Author: rssmasher

Advertisers paid as much as $2.8 million per 30-second spot to appear in last night’s Oscars, but two brands received the telecast’s biggest spotlight–and all without spending a dollar on an Academy Awards ad. Jet Ski and Days Inn both found themselves a featured part of Jimmy Kimmel’s biggest Oscars gag of the evening, as…

Addictive and occasionally frustrating, app sensation HQ Trivia has become 2018’s biggest digital obsession. And while copycats are already emerging, the bigger question is this: What lessons can be learned from HQ? Is it a sign that limited access and appointment programming are gaining value in a world of endless availability? Or does it highlight…

Last night’s Oscars were as exciting, unsurprising, tedious, engaging and ultimately debatable as just about every other year. There was the usual mix of new talent being ushered into the spotlight, established talent getting long-overdue recognition, winking humor from the hosts and presenters, overlong sequences and all the other elements go into the ceremony. As…

Several major tech companies are filing suit against the Federal Communications Commission over the agency’s plans to repeal net neutrality. Today, Foursquare, Etsy, Shutterstock, Kickstarter and others plan to file a petition with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals over the FCC’s plans to roll back an Obama-era ruling that prevents telecoms from throttling the…

The voiceovers are by Minnie Driver – “an esteemed actress with a recognizable voice that commands gravitas,” says Team One’s Chris Graves.

For their next act, media entrepreneurs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz are taking on the curse of fake news. Their new platform, NewsGuard, will use both human beings and artificial intelligence to review the 7,500 most-read news and information websites in the U.S.–about 98 percent of news and information people read and share online. Brill…

Rotten Tomatoes is rolling out an updated logo this week, along with sleeker icons (used by the movie review site to distinguish good reviews, bad reviews and more). The first public unveiling of the new brand identity will take place at South by Southwest this week. The website has been around for 19 years, and…

Conor McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since winning the lightweight belt in November 2016 and then taking a detour into boxing–earning more than $100 million by fighting (and losing to) Floyd Mayweather Jr. last August. His hiatus from UFC has frustrated his rivals, who want a shot at the title–in particular, the Russian newcomer…

Did you know Facebook Messenger allows you to personalize your conversations by giving each of your contacts a nickname? For instance, if you have a term of endearment for your significant other, you may wish to give them that nickname within the application. Our guide will show you how this feature works. Note: These screenshots…

The final award of the evening was also the most-discussed moment on Twitter and Facebook during the 90th Academy Awards Sunday night: The Shape of Water winning best picture. The five Oscars moments that drove the most tweets were: The Shape of Water wins best picture. Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill, Kelly Marie Tran and BB-8…