Kanye West is never one to play it safe or traditional.

But he really outdid himself on this year's Met Gala red carpet. The theme for the annual charity event, which supports the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was "Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology."

For Kanye, that apparently meant blue contacts, ripped jeans, and a sparkly metallic-looking denim jacket — all by his favorite fashion house, Balmain.

Let's say this first: as a whole, Kanye's outfit is not bad. It's adventurous, sure, but in that "he's taking risks and they're not all working" and not the "what a disaster" way.

Unfortunately for the "Life of Pablo" rapper, the Met Gala is a black-tie event. That means tuxedos, or since it's a relatively fashion-forward event, something that at least approximates it.

Last year at the gala Kanye did great with a black velvet number, and while we weren't quite sure what exactly to call the garment, it at least looked appropriate.

This year, it looks like Kanye forgot he was going to a black-tie event altogether and just showed up in something he might wear on the street.

What can you learn from this? That it doesn't matter how cool and fashion-forward your outfit is — if it's completely wrong for the event, it's just wrong. 

We're big fans of adhering to strict dress codes, and unfortunately Kanye's outfit just doesn't fit into the strict Met Gala guidelines.

If you're Kanye, you can get away with pretty much everything. But that doesn't mean you should.

Here's what people were saying about it:

SEE ALSO: The only 6 things a modern gentleman should keep in his wallet

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NOW WATCH: 5 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones'

As part of the intense secrecy surrounding the Jon Snow storyline on season six of HBO's "Game of Thrones," Kit Harington went for months without using or being referred to by his character's name on the set of "Game of Thrones." Instead, he went by a code name.

“No one was allowed to say ‘Jon Snow’ on set, ever. Everyone had to refer to me as ‘LC,’” Harington told Entertainment Weekly.

"LC" stood for Lord Commander, Jon Snow's position at the Night's Watch when he was killed on season five.

The ban on using "Jon Snow" was extensive and applied to everyone on the set, according to the magazine. Jon Snow didn't appear in scripts, scene breakdowns, call sheets, and prop or wardrobe materials.

Verbal use of the character's name during shooting was also banned, except when it was part of the written dialogue. Producers even used "LC" while talking among themselves, in case someone not belonging to the production was in earshot.

That was just part of the intense cover-up to keep information regarding Jon Snow's fate from the public. Harington and his cast mates were sworn to secrecy by show producers, and were asked to pretend that the actor was done with the show when speaking publicly or to media. The conspiracy went all the way to the top levels of HBO, as executives covered up the resurrection storyline, too.

For his part in the scheme, Harington apologized to fans. 

"Sorry! I’d like to say sorry for lying to everyone," he said.

As fans discovered on Sunday's episode, the long-debated question as to whether Jon Snow would be resurrected was finally answered. After Melisandre (Carice van Houten) performed a spell to bring him back, Jon Snow opened his eyes and inhaled the first breath of his second life.

SEE ALSO: 'Game of Thrones' star teases the meaning behind the big Hodor reveal this week

SEE ALSO: 'Game of Thrones' star says 'sorry' for lying about the show's worst-kept secret

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 4 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones'

ABC is keeping it in the family for Kelly Ripa's first guest cohost after Michael Strahan leaves this month.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is slated to fill the cohosting seat on Monday, May 16.

Kimmel will kick off what will surely be several months of guest cohosts for the WABC-produced syndicated daytime show, as it searches for Ripa's next permanent cohost after Strahan departs the show on Friday, May 13.

In addition to the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" host, Seth Meyers, Josh Groban, Andy Cohen, and Anderson Cooper are reportedly booking days in Strahan's vacated seat in the weeks to come. 

Strahan is leaving "Live" for a full-time job at ABC's "Good Morning America." But he's leaving ahead of his original scheduled exit over the summer after Ripa became angered that she was informed of the change just moments before it went public.

Strahan is being brought over to help "GMA" in the ratings war with NBC's "Today." While "GMA" has more total viewers, NBC's morning show wins with the target audience of 25- to 54-year-old viewers.

SEE ALSO: Here are the 10 best candidates to cohost 'Live' with Kelly Ripa when Michael Strahan leaves

SEE ALSO: 'Access Hollywood' cohost Billy Bush is expected to move to 'Today'

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NOW WATCH: 4 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones'

The Xbox One is an incredible gaming console with the capability to do all sorts of cool things, but unless you have your finger on the pulse of the latest Xbox news, you might be missing out on a few of its best features. Here are nine especially great features of the Xbox One that you may not know about:

Play your saved games on any Xbox One.

Any time you save your progress in a game on the Xbox One, a copy of that save file is automatically saved in cloud storage, too.

This means that if you visit a friend's house or buy a new console, all of your latest saves will be instantly accessible as soon as you sign in to your profile!

The latest superhero blockbuster, "Batman v Superman," was gloomy, joyless, and poorly reviewed.

But according to a revealing interview with director Zack Snyder from 2008, it could've been much worse.

Snyder spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his then upcoming movie "Watchmen." During the interview, he revealed that he had very different ideas about the Caped Crusader than fellow director Christopher Nolan, who directed "Batman Begins."

He said:

Everyone says that about "Batman Begins." "Batman's dark." I'm like, "Okay, no, Batman's cool." He gets to go to a Tibetan monastery and be trained by ninjas. Okay? I want to do that. But he doesn't, like, get raped in prison. That could happen in my movie. If you want to talk about dark, that's how that would go.

So while Snyder's grizzled Batman bludgeoned Superman with a kitchen sink, blew henchmen up with grenades, drank excessively, and branded criminals, at least he didn't get sexually assaulted behind bars. Maybe Snyder is saving that dramatic set piece for 2017's "Justice League: Part One."

The 50-year-old director also talks about how Superman would "pull your arm out of your socket" if he grabbed you.

"People call me a superhero, but I don't even know what that means," Snyder's violent, imagined Superman says. "I just blew this guy to bits!"

Snyder's own explanation of how he sees superheroes goes a long way toward explaining why "Batman v Superman" was such a boring, self-serious, and hyper-violent train wreck.

SEE ALSO: 'Batman v Superman' is a complete train wreck, and director Zack Snyder is to blame

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NOW WATCH: 'Batman v Superman' is a complete trainwreck, and director Zack Snyder is to blame

The wealthiest 50 people in the world control a staggering portion of the world economy: $1.46 trillion — more than the annual GDP of Australia, Spain, or Mexico.

That's according to new data provided to Business Insider by Wealth-X, which conducts research on the super-wealthy. Wealth-X maintains a database of dossiers on more than 110,000 ultra-high-net-worth people, using a proprietary valuation model that takes into account each person's assets, then adjusts estimated net worth to account for currency-exchange rates, local taxes, savings rates, investment performance, and other factors.

Its latest ranking of the world's billionaires found that 29 of the top 50 hail from the US and nearly a quarter made their fortunes in tech. To crack this list, you'd need to have a net worth of at least $14.3 billion. And for the most part these people weren't born with a silver spoon. More than two-thirds are completely self-made, having built some of the world's most powerful companies, including Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Google, Nike, and Oracle.

From tech moguls and retail giants to heirs and heiresses, here are the billionaires with the deepest pockets around the globe.

SEE ALSO: The 20 most generous people in the world

DON'T MISS: The wealthiest people in the world under 35

49. TIE: Aliko Dangote

Net worth:$14.3 billion

Age: 58

Country: Nigeria

Industry: Diversified investments

Source of wealth: Self-made; Dangote Group

At 20, Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote borrowed money from his uncle to start a business that dealt in commodities trading, cement, and building materials. He quickly expanded to import cars during the country's economic boom. Four years later, in 1981, he formed Dangote Group, an international conglomerate that now holds diversified interests that include food and beverages, plastics manufacturing, real estate, logistics, telecommunications, steel, oil, and gas. At $14.3 billion, Dangote's fortune is the largest in Africa and equal to 2.5% of Nigeria's GDP.

The majority of Dangote's wealth stems from his stake in Dangote Cement, which is publicly traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. He owns cement plants in Zambia, Senegal, Tanzania, and South Africa, and in 2011 invested $4 billion to build a facility on the Ivory Coast. Dangote bought back a majority stake in Dangote Flour Mills — which had grown unprofitable after he sold a large stake to South African food company Tiger Brands three years ago for $190 million — in December for just $1. He is also chairman of The Dangote Foundation, which focuses on education and health initiatives, including a $12,000-per-day feeding program.

49. TIE: James Simons

Net worth:$14.3 billion

Age: 77

Country: US

Industry: Hedge funds

Source of wealth: Self-made; Renaissance Technologies

Before revolutionizing the hedge fund industry with his mathematics-based approach, "Quant King" James Simons worked as a code breaker for the US Department of Defense during the Vietnam War, but was fired after criticizing the war in the press. He chaired the math department at Stony Brook University for a decade until leaving in 1978 to start a quantitative-trading firm. That firm, now called Renaissance Technologies, has more than $65 billion in assets under management among its many funds.

Simons has always dreamed big. About 10 years ago, he announced that he was starting a fund that he claimed would be able to handle $100 billion, about 10% of all assets managed by hedge funds at the time. That fund, Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund, never quite reached his aspirations — it currently handles about $10.5 billion— but his flagship Medallion fund is among the best-performing ever: It has generated a nearly 80% annualized return before fees since its inception in 1988.

In October, Renaissance shut down a $1 billion fund — one of its smaller ones — "due to a lack of investor interest." The firm's other funds, however, have been up and climbing. Simons retired in 2009, but remains chairman of the company.

47. TIE: Laurene Powell Jobs

Net worth:$14.4 billion

Age: 52

Country: US

Industry: Media

Source of wealth: Inheritance; Disney

The widow of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell Jobs inherited his wealth and assets, which included 5.5 million shares of Apple stock and a 7.3% stake in The Walt Disney Co., upon his death. Jobs' stake in Disney — which has nearly tripled in value since her husband's death in 2011 and comprises more than $12 billion of her net worth — makes her the company's largest individual shareholder.

Though she's best recognized through her iconic husband, Jobs has had a career of her own. She worked on Wall Street for Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs before earning her MBA at Stanford in 1991, after which she married her late husband and started organic-foods company Terravera. But she's been primarily preoccupied with philanthropic ventures, with a particular focus on education. In 1997, she founded College Track, an after-school program that helps low-income students prepare for and enroll in college, and in September she committed $50 million to a new project called XQ: The Super School Project, which aims to revamp the high-school curriculum and experience.

Last October, Jobs spoke out against "Steve Jobs," Aaron Sorkin's movie about her late husband that portrays him in a harsh light, calling it "fiction." Jobs had been against the project from the get-go, reportedly calling Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale to ask them to decline roles in the film.

Both Claire Danes and Karolina Kurkova stunned in light-up dresses at this year's Met Gala. Marchesa designers teamed up with IBM Watson to create the tweet-responsive dress worn by Kurkova, while Zac Posen designed Danes' Cinderella-esque gown.

Story by Anjelica Oswald and editing by Stephen Parkhurst

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The Jon Snow cover-up keeps getting deeper and deeper. Kit Harington said he even had to convince his "Game of Thrones" costars that he was leaving the show.

After scripts went out containing Jon Snow's death scene while shooting the show's fifth season in 2014, the producers told Harington that he would actually be revived two episodes into season six. But they also asked the actor to keep the plot twist from the other cast members and the crew.

“At first I thought I would find it fun,” Harington told Entertainment Weekly. “'This will be a fun game.' But I had to lie to a lot of close friends and cast members and crew. The longer it went, the more I felt like I was betraying them. So I did end up letting people in, slowly.” 

The actor said that results were mixed. Liam Cunningham, who plays Ser Davos, for example, couldn't be fooled. 

“[Liam Cunningham] told me to f--- off from the start,” Harington said.

And some were totally hoodwinked, such as Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark.

“Sophie Turner, bless her, wrote me a really long letter about how much she loved working with me — and I still got it,” Harington recalled. “That made me chuckle.” 

By the time shooting on the sixth season began, the cast was filled in on Jon Snow's resurrection.

Lying to cast mates was just part of the intense cover-up to keep Jon Snow's storyline a secret. Harington and his cast mates only referred to his character with a codename, were sworn to secrecy by show producers, and were asked to pretend that the actor was done with the show when speaking publicly or to media. The conspiracy went all the way to the top levels of HBO, as executives covered up up the storyline, too.

For his part in the scheme, Harington apologized to fans. 

"Sorry! I’d like to say sorry for lying to everyone," he said.

As fans discovered on Sunday's episode, the long-debated question as to whether Jon Snow would be resurrected was finally answered. After Melisandre (Carice van Houten) performed a spell to bring him back, Jon Snow opened his eyes and inhaled the first breath of his second life.

SEE ALSO: 'Game of Thrones' used this codename for Jon Snow during season 6 to keep him secret

SEE ALSO: This 'Game of Thrones' star says he still thinks Jon Snow might be dead

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 4 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones'

Releasing HD versions of older games has become a common practice in the gaming industry — so much so that even games originally released in high-definition are being remastered on newer hardware to give them a little extra polish and shine.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to know when, or even if, an HD version of your favorite classic game is on the horizon.

Those questions are still up in the air, but thanks to YouTube user and graphical designer CryZENx, we can see what some games from the late 1990s and early 2000s would look like if they were made today.

CryZENx recreates levels, primarily from Nintendo 64 games, using the Unreal Engine, the same graphics engine powering modern games like "BioShock: Infinite" and the "Batman: Arkham" series.

The levels can be downloaded and played on computers capable of running the Unreal Engine, but keep in mind that CryZENx is just recreating these levels graphically — he isn't recreating any gameplay. That means no enemies, no other characters, and no story — just an open level reworked with modern graphics for you to explore.

Nintendo is notoriously strict about people making remakes or homages to its games, so while it would be great to play a fan-made HD remake of "Super Mario 64," watching these videos is probably the closest we'll get.

To give you a taste of how CryZENx's recreations stack up against the original games, we've stacked the two side by side, and you can switch between the two by dragging the slider across the screen.

What a difference new graphics can make:

"Super Mario 64" (1996)

RAW Embed

"The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" (1998)

RAW Embed

"Donkey Kong 64" (1999)

RAW Embed

Leave it to a Brit to show Americans a thing or two about formalwear. White tie is not dead if Idris Elba has anything to say about it.

Elba served as one of the celebrity co-chairs for this year's Met Gala, and it's clear he wanted to dress to impress.

And he completely nailed his white-tie outfit, from the traditional tails and white vest to the black patent leather dress shoes. He even finished it up with a stylish — but not flashy — boutonniere.

But he paired with an Apple Watch, which, despite Apple's insistence, is not quite trendy or fashionable.

Essentially, this is "tech white tie" (the gala's dress code this year) personified.

Here's why it worked so well:

Adherence to the dress code is important.

If the invitation says white tie, you need to wear white tie. 

Showing up in anything other than the requested dress code signifies a lack of respect for both the event and the event planner. There is no more that can be said for that.

If you don't have the requisite clothing, an attempt must be made in earnest. Otherwise, don't bother showing up.

But that doesn't mean you have to live in the past.

Dress codes are inherently old-fashioned, at least in the western world. As a whole, workplaces and events of all kinds have dialed them back quite a bit, making them more suggestions than explicit requirements.

Sure, Elba is rocking his 20th-century white tie, but he finished it off with an Apple Watch, a solidly 21st-century gadget. We won't get into the debate on whether you should wear watches with formalwear (for the record, we think you should), but he smartly chose a black strap to help it blend in.

We love that the wearable takes his entire outfit into the present without compromising anything about what makes it appropriate for the event.

SEE ALSO: Guys are going crazy for this new kind of tuxedo

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NOW WATCH: These are the watches worn by the smartest and most powerful men in the world

The debate over Sean Parker's Screening Room startup, which would let people stream movies still playing in theaters from home, rages on. But the rich and famous have been doing exactly that for years now.

Prima Cinema provides its customers — including top CEOs and celebrities — with first-run movies to stream in their living rooms and private screening rooms, and it has the full support of the movie studios. Though it comes at a much higher cost for customers than what Parker is proposing.

So how much would you have to spend to watch first-run movies from home like the super-rich? And what does it involve?

I got a glimpse of the luxury Prima experience (and learned how much it costs once you set up everything) while visiting the showroom of electronic manufacturer Crestron. 

SEE ALSO: The $35,000 device that celebrities and the super rich use to stream movies still in theaters from home

Let's imagine this is your living room. (It's actually the showroom of Crestron, where I tried the Prima setup.)

And you have a top-of-the-line flatscreen TV. Prima requires that you have a screen that's at least 100 inches on the diagonal.

If you're famous and money is not a problem — if you're, say, Leonardo DiCaprio — Prima is the best way to watch movies currently in theaters while avoiding the headache of being spotted in public.

Apple is planning a major "reboot" of its streaming music service Apple Music later this year, according to a detailed report from Bloomberg published on Wednesday. 

It's one of the first clear looks at just how involved music industry legend Jimmy Iovine is at Apple. He's "tasked with the music product's success," according to the report, and is Apple Music's top executive. 

Although Iovine doesn't have an official title at Apple headquarters— he goes by "Jimmy" — he's been very active on Apple's behalf. 

Here's what he's done: 

• Iovine was a key figure in bringing Taylor Swift over to Apple's side after she harshly criticized Apple Music last summer. Now she's in multipleApple Music ads. 
• He's pretty much Apple's first line of contact with musicians and organizes concerts. Drake's latest album, Views, is currently an Apple Music exclusive, and Iovine was a big part of that.
• Iovine runs his own negotiations, sometimes ticking off other Apple employees who were in negotiations with the same people. 
• He's pushing Apple online services boss Eddy Cue to invest more into Apple Music. 
• Apple's Los Angeles music office has more than 1,000 people working out of it.

However, it does sound as if the merger between Beats and Apple hasn't always been smooth — and Iovine has been part of that friction, especially considering Apple's leadership structure has him and other executives in Los Angeles while Cue is based in Cupertino, California. 

Iovine was famous before he cofounded Beats, which Apple bought for over $3 billion in 2014. As the cofounder of Interscope Records, he knows lots of musicians around Hollywood. It appears as if Apple is taking full advantage of those connections — but it's apparently come at a cost in terms of employees who have left.

Apple is expected to unveil the new Apple Music this June, at its developer's conference. Read the entire Bloomberg report here. 

SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift's Apple ad skyrocketed Drake's music sales 431%

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NOW WATCH: Clever ways to reuse your old iPod

Recycling an outfit for a fashionable event like the Met Gala is unheard of — that is, until Emma Watson took to the red carpet Monday night in a striking black and white gown made completely out of recycled materials. 

The gown was made of repurposed plastic bottles to keep with the "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology" theme and was created through a collaboration by Watson, Calvin Klein, and Eco-Age, a company that helps businesses introduce sustainable solutions.

The body of the gown was made using three fabrics, all woven out of yarns made from recycled plastic bottles. Even the smallest details, like the zippers, were made from recycled materials and the linings were made of organically grown and crafted cotton and silk. 

Watson wrote on Facebook that the gown is made up of three pieces including a bustier, trousers, and a train, all of which the actress and activist has pledged to re-use and wear again in the future. 

She also wrote in her Facebook post that, "Being able to repurpose this waste and incorporate it into my gown for the ‪#‎MetGala‬ proves the power that creativity, technology, and fashion can have by working together."  

Here's Watson's full Facebook message about her gown:

SEE ALSO: The devastating California drought just entered its 5th year — here's what it looked like at its worst

READ NEXT: 29 images that show how we're drastically reshaping the planet

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NOW WATCH: This device turns bottles into plastic string, and will change the way we recycle

We're just months away from the premiere of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," and Disney has released the first official teaser trailer for the standalone film.

Taking place before the events of the 1977 original film, "Rogue One" follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and a group of Rebel fighters on a mission to steal plans for the Death Star.

While the title for the first film in the "Star Wars" anthology series was announced in March 2015, little information has been released since then, but the trailer provides a glimpse into the rebellion. And some developments have leaked out in the media.

We've compiled what we know — along with a few popular rumors — to hold us over until more clips are released.

Here is everything we know about "Rogue One":

(Warning: mild spoilers for "Rogue One" below.)

SEE ALSO: The first trailer for the next 'Star Wars' movie 'Rogue One' is here

The film is the first in the "Star Wars Anthology," a series of standalone films, which will include movies dedicated to Han Solo and bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Gareth Edwards, known for the 2014 "Godzilla" reboot, will direct the film.

The script was written by Chris Weitz ("About a Boy"), based on an idea from visual-effects supervisor John Knoll. Gary Whitta ("After Earth") was originally hired to write the screenplay, but he left the project after writing the first draft.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

If you were to watch 1939's "The Wizard of Oz", then, immediately after, watch the new movie "Captain America: Civil War", you would clearly see some tremendous differences. 

Technology within the film industry has advanced greatly over the last century, allowing movies to tell greater, more realistic stories than ever before. The cinema has evolved from black-and-white silent films edited by physically cutting film strips to 3D digital content spliced together on computers. The digital age has allowed for better quality, color, sound, and even computer-generated imagery (CGI). 

We've found 18 photos that show just how much filmmaking has changed over the past century.

SEE ALSO: What 7 iconic New York sites looked like in the 1930s — and what they look like today

The first successful full-length feature film was "The Birth of a Nation", directed in 1915 by David Wark Griffith, also known as the "inventor of Hollywood". The movie cost $100,000, which was a very large amount at the time.

Source: TIME

The budgets for today's movies usually range from $100 million to $400 million. The most expensive movie ever made was "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End". It cost $341 million and came out in 2007.

Source: Business Insider, iMDB

Film cameras such as the Super Parvo and the Mitchell Standard used to be the go-to for movie production. These film cameras needed to be reloaded frequently when the film would run out. Film is very delicate, so even the smallest scratch could ruin an entire scene.

Every year since 1999, hundreds of supercar owners have gathered together to drive around the world in convoy for the Gumball 3000 rally — a 3,000-mile cross-country rally that takes place on public roads. 

In between long drives, participants stay at luxury hotels and pop champagne at decadent nightclubs. Entry to the week-long rally costs around $50,000. And you need to provide your own supercar, obviously.

Business Insider was invited to take part in one leg of this year's 3000-mile rally from Dublin to Bucharest by Car Throttle — an app-based online car community dubbed "Buzzfeed for Cars"— which had entered Gumball 3000 with a Nissan GTR that was inexplicably wrapped in emojis.

We were only with the team for one day — from London to Kent on day three — but it gave us a flavor of the event. Inside the "EmojiTR," Car Throttle CEO Adnan Ebrahim filled us in on what we had missed.

SEE ALSO: I went for a ride with the 25-year-old millionaire media CEO who drives supercars for a living — and still lives with his parents

We joined the Gumball 3000 on Tuesday morning (day three) at Golden Square in Soho, London.

It looked like one of the most expensive gridlocks the city has ever seen.

The plan for the day was to drive to Folkestone and then onto mainland Europe by Eurostar. Initial progress was slow, as not everyone had yet woken up from the party the night before.

The dramatic downfall of Britney Spears hit an all-time low on January 30, 2008.

Among onlooking paparazzi and helicopters, the pop star was put into an ambulance and rushed to UCLA Medical Center after days of bizarre behavior by Spears that included driving recklessly and speaking in a British accent.

It was the second time in less than a month that she had been taken to a hospital for emergency psychiatric evaluation.

With footage at the time surfacing of her shaving her own head and attacking paparazzi with an umbrella, it was obvious that Spears needed help.

And on February 1, 2008, she got it — in a legal judgment that still rules her life.

While Spears was still in the hospital, her father, Jamie, was granted temporary conservatorship of his daughter, giving him control over her treatment, visitors, security, and daily life.

Today, Spears performs daily at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, having recently signed a two-year extension worth $35 million. In 2015, Forbes named her the sixth-highest-earning female musician, and she will release a new album, her first since 2013, in May.

In one way this is the comeback millions of her fans have been waiting for. But behind the scenes her life is controlled by the conservatorship. And new reporting from The New York Times suggests that Spears has almost no control over her career and personal life.

According to the arrangement, which is typically used to protect the mentally disabled or extremely ill, Spears cannot make decisions about her personal life or finances without the approval of her conservators: her father and lawyer Andrew M. Wallet.

Purchases ranging from a car to a drink at Starbucks are tracked in court documents as a way to safeguard her fortune.

But there are signs that the conservatorship on Spears may one day be lifted. On Monday she was allowed to testify in a case filed against her by a former self-described manager. In at least three previous lawsuits, she was kept from testifying because of the restrictions under her conservatorship.

A court-appointed lawyer, Samuel D. Ingham III, would most likely be the person to decide whether Spears still needs the conservatorship. He makes sure the conservators do not abuse their power.

The Times points out, however, that there's a debate in California about whether court-appointed lawyers do enough as advocates for the rights of those under conservatorship.

California's Senate Judiciary Committee said in a report last year, "In theory the court-appointed counsel should be arguing on the proposed conservatee's behalf for a less-restrictive alternative to conservatorship whenever possible."

According to The Times, Ingham has been awarded $2 million in fees for his work on Spears' behalf since 2008. Spears' father makes $130,000 a year as a conservator and is reimbursed for the rent of an office he uses. He has also requested 1.5% of the gross revenues from the performances and merchandising tied to Spears' Vegas show.

Spears' status and progress are measured by a court investigator, who files a report once every other year.

Back in 2008, when Spears' father asked the court to establish a temporary conservatorship, Spears wanted to challenge it.

"Britney wanted to oppose the conservatorship," Adam Streisand, who was one of two lawyers who spoke to the star at the time, told The Times. "But she was also extremely worried about her kids and seemed to understand that the best thing to do to see her kids was to accept it."

Spears and her father declined to comment for the Times story, but in 2008 Spears said in an interview with MTV about the conservatorship: "I think it's too in control. If I wasn't under the restraints I'm under, I'd feel so liberated."

Yet last year, she told People: "I'm in a real good place in my life. I'm the happiest I've ever been."

Read the full story here.

SEE ALSO: Prince died one day before he was supposed to get medical treatment for his drug addiction

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NOW WATCH: The trailer for the first 'Star Wars' spin-off movie 'Rogue One' is here

Today is May 4, which means it is "Star Wars Day." May the fourth be with you. Get it?!

Ahead of the release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," we talked to two Millennials who have never seen the original 1977 film that started all of the "Star Wars" mania. We lent them a copy of the movie on DVD and they shared their reactions to the classic space adventure. 

Produced by Graham Flanagan

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Jillian Mercado has muscular dystrophy, but her disability hasn't stopped her from becoming a force to be reckoned with in the fashion industry. Mercado is the face of Beyoncé's merchandise line, and has starred in various national fashion campaigns, her wheelchair front and center.

Mercado spoke to INSIDER about how difficult it was for her to break into the fashion world.

Written and produced by A.C. Fowler

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BuzzFeed's popularity is undeniable, but the true scope of people viewing its content is staggering.

The company announced at this year's NewFronts that it pulls in 7 billion content views each month, up from 2.5 billion per month last year, reports Adweek. And most of these views come from BuzzFeed's off-platform distribution strategy.

More than 75% of BuzzFeed's content views occur outside of its website, and a significant portion of that comes from social media. Facebook represents 33%, Snapchat accounts for 21%, and YouTube represents 14%.

This varied distribution strategy has multiple benefits, and chief among them is the scale. Facebook has 1.09 billion daily active users, while Snapchat claims it has more than 100 million. YouTube, meanwhile, says it has more than 1 billion users. BuzzFeed claims more than 200 million monthly unique visitors to its homepage, and 75% of those come as referrals from social media platforms.

Therefore, BuzzFeed is able to take advantage of social media channels to reach the public at a much wider scale than direct traffic can provide.

BuzzFeed can also tap into mobile-first media consumption. Mobile accounts for almost two of every three digital media minutes, and smartphone apps represent almost half of all digital time spent, according to comScore's Cross-Platform Future in Focus report.

Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube are three of the most popular apps, and BuzzFeed has leveraged them successfully, as more than 70% of BuzzFeed's total traffic occurs on mobile.

Finally, BuzzFeed's strategy has enabled it to generate more ad revenue. These social platforms help publishers reach consumers who might be outside of their core audience, which helps publishers pull in more advertisers.

However, this strategy does have some drawbacks. Overreliance on social media could ultimately put BuzzFeed at the whims of these companies, which could change their revenue share models or content algorithms at any time.

Dollars are increasingly flowing from traditional ads to digital, as strong growth in mobile, video, and social spending continue to change the face of the US media market.

Over the next five years, marketers will especially embrace mobile. Mobile will drive up spending on video, search, display, and social, and propel the migration of ad dollars away from traditional media, including newspapers and magazines.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report that forecasts spending trends for the major digital ad formats — including search, display, and video — and mobile vs. desktop. It also examines trajectories for social ad spending and programmatic ad buying, which cut across digital formats. Finally, the report looks at how spending on traditional media formats will grow or contract over the next five years, as digital, and particularly mobile, rises.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Mobile will be the fastest-growing advertising channel and buoy spending on each of the digital formats. US mobile ad revenue will rise by a 26.5% CAGR through of 2020.
• Digital video ad spending is rising faster than search and display. US digital video ad revenue will rise by a CAGR of 21.9% through 2020.
• Mobile search will overtake desktop search ad revenue by 2019. Mobile search ad spend will rise by a 25.2% CAGR, while desktop search ad revenue will decline during the same period.
• Mobile display ads, including banners, rich media, and sponsorships, will overtake desktop display-related spending even earlier, in 2017.
• Social media ads, which cut across display and video, are seeing fast adoption. US social media ad revenue, which includes video and display ads, will grow by a CAGR of 14.9% through 2020.
• The rapid embrace of programmatic ad-buying tools is fueling a dramatic uptick in the share of digital ad spending coming through programmatic channels. Programmatic transactions will be a majority of total US digital ad spend this year.
• Unlike digital, traditional ad revenue will remain flat overall through 2020. Total traditional ad revenue will rise by a CAGR of just 0.4% between 2015 and 2020.

In full, the report:

• Forecasts ad revenue for emerging digital ad channels and formats like mobile, video, social and programmatic over the next five years
• Explores why ad revenue is flowing from desktop to mobile
• Examines the stagnation of traditional advertising channels like TV, magazines, and newspapers

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the digital media advertising.

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