and, thankfully, an outrageous amount of it is available to stream on Netflix without ads.

But with so many options available on Netflix, from its originals to the classics, we thought you might need help figuring out your next binge-watch.

Every month, we'll select three TV shows that you should fit into your free time, to save you some time.

This month, we selected two Netflix originals that have second seasons making their debut in June, and one AMC critical darling that completed its run in 2017.

From the critically acclaimed tech drama "Halt and Catch Fire" to the reality series "Queer Eye," these are wonderful TV series on Netflix that you can watch this month (along with why you should watch, and their scores on Rotten Tomatoes):

SEE ALSO: All your favorite Netflix original shows that have been renewed for another season

"Halt and Catch Fire" — AMC, four seasons

"Glow" — Netflix original, one season (season two available June 29)

"Queer Eye" — Netflix original, one season (season two available June 15)

Netflix description:  It's the "Queer Eye" you know, but with five fresh new faces on a mission to make over Atlanta -- and challenge notions of what it means to "be a man."

Critic score: 96%

Audience score: 87%

In a world filled with reboot after reboot, Netflix's adorable, moving "Queer Eye" proved that this one was necessary. The new fab five represent a different era than the first cast, represent the diversity of our country, and in each episode they show so much care to the men they're making over. Set in Atlanta and small towns surrounding it, the fab five also aren't shy about confronting stereotypes and some contestants (called "heroes" on this show) who aren't exactly comfortable with homosexuality. 

You can watch season one now, and season two is available on June 15. 

• With 1.3 billion people and 56 ethnic groups, China has one of the most complex and diverse cuisines in the world.
• Dozens of different regional cuisines are drastically different from one another with different flavor profiles, ingredients, and cooking methods.
• On a recent six-week trip to China, I tried to eat as many different dishes in the country as possible, tasting everything from Peking Duck to Shaanxi fried squid.

I'm not ashamed to call myself a foodie. The term has become wildly overused, abused, and then derided in recent years, but I take it to mean someone who is genuinely interested in the world's multivarious cuisines.

Think less latest brunch spot for avocado toast — though there's nothing wrong with that — and more hole-in-the-wall family-run joint.

You can imagine, as I was planning a six-week trip to China to report on the tech industry and travel for Business Insider, the thing I was most excited for was the food.

Chinese food is considered to be one of the most complex and diverse cuisines in the world by chefs, food critics, and travelers. Americans, and the rest of the West, tend to think of China as one monolithic place, but the opposite is true. China is comprised of over 1.3 billion people, 23 provinces, 56 ethnic groups, and at least as many different cuisines. Libraries-worth of books have been written simply on China's food.

Each cuisine has different flavor profiles, hallmark ingredients, and cooking methods. Sweet and sour is a common taste in Shanghainese cuisine, while Szechuan food is known for its extensive use of the numbing peppercorn of the same name. Steaming is extremely popular in Cantonese cuisine, while a number of western and northern regions boil dishes in a "hot pot." As you can probably guess, none of those hot pots taste remotely similar.

The cuisine is so diverse and specific that it is not uncommon for a particular county or town to be famous for a single dish that is not made anywhere else in the country.

During my time in China, I tried to eat as widely as possible, eating the same dish twice only if absolutely necessary. Still, I found that I had barely scratched the surface.

Needless to say you, can forget about Americanized dishes like lo mein, General Tso's chicken, and egg rolls, because those items have only a tangential relationship to actual Chinese food.

Here is everything I ate in six weeks in China:

SEE ALSO: Alibaba's futuristic supermarket in China is way ahead of the US, with 30-minute deliveries and facial-recognition payment — and it shows where Amazon is likely to take Whole Foods

DON'T MISS: Photos reveal what it’s like to shop at Walmart in China — which is shockingly different from the US and struggling to compete

I flew into Hong Kong in southeastern China. Hong Kong is known for having a robust street food scene. I started with a beef skewer cooked in chili-garlic sauce. The vendor also sold more adventurous skewers like squid and pork intestines, but I was just getting warmed up.

Cantonese food (i.e. Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong province) is typically associated with siu mei, or rotisserie roast meats. This roast goose is marinated in soy-garlic sauce and served with peanuts. Its skin is crispy and the meat is juicy.

On the second day of my trip, I headed to Macau for the opening of the MGM Cotai, a swanky new casino-resort. At Five-Foot Road, I ate Szechuan cuisine, known for its spicy, garlicky flavors and the use of the numbing Szechuan peppercorn.

You can read all about my adventure at the MGM Cotai — which is trying to change the perception of Macau as a city for the super-rich — here »

Among gamers, the hip way to chat with friends is not via Skype, Slack or TeamSpeak, but Discord, a relatively new messaging app that's starting to surge in popularity.

Discord was specifically designed to serve the gaming community. The app, which offers text messaging and voice and video calling, allows gamers to communicate and strategize with friends mid-game. But it's lightweight and streamlined, so it won't fill up their computers' hard drives or bog down their processors.

The app has benefitted from the boom in online, team-based video games such as Fortnite Battle Royale, Overwatch, and League of Legends. But it now now hosts hundreds of thousands of online communities. While many are focused on gaming, you'll find ones dedicated to other interests as well.

Here's everything you need to know about Discord:

SEE ALSO: How to find and use the new shopping cart in 'Fortnite: Battle Royale,' whether you're playing solo or with your friends

Discord has started to take off with gamers.

Discord was launched in 2015, but its popularity exploded in the last year, particularly among gamers and other communities that primarily meet online. It now has 19 million daily users, up from 8.9 million at this time last year, according to the company's blog. 

Just about anyone can sign up and use it — and it's free.

Anyone over the age of 13 can download and use Discord. It's available for PCs, Macs and mobile devices. Its developers have made clear the core features of Discord will always be available for free.

However, the company also offers a $4.99 a month subscription version of the app that includes features such as animated avatars, custom emoji, and higher quality screen sharing. It also allows you to upload larger files.

Developers have focused on making the app safe — and weeding out hate groups.

The messaging app got some bad publicity last year, when it was reported that many alt-right; "incel," or male supremacist; and other hate groups were using it to meet, talk, and plan real-life gatherings, particularly ahead of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last August. The app allows users to chat anonymously and privately, which helped attract the groups.

Discord's developers have since banned many of those hate groups. But identifying and ousting them can be like playing a game of whack-a-mole; even after they're banned, many come back in other places.

Still, in general, Discord is safe. No one can join a channel except by invitation, and users have to choose to join them. So no one can make you view or post content you're not interested in.

Discord also offers you the ability to block content that's unsuitable for work and to disconnect from servers at any time. You can easily mute or block individual users and prevent anyone you don't know from adding you as a friend.

Even so, such features won't necessarily prevent all harassment or bullying within particular text or voice channels.

For parents who are concerned about their teens using Discord to chat with friends, I recommend the same amount of caution you would have with social-media sites such as Twitter or Reddit. I suggest you read Discord's Community Guidelines and the Parent's Guide to Discord, written by one of the service's developers.

Japan has a sex problem. The country's birthrate is in the negative, where deaths are outpacing births.

Simply put, Japan's population is decreasing.

But let's be clear: Population change is a complicated subject affected by many factors.

Western media often correlates the decline in Japan's population size with recent studies of Japanese sexual habits and marriage. A 2016 study by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Japan, for instance, found that "almost 70 percent of unmarried men and 60 percent of unmarried women are not in a relationship."

But just because people aren't in relationships doesn't mean they don't want companionship, of course. And that's where something like Gatebox comes in.

Yes, that's an artificially intelligent character who lives in a glass tube in your home.

Her name is Azuma Hikari, and she's the star of Gatebox — a $2,700 Amazon Echo-esque device that acts as a home assistant and companion.

Here's what we know:

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A Japanese company named Vinclu created the Gatebox.

It's about the size of an 8-inch by 11-inch piece of paper, according to Vinclu. And there's a good reason for that: The device is intended to be "big enough for you to be able to put right beside you." You'll understand why you'd want a Gatebox so close soon enough.

The Gatebox is similar to Amazon's Echo — it's a voice-powered home assistant.

The Gatebox has a microphone and a camera because you operate it using your voice.

For now, it will respond only to Japanese; the company making Gatebox says it's exploring other language options. Considering that units are available for both Japan and the US, we'd guess that an English-language option is in the works.

Gatebox does a lot of the same stuff that Echo does — it can automate your home in various ways, including turning on lights and waking you up in the morning.

There was a time, around four or five years ago, when it seemed the only games that were being released followed the same formula: early access, open-world, and survival. Games like Day Z and Rust exploded almost overnight, and many copycats followed.

The premise of an open-world survival game is relatively simple —  you're thrust into a world with other online players, with one goal: survive. There aren't any quests or missions in those games, and the bulk of memorable experiences come from interactions with other players.

That's why it's surprising to hear that the next Fallout game is reportedly following a similar formula. Fallout, known for being a single-player role-playing-game experience, is one of developer Bethesda's most successful series. However, Kotaku reports that the next iteration, Fallout 76, will be an open-world survival RPG, heavily inspired by games like Day Z and Rust. 

Open-world survival games were once constantly at the top of the sales list on Steam, but the genre has thinned out and it seems the bulk of the playerbase has moved on (most likely to battle royale games like PUBG and Fortnite). Thus, Bethesda likely has a real challenge on its hands to produce a game that clicks with players in a genre that they are seemingly already tired of. 

Here's what we know about the next Fallout game, and the games that apparently inspired it:

Day Z

Day Z, developed by Bohemia Interactive, first launched as a modification for the battle-simulation game Arma II. Even with its clunky controls and outdated graphics, the game became an internet sensation. It brought the open-world survival genre to the forefront of gaming, and when the standalone version of the game was released in 2013, over one million copies were quickly sold.

The game is centered around surviving a zombie apocalypse, either by teaming up with other players or going at it alone. Players need to eat, drink, treat wounds, and scavenge supplies — all while avoiding being killed by the walking dead or other players with ill intentions. When your character dies in Day Z, you lose any supplies and gear you had at the time, and start over fresh with an empty inventory. 

However, the game suffered a pretty severe decline in popularity, after the playerbase became unsatisfied with the efforts of the developers to update the game and provide new and refreshing content. 

Rust

Rust is a game developed by Facepunch Studios, which was heavily inspired by Day Z. It was released in early access in 2013, and fully released in 2018. 

While Rust is also an open-world survival game, the threat comes almost solely from other players instead of zombies. The survival elements are similar, with players required to eat, drink, and tend to wounds, but the addition of a crafting system made the game stand apart from Day Z. Players can craft weapons, clothing, shelters, and other game elements to give them an advantage over the environment and other players. 

Since Fallout 4 introduced the concept of shelter building in the Fallout franchise, it's likely that Bethesda developers pulled from this game for inspiration on how to make that work in a multiplayer setting.

However, Rust's final release received only average reviews, and by 2018 it seemed that consumers had become tired of the open-world survival genre. 

That brings us to Fallout 76.

According to the three people with insider knowledge that Kotaku spoke with, Fallout 76 will be an open-world survival RPG game. Fallout 4 introduced base/settlement building to the series in 2015, and the sources confirmed that this gameplay aspect will also be present in Fallout 76. 

The survival and RPG elements are nothing new to the series, but Fallout has never had a multiplayer mode before. This is similar to the approach Bethesda took with Elder Scrolls Online, the massively-multiplayer online addition to the Elder Scrolls series, which was also traditionally single-player until that release. 

• Bungie plans to reveal the big September expansion to Destiny 2 on June 5 at 12 p.m. ET in a Twitch live stream.
• Destiny fans have been eagerly awaiting news of the September expansion, hoping it fixes some of the biggest issues with the game in the same way The Taken King expansion in 2015 drastically improved the first Destiny game.
• How Bungie communicates the new changes this week during the live stream, and the following week at E3 2018, the biggest gaming show in the world, could be crucial for the future of the Destiny franchise.

Most fans of the Destiny franchise will tell you that Destiny 2, the sequel to the popular alien-shooting game that came out in 2014, took several steps backward from the original. But that could all change in the big new Destiny 2 expansion coming in September, which Bungie will reveal in a Twitch live stream on June 5 at 12 p.m. ET.

The next two weeks — between the Twitch reveal on June 5, and whatever Bungie presents at E3 2018, which takes place the following week — will be crucial for the future of the Destiny franchise. Fans and players have high hopes the September expansion will do for Destiny 2 what "The Taken King" expansion did for the first Destiny.

The Taken King, like this planned September expansion for Destiny 2, released exactly one year after the base Destiny game launched to the public, in fall 2015. And in many ways, The Taken King was the game Destiny fans wanted all along: It introduced a coherent storyline that culminated in a fantastic six-man raid activity, called King's Fall; it introduced secrets into the game, which players would have to find for themselves, adding to the game's mystique; it added new subclass abilities, armor, and weapons; and most importantly, it fixed the biggest quality-of-life issues players had with the base game.

Fans hope this September expansion will improve Destiny 2 in similar ways.

Up to this point, the sentiment among most Destiny 2 players was that the sequel didn't learn enough from the first Destiny game, especially since so many of the quality-of-life improvements Destiny had accumulated by the end of its three-year life cycle were simply absent in Destiny 2.

And so, a common refrain among Destiny 2 players became "wait until September [2018]." If Bungie could fix the biggest issues players had with the game by that point — in the same way that The Taken King improved the first Destiny game — it would be worth giving Destiny 2 another chance.

To its credit, Bungie has shown in recent months that it's listening to players and wants to make the game something fans love again. Warmind, the second expansion to Destiny 2 that launched in the beginning of May, was a huge step in the right direction. Thanks to Bungie's work with Vicarious Visions, a video game developer based in New York, the Warmind expansion introduced addictive new activities, new secrets to the game, and most importantly, quality-of-life improvements that gave players new reasons to play.

Still, most players are still looking ahead to the September expansion, and how that will change Destiny 2 — hopefully for the better.

In its effort to be more transparent, Bungie has been publicly updating a Development Roadmap to keep fans in the loop with what's coming down the pipe for Destiny 2. And based on the most recent update, it looks like the September expansion will introduce new gameplay modes, tweaks to weapon slots and loadouts, and more quality-of-life improvements to keep players interested, like record books, gear collections, and more. 

But whether or not players actually like these changes, and how Bungie actually executes on these plans, is another story entirely. Fans will be paying very close attention to what Bungie says, and doesn't say, during its Twitch event and at E3 2018. The next two weeks, where players will undoubtedly have many questions, have the potential to drastically change the perception of both Bungie and Destiny, for better or for worse.

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• Not all nights out are born equal.
• Data from UBS reveals which cities in the world will hurt your wallets the most — and the least.
• Scroll down to see who made the list.

There are many variables that can make or break the bank when you hit the town: who you're with, what you're drinking and even what city you're in.

Not all nights out are born equal and, fortunately, recent stats from Swiss bank UBS have revealed where you'll find the most expensive (and the cheapest) places to paint the town red.

UBS used four quantifiers to determine the average cost of a night out in 13 major cities around the world: the price of a taxi, a Big Mac, club entry, and two long drinks.

Unsurprisingly, some cities were much more expensive than others for a night out — in Sweden, for example, club entry will set you back about $27 (£20); meanwhile, in Mexico City, you can grab a couple of drinks for $12 (£9).

Scroll down to see where you'll get the most bang for your buck around the world, ranked by the average cost of a night out from most expensive to cheapest.

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13. Zurich, Switzerland — $93.79 (£70.15).

12. Miami, USA — $87.18 (£65.21).

11. Stockholm, Sweden — $86.97 (£65.05).

• The Xbox One will get additional voice support from Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, according to a new report from Windows Central.
• The Xbox One already supports Microsoft's voice assistant, Cortana, but it requires a Kinect or other connected Xbox microphone.
• Support for Alexa and Google Assistant would come through separate Echo and Google Home devices, respectively.

"Alexa, turn on my Xbox" may be a reality sooner than later.

That's because the Xbox One is getting support for Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, according to a new report from Windows Central. You'll flip a switch in settings, enable whatever "skills" are required for your voice assistant of choice, and you're off to the races — at least that's how it appears from the image Windows Central has.

In practice, what that interaction looks like is clear: You speak to your Amazon Echo or Google Home, which speaks to your Xbox, which executes a command. So, "Alexa, turn on my Xbox" turns on your console. "Ok Google, play 'Overwatch' on my Xbox One" boots up "Overwatch," etc.

At least that's our best guess based on what the Xbox One already does. 

When the Xbox One launched in 2013 for the astronomical price of $500, it was so expensive because of the pricey camera/microphone combination seen above — so-called "Kinect 2.0". 

Kinect offered some pretty impressive features out of the box. You could turn on your Xbox One using your voice ("Xbox On!") — it would even turn on your TV for you as well. But the $500 price of the console plus Kinect kept potential buyers away, and Microsoft quickly dropped Kinect from the bundle to lower the price. 

Over time, as more people bought Xbox One consoles without Kinect, Microsoft quietly hid much of the voice functionality that was intrinsic to the console at launch. Eventually, some of that functionality resurfaced as Microsoft's Cortana digital assistant. If you had a Kinect attached, or some other microphone, you could use Cortana — but that's a small subset of overall Xbox One users.

If the Xbox One adds support for Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa, which appears to be the case, it could smartly repurpose much of the functionality that's already built-in to the Xbox One — using the Amazon Echo and Google Assistant devices that people already own and use regularly with their voice, unlike Kinect.

Microsoft has yet to officially unveil such a concept, and a representative didn't respond to a request for comment.

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When it comes to "Harry Potter," everybody knows the film's leading trifecta: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. 

But what about the dozens of other witches, wizards, and muggles who graced the screen throughout the series? While you were watching Harry and his friends fight dragons and hunt horcruxes, these performances from veteran actors and youngsters just beginning their careers might have totally passed you by.

From cameo appearances from the cast of "Dancing with the Stars" to a member of the band Radiohead, here are 16 actors you might have missed in "Harry Potter":

Alfred Enoch has come a long way since his days playing Dean Thomas in "Harry Potter." Today, you can spot him as law student Wes Gibbins on "How to Get Away with Murder."

Scarlett Byrne kept company with fellow Slytherin Draco Malfoy as the sour Pansy Parkinson. Since then, she's starred in a different magical world as Nora Hildegard on "The Vampire Diaries," and can now be seen playing Lacey on "Mary + Jane."

Verne Troyer, who passed away in April, was the first of two actors to play Griphook the goblin in "Harry Potter," but you probably recognize him from his most famous role as Mini-Me in "Austin Powers."

"Wonder Woman" became a critical and commercial success in 2017, making over $800 million worldwide and scoring an impressive 92% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

That guaranteed that a sequel would be made, despite the underwhelming box office and critical reception of "Justice League," which also starred the superheroine.

To "Wonder Woman"'s advantage, it was mostly removed from the DC Extended Universe thanks to its period setting, and it seems the sequel will follow a similar path. 

It's been reported for some time that the untitled "Wonder Woman" sequel would be set in the Cold War-era 1980s, but a mysterious logo released last week by "Wonder Woman" executive producer and DC Entertainment president Geoff Johns further teased that idea. Director Patty Jenkins even updated her Twitter header with the image. This would jump the series forward decades from the first movie's 1917 World War I-setting.

But what else can we expect?

Below is everything we know so far about the "Wonder Woman" sequel:

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It's set for release on November 1, 2019.

Star Gal Gadot is returning to the title role.

Director Patty Jenkins is also returning for the sequel.

• A famous cartoonist has compared Zabivaka, the official 2018 FIFA World Cup mascot, to a Simpsons character who died after one episode.
• David Squires, The Guardian's satirical scribbler, says Zabivaka has "a bit of a Poochie vibe."
• What do you think?
• You can see all of Business Insider's World Cup coverage here.

The official mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup has just been compared to a minor character from hit animated television series The Simpsons.

The mascot, named Zabivaka, is a Russian word that means "the one who scores" and, according to the official FIFA website, it is "a very suitable name for this wolf who radiates fun, charm, and confidence."

Zabivaka is not the only cartoon four-legged cartoon who oozes confidence, and prominent cartoonist David Squires, renowned for his satirical scribbles for The Guardian, believes the World Cup mascot has "a bit of a Poochie vibe."

Eagle-eyed Simpsons fans will remember Poochie the Dog as a minor character who featured in "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" episode in season eight.

Homer Simpson provided the voice of Poochie but the character was so unpopular, the fictitious Itchy & Scratchy network received letters calling for Poochie's removal, so executives plotted the pup's death. Towards the end of the episode, viewers were told Poochie "died on his way back to his home planet."

Despite the character's demise, Poochie returned for a cameo in a later episode "The Tears of a Clone."

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