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This CEO just raised millions from investors including Mark Cuban to build a better YouTube without ads

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Jonathan Swerdlin Headshot

  • On Tuesday, an ad-free video-streaming platform called Portal was launched, competing with the likes of YouTube and Vimeo.
  • On Portal, creators are paid directly by viewers who like what they watch — ideally meaning creators have to hustle less for views, and focus instead on building relationships with their audience. 
  • Portal has raised $4.2 million in seed funding from investors including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
  • Swerdlin decries the practice of "demonetization," and says that allowing advertisers to dictate who is and isn't allowed to make money from their videos is tantamount to censorship.

When Radiohead famously released its “In Rainbows” album in 2007 and told fans to “pay what you want,” Jonathan Swerdlin forked over $50.

He was enamored by the radically different approach to payments. But to his disappointment, the model that helped Radiohead instantaneously earn $3 million upon the album's release never really caught on in the music business.

Swerdlin — who started his career in e-commerce, most recently helping grow a popular online women’s underwear company called THINX— couldn’t shake his fascination with Radiohead’s experiment or ignore the rise of micropayments on gaming platforms and in countries like China, where “tipping” for content from one’s favorite blogger, live-streamer or musician has become the norm.

On Tuesday, Swerdlin announced the launch of Portal, an ad-free video-streaming platform where creators are paid directly by viewers who like what they watch. 

For his ad-free video platform, which puts him in direct competition with the likes of YouTube and Vimeo, Swerdlin, Portal’s co-founder and CEO, has raised $4.2 million in seed funding from investors including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, of "Shark Tank" fame. 

“For the content creator, [Portal] gives them the ability to focus on value and investing in delivering something that matters to people rather than trying to churn something out every single day and game an algorithm,” Swerdlin told Business Insider in a recent interview.

Getting paid with Portal

Portal’s key differentiator from other video platforms, Swerdlin told Business Insider in a recent interview, is how creators are paid.

Similar to Radiohead’s “pay what you want” approach, Portal lets viewers “tip” creators for the videos they watch. Enjoy the content you consume, and you can leave a tip ranging from $0.10 all the way up to $100.

For multiple revenue streams, any creator on Portal can also set up monthly subscriptions for their channels, or enable a paywall for the individual videos they post. To make money on its end, Portal will eventually take a small percentage of the funds paid to creators. 

Swerdlin and his team — currently comprised of five engineers and “a small community team” — hope the shift away from an ad-based model (which compensates creators according to the sheer number of views a video receives) will increase the quality of content being produced.

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Ad-free means freedom to create

Another major upside to an ad-free model, Swerdlin explains, is that content creators don’t have to feel the need to create “advertiser-friendly” content designed not to offend deep-pocketed media buyers. 

"[Advertisers] should not be the authority on what it is that we see or don’t see,” Swerdlin explains. “That’s not what the Internet was built for. That’s a fail right there. But [advertising is] a multi-billion dollar business and because of that, it continues on.”

Swerdlin also decries the practice of "demonetization," where platforms like YouTube decide that some videos or channels are unsuitable for advertisers, and revoke their share of the ad revenue from that content.

While the idea is to tamp down on offensive videos — infamous conspiracy theorist channel Infowars was recently demonetized by YouTube — others have gotten caught in the crossfire. LGBTQIA video creators, in particular, have complained that they have been unfairly targeted by YouTube for demonetization. He says that Portal has already attracted a thriving community of LGBTQIA creators who felt jilted by its larger rivals. 

“Demonetization is censorship,” Swerdlin says. “When you take away [people’s] ability to earn money then you take away their ability to create content. It takes money and time and investment. You have to pay the bills.”

Notable creators that have been using Portal’s beta product for the past few months are social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk and the online news show, The Young Turks.

"The Young Turks has always believed in the ‘audience first’ approach to content creation and place great value on the direct relationship with our fans,” The Young Turks’ Chief Business Officer Steven Oh said in a statement. “We are excited to be on Portal to continue building that direct-to-consumer relationship."

A crazy idea takes shape

For Swerdlin, the launch of Portal has been two long years in the making.

“Everybody told me in the beginning that I was crazy. A lot of people didn’t realize that ads were a problem,” Swerdlin remembers. “It’s been really interesting and exciting for everybody to sober up and wake up to the problem.”

Read more:The CEO of Vimeo landed the job at 34 — and she learned a huge leadership lesson in her first 12 months at the top

As for the seemingly insurmountable battle of taking on a competitor like YouTube, which as of May had over 1.8 billion active users, Swerdlin says he’s confident that Portal’s micro-payments model will ultimately win out.

“People think like, ‘Oh, David and Goliath,' with platforms like Facebook and YouTube as the Goliath,” Swerdlin says. “But if you compare the models side-by-side and you look ten years from now, in ten years from now, our model will be the Goliath.”

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The Nintendo Switch's first full Pokémon games, 'Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!' and 'Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!' will introduce a new generation of players to the joys of 'Pokémon: Red and Blue'

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Pokemon Lets Go PikaBoo

Since the release of "Pokémon: Red and Blue" on the Game Boy in 1996, the Pokémon franchise has become iconic around the world, spawning countless spin-off games, an animated series and movies, a trading card craze, an on-stage musical, and most recently, a live action film.

And as Pokémon has gradually secured its place in our cultural memory, the video games have continued to add new layers to the franchise's rich world with generation after generation of new Pokémon. In the 22 years since the series began, the original 151 monsters in "Pokémon: Red, Blue and Yellow" have ballooned into a roster of more than 800 different species, with even more variations.

It's a lot to keep track of, even for those who have been fans of the series for years. The days of casually naming every Pokémon are long gone.

On Friday, November 16th, Nintendo will take a step back to the basics with the release of "Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!" and "Pokémon: Let's Go Eevee!"  The two games, which cost $60 (or $100 with a special controller), are the first games in the main Pokémon series to be released for the Nintendo Switch console, and they represent an effort to recapture the magic that enraptured the franchise's first generation of fans.

Here's what it's like to play the latest Pokémon games:

SEE ALSO: A 70-year-old Taiwanese man known as 'Uncle Pokémon' uses an outrageous setup to play 'Pokémon Go' on 11 different phones at once

Developed by the studio Game Freak, the new Pokémon titles come in two flavors: Pikachu and Evee.

The games are basically the same — the only difference is which Pokémon you customize to be your "partner" (each version also has about 10 to 15 exclusive Pokémon for you to catch).

The games return to the Kanto region of the first Pokémon games and retell the familiar story of "Pokémon: Red, Blue, and Yellow." The games can't be considered true remakes, but they bring a bevy of new features while retaining the simplicity of the original game.



"Pokémon Let's Go" is also designed as a starting point for a new generation of players introduced to the franchise by the "Pokémon Go" mobile game.

Let's Go" brings the gameplay back to the basics of "Red, Blue & Yellow," forsaking the increasingly layered role-playing elements of the newer "Pokémon" games. The result is a much simpler game, which may disappoint longtime fans, but it will make "Let's Go" much less intimidating for new players coming from the mobile game or kids who might be playing "Pokémon" for the first time.



"Let's Go" returns to the original Pokédex with 151 Pokémon, with a few surprises.

"Let's Go" chooses to stick with the original 151 Pokémon, which includes skipping popular evolutions that were introduced in later games, like Pichu. You'll start with either Pikachu or Eevee depending on which version of the game you buy, and several wild Pokémon are exclusive to each version, as has been the case in past Pokémon games.

The decision to include only the first generation of Pokémon is clearly weighted by nostalgia, but it also helps keep individual Pokémon from getting lost in the crowd of hundreds. "Let's Go" refreshes the old Pokémon by giving them access to a larger library of moves than they had in "Red, Blue and Yellow," making things less predictable and helping each Pokémon feel more unique.



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The author of 'Boy Erased' reveals what gay conversion therapy is really like — and how he survived it

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  • The new movie "Boy Erased" tells the true story of Garrard Conley— the son of a Baptist pastor who, after being outed to his parents at 19, was sent to a two-week-long "gay conversion therapy" program. 
  • Conley tells us what the experience was really like, and discussed his efforts to make the practice of conversion therapy on minors illegal. 
  • It is currently legal to practice conversion therapy on minors in 36 states. 
  • Conley was joined by his mother Martha, who experienced a change of heart while Garrard was in the conversion therapy program and removed him before it was complete. 

Following is a transcript of the video.

Victor Sykes in "Boy Erased": So, who's ready? Welcome to the Refuge Program! Come on!

Garrard Conley: I'm Garrard Conley. I'm the author of "Boy Erased," now a major motion picture. "Boy Erased" is the story of my going into conversion therapy after being outed to my parents and the psychological torture that I endured while I was there.

Victor Sykes in "Boy Erased": 
You cannot be born gay!

Garrard: Also, it's the story, I think, of my mom who takes me out of therapy and saves my life, and also has to go on her own journey of acceptance.

Martha Conley: I'm just here to try to stop conversion therapy because I wish I had done my homework before I took him instead of after I took him because it's a horrible thing and we need to get it stopped.

Garrard: Conversion therapy's taken many forms. It's been around since the 19th century, actually. In the 1950's and '60s, there was a hospital called St. Elizabeths Hospital outside of Washington, D.C. They performed lobotomies, they performed electroshock therapy, they had people in straitjackets. At this moment, 36 states do not have bans on conversion therapy for minors. The bigger battle, however, is that any religious organization can perform conversion therapy and charge for it currently, no matter what state you're in.

I mean, I had it pretty easy growing up. We moved to a place called Cherokee Village, Arkansas. We'd always been very much a church family. I'd always been told that being LGBTQ was not right and I don't think there were any exceptions to that. I think that, as I grew older, and I started to understand myself a lot more and my sexuality, it became obvious that I was on a crash course with these two ideologies.

Martha: Being married to a Baptist pastor and being raised the way I was, we believed exactly what the Bible said about homosexuality, and that's what I was taught and I just didn't question it because I think you don't tend to question things until it hits your family or someone that you love.

Garrard: I was actually in my first semester of college. Someone that I knew at the time raped me and he confessed to me that he'd also raped a 14-year-old boy. Right after he raped me, he confessed this to me. And I told some friends what he'd done and he found out that I'd told that. And so, as a preemptive move, he called my parents, called my mom specifically, because he really wanted to strike fear and it worked. And when I came home, Dad took me into his bedroom and said, like, "Can you explain to me what's going on?" And so I told him, "I think I'm gay."

Martha: First of all, we took him to the doctor and had his hormones checked, you know? That's how naive we were. Then we called the largest Southern Baptist church in Memphis and they said, "Oh yes, you're so lucky." "We have a unit right here in Memphis and it's called" "Love in Action, and they have an 84% cure rate." And I'm thinking, wow, you know? I didn't even know what conversion therapy was.

Garrard: We did one-on-one therapy sessions after I was outed for about six months. I went to a residential program. The main activity that we did was called a "Moral Inventory," and we were asked to write down every sexual fantasy or experience we'd ever had, and we would have to say it in front of everyone, like share that with everyone in the group. And then after that, they would give me Bible verses to sort of combat those thoughts that I'd had. I knew that if I didn't do this, I would lose my family, my faith, perhaps, my community.

By the end of the second week, I was asked to do this exercise asking me to imagine my father sitting there, and basically say that I hated him. And I remember thinking to myself, these are Christians who are saying that in order to be cured, I have to hate someone not love someone. And Christ is all about love.

Graham Flanagan: How much were you paying for this?

Martha: It was like $3,200.

Garrard: For just a really short period of time.

Martha: And then we also had to stay in a hotel for two weeks.

Garrard: But his quote for you, for me going out for a year, for doing years of therapy, how much was that?

Martha: Well, it was like $21,000.

Victor Sykes in "Boy Erased": Now this may be the toughest, but most rewarding 12 days that many of you will ever face.

Martha: We later found out that all the leaders, I mean none of them had more than a high school education. Within a week, they started talking to me about, "Oh he's not following the rules. He's not doing his homework right. I think you need to put him in the three-month program and then you need to think about keeping him out of school next year."

That was just too quick. It just got so phony to me. And they were, like, trying to pressure me into signing him up, and he hadn't even been there a week yet.

Victor Sykes in "Boy Erased": So, who's ready?

Garrard: Victor Sykes in the film is based off of John Smid, who ran Love in Action for many years.

Martha: 22.

Garrard: 22 years. And after a while, I don't know if it's because of the negative press, or if it's because it got to his conscience, but he quit. He stepped down. And once he stepped down, he began a slow journey of realizing that it was not ever working, that he was selling a lie. And then, he married his now-husband, and lives in Paris, Texas making furniture.

[Smid has since become an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights.]

Martha: It just did such damage to me as well, because of the guilt I feel for taking him there. You do it because you think you're saving your child, and you love your child. I don't want other parents to have to go through the guilt that I've had to go through for 14 years.

Garrard: I think the greatest value for this film is its ability to show a roadmap for people who are around LGBTQ youth to do better, and to act better, and to become better people through it. And that's what I hope the movie does.

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The new 'Detective Pikachu' movie trailer features cute and creepy 'real-life' versions of Pokémon — here they all are

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Warner Bros. Pictures recently released the first trailer for the upcoming "Detective Pikachu" movie — starring no less than "Deadpool's" Ryan Reynolds —  giving us our first look at how the creatures will be brought to life alongside live actors.

The two minute trailer is chock full of hidden Pokémon and fun nods to the games that inspired the film.

In "Detective Pikachu" and the Pokémon games, Pokémon live alongside humans in place of animals, making them a common sight on city streets and in nature.

But with more than 800 Pokémon to keep track of, recognizing all of them can be a chore. Luckily we've done the extra work to slow the trailer down and see just how many were brought to life in the trailer. I counted no less than 20 live Pokémon, and even more can be seen on ads and billboards in the background. Here they are, in the order they appear.

Scene 1 - Ryme City

The trailer's opening seconds feature more Pokémon than any other scene as we're introduced to Ryme City, a location lifted straight from the "Detective Pikachu" game. While several of the flying Pokémon can't be clearly identified, I counted at least 8 monsters in this scene alone.



Flabébé is the floating flower Pokémon in the upper right hand corner of that shot.



Comfey spins through the sky as well.



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This hatmaker is beloved by celebrities like Lady Gaga and Pharrell — here's why one of his custom hats can cost $1,000

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  • Nick Fouquet is a Venice Beach hatmaker with a clientele list that includes celebrities like Lady Gaga and Pharrell Williams.
  • His hats can sell for up to $1,000 each because of the high-quality materials and intensive process it takes to make them.
  • Fouquet told us that hatmakers often keep their processes a secret, but he gave us an inside look into how he makes his masterpieces — including the part of the process where he sets the hats on fire.

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10 reasons you should buy a Nintendo Switch instead of the PlayStation 4 (NTDOY, SNE)

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nintendo switch vs playstation 4

You want to buy a modern video game console, and you have $300 to play with. What do you buy?

For $300, you can buy a Nintendo Switch or a PlayStation 4— both retail for exactly $300 before taxes, and offer their own unique video game experiences.

If you're on the fence, though, here are 10 reasons you should buy a Nintendo Switch instead of the PlayStation 4:

SEE ALSO: 9 reasons you should buy the iPhone XR instead of an iPhone XS or XS Max

1. The Nintendo Switch can be played on your TV like a traditional game console, but it can also be taken anywhere. The PlayStation 4 must be connected to a power source and a TV to play games.



2. The Nintendo Switch boots up and powers down much faster than the PlayStation 4.

This might seem like a small detail, but when you're turning a game console on hundreds of times throughout the course of its life, every second counts. And the Nintendo Switch can boot up much faster than the PlayStation 4.

The Nintendo Switch takes just under 4 seconds to fully boot up, from completely powered off to on and playing from where you left off.

The PlayStation 4, on the other hand, takes about 35 seconds to fully boot up from Rest Mode so you can jump back into that game you were playing. If you have it fully turned off, and not just asleep, the PlayStation 4 takes even longer to get going.

The startup difference is significant, and it makes the Nintendo Switch act and feel more like a modern gaming console.



3. There are more ways to play the Nintendo Switch than the PlayStation 4.

With the Nintendo Switch, you have at least seven different ways to play:

— Holding two Joy-Con controllers, one in each hand

— Using one Joy-Con as a controller

— Playing with the two Joy-Cons in the Grip handheld accessory

— Purchasing and using the Pro controller

— Putting the Joy-Con on the Switch console and playing it as a handheld

— Playing the Nintendo Switch on your TV

— Playing the Nintendo Switch on your tabletop, thanks to its kickstand

The PlayStation 4, on the other hand, can only be played on a TV, and has just a handful of input options, including the default DualShock 4 controller, the PlayStation Move hand controllers, and the PlayStation VR headset. And suffice it to say, those PlayStation 4 accessories are pricey and not at all portable. 



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This guy followed 'Red Dead Redemption 2' characters for a full day and discovered just how detailed the game really is

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red dead redemption 2

"Red Dead Redemption 2," out now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is one of the most detailed video games ever developed.

Just how detailed is the game exactly?

While there are tons of activities and storylines to explore in "Red Dead Redemption 2," Joe from the YouTube gaming channel DefendTheHouse recently decided to spend a full day in the game just following around a handful of non-playable characters, or NPCs, and nothing more.

The results are fascinating. These characters hardly play a role in the game, yet they still have unique schedules and characteristics.

Take a look at what happens when you follow random people around in "Red Dead Redemption 2" all day:

SEE ALSO: The 7 most incredible things I've seen in 'Red Dead Redemption 2,' the huge new blockbuster game from the makers of 'Grand Theft Auto'

Here's our first NPC. Let's call him Shepherd. Around 8 a.m., Shepherd heads off to work.



He tends to sheep at the farm between 8:30 a.m. and noon.



Around 12:30 p.m., Shepherd moves bags of feed to the farm for the pigs, sheep, and goats.



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Inside the unique partnership that helped 'A Star Is Born' soar at the box office by targeting music fans and live events

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A Star Is Born Warner Bros

  • Live Nation Productions is an arm of Live Nation Entertainment, the company responsible for some of the country's biggest live concerts.
  • Known for financing documentaries like "Can't Stop Won't Stop," which looks inside Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records empire, and Netflix's "Gaga: Five Foot Two," about Lady Gaga, it found major clout when it got attached to "A Star Is Born."
  • Live Nation Productions President Heather Parry talked to Business Insider about the unique way the company helped the movie get noticed by concertgoers.

Live Nation Entertainment is known best for putting on many of the biggest music concerts in the country, but its production arm is beginning to gain respect, too.

Heather Parry, president of Live Nation Productions, has tenaciously built the company in just under three years into a destination for artists who want to make work that goes beyond glossy visual marketing. This has led to Live Nation Productions getting on the ground floor for documentaries like "Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" and Netflix's "Gaga: Five Foot Two."

But what brought the company an instant jolt of clout in Hollywood was Parry jumping on the most recent remake of "A Star Is Born."

Parry, who has a thick Rolodex thanks to her years at MTV and decade running Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production company, began working her connections back when Clint Eastwood was still attached to direct and Beyoncé was in talks to star in the lead role.

"I was at a barbecue at Joel Silver's house, and Greg Silverman, who was running production at Warner Bros. at the time, was there, and I started talking to him about it," Parry told Business Insider. "I really wanted to see if Live Nation could be involved."

What Silverman, or really any executive at any studio, didn't realize was how much Live Nation was connected to artists and music fans.

Along with Live Nation Entertainment owning over 100 music festivals and venues, as well as owning the huge ticket-sales and distribution company Ticketmaster, Live Nation also houses the managers of some of the biggest acts on the planet.

"Where I sit, on one side of me is the manager of Miley Cyrus and on the other is [the one] who manages Lady Gaga. It's a good place to be sitting," Parry said with a laugh.

Parry didn't lock things down at the barbecue (Silverman was ousted at Warner Bros. months later), but she wasn't close to giving up.

A Star Is Born 2 Warner BrosThe next few years passed with "A Star is Born" still trying to get off the ground, and in that time, Parry began conversations with Bradley Cooper's agent, then Cooper himself (who would eventually star in and direct the movie), as well as more executives at Warner Bros., where she laid out what Live Nation could provide the movie — posters of the movie at music festivals; the trailer playing before the biggest acts come onstage; dedicated email blasts thanks to Ticketmaster.

The momentum was building, but what really clinched it, Parry said, was a chance encounter with "A Star Is Born" producer Bill Gerber at a party for a Martha Stewart book.

Parry said that while everyone gravitated toward Stewart to get her to sign a copy of their book, she was at the other side of the room with Gerber, talking about the movie.

"Billy came back around after I met with Warner Bros., and he said, 'Let's go,'" Parry recalled.

Live Nation came on to produce the movie in a hybrid role of putting in financing while also providing unique marketing to promote its release.

Read more:All of the "A Star Is Born" movies ranked from worst to best

By the time Live Nation came onboard, "A Star Is Born" was already in production with Lady Gaga as the lead opposite Cooper. So what Parry focused on was how to get the word out to music lovers.

Over the summer, if you went to a well-known concert, you probably saw big "A Star Is Born" posters at the venue. And as the trailer became a meme sensation, it also showed in front of thousands at events like Lollapalooza and Country LakeShake.

And then Ticketmaster worked its magic.

"Ticketmaster has something like 180 million emails, so I got them to send me everyone who bought tickets to Gaga's last tour and everyone who is buying her Vegas residency," Parry said. "So when the trailer was sent out, you really targeted her authentic fans. When I worked for Sandler, we dreamt for this kind of data."

And in tracking down the "authentic fan," Parry didn't stop there. She spread the net to the fans of others in the movie, like those who bought tickets to Dave Chappelle's recent comedy shows. They even targeted Bruno Mars fans. Though he's not in the movie, he wrote the hit "Uptown Funk" with Mark Ronson, who cowrote the movie's hit song "Shallow."

Heather Parry Vivien Killilea Getty finalNow on top of bankable stars, a trailer people couldn't stop making memes about, and great reviews from critics, Live Nation Productions made sure the movie was saturated throughout the live-event community. That's a kind of direct marketing that many studios hunger for but are rarely able to get.

It's all led to "A Star Is Born" having huge box-office success. Made for $36 million, it's earned over $323 million worldwide to date. That's been a shocking surprise to many — except Parry.

"I had a pretty good feeling," she said of the movie's success. "It's Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper!"

Looking forward, Parry is very busy. She said Live Nation has five documentaries and a docuseries in production and may branch out to competition shows and music specials. But despite being on a huge success like "A Star Is Born," the mission doesn't change. "Make films the way the artists wanted to make them," Parry said.

"A year from now, if we've done something else outside the box, that's what makes me the most proud and happy," she said.

SEE ALSO: Netflix's 'The Haunting of Hill House' actor pointed out a disturbing clue about the fate of the show's characters

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7 law-abiding citizens went undercover for 2 months at an Arizona jail — and learned the disturbing reality of life behind bars

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60 days in brooke

  • "60 Days In" is a documentary series that follows seven undercover inmates at a jail in Pinal County, Arizona.
  • The undercover inmates — all law-abiding citizens — were booked under fake charges and false identities.
  • They were exposed to brutal violence, racism, drug use, and harassment throughout their 60 days in jail.

Arizona's Pinal County Adult Detention Center has a history of violence.

In 2016, two inmates were caught on camera brutally attacking a jail guard. Six weeks later, two inmates stabbed another guard 21 times with a homemade shank, nearly killing him.

The jail sounds like the last place anyone would want to spend a night — let alone two full months.

But that's exactly what seven law-abiding citizens did on the A&E documentary series "60 Days In."

The show, the fifth season of which premieres in January, follows the participants' experiences as undercover inmates at an Arizona jail.

Read more:The most shocking moments witnessed by undercover inmates on "60 Days In" 

The volunteers — a diverse group that includes a real estate agent, a chaplain, a police officer, and an Army veteran — were booked on fake charges and assumed false identities during their stays at the Pinal County jail in Florence, Arizona.

The undercover inmates lived among the jail's 600-inmate population without other inmates or corrections officers learning their secret. Only Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and a small handful of administrators were in on the ruse — the rest of the jail's workforce was told the show was a documentary about jails on the US-Mexico border.

Each of the undercover inmates was tasked with finding out information about a specific aspect of life in jail, including gang life, drug culture, and jail operations. They reported their findings to Lamb at the end of their two-month stint.

Previous seasons of "60 Days In" took place at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail and southern Indiana's Clark County Jail. Lamb said he wanted to bring the program to his Arizona jail in an effort to increase transparency and show people what life behind bars is really like.

"When this opportunity presented itself, we saw an opportunity to really get an inside look at our facility, and show the people of our county as well what kind of facility we run, and be able to try and address issues that we thought we were having in the facility," Lamb told Business Insider.

Throughout the course of the show, the participants are exposed to rampant violence, racism, drug use, and harassment from other inmates. 

"Being in jail is a nightmare. It is just hell," one of the undercover volunteers, a real estate agent named Brooke, told Business Insider. "I think people that are out doing crimes, they don't know what they're signing up for."

60 days in

In the men's section of the jail, the volunteers were shocked to learn how big a role race played in everyday life. Within moments of arriving in their units, the volunteers were greeted by members of their respective races, who explained to them where members of each race slept, ate, and used the bathroom.

"The politics of jail is you stick with your own kind," a participant named Abner, a chaplain from New York, said on the show. "You have to follow your race, your people, and the rules."

In one early episode, the inmates learned that even haircuts are rife with racial tension. When Abner, who is Latino, tried to use the jail-issued hair clippers, he was brusquely informed that white inmates get their hair cut first.

"I know in my mind this is about power and control," he said.

Drug use is another frequent topic of concern on the show. Several participants reported that inmates at the Pinal County jail would frequently smuggle drugs inside their body cavities, while other inmates resorted to unusual and dangerous homemade drugs.

"One woman, she was in a cell a few doors down, she was literally snorting coffee grounds to try to get a high," Brooke told Business Insider.

Lamb said after filming wrapped up, a number of changes were made based on the information he got from the undercover participants. For example, one of the volunteers clued him in to a scheme some of the inmates were using to pass notes, or "kites," from one section of the jail to the other.

According to Lamb, the inmates would sneak the notes in between trays of food, which would then be delivered to other units by trustees, the group of inmates who distribute food and perform other tasks. Lamb said the inmates knew they could get away with it because they had studied the "methodical" way guards would stack the trays.

"A lot of these people, they're very intelligent, and they have nothing else to do all day but try to figure this out, try to get one over on us," Lamb told Business Insider. "And they're very good at it. Some of them are very good."

The fifth season of "60 Days In" was filmed in early 2018, according to an A&E representative. Its first episode premieres January 3 at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on A&E.

Watch a preview of "60 Days In" below:

SEE ALSO: 7 undercover inmates spent 2 months in jail — here are the most outrageous things they witnessed

DON'T MISS: Regular people who went undercover in jail uncovered 13 'ingenious' life hacks inmates use to survive life behind bars

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NOW WATCH: Why violence in jail is 'something of a necessity,' according to an undercover inmate

Silicon Valley has had a tough 3 months — here are the top tech executives who won and lost big (AMZN, FB, AAPL, INTC, AMD, SNAP, GOOGL, NFLX, DBX, ROKU)

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tim cook

The third quarter was a tough one in the tech business.

Scandalsabounded. Many companies saw their sales growth slow or user numbers falter. Stocks that once seemed to defy gravity got knocked down. And the president of the United States made a sport out of publicly attacking many companies and executives in the industry.

Whether at startups or public companies, tech executives were challenged to show their mettle. Some provided a steady hand at the wheel and reaped the rewards of a prescient plan of action; others reeled, took cover, or acted out. Some were hapless victims of circumstance; others suffered from self-inflicted damage.

Here are some of the notable winners and loser in the third quarter:

SEE ALSO: Amazon has spooked its investors — these 4 charts show why its growth is slowing

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WINNER: Kelly Bennett, Netflix's chief marketing officer

As the head of Netflix's marketing efforts, it's Kelly Bennett's responsibility to get consumers excited about the company's shows and movies and to convince more people to sign up. He seems to have done a spectacular job in the third quarter. Netflix added nearly 7 million subscribers in the period, which was about 2 million more than Wall Street was expecting.

That surge helped the company post a profit that blew through analysts' projections, which boosted Netflix's shares as much as 15% immediately after the report.

But Netflix saw the benefits of Bennett's marketing efforts elsewhere. Thanks in part to his promotions, the company earned 23 Emmy awards in September, tying HBO for the most of any network.



LOSER: Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer

If another company had sold fewer of its products than Wall Street was expecting, the management team might talk about how it would increase marketing, cut prices, or revamp products to rekindle sales. Not Apple.

After the company sold fewer iPhones than analysts had expected in its fiscal first quarter, chief financial officer Luca Maestri announced on Apple's earnings call that he would solve the problem by no longer releasing unit-sales numbers for its smartphones or any other products.

Maestri rationalized the decision by saying that unit sales weren't really "representative" of the strength of Apple's business. But he didn't offer to replace that information with other data that might be more representative.

The net effect: Apple shareholders will know less about their company. Investors — already unhappy with the disappointing sales numbers and a weaker-than-expected outlook for the fourth quarter — expressed their displeasure that Maestri was curtailing their information by sending Apple's shares even lower than they were before the announcement.



WINNER: Bob Swan, Intel's interim CEO

When Brian Krzanich was forced out suddenly in June as Intel's CEO, the company handed the reins — at least for the time being — to Bob Swan. In his first full quarter running the company, Swan, who also serves as the chipmaker's CFO, showed he could provide a steady hand.

Intel's third-quarter revenue and profit both topped Wall Street's expectations, and it offered better-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter to boot. Investors cheered, sending Intel's stock up 6% after the report. Not bad for an interim CEO.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Which mini retro game console is right for you: NES Classic, Super NES Classic, or PlayStation Classic?

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NES Classic Edition, Super NES Classic Edition, PlayStation 1 Classic

Which adorable little console will you take home this holiday? That's the question that Nintendo and Sony are asking shoppers this year with their triple threat of nostalgia-laced retro console offerings.

Perhaps you've already got your hands on the two tiny Nintendo consoles, and are simply looking to complete the retro collection with Sony's upcoming PlayStation Classic? Or maybe you've yet to purchase any of these delightfully petite little guys!

Whatever the situation, we've got the full rundown on all three right here:

SEE ALSO: A $100 mini version of the original PlayStation is on the way with 20 games packed in — here are the games included

First things first: Some universal qualities about all of these retro consoles that you should expect across the board.

  1. Every console on this list is small — as in "so small it literally fits in your hand."
  2. Every console on this list comes with games built-in — you don't buy cartridges or discs and put them inside, as you would with the original versions of each. 
  3. More to the point: None of the consoles below will even read cartridges and discs.
  4. None of the consoles below work with original hardware, like gamepads or AC adapters or anything else. They all use updated lookalikes of original hardware that aren't compatible with stuff from 20 - 30 years ago.
  5. Each console has a static, unchanging list of games packed in.  You can't add more.
  6. None of these consoles cost over $100.

All that said, let's get down to business!



1. NES Classic Edition — a miniaturized version of the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

Over 30 years ago, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 2018, it re-released a miniature, digital version of the classic console: the NES Classic Edition (seen above).

The adorable little box is reminiscent of the original NES from 1985, but it's far smaller — as seen above, it fits in the palm of your hand.

The NES Classic Edition originally launched in late 2016, quickly selling out and becoming a hot commodity. Nintendo discontinued the console a few months later, much to the chagrin of fans everywhere. Then, earlier this year, Nintendo re-released the mini console — it's now kept in ongoing production, and is relatively easy to find in stores.



At just $60, the NES Classic Edition is in impulse-buy territory.

Price: $60

What's in the box:

-The console itself
-One wired NES-style gamepad
-One HDMI cable
-One AC power adapter

Features:

-30 classic NES games
-Save states (the ability to pause and save any game at any time)
-Customizable borders and different screen resolution options (NES games weren't meant for large, high-definition TVs)

Looking for even more? Here's a full rundown on the NES Classic Edition!



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This YouTuber with over 2.7 million followers is making the beauty industry more inclusive

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  • Tired of the lack of diversity in the beauty industry and YouTube community, Jackie Aina started her own channel in 2009.
  • She now has over 2.7 million followers on the platform, which she has often used to talk about the need for inclusivity in makeup.
  • This year, she partnered with the brand Too Faced Cosmetics to expand their Born This Way foundation line.
  • In the video above, we caught up with Aina in New York City to chat about the importance of diversity in beauty and the progress she's seen since she started nine years ago.

Following is a transcript of the video:

Jackie Aina: A big part of my channel has always been empowering women of color. It's your girl Jackie Aina. Thank you so much for joining me on today's video.

[Jackie Jackie Jackie Jackie...]

I would go to makeup counters and one, they'd be frantic. "Oh my God, the black girl's here. What do we do?" Or they would just like, "Oh no, we don't have anything for you." Or "I wouldn't do that on your complexion." It was always like being the other. I always felt like I was an 'other' box at the makeup counter.

And it was so annoying and so frustrating that I was like, "You know what, I'm just gonna do this stuff myself and then I'll just show people how to do it on YouTube." I'm gonna apply that just directly on my eyelid.

People were like "Oh my god, like who's this black girl? This dark-skinned girl, like she wears color, she wears nude lips, she wears all the trends that we never see on people that look like us," you know.

Maybe everyone's gonna have a different opinion on this, but you have to get to where you wanna be first before you can really shake the table, right? So I would talk about it, I was very vocal, but also very mindful. I still wanna have a relationship with brands. I still wanna grow my platform. And the day that I get untouchable basically is when you'll really hear it from me. That's when I will really like use my platform in the way that I really want to, you know.

[Just don't appreciate the blatant erasure of like a whole spectrum of people. Like it doesn't even look like they tried.]

I believe if you're gonna for example, critique brands or you know, talk about the negatives, I think you should also be uplifting black-owned businesses, you know, talking about other minority-owned businesses, you know.

[I'm going to be doing a full face using Muslim-owned beauty brands.]

To me it's like, I have to kinda sandwich the positive with the negative because ultimately that's the goal is to have more people in positions that look like me, you know, filling seats, working for brands, becoming influencers themselves, being voices that need to be heard, starting businesses.

I don't want to call out everything. I don't feel like I need to be the attack dog of every single incident that takes place online, you know. It's also something that a lot of black women can relate to because people look to us to kind of be like the savior of everything, and it's like this isn't something that we can carry on our backs all the time. Like, we need to collectively as a community, be able to say "Look, this is not okay, this is wrong."

With respect to the conversation of diversity, this is what's so ironic about the topic now because a lot of people like to say that I kind of talk about diversity as like a marketing ploy, and I'm like, if you only knew, five, even six, not that long ago, I was the one that was being told "Don't talk about that, it's too niche, it's too specific, white people can't relate to that. Lighter people can't relate to that. Asian people can't relate to that." These are things that brands will tell me. I was turned down by management companies because they wouldn't want to take on my brand, because they just didn't see the vision. They just didn't see the vision. It's like, "what's with this diversity thing?" like you know.

[Today we're going to be talking about my favorite foundation line for women of color.]

Of course there's more to talk about than just that. That's not the only thing that my platform is about, but the struggles of colorism don't just affect the black community. They affect the Latin community. They affect Asian communities. They affect Natives. It's something that a lot of people can relate to, as it relates to makeup. Mind you, this is still a makeup channel. So it's like, you know, even though you don't wear the same foundation as me. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy my videos.

[You can handle the dew. Like I don't think I'm ready for this jelly. Now it does, however.]

It's crazy seeing now the people that look like me are finally getting a chance to break those glass ceilings and actually grow past a certain number on YouTube. Whereas five years ago, it was not happening. I think that a lot of the work and vocalizing that people of color have done on YouTube and social media in general, like I see viral tweets on Twitter all the time of people being like "This is unacceptable" from these brands, you know with these foundation shade ranges, and just their diversity and their brands in general.

All it takes is one Instagram post for a brand to show their new launch, and God forbid it doesn't run darker than like, you know, tan. People will come for them. And brands see that and they've come to understand "Like, okay, we can't we can't let this slide anymore. We need to make more people visible." And I'm not even just talking about as it relates to color. I mean this could also relate to having Muslims in your campaign. You know, I love what Fenty did with having you know, women actually in hijabs in their campaigns. Seeing someone that looks like you is powerful. That to me is a direct reflection of like I'm accepted, I am beautiful. I'm worthy of being seen.

I actually got reached out by Jerrod Blandino, who at the time was the owner of Too Faced, 'cause now it's an Estee brand. He sat me down in a office with like all his team. And basically was like, "We have not been doing very good justice to a particular community with our foundations and we want you to expand the Born This Way line and like be the face of it." And I was like "Wow." At that time, no one had ever done a campaign like that. You know, it really took me aback because I think it also reminded me of those earlier days in my career of hearing that "This diversity thing is going to get you nowhere." And so it was kind of like a full circle moment for me.

[It's finally here. Oh my god.]

And I'm so glad that now the conversation has gone from "Ugh don't talk about that diversity thing anymore," to now like, everybody's stepping it up.

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'Good Morning America' host Robin Roberts wakes up every day at 3:15 a.m., eats vitamin gummies instead of breakfast, and never drinks coffee

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Robin Roberts

  • Robin Roberts starts her morning at 3:15 a.m. with a prayer, a meditation, television news, and gummy vitamins. 
  • Roberts' day starts early, but her morning routine is pretty different from what you might see promoted by CEOs and productivity gurus. 
  • It shows that a great morning routine is one that works for you. 

There are early birds, and then there's Robin Roberts.

The face of ABC's "Good Morning America" wakes up at 3:15 a.m., as she recently shared with New York Magazine's The Cut

About 15 minutes after waking up, Roberts watches television news for about 10 minutes. "Especially nowadays, by the time you go to bed and by the time you wake up, who knows what has happened," she told The Cut.

Then, she meditates for 20 minutes, followed by deep breathing. That's followed by more television news and a shower.

And she doesn't have coffee or eat breakfast either — just kombucha, water, and gummy vitamins. "I can't eat in the morning," she said. 

Before heading out for the day, Roberts says this prayer: "The light of God surrounds me, the love of God unfolds me, the power of God protects me, the presence of God watches over me; wherever I am, God is."

By 5 a.m., she's at work. 

Read more:How to design the ideal morning routine if you're a night owl

Roberts' routine suggests that not all morning routines need the onslaught of meditation, exercise, journaling, intention setting, a spinach-egg-white omelet, and so on.

We typically think of a good morning routine as consisting of a six-mile run (like Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey), keeping up with Asian and European bond markets while on the elliptical ("Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary), or waking with the sun for breakfast (Virgin Group founder and chairman Richard Branson). 

But Roberts' routine suggests what many successful people already know — that you need to make a morning routine that works for you. As writer Benjamin Spall found when interviewing more than 300 highly successful people on their morning routines, you need to find a "sweet spot" that fits your body, your career, and your other responsibilities. 

As for Roberts, the highlight of her morning comes at 7 a.m. — when "Good Morning America" starts. 

"It is the best feeling to say 'Good morning, America' every day," Roberts told The Cut. "I mean that sincerely. It's a privilege, just getting to put a smile on people's faces."

Read the full story on The Cut »

SEE ALSO: A man who asked 300 successful people about their morning routines found early risers aren't nearly as intense as we're led to believe

DON'T MISS: Melissa McCarthy makes $12 million a year, wakes up at 4:30 a.m., and doesn't use her phone on the weekends

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Here are the nominees for the best video games of the year at The Game Awards — and anyone can vote for the final winners

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Red Dead Redemption 2

The Game Awards has revealed this year's batch nominees — and it will let fans vote to decide the winners across more than 20 categories.

Fans can vote now for their picks at TheGameAwards.com, and via Twitter direct message, Facebook Messenger, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and the official The Game Awards Discord server.

Rockstar Games' "Red Dead Redemption 2" and Sony's "God of War" lead the pack with eight nominations each, including "Game of the Year" and "Best Narrative." Other Game of the Year contenders include Marvel’s Spider-Man (7 nominations), "Assassin’s Creed Odyssey" ( 4 nominations) and the indie game hit "Celeste" (4 nominations). Categories like Best Independent Game, Best Student Game and Best VR/AR Game also make space for some lesser- known titles to shine.

The Game Awards will name the winners and celebrate the nominees on Thursday, December 6 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The awards show will be streamed at 9 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. PST on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and several other streaming platforms.

First established in 2014, The Game Awards advisory board includes executives from a dozen major gaming companies, including Xbox, Nintendo, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Valve, and Tencent.

Here's the list of nominees:

SEE ALSO: Here are the 16 biggest video games launching this holiday, from an all-new ‘Fallout’ to the hotly-anticipated ‘Red Dead Redemption 2'

Game of the Year

"Assassin’s Creed Odyssey" (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)

"Celeste "(Matt Makes Games)

"God of War (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)

"Marvel’s Spider-Man" (Insomniac Games / SIE)

"Monster Hunter: World" (Capcom)

"Red Dead Redemption 2" (Rockstar Games)



Best Ongoing Game

"Destiny 2" (Bungie / Activision)

"Fortnite" (Epic Games)

"No Man’s Sky" (Hello Games)

"Overwatch" (Blizzard)

"Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege" (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)



Best Game Direction

"A Way Out" (Hazelight Studios / EA)

"Detroit: Become Human" (Quantic Dream / SIE)

"God of War" (Sony Santa Monica / SIE)

"Marvel’s Spider-Man" (Insomniac Games / SIE)

"Red Dead Redemption 2" (Rockstar Games)



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Netflix is testing a mobile-only subscription plan that costs half the price

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black mirror future tech trends 3

  • Netflix is testing a mobile-only, half-priced subscription plan in countries like Malaysia.
  • Netflix said in a statement to USA Today, "we are testing to understand consumer interest in a mobile-only plan in some countries."
  • Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told Bloomberg last week that the company would test power-priced subscriptions to help boost sales.
  • But Netflix could actually increase prices in other markets, too, and analysts predicted it could happen within the next year.

 

For Netflix users who prefer watching on the go, the streaming giant is testing a plan for you.

Malaysian news-site The Star Online first reported that Netflix is testing a mobile-only subscription plan that costs just $4, half the price of a standard plan there. Netflix confirmed the test to TechCrunch and then USA Today in a statement. As of now, the plan isn't being tested in the US, and may never fully launch. 

"We are always looking for ways to make Netflix more enjoyable and more accessible to people all over the world," Netflix told USA Today. "In this case, we are testing to understand consumer interest in a mobile-only plan in some countries. Generally, we try out lots of new ideas at any given time, and they can vary in how long they last and who sees them. We may not ever roll out the features or elements included in a test."

READ MORE: Netflix revealed 17 new Asian originals meant kickstart growth in the region

Even if the low-cost, mobile-only plan never sees the light of day, it falls in line with comments Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made to Bloomberg last week. Hastings said Netflix would test lower-priced plans in some markets to boost sales, particularly in Asia where the company also recently announced 17 new original shows and movies to stimulate growth in the region.

“Leaving prices where they are, we are a very premium service,” Netflix’s vice president of product Todd Yellin told Bloomberg.

But that doesn't mean that Netflix wouldn't increase prices in other markets, and it could do it sooner rather than later.

Analysts at Piper Jaffray surveyed over 1,100 Netflix users in a report released Monday and found that the majority think that content on the service has improved in the last year, and they would be willing to pay 40% more for their subscription today. Analysts predicted that Netflix could increase prices within the next year.

SEE ALSO: Wall Street analysts expect Netflix to raise prices soon — and say US subscribers would be willing to pay a lot more

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The 3 biggest games on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch this holiday season

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Super Smash Bros Ultimate Mario

Forget about "Fortnite"— a massive new Nintendo game with dozens of Nintendo's most iconic characters beating each other senseless is just over the horizon. And it's only available on Nintendo's Switch.

Though there are plenty of games on all three major game consoles this holiday, a few blockbusters are exclusive to each. Starting with "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," we've put together the three heavy-hitter exclusive games for Sony's PlayStation 4, Microsoft's Xbox One, and Nintendo's Switch console this holiday season.

SEE ALSO: This is the perfect year to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One — they're both dropping to their lowest prices ever

1. "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" on the Nintendo Switch

The biggest Nintendo game of the year still hasn't arrived yet. "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is expected to launch on December 7 for the Nintendo Switch — the biggest entry yet in the decades-old "Super Smash Bros." fighting game franchise.

For those unfamiliar, "Smash Bros." is all about beating up some of video game history's most iconic characters. Want Mario to duke it out with Sonic the Hedgehog? Or Solid Snake to take on Mega Man? "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is the game you've been waiting for.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Nintendo game without a twist: In the case of "Smash Bros.," that twist comes in the form of simultaneous multiplayer brawling. Fights aren't head-to-head unless you specifically choose them to be — up to eight players can battle for supremacy in a single round of the latest "Smash Bros."

Better still: The latest entry in the series is promising the largest roster of playable characters ever. In reality, that means over 70 playable characters



Check out "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" in action right here:

Youtube Embed:
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Width: 800px
Height: 450px



2. "Forza Horizon 4" on the Xbox One/Xbox One X

Somewhere between racing giant trucks through a snowstorm and completing the "Forza Horizon 4" version of the end of the first "Halo" game, I realized how ridiculously versatile the series has become.

If you're interested in drag racing, "Horizon" has that. If you're interested in rally, or drifting, or street, "Horizon" also has all that. If you just want to smash the gas and the brakes in very pretty cars, "Horizon" is here for you.

"Forza Horizon 4" is the only racing game I've ever played that so brilliantly straddles the line between accessibility and depth. Whether you've never played a game or you've got a racing wheel setup, "Horizon" has you covered.

Check out our review of the game right here.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

An Arizona couple will have to pay Nintendo over $12 million for running websites that offered free downloads of classic video games

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Nintendo (thank you)

  • Nintendo of America was recently awarded a $12.23 million dollar judgement in federal court against a married Arizona couple accused of copyright infringement.
  • Jacob and Cristian Mathias allegedly acknowledged they operated websites that distributed free, unofficial copies of Nintendo video games along with software that emulates Nintendo consoles.
  • The websites at the center of the lawsuit, LoveROMs.com and LoveRETRO.co, offered free games to more than 17 million visitors per month.
  • The pair reportedly agreed to the judgement rather than face a lengthy court battle and even more potential damages owed to Nintendo.

A married Arizona couple will be responsible for paying $12.23 million dollars to Nintendo of America after being accused of copyright infringement in federal court.

In July, Nintendo filed a complaint against Jacob Mathias and Mathias Designs LLC in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, accusing the two of operating the websites LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co, both of which distributed unauthorized downloads of Nintendo video games and software.

According to court documents obtained by TorrentFreak, Jacob's wife, Cristian Mathias, was later named and added to the complaint following the original lawsuit' filing.

Though the site was taken offline shortly after the complaint was filed, LoveROMS was one of the most popular emulation websites on the internet, bringing in 17 million visitors a month, according to the court documents cited by TorrentFreak. The site offered unofficial downloads for hundreds of retro video games from Nintendo and other publishers, along with emulation software to make the games playable on a computer.

According to the report, Nintendo's original complaint suggested that Mathias Designs should be responsible for paying $150,000 per Nintendo game hosted on the site, and $2,000,000 for each violated trademark. This would have been the maximum awarded damages allowed by law, and with LoveROMs hosting hundreds of Nintendo games, the damages could've mounted to more than $100 million.


Read more: The hacker who targeted Xbox Live and PlayStation Network is facing 10 years in jail for knocking the gaming networks offline


Instead of arguing their case in court, the court documents cited by TorrentFreak say the couple acknowledged running the sites and entered into settlement talks with Nintendo. They ultimately agreed to the final judgement of $12,230,000 issued on November 9th, according to the report.

Nintendo's legal action against LoveROMs has led other emulation sites to reconsider their practices, with some choosing to go offline preemptively following the complaint. As Nintendo and other gaming companies work to monetize their back catalogs with new digital versions of classic titles, unofficial software downloads will continue to be a threat to their business model.

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Kanye West shares a photo of him and Zuck singing karaoke — and he says they sang Backstreet Boys (FB)

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kanye west

 

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NOW WATCH: How to train the last days before a marathon

The 'Jack Reacher' franchise is being shopped as a TV series, and the author says Tom Cruise is too short to continue as the star

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jack reacher never go back tom cruise

  • The author of the "Jack Reacher" book series, Lee Child, said Tom Cruise is not big enough in physical stature to play his character anymore.
  • Child told BBC Radio that the franchise was moving from the big screen to a TV series, likely on a streaming service — and he doesn't want Cruise to play the character going forward.
  • A source close to the deal confirmed to Business Insider that the franchise is being shopped around, however, Cruise, who is also a producer on the franchise, is still involved.

The author behind the Jack Reacher book series, Lee Child, isn’t shy to give his thoughts about why Tom Cruise isn’t the right choice to play the character anymore.

In a recent interview with BBC Radio, Child said that although he has enjoyed working with Cruise on the two theatrical releases focused on his famous character, 2012’s “Jack Reacher” and 2016’s “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” the global superstar just isn’t imposing enough to play Reacher, a former major in the military police who's now a civilian helping people dealing with bad guys.

“Ultimately the readers are right,” Child said. “The size of Reacher is really, really important and it’s a big component of who he is.”

Throughout Cruise’s career his height (listed on his Wikipedia page as 5-foot-7) has always been a topic the tabloids love to write about (his ex-wife Nicole Kidman joked she could wear high heels after they split). But it hasn’t stopped him from being the biggest action star in the world for decades.

Read more: Inside the unique partnership that helped "A Star Is Born" soar at the box office by targeting music fans and live events

Still, despite Cruise’s worldwide box-office draw, Lee is making it publicly known he believes there’s someone better out there to play the character.

“The idea is that when Reacher walks into a room, you're all a little nervous just for that first minute. And Cruise, for all his talent, didn't have that physicality,” said Lee, who in his books describes Reacher as over 6 feet in height and hands the size of dinner plates.

“So what I've decided to do is — there won't be any more movies with Tom Cruise. Instead we're going to take it to Netflix or something like that. Long form streaming television, with a completely new actor.”

Business Insider confirmed with a source close to the deal that the franchise is being shopped for TV or streaming. All parties that were involved in the films — Paramount, Skydance Media, and yes, Tom Cruise (who is also a producer on the franchise) — are all still involved.

Clearly Lee’s tactic here is to get Cruise out, but it’s dangerous to call out one of the most powerful people in Hollywood.

SEE ALSO: Netflix is testing a mobile-only subscription plan that costs half the price

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The inside story behind the Marvel movie you were never supposed to see

Inside the abandoned Staten Island prison that has emerged as a prime location for movies and TV shows, including Netflix's 'Daredevil' and 'Orange Is the New Black'

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Daredevil

The former Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island hasn't held prisoners in seven years, but on Wednesday morning, there was plenty of law enforcement there.

During my tour of the campus, a group of men dressed in SWAT gear barreled into what used to be a waiting room for guests, complete with a children's play area with Disney characters painted on the wall. And throughout the facility, people who appeared to be police officers were walking around minding their own business.

But they were all actors.

What used to be a prison is now a growing hub for film and TV productions and is owned by full-service, Brooklyn-based production company Broadway Stages, which bought the 67-acre property in 2017 for $7 million and a $20 million investment to be completed in five years, according to Broadway Stages spokespeople Warren Cohn and Samara Schaum.

The prison, which opened in 1976 and closed in 2011, has become a hot spot for popular movies like this year's Sandra Bullock-starring "Ocean's 8" and TV shows like Netflix's "Daredevil" and "Orange is the New Black." NBC's "The Black List" was filming on Wednesday when I got a look at the place. 

There was also a helicopter parked on the grounds for what must have been a painstaking shoot of an undisclosed project (but no permit is required since it's private property now).

daredevil

The fourth episode from "Daredevil" season 3, named "Blindsided," has made headlines recently for its nearly 11-minute one-take tracking shot inside a prison facility during a riot. The scene finds Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), the man known as the costumed-vigilante Daredevil, fighting his way through a group of prisoners to learn the name of a man a bad guy Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) paid to shank him.

It was all filmed at Arthur Kill. In an interview with Vulture, showrunner Erik Oleson detailed how the scene came to be, and that it was director Alex Garcia Lopez's idea to do the "oner" after he read the script. But Oleson didn't initially grasp the extent of Lopez's vision, and didn't foresee it being an over-10-minute take, which made executives skeptical.

"I had to call all the financial people and say, 'Guess what? We’re gonna stop filming for a day but have the entire crew there to rehearse,'" Oleson said. "From television production, that’s definitely caused some agita."

According to Oleson, the take is actually one shot, with no CGI tricks. Cox did 80% of the scene himself, but a stunt double, Chris Brewster, was strategically swapped in at opportune moments, called a "Texas switch."

Lopez and the crew captured the scene, which begins in an infirmary room at the prison and ends with Murdock finally escaping and getting in to a taxi, on the third uninterrupted take.

daredevil

Since Arthur Kill has been the shooting location for various productions, there are plenty of props around. But a lot of what's left from the former prison is still there, including writing carved in to walls that is authentic.

As more and more productions leave New York for lower-cost locations, such as Georgia, Broadway Stages hopes Arthur Kill will be a one-stop-shop for multiple shoots at once that could provide at least 1,500 jobs daily. Cohn or Schaum didn't divulge what Broadway Stages charges for a production to use the grounds, but film students, such as from New York University, can film there for an affordable price.

Broadway Stages' five-year $20 million investment includes editing facilities, renovations to the pool for underwater filming, and five sound stages (there's currently one).

Below is a closer look at the prison:

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Here's the view from the guard tower. There was even a toilet in the tower because guards would be stationed there for hours at a time.



This was the children's area in the waiting room, where guests would wait to visit prisoners. This wasn't painted for a production, it was left there from the prison.



In the secured control room of the holding area, this ladder led up to the roof in the event of a dangerous riot and the guards needed to escape, according to Cohn.



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