Four Loko Unleashes ‘The Hardest Seltzer in the Universe’

Four Loko is the latest booze brand to jump on the spiked seltzer bandwagon with an absurdly strong fizzy water that packs 14 percent alcohol by volume. 

Four Loko–best known for its sugary, caffeinated malt liquor packaged in neon-colored camouflage cans–took to social media to announce “Four Loko Seltzer,” which is shamelessly labeled as the “hardest seltzer in the universe.” 

Apparently, the mind-scrambling concoction will also have some sort of “sour” flavor “with a hint of blue razz.” Sounds good, right? 

On Instagram, Four Loko tagged competitors and boasted that their new beverage will dwarf other alcoholic seltzers in the strength department, including Pabst Blue Ribbon’s recently announced “Stronger Seltzer” (8 percent ABV), Natural Light Seltzer (6 percent ABV) and the space’s original trendsetter: White Claw Hard Seltzer (5 percent ABV).

A follow-up tweet took aim specifically at the latter by hilariously employing the “Disloyal Man” meme. 

The suits at Four Loko are no doubt attempting to capitalize on the ever-growing popularity of spiked seltzer, and rightfully so.

According to Nielsen by way of Business Insider, the segment grew more than any other in the beer category over the Fourth of July weekend and has seen sales increase by over 200 percent in the last year. 

At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before another booze brand comes out with an even stronger hard seltzer. But at least for now, Four Loko can safely lay claim to the highest ABV crown. 

Don’t Let Today End Without Seeing Rihanna’s Beautiful Shoes and It Bag

Rihanna, if you’re listening, I love you and your knack for making all the coolest brands look even cooler. Case in point: She stepped out last night in Santa Monica for dinner with her mom wearing not one but three It brands. The 7-year-old in me loves shoes that sparkle, so the first thing my eyes went to were her Amina Muaddi (the Middle Eastern brand every celeb is wearing) shoes. With their thin rhinestone-embellished straps and stiletto heel, they’re as simple as they are beautiful. In fact, I just named them as the top pair to buy from the cult-favorite brand right now. She also wore a Bottega Veneta clutch, which has triumphed over all other It bags as of late, as well as a Nanushka sweaterdress, which proved to be the perfect neutral, chic piece to let her accessories stand out. 

Rihanna’s style just keeps getting better and better, and this is one of my favorite looks I’ve seen her wear lately (and that’s saying a lot—I love them all). Scroll on to shop her entire outfit as well as more pieces by the three RiRi-approved It brands.

On Rihanna: Nanushka Mahali Ribbed-Knit Maxi Dress ($430); Bottega Veneta 1980 Lauren Clutch ($2680); Amina Muaddi x Browns Gilda 95mm Crystal-Embellished Sandals ($685)

Next, 20 cult-favorite shoe brands and the number one pair to buy from each.

These 3D-Printed, Machine-Washable Sneakers Are Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles

Brooklyn-based minimalist sneaker brand Oliver Cabell  just launched 3D-printed sneakers made entirely from recycled plastics that they hope will kickstart a new trend in eco-conscious footwear.

Basic environmental facts about the 300 million tons of plastic made every year are kind of a bummer: Only a measly 9 percent of those bottles we toss ever actually gets recycled.

And plastic is forever. Not the good forever, either, like diamonds—it’s just eternal garbage, always polluting something somewhere: the ocean, full of microbeads, or the earth, where it’s a buried and inorganic barrier to life above and below. 

Phoenix sneakers in the white colorway

So Oliver Cabell has, after two years of research into how they can be part of the solution rather than the plastics problem, created the Phoenix. It’s a sneaker made on a 3D printer out of recycled plastic bottles. 

Oliver Cabell founder Scott Gabrielson says the brand’s mission “has always been fairly simple…to marry the finest design, materials, and process with the latest technology, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses. We feel that the Phoenix is the culmination of what we’ve been striving for since we launched.”

Phoenix sneakers in black

Here’s how Oliver Cabell does it, according to their announcement:

The process starts with recycled bottles that are sterilized, washed, and cut into flakes that are spun into a fiber. That single piece of fused yarn then goes into a 3D knitting machine, which prints the material to shape inside the machine and comes out fully formed. Over seven recycled bottles are used to make one pair. 

Gabrielson says that the “process results in 80% less waste and a seamless upper with no cutting, stitching or discomfort.”

The Phoenix line is totally machine-washable and the shoes have been designed, according to Gabrielson, to be “incredibly lightweight and comfortable. We couldn’t have it feel like you were wearing plastic.”

They’re also made to be worn sockless, and are moisture-wicking with an antibacterial lining.

Look for the Phoenix in black or white colorways. They are an affordable and environmentally-safe $95 and available only via olivercabell.com

Having ‘Null’ as a license plate is about as much of a nightmare as you’d expect

California Becomes First State To Test New Digital License PlatesRather than a more traditional license plate, one security researcher chose one that simply read ‘Null.’ | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

I’m not a massive fan of personalized license plates, but even I feel a little bad for Joseph Tartaro, a security researcher who, at one point, had as much as $12,049 in traffic fines because of an ill-advised license plate choice. Wired reports that Tartaro registered the plate back in late 2016, and since paying a single ticket back at the beginning of 2018, he’s been plagued by citations that have nothing to do with him.

That’s because Tartaro chose the word “Null” for his plate, which, as anyone who knows anything about programming will tell you, is a word that’s like catnip for badly programmed computer systems. “Null” is a special text string used in programming to tell a system that a value is empty or undefined. You’ve probably…

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Facebook movie ads will now include ticket and showtime details

Facebook ads for movies will now include two new features: premiere reminders and the ability to look up showtimes and buy tickets. Users can hit the “Interested” button when they come across a movie ad in their News Feed, and they’ll receive a notification when the movie is in theaters, similar to how event pages work. On the movie detail page, users will be able to look up showtimes and buy tickets.

The new movie ads are available in the US and UK through partnerships with theater chains AMC Theaters and Regal Cinemas. US moviegoers will be able to buy tickets through Fandango and Atom Tickets, while UK users will be able to buy tickets through Odeon Cinemas. To celebrate the launch, Facebook is offering a promo to waive AMC and Atom…

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