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:

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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.

Starting from the humble days of "Pong" and "Space Invaders," video games have grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry, with single games garnering hundreds of millions of sales.

As the audience for video games has grown there have been major shifts in the mainstream market; only a few large publishers and popular franchises have earned permanent footholds in the list of best-sellers.

A video game industry analyst from the NPD group recently released a list of the top-selling game of each year dating back to 1995, including physical and digital copies. While some games like "Tetris" and "Minecraft" have each sold more than 100 million copies over time, the year-by-year list reflects the changing interests of gamers as time has progressed.

SEE ALSO: The top 3 best-selling games of all time are a surprising group of games that have all sold over 100 million copies apiece

1995 - "Mortal Kombat III"

The original "Mortal Kombat" games were originally arcade hits, boosted by the game's penchant for gratuitous violence and the early use of motion-capture technology. The colorful characters of "Mortal Kombat 3" are played by live actors and players can fight and tear each other apart in a variety of ways. The violence gave the game plenty of critics, but also led to plenty of extra attention.

1996 - "Super Mario 64" (Nintendo 64)

As a launch title, "Super Mario 64" kicked off multiple years of dominance for the Nintendo 64 console. The game takes full advantage of the console's 64-bit processor, creating explorable 3D environments that were unmatched at the time. "Super Mario 64" established many of the gameplay mechanics that still define 3D platformers today and remains a fan-favorite on YouTube and Twitch.

1997 - "Mario Kart 64" (Nintendo 64)

This may not come as a surprise, but "Mario Kart" is one of the Nintendo's best-selling series — across all consoles. "Mario Kart 64" introduced four-player split-screen multiplayer alongside memorable race tracks, and bumping music, making it a must-buy on the Nintendo 64.

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)

• Steve Carrell dressed up as Amazon's Jeff Bezos to mock Trump during a sketch on "Saturday Night Live" this weekend.
• Carrell's Bezos explains the thought process behind Amazon's decision to split its second headquarters between New York and Arlington, Virginia, claiming that he wasn't trolling Trump.
• He then announced a new delivery service, called "Amazon Caravan" where any package going to any Trump's building will get delivered by Honduran and Mexican immigrants.

During this week's "Saturday Night Live" show, host Steve Carrell dressed up as Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, to explain the thought process behind choosing New York and Arlington, Virginia for its new headquarters, dubbed HQ2, which were announced earlier this week. 

Read more:Amazon officially announces its HQ2 will be split between New York and Virginia

“Some folks have speculated that I was somehow trolling President Trump by building one headquarters in his hometown of Queens and the other in his current residence of Washington, DC, thereby overshadowing or humiliating him. But that’s simply not true,” Carell's Bezos said. 

Carrell goes on to mock Trump, saying that it was not the President's tweets attacking Amazon that drove the retailer to open these two offices. 

"I chose our locations because they were ideal for growing business, not just to make Donald Trump think about how I'm literally 100 times richer than he is," he said. 

Carrell's fake Bezos then announced a new delivery service, called "Amazon Caravan."

"Any package going to any Trump building will get delivered by hundreds of Honduran and Mexican immigrants and I will pick up the bill," he said, referencing the migrant caravan that has traveled up through Central America toward the US border that has been a recent focus for Trump.

There is just one exception to this delivery service, the fake Bezos said, and that is Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal," which costs more to ship because "it's heavier."

"I guess it's the only book with four chapter 11s," he said.

The sketch finishes with an image of the White House lit up with Amazon's logo and a sign-off that says, "Amazon Sick Burn." 

Watch the full video here:

SEE ALSO: Steve Carell had a mini 'Office' reunion in his 'SNL' monologue

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Spooky titles are still ruling Netflix, with "Stranger Things" in high demand and its "Sabrina" reboot gaining steam.

Every week, Parrot Analytics provides Business Insider with a list of the five most "in-demand" TV shows on streaming services. (The data is based on "demand expressions," the globally standardized TV demand measurement unit from Parrot Analytics. Audience demand reflects the desire, engagement, and viewership weighted by importance, so a stream or download is a higher expression of demand than a "like" or comment on social media.)

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This week's most in-demand shows include Netflix's "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," which stayed at the top since last week; Marvel's "Daredevil"; and a new entry, the final season of "House of Cards."

Below are this week's five most popular shows on Netflix and other streaming services:

SEE ALSO: 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'

5. "The Haunting of Hill House" (Netflix)

Average demand expressions: 25,288,899

Description: "Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it."

Rotten Tomatoes critic score (Season 1): 91%

What critics said: "'The Haunting of Hill House' is superlative in many regards. It's a masterful, restrained work of horror fiction." — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic

Season 1 premiered on Netflix October 12.

4. "House of Cards" (Netflix)

Average demand expressions: 26,459,358 

Description: "With Frank out of the picture, Claire Underwood steps fully into her own as the first woman president."

Rotten Tomatoes critic score (Season 6): 72%

What critics said: "Wright is truly stunning on the final season, and gives every second on screen her all in a way that suggests she's always known this should've been her show." — Carrie Wittmer, Business Insider

Season 6 premiered on Netflix November 2.

3. "Marvel's Daredevil" (Netflix)

Average demand expressions: 36,566,143

Description: "Blinded as a young boy, Matt Murdock fights injustice by day as a lawyer and by night as the Super Hero Daredevil in Hell's Kitchen, New York City."

Rotten Tomatoes critic score (Season 3): 93%

What critics said: "The show may never have the spark it did in its earliest days, but it did help elevate the way stories of superheroes can be told on television. There's still progress to be made, but 'Daredevil' feels like it's on the right track." — Liz Shannon Miller, Indiewire

Season 3 premiered on Netflix October 19.

• "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," won the weekend box office with $62.2 million, but that's lower than the opening for 2016's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
• It's also the lowest opening weekend ever for a "Harry Potter" film.
• If the first "Fantastic Beasts" is any indication, the sequel will find most of its box office coin at the foreign box office.
• It has a huge $250 million-plus worldwide box office total already.
• Meanwhile, other new releases "Instant Family" and "Widows" fell flat.

With the incredible success of the "Harry Potter" movie franchise in the early 2000s, Warner Bros. was certainly going to give us a spin-off franchise, but so far the "Fantastic Beasts" movies aren't taking in the money that the "Potter" titles did.

"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" opened on over 4,000 screens over the weekend and took in an estimated $62.2 million. It's the smallest domestic opening for any of the "Harry Potter" titles, beating out the previous lowest earner, 2016's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," which brought in $74.4 million in its opening.

The lowest domestic opening for any of the original "Harry Potter" releases was 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which had a $77.1 million opening. Counting inflation, that would be a $102.4 million opening today.

But like many franchises these days, Warner Bros. is probably looking more towards the international take than at home. The foreign gross for 2016's "Fantastic Beasts" took in 71% of the movie's $814 million worldwide gross. And so far with "Crimes of Grindelwald," that trend is continuing. The movie already has over $253.2 million worldwide total, thanks to its $191 million international take to date.

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Meanwhile, the other new releases of the weekend had soft openings.

Paramount's "Instant Family," starring Mark Wahlberg, looks to not be the top choice for family options at the multiplex, as the $48 million-budgeted family comedy only took in $14 million.

And Fox's $42 million-crime caper "Widows" — with the top-flight cast of Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, and Colin Farrell — also had trouble finding an audience with only a $12.3 million take.

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• David Arquette was hospitalised after a staged but bloody wrestling match on Friday.
• The wrestling match was contested under "hardcore" rules, where combatants can use weapons.
• Arquette wrestled convicted bank robber Nick Gage, and they smashed light tubes over each other's heads.
• But Arquette was cut open and reportedly had to go to hospital.
• He said he is done with wrestling these "death matches," but would consider a rematch in the UFC.

David Arquette took part in a staged but bloody hardcore wrestling match on Friday night in Los Angeles.

The former Hollywood actor, renowned for his role as Deputy Dewey Riley in the smash hit movie series "Scream," began professional wrestling in 2000 and became a champion of World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Arquette, who was used as comic relief in the WCW storylines, said in 2018 that he wanted to compete on the independent wresting circuit in a bid to silence the most merciless of his internet trolls.

At the weekend, he contested a wildly controversial bout as he collided with convicted bank robber Nick Gage in a "death match" — a staged, professional wrestling bout where referees are only in the ring to count a pin, as combatants can utilise bizarre weapons in a bid to outwit their opponent.

True to hardcore form, Arquette and Gage smashed light tubes over each other's heads, wrestled in shards of glass, and gave a small group of wrestling fans a night to remember as details of the show trended on Twitter.

Don't believe us? Arquette's diamond cutter below sent Gage through a load of light bulbs.

Here's another Arquette move:

But Arquette did not have everything his own way.

In fact, Arquette's face was sliced open when Gage seemingly attacked him with a pizza cutter. 

Here's the kind of night Arquette ended up having:

The ring was a complete mess by the end of the fight…

…and so was Arquette's face.

Cagesideseats.com journalist Marc Raimondi said that Arquette "no-sold" the finish. This means that instead of rolling around in theatrical pain to help "sell" his loss, he instead left the ring clutching his neck and "bleeding from it courtesy of multiple light tubes shattering his head."

Raimondi reported that Arquette was "covered in glass." The Sun added that Arquette was "rushed to hospital" in a death match "gone wrong."

Posting on Twitter the next day, Arquette said: "Turns out death matches aren't my thing."

However, he has not been put off combat and even told TMZ that he would be interested in competing against Gage again, providing they fought a rematch in the UFC.

"Definitely the last death match," Arquette said.

He was then asked if there would definitely be no rematch. "No," he said. "Not unless it's in the UFC."

It is unclear if Arquette, who has no mixed martial arts experience and is 47 years old, was joking. But one thing is for sure — he can take a lot of punishment.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Disney's "Ralph Breaks the Internet" directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston told Business Insider how they delved into the love/hate relationship people have with the internet.
• "Ralph Breaks the Internet" is the sequel to the 2012 movie, "Wreck-It Ralph."
• This is not the first time Moore and Johnston have explored a serious social issue in a movie. They were behind the Oscar-winning "Zootopia," which looked at racism.

Wreck-It Ralph has just gone viral.

Well, not in real life, but in “Ralph Breaks the Internet” (opening November 21), the sequel to Disney’s 2012 animated movie that’s named after the villain of the fictional Fix-It Felix Jr. 1980s arcade game.

This time Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is inside the internet to help his best friend, and fellow arcade character, Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), get a steering wheel off eBay to fix her game. To pay for it, Ralph learns if he just films himself doing a bunch of dumb things and posts them online, millions will watch and he'll make money. His videos are so successful Ralph becomes the latest internet hit while also earning some coin.

But as anyone who has been online knows, internet popularity usually leads to a lot of anguish, and Ralph learns that firsthand when he stumbles across the comments section.

Ralph stares at a long wall of comments about himself and reads as it quickly goes from positive, to negative, to down right hurtful.

It’s the latest exploration by Disney of a cultural issue its audience experiences (or at the very least, knows about). And it should come as no surprise that the people behind this are the same ones who did “Zootopia.”

Rich Moore and Phil Johnston teamed as directors on “Ralph Breaks the Internet” after Moore took sole directing duties for “Wreck-It Ralph” in 2012 and Johnston wrote the screenplay. Moore was also one of the directors on the Oscar-winning “Zootopia,” which was written by Johnston, and got a lot of attention for one of the movie’s main themes: looking at racism and bigotry through the lens of an animal metropolis where all different species must get along.

The two admitted they didn’t set out to make “Ralph Breaks the Internet” so they could shed a light on how we all treat each other on the internet. It just kind of happened through the years of trying to figure out what they wanted to do for a sequel.

“When the movie came out in 2012, I always thought, ‘God, it would be great to work with everyone together again,’ but there was no idea for a story,” Moore told Business Insider. “I would say a year after it opened we seriously said, ‘What could a second chapter be about?’”

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One idea was to put Ralph in a modern gaming system and see what kind of trouble he could get into. But then came the idea of Ralph discovering what a WiFi modem is and eventually becoming so jealous of the internet that he would set out to destroy it.

“For many months, that was our movie,” Moore said of Ralph intentionally destroying the entire internet.

“But it’s not something we wanted to root for, we love the internet,” Johnston said. “So we changed it to him inadvertently ruining it.”

Yet, what would cause Ralph to break the internet by mistake? That’s where the filmmakers decided to explore how people treat each other online.

Using what they did on “Zootopia” — mixing a fun caper with a serious issue — along with delving deeper into the friendship of Ralph and Vanellope than the first movie, they explore how toxic the internet can be.

Outside of the comment thread that Ralph comes across, annoying pop-up ads and the "dark web" are also negative elements of the web that are featured in the movie.

The trick though is never preach to the audience.

“Dealing with heavy issues, serious issues, we never want to tell an audience how they should live their lives or what they should do,” Moore said. “Our feeling is it's always better to watch a character experience the things that we do and then show how that character rises above it. What steps they took to be an authentic human being.”

“Ralph at his core is an insecure guy,” Johnston said. “Ultimately, the movie is about him overcoming that insecurity in order to be a better friend and better person, [and] the internet is a great place to test that stuff.”

At the end of the day, Moore and Johnston want audiences to be entertained when they go to see “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” and not feel like they are suddenly sitting in a sociology class, but as they proved with “Zootopia” that there’s room for social commentary in Disney movies.

“This is something where we thought it’s really worth taking a look, but it’s not our job to say the internet is good or bad,” Johnston said. “It just is.”

SEE ALSO: The 100 highest-grossing movies of all time at the worldwide box office

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• The latest hit British TV series from Netflix is "The Last Kingdom," and its third season dropped on Monday.
• The series first premiered on BBC networks in 2015, and its second season was coproduced by Netflix.
• The third season is an exclusive Netflix production, highlighting the streaming giant's successful strategy of acquiring British shows and making them available to a wider audience.

Netflix's strategy of acquiring hit British TV shows and introducing them to a global audience has already found success this year with "The End of the F------ World" and, more recently, "Bodyguard." Its latest, "The Last Kingdom," premiered its third season on Monday.

"The Last Kingdom" moved from a BBC series in its first season, to a coproduction with Netflix it its second, and finally to a Netflix exclusive in its third.

Netflix describes the series, which has an 87% Rotten Tomatoes critic score, like this: "As Alfred the Great defends his kingdom from Norse invaders, Uhtred — born a Saxon but raised by Vikings — seeks to claim his ancestral birthright."

Read more: 'Bodyguard' is the latest hit British TV show that Netflix has streamed to American audiences, and it has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

The New York Times said "The Last Kingdom" can fill the gap between now and when the final season of HBO's "Game of Thrones" premieres in April.

"If you’re looking for something to fill the 'Game of Thrones'-shaped hole in your heart until the final season runs next year, consider trying this fictional drama series about the formation of England," The Times said.

The first season of "The Last Kingdom," which premiered in 2015 on BBC Two and BBC America, is based on Bernard Cornwell's "Saxon Stories" series of novels about 9th-century Britain.

The show's first two seasons each consist of eight episodes, while the third has 10. It highlights Netflix's confidence in its British TV strategy, and audiences' positive response to the series so far. The strategy benefits both Netflix, which attracts new subscribers, and British television, which finds new fans it wouldn't have if limited to British networks.

Executive producer Gareth Neame told The Guardian in April that the series "didn't break through" until Netflix coproduced the second season with BBC and streamed it to a wider audience. 

"Their mission seems to be to back storytellers and let them get on with it," Neame said.

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• Emma Stone had to audition to get the role of one of the main characters in "The Favourite."
• Director Yorgos Lanthimos said he did it so he was confident Stone, the only American actor on set, could pull off a convincing English accent.
• “I just didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable while we were doing it or make a fool of herself,” he told Business Insider.
• Stone said she did not feel insulted having to read for the part, as she also was able to find out "if you like the director."

After winning an Oscar for her performance in 2016’s “La La Land,” Emma Stone is on track to getting her third nomination in four years when her new movie “The Favourite” opens on Friday.

But in a surprising revelation, despite being one of the biggest stars working today, Stone said she had to audition for “The Favourite” director Yorgos Lanthimos to get the role of the scheming cousin, Abigail.

While sitting in a New York City hotel room across from her director, when the topic was brought up Stone said the main reason was so Lanthimos could hear her English accent, but then she playfully directed the question to her director to explain why she did have to come in.

Read more:Emma Stone told us "The Favourite" was her first movie in 4 years she wasn't constantly "fixing"

"It was making sure that we would be able to work creatively free without the accent being a hindrance in the way that we wanted to work,” Lanthimos told Business Insider.

Lanthimos said he and Stone had a few sessions with a dialect coach and noted that he worked with her the same way he worked with all the actors during rehearsals. The director even played down that it was really an audition, but Stone spoke up to say that it definitely felt like one.

“It was taped and at a casting office,” Stone said.

But the actress also added that this was very different than in the early days of her career where she had to drive around to casting calls to get a job.

“If I do need to read something now it’s more of a chemistry thing,” she said. “I didn’t find it insulting. You learn too as an actor if the role fits and if you like the director.”

Lanthimos said that Stone’s English accent (she was the only American actor in a movie set in 18th century England) passed with flying colors from the dialect coach and his English friends.

“I just didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable while we were doing it or make a fool of herself,” Lanthimos said of Stone taking on the role.

Fans of Stone’s work have nothing to worry about. The Oscar winner gives a fantastic performance playing one of two wicked cousins (the other is played by Rachel Weisz) who fight over the attention of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) during her reign in the early 1700s.

SEE ALSO: "Creed II" escapes the sequel slump with thrilling fight scenes and a gripping performance by Michael B. Jordan

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Every year, the White House gets decked out in elaborate decorations to celebrate the holidays, and the Trumps put their own personal touch on the Christmas flair.

The official theme in 2017 was "Time-Honored Traditions," meant to pay homage to over 200 years of White House holiday celebrations.

On Monday, the Trumps received the massive Christmas tree that will stand on the grounds, and thousands of volunteers started transforming the White House into a winter wonderland. By December, they will welcome guests to see the decorations.

First lady Melania Trump unveiled the first transformation under her tenure last November. This is what the White House looked like for Christmas last year.

SEE ALSO: The Trump White House is hanging mistletoe — and some people are freaking out

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In 2017, the White House was filled with 71 wreaths, 53 Christmas trees with more than 12,000 ornaments, and 18,000 feet of Christmas lights.

The official Christmas tree stands tall and regal in the White House Blue Room. It is decorated with the seals of every US state and territory.

The first lady, like many before her, has taken a leading role in overseeing the holiday preparations. Here she is marveling at the handiwork of the White House staff.

• The next battle for dominance in streaming may be related to the aggregation of over-the-top apps.
• Roku is commonly seen as the leading aggregator of OTT content.
• But other content distributors, like Comcast, have shown interest in offering similar services.
• A Roku executive told Business Insider he expects the competition to only increase.

Alongside the battle for developing the top streaming service is a battle for aggregating those services.

As more and more over-the-top options for users crop up — from video-on-demand services like Netflix to digital-TV services like DirecTV Now — consumers are looking for an easy, well-organized way to access their subscriptions. Scott Rosenberg, an executive at Roku, expects the competition in that part of the market to only increase.

"I would say, broadly, consumers have so many more options now to watch longform, premium video in our living room, and so we all should expect that the traditional video distributors will feel compelled to compete more aggressively to keep consumer attention, and to compete at the price point that consumers are demanding," Rosenberg, the general manager of Roku's platform business, told Business Insider.

Roku is commonly seen as the leading aggregator of OTT content, offering more than 5,000 channels for users who buy its set-top boxes. But new entrants to the aggregation business continue to emerge. Comcast, which doesn't have its own OTT service for US customers, is reportedly working on a set-top box for broadband customers that will aggregate OTT apps.

That offering would likely directly compete with Roku. While Rosenberg wouldn't comment specifically on Comcast's strategic decisions, he said he isn't surprised that traditional media distributors, like Comcast and AT&T, are starting to innovate with offerings similar to Roku to keep up with consumer demand.

"Consumers are asking for skinnier bundles and more varied bundles; they're asking for a better ad experience, they're asking for more apps, more content diversity, and OTT makes that possible. So I would fully expect that all of the traditional video distributors feel compelled to try and gravitate towards that user experience," he said.

The growing competition in this space is monitored by an industry that is curious to see what platform will win dominance. "There's no shortage of people who have identified [aggregating OTT apps] as the next big thing," Alan Wolk, cofounder and lead analyst for TVREV, told Business Insider. "Amazon and Apple want to do it. [Comcast] wants to do it."

Roku's user base is its big strength, with 24 million active user accounts as of the end of the third quarter. Morgan Stanley analysts predict Roku will continue to pick up users over the next four years, but how much growth it can achieve is up for debate.

"Our bull case of over 50 million active accounts by [year end] 2022 would represent a doubling over the next four years, reaching >50% penetration of US broadband homes," the analysts wrote. "Reaching these heights despite platforms like Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet's rising focus in TV hardware, software, and content, while incumbents like Comcast grow the OTT content distributed to its [approximately] 14 million X1 customers, will be challenging."

Rosenberg isn't overly concerned about the growing competition in this space. "We've competed our whole lives here at Roku with big companies, inevitably companies much bigger than us," he said. "We compete with Apple, Amazon, Google, we outperform all of them in unit sales and engagement with consumers in the TV market."

And it's Roku's unique relationship in the industry that he thinks gives the company a boost.

Rosenberg said Roku is a "relatively neutral entity in the ecosystem." He added, "We're not typically vertically integrated into music or movie services, and as a result we have all the major music services, all the major movie services available in OTT, because we're a platform."

SEE ALSO: 'His comments are illogical': Analysts say Disney CEO Bob Iger's plan to raise Hulu prices is out of step with customer demand

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"Creed II," the sequel to the 2015 "Rocky" spin-off starring Michael B. Jordan as Apollo Creed's son, comes to theaters on Wednesday. If you're itching for even more "Rocky" than that, YouTube has you covered.

YouTube Movies is currently offering the first five original "Rocky" movies for free. YouTube launched its movies section in 2011. Most are only available for purchase, but there are select titles available for free, which seems like a little-known fact in this age of streaming services. One note: they do have banner ads that pop up periodically but you can click them away (there are no video ads).

Other free movies include "The Terminator," "Legally Blonde," "Zookeeper," "Monsters," "The Man in the Iron Mask," and "Agent Cody Banks."

The only "Rocky" movies not available are 2006's "Rocky Balboa" and "Creed."

• Watch "Rocky" here.
• Watch "Rocky II" here.
• Watch "Rocky III" here.
• Watch "Rocky IV" here.
• Watch "Rocky V" here.

"Creed II" finds Adonis Creed facing the son of Ivan Drago, the man who killed his father in the ring in "Rocky IV." It comes to theaters November 21.

SEE ALSO: 'Creed II' escapes a sequel slump with thrilling fight scenes and a gripping performance by Michael B. Jordan

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• Bill Gates has a message for those in the tech industry who think that HBO's "Silicon Valley" is too critical: lighten up.
• "I always tell them: 'You really should watch it, because they don’t make any more fun of us than we deserve,'" writes Gates, who has consulted on the show.
• Gates says he identifies most with Richard Hendricks, the CEO of fictional startup Pied Piper, "who is a great programmer but has to learn some hard lessons about managing people." 
• His one gripe with the show is that it makes the mega-corp Hooli look inept compared to its upstart rival  — but he admits that he may be biased in favor of large corporations.

There are those in the real-world Silicon Valley who think that HBO's "Silicon Valley," the network's long-running satire, is too critical of the tech industry. 

But in a new blog entry, no less than Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has a message for those people: lighten up. 

"I have friends in Silicon Valley who refuse to watch the show because they think it’s just making fun of them," writes Gates. "I always tell them: 'You really should watch it, because they don’t make any more fun of us than we deserve.'"

"Silicon Valley," which is going into its sixth season, details the adventures of Pied Piper, a data compression startup that can't quite seem to catch a break. It also follows Gavin Belson, the CEO of Google-esque mega-corp Hooli, who borrows attributes from real-life execs including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Oracle founder Larry Ellison. 

In his blog entry, Gates says that he's one of the many tech execs who were consulted by the show's creators to ensure authenticity — creator Mike Judge and his production team have interviewed the likes of former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and investor Marc Andreessen, even embedding at a hardware startup to ensure that a running gag rang true. 

Gates writes that all of that effort paid off, as the show is an accurate lampooning of the types of people and companies that he knows so well. He says that he identifies the most with Richard Hendricks, the founder of Pied Piper, "who is a great programmer but has to learn some hard lessons about managing people."

"The show is a parody, so it exaggerates things, but like all great parodies it captures a lot of truths," writes Gates.

Read more:The characters of HBO's 'Silicon Valley' are inspired by real people in the tech world — here they are 

Similarly, Gates likes the way that the show depicts entrepreneurs and startups.

"Even a huge believer in technology like me has to laugh when some character talks about how they’re going to change the world with an app that tells you whether what you’re eating is a hot dog or not," he writes. That's a reference to an infamous "Silicon Valley" gag where a character makes a cutting-edge AI-powered app that can tell you, indeed, if something is a hot dog or not. The show's creators even released it as a real iPhone app. 

He does have one bone to pick, though, with how the show depicts Hooli, the Goliath to Pied Piper's David, as bloated and inept.

"Although I’m obviously biased, my experience is that small companies can be just as inept, and the big ones have the resources to invest in deep research and take a long-term point of view that smaller ones can’t afford," writes Gates. 

Of note is that while Gates may relate to the journey of Pied Piper, their stories are very different.

The fictional Pied Piper got off the ground after Hendricks and his friends quit Hooli to chase a novel new piece of technology; Gates and his late cofounder Paul Allen started Microsoft after moving to New Mexico to chase an opportunity with a then-revolutionary microcomputer. Gates and Allen definitely had their own problems, but they never had to fend off an angry ex-employer with an axe to grind. 

Also of note is that not everybody in Silicon Valley seems to love the show as much as Gates. Astro Teller, best known as Google's moonshot boss, is said to have once huffed out of a meeting with the show's producers and tried to make a dramatic exit — on Rollerblades. 

You can read Gates' full thoughts on HBO's "Silicon Valley" here.

SEE ALSO: Check out Bill Gates' first business card at Microsoft, from after he dropped out of Harvard

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• Nintendo wont be offering any major deals on the Nintendo Switch, even though the video game console being one of the most searched for items this holiday season,
• The company's best Black Friday deal is a new bundle, which includes the console and a copy of "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" bundle for $300. A new Switch console is usually $300 alone, so the deal is essentially for a free copy of "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe," which normally sells for $60.
• Some stores, like GameStop and Kohl's, are offering additional cash back with the purchase of a new Switch — but those are limited to Black Friday doorbuster deals, so be advised. 
• Nintendo also sells refurbished Switch consoles year-round for $275, a slight discount.

For the second year in a row. the Nintendo Switch will be one of the most sought after tech gifts of the holiday season — but Nintendo still isn't ready to start offering deep discounts on its newest video game console.

For Black Friday 2018, Nintendo is offering a new Switch bundle with the console and a copy of "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" for $300. The deal essentially offers the Switch at its regular price of $300, and adds in a free game. For most Switch shoppers, this will be your best bet.

That's not a bad deal on its own. But the main competitors to the Switch, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, will both be on sale for $200 with a free game during the holidays. For $200, you can get a PlayStation 4 console with the sensational "Marvel's Spider-Man," or an Xbox One S console bundled with "Minecraft" and some extras. Those bundles are available now. 

Nintendo is known for its reluctance to drop prices. But after a relatively slow year for the Switch, which didn't see many big-ticket exclusive releases, a juicier Black Friday sale could've brought more attention back to the young console. 

Of note: Nintendo is also offering a $360 bundle that gives you the Switch console and copies of "Mario Tennis Aces" and the party game oddity "1-2-Switch." Given that the console is $300, "Mario Tennis Aces" is $60, and "1-2-Switch" is $40 or so, it's a decent deal — but by most reports, "1-2-Switch" isn't necessarily worth your time. 

Nintendo doesn't appear to be offering sale prices for any of its first-party Switch games either, including best-selling titles from last year like "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and "Super Mario Odyssey." That said, Nintendo is known to introduce last-second sales on digital download games on Black Friday itself, so stay tuned. 

Read more: The Nintendo Switch is having a surprisingly weak second year

For those still interested in buying a Switch, GameStop and Kohl's are offering some additional cash-back sweetneers on new Switch bundles purchased only on the day of Black Friday itself — so get ready to brave the crowds if you want these offers.

GameStop is offering a $50 gift card with a purchase of the "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" bundle, which is almost enough for a second game. Kohl's is selling the Nintendo Switch on its own with a Turtle Beach headset and carrying case for $329, with $90 in Kohl's Cash as a bonus. The Kohl's Cash functions as a gift card, but cannot be used on the same day of the purchase, making it a good deal for the frequent Kohl's shopper.

If you're willing to buy a used system, Nintendo offers refurbished Switch consoles for $275, plus shipping. Refurbished Switch consoles come with a guarantee from Nintendo and carry a one-year manufacturer's warranty. Business Insider reporter Antonio Villas-Boas ordered a refurbished Switch in September and was thoroughly satisfied with his experience.

SEE ALSO: I bought a used Nintendo Switch console that was refurbished by Nintendo itself, and I'm happy I didn't buy it new

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• Steven Caple Jr. talked to Business Insider about how he got the job to direct "Creed II" (in theaters on Wednesday).
• That included being vouched for by his friend, "Creed" director Ryan Coogler.
• Caple also described the talk with Sylvester Stallone that convinced Caple he would be allowed to put his own mark on the franchise.

Steven Caple Jr. watched “Creed” a little differently than you and I. Having studied at USC film school at the same time the movie’s filmmaker Ryan Coogler did, Caple had a specific eye for certain details his friend put in. 

“The opening of the movie, showing Creed as a kid meeting his mom, that really reminded me of this short that he did called ‘Fig,’ I was like, ‘There’s his style,’” Caple told Business Insider while sitting in a restaurant in New York City. "So when I stepped into the franchise I wondered, how do I make it mine?"

Back in 2015, when “Creed” become a critical and box-office hit — launching the “Rocky” franchise back into the public conscious, and solidifying Coogler as Hollywood's latest wunderkind — Caple was just a indie filmmaker rising up the ranks with one solid movie, Sundance entry "The Land," under his belt.

But when Coogler announced that he was stepping aside from making a "Creed" sequel to go do Marvel's "Black Panther," the continuation of the story of Adonis Creed suddenly lost its captain.

By that time, Caple was honing his craft. He'd sold a miniseries on Emmett Till to HBO and was directing episodes of the Freeform series, "Grown-ish." And it was on the set of that show a year ago he got the call: Sylvester Stallone wanted to meet about doing "Creed II."

Caple learned that Stallone had been sent a copy of "The Land," Caple's debut feature about Cleveland stakeboarding teens with dreams of going pro, and was impressed. Caple also heard Coogler went out of his way to let Stallone, star Michael B. Jordan (who is also an executive producer on the movie), and the studio behind the movie (MGM), know that Caple was ready for the big time.

That part was a shock to Caple, since he had been hanging out with Coogler just days before the call and his friend didn't mention he was in the running.

"Ryan was on the Disney lot editing 'Black Panther' and I came in and looked at stuff, and we talked about sports and other things, but no mention of 'Creed,'" Caple said. "So after I got the call about 'Creed II,' I called Ryan and was like, 'You didn't tell me!' And he said he knew they were looking at directors, but he was excited for me."

But Caple was extremely nervous that because of his inexperience, he would be more susceptible to just going along with whatever Stallone, who also co-wrote the script for the sequel along with reprising his legendary role of Rocky Balboa, wanted to do.

But Caple said those nerves quickly vanished when he got on the phone for the first time with Stallone.

"I thought I was going to talk to Rocky or Sylvester Stallone, but on the phone with me was a director and a writer," he said.

Stallone talked to Caple about the three-fight structure he came up with for the sequel that didn't just give a little homage to "Rocky III," but also touched on "Rocky IV," since the main plot point of "Creed II" would be Adonis Creed going up against the son of Ivan Drago, the man responsible for his father's death when they fought in "Rocky IV."

Caple loved what Stallone had come up with and instead of bracing for the point in the conversation when the legend told the newbie not to change a thing and just shoot what's on the page, Caple felt more like Stallone was pitching him to do the movie. That was especially true when Stallone told Caple what was needed to make the sequel as good as the first "Creed."

"He said, 'I can't capture Adonis Creed's voice,'" Caple recalled Stallone telling him. "He said, 'With Rocky, I write all the dialogue, but you tell me where you want to go with the rest of the story and I'll do it.'"

Caple realized the trust Stallone put in Coogler to bring his beloved "Rocky" franchise to today's era of moviegoers in a believable way was now being passing to him — if he wanted it.

Caple signed on.

Read more:"Creed II" escapes the sequel slump with thrilling fight scenes and a gripping performance by Michael B. Jordan

Caple said the script at first was just a straight revenge tale. Drago and his son, Viktor (Florian Munteanu), wanted payback for Ivan's loss to Rocky in "Rocky IV," and Adonis wanted to avenge his father's death.

It was Caple's talks with Jordan that elevated the story with the parts that Stallone couldn't capture.

"When I listened to him I found parallels of Adonis and what he's going through in his own life," Caple said. "Becoming the champ of the film world. I felt that was something we could play with."

Their talks led Jordan to open up about his own personal goals, and about running on the heels of the great black actors before him like Will Smith and Denzel Washington, while at the same time wanting to make his own mark. Caple felt that's also what Adonis is facing with the legacy of his father hanging over him.

So that became a theme in the movie. As Caple put it, "rewriting last names."

Now among the boxing matches and training montages that the "Rocky" fans crave, Caple felt he was bringing something fresh to the franchise that would give it some standalone qualities.

It also didn't hurt that throughout filming he would get little words of encouragement between takes from Stallone.

"We would be on set and Sly would say to me, 'You have something special,' I mean, talk about a boost of confidence!" Caple said.

And now the critics are beginning to give Caple a greater feeling that he pulled off a successful sequel, as the movie is sporting a healthy 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

But so far it's been the feedback of one person that has made Caple the happiest: Ryan Coogler.

"He had seen the movie while touring with 'Black Panther' and he called me and said, 'You did it,'" Caple said while getting choked up.

Caple also made a point of doing some shots in "Creed II" that mirrored similar ones his friend did in the first, like the point-of-view, behind-the-back shots that follow the characters.

"I wanted him to know I admire him as a filmmaker," Caple said. "But him saying, 'This is yours,' that meant a lot."

SEE ALSO: Low morale, staff firings, and new pricing plans coming: Inside the walls of MoviePass

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• Released on November 14th, "Fallout 76" is the latest game in the series of post-apocalyptic first-person shooters.
• The world of "Fallout" has been devastated by nuclear war, and players can acquire their own nuclear weapons at the end of the game with similarly disastrous effects.
• Nukes are supposed to be hard to get, requiring players to find randomly generated nuclear codes and decipher them individually. But a small group of players has already found a way to streamline the process.
• YouTuber Nickaroo93 and his friends were able to set off three nukes in the game at the same moment, causing their entire server to crash.

The "Fallout" franchise has always let players wreak havoc in the game's dystopian world, but with the newest title, "Fallout 76," which incorporates online multiplayer, the possibilities for chaos have been multiplied many times over.

Though "Fallout 76" is less than a week old, a group of dedicated players have already found a way to crash their game server by detonating multiple nuclear devices at once.

"Fallout 76" takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse and nuclear devices are some of the last available weapons that players can find at the end of the game. Triggering a nuclear explosion has a devastating effect on the game world, clearing out entire towns and spawning powerful mutant enemies that attack players in the area. Nukes are difficult to obtain under normal circumstances, requiring players to find randomly generated nuclear codes and decipher them individually.

Read more:The latest 'Fallout 76' game is going to be completely different than any previous 'Fallout' game

YouTuber Nickaroo93 and several other players were able to decrypt the game's nuclear codes with a separate program and decided to launch three of the bombs at the same time. The impact was massive, both in scope and effect.

Less than a minute after the three nukes hit, the game's server came to a halt and kicked Nickaroo and the other players on the server back to the game's main menu. For the time being, the concurrent launch of multiple nukes seems to be more than "Fallout 76" can handle, though future patches to the game could change how nuclear detonations impact the game.

You can see all three nukes in action below:

SEE ALSO: The latest 'Fallout 76' game is going to be completely different than any previous 'Fallout' game

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• ArtistPJ Linden can turn everyday objects into beautiful works of art using a type of paint that you might have used as a kid: puff paint.
• She spends hours on her projects and her work has even been worn by Miley Cyrus.
• She paints a variety of objects, including bags, clothes, shoes, phone cases, cameras, and even taxidermy animal heads.

Following is transcript of the video.

PJ Linden: I'm PJ Linden, I'm an artist from New York.

I am a self-taught artist. So puff paint I've become obsessed with because it's just such an underrated acrylic paint.

My first piece was an old flip phone. It all started pre-smartphone era. I knew that this paint was for children and therefore non-toxic and probably wouldn't do any damage to the technology.

It just grew from there.

I felt the need to represent for puff paint and become a full-time puff paint artist.

When I'm about to start a piece, I first start thinking about the broad strokes, or in this case the broad puffs. And really look at the shape of the object and what it wants to be, more so than what I want it to be.

So with the boar's head I really started seeing a conical seashell.

My process is very much like layering a cake.

The paint looks exactly the same wet or dry, so there can be a lot of tragic accidents.

All of my work is full coverage.

This one took maybe 300 hours. And usually I'm building up to at least three layers, but it can get up to 10 layers. And so that's really where the timing comes in.

My partner is a director and an editor, and she shoots all the time, and so she would get these really expensive cameras. And I remember when she first asked me to cover one of her cameras, and I was really excited, because it just is such a sacrilegious idea. This was the very first camera, it was the Sprinkle 7D. I just wanted to see what would happen if you could make a camera look like an ice cream sundae.

I have covered everything from cameras, to shoes, to bras, to deer, boars, alligator heads. I've even covered cigarette packs, phone cases, book bags. I've done a lot, a lot of clothes.

I think my favorite piece would have to be this candy bear.

One of the most surprising collaborations I've done was with Miley Cyrus. I did a mini line of really outrageous wearable art for her, and a pair of Neapolitan ice cream coated pasties ended up on her breasts on the cover of Plastik Magazine.

I grew up with a family of game hunters. The Sundae Stag was a piece that my great-grandfather shot, and it ended up in a basement with its nose chewed off by a family dog. And I thought how sad it was that these animals are killed, stuffed, and then they're trophies, but at the same time, there's millions of trophies that all look exactly the same. There's a weird thing that I guess I feel, that their spirit should be eternalized and decorated for the after-after-afterlife.

The other art that I create is hand-painted wallpaper. It's coming from my interior design background. It's something that I always, always wanted to create for homes and hotels, and I hope to keep painting them for the rest of the year. That's sort of my goal is traveling by way of painting hand-painted wallpapers. There's definitely a kinship between the organized, rhythmic patterning of my puff-painted work and the wall paper styling.

The biggest puff paint piece that I've completed is an animatronic dinosaur. It's fully functional, and it stands about three-foot tall and four-foot long. I would like to work my way up to a Smart Car. That's sort of been my always goal.

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• Amazon is offering the newest version of the Echo Dot for $1 to new subscribers of Amazon Music Unlimited.
• Amazon Music Unlimited is currently $0.99 a month for the next three months as a separate limited-time promotion.
• By entering the promo code "DOT1" while signing up for Amazon Music Unlimited, new subscribers will receive a $48.99 credit towards the purchase of the Echo Dot.

If you've ever been interested in the Amazon Echo Dot, now might be the best chance to get the smart home speaker for just a fraction of the cost.

Amazon is giving away the newest version of the Echo Dot for $1 to new Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers as a part of a limited-time offer. But new subscribers to Music Unlimited can also sign up now to get the first three months for $0.99 per month, a separate promotional price.

That means that by combining the deals, you can get the Echo Dot for under $5, so long as you're starting a new Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.

Here are the steps to get the deal working.

First, visit Amazon Music Unlimited to start the sign-up process.

You can find the promotional sign-up on the main Amazon Music Unlimited page.

Choose the Individual plan, then click "Enter promo code" before joining.

The Individual Plan option will charge your $3 for three months of access to Amazon Music Unlimited, a nice trial period for your new Echo Dot.

Enter the promo code "DOT1" to receive your promotional credit.

• For the first time in over three decades, a stand-up comedian will not headline the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Biographer Ron Chernow, who wrote the book on Alexander Hamilton that was turned into the musical "Hamilton," will be headlining.
• "The WHCA are cowards," last year's comedian headliner Michelle Wolf tweeted, on Monday. "The media is complicit. And I couldn't be prouder."
• "While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian, I promise that my history lesson won’t be dry," Chernow said in a statement.

For the first time in over three decades, a stand-up comedian will not headline the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Instead the event, which will take place on April 27, 2019, will feature Ron Chernow, the noted biographer whose books include those about Alexander Hamilton, President George Washington, and President Ulysses S. Grant.

However, comedian Michelle Wolf, who headlined last year's dinner, is not pleased. "The WHCA are cowards. The media is complicit. And I couldn't be prouder," she tweeted on Monday.

The White House, members of the news media, and the correspondents' association criticized Wolf's edgy performance— and her roast of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders this spring.

While some said she had gone too far, others defended her, saying that the biting truth in her jokes were supposed to make people feel uncomfortable.

Other comedians have pushed boundaries during the White House Correspondents' Dinner: Stephen Colbert lampooned President George Bush, and Larry Wilmore dropped the N-word in 2016.

However in 2019, the WHCA is eschewing comedy as a means to speak truth to power in favor of a historical perspective — and a lesson on the First Amendment.

"The White House Correspondents' Association has asked me to make the case for the First Amendment and I am happy to oblige," Chernow said in a statement. "Freedom of the press is always a timely subject and this seems like the perfect moment to go back to basics."

"My major worry these days is that we Americans will forget who we are as a people and historians should serve as our chief custodians in preserving that rich storehouse of memory," Chernow continued. "While I have never been mistaken for a stand-up comedian, I promise that my history lesson won’t be dry."

The announcement of Chernow as keynote speaker is happening as the Trump administration's relationship with the press continues to suffer. The White House this week reinstated CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press credential after a heated exchange between Acosta and President Donald Trump earlier this month landed in court.

The White House reacted to a judge's order to give Acosta his press credential back by announcing a set of "rules" meant to govern reporters' interactions with Trump.

Of course this is hardly the first White House Correspondents' Dinner to break with tradition in recent years. Trump became the first president in 36 years to not attend. He skipped the dinner in both 2017 and 2018.

SEE ALSO: White House issues rules for the media after it reinstates CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press

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