Month: October 2019

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Instagram introduces Threads, a new messaging app for your close friends

Image: Instagram

Instagram today is introducing Threads, a messaging app designed to be used only by your closest friends. The app’s existence, which The Verge first uncovered in August, is a companion for Instagram that lets you quickly share text, photos, and videos with your “close friends” list. It also invites constant, passive sharing of your location, status, and other intimate data, which both invites privacy concerns and causes some people to reconsider how they’re using that close friends list.

Threads has three core components. The first is the camera, which is the default screen when you open the app. It’s just for taking photos and videos. There are no filters here. The app also offers customizable shortcuts for your close friends, so that…

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Foxconn releases and cancels plans for a giant dome in Wisconsin

The data center proposed, then withdrawn, by Foxconn. | Image: Mount Pleasant Planning Commission

On September 12th, the village of Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, where Foxconn is supposed to be building its enormous factory, released plans for a new building: a nine-story glass orb that would serve as Foxconn’s data center.

By that afternoon, the company withdrew the plans, Wisconsin Public Radio reported, to “explore additional design options.”

Instead, Foxconn is moving forward with plans for a more conventional-looking structure: a boxy 260,000-square-foot facility that plans say will house manufacturing and office space.

Image: Mount Pleasant Planning Commission
Fii manufacturing center rendering.

The quick building swap isn’t the first change of course for Foxconn, which initially promised a 20…

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24 Fall Essentials from H&M That Are So Good for Halloween (and Start at $14.99)

October 31 is decidedly my holiday. I’m Who What Wear’s resident expert when it comes to chic Halloween costume ideas that do not require the purchase of anything particularly costume-y. My qualifications: I’ve been working in fashion for years, all of my style icons are delightfully OTT, plus I’m definitely the person you’d want on your team for any and every horror movie–themed trivia night.

At first glance, what we have here are 24 truly excellent additions to any fall wardrobe. However, I can attest that every (surprisingly affordable) item from H&M below is also the perfect inspo for your 2019 Halloween outfit—especially if you’re the kind of stylish person who is somewhat obligated to dress up but isn’t exactly into costumes. Read on for the items worth snapping up before Halloween (and that you should continue to wear long after).

For that Blondie costume you’ve been carefully curating while listening to Parallel Lines on repeat, especially if you scoop up some oversize sunglasses and a pair of bold ’80s-style earrings. (Will look just as great in a few months’ time with a pair of relaxed vintage jeans for a Sunday morning flea market run.)

Add this faux fur jacket, to complete the glam rocker–groupie look. (Bonus points for strategically smudged eyeliner.)

If you’re gonna get a leather look involved, you can’t go wrong with these pants. They’ll see you through all manner of rocker-chic Halloween ensembles for sure, but given F/W 19’s penchant for the head-to-toe leather trend, they won’t be banished to the back of your closet come November 1.

Jewelry that’ll look just as good with your ’80s Madonna costume as it will with your 2019 night-out looks.

I’m not going to lie—I’m firmly Team Spike when it comes to my all-time-favorite TV show. But I can’t imagine walking into an H&M and not scooping this soft fleece sweatshirt, especially ahead of Halloween and with ’90s nostalgia at fever pitch.

If “celebrity off-duty” is your Halloween inspo (or just your everyday style), this captain’s cap is your ideal accessory.

Chunky boots with pronounced tread are perfect come October 31 as part of your Daria costume; later on, let them anchor all of your cold-weather looks.

Have I bragged yet about how I used to live around the corner from the real-life Nightmare on Elm Street house? I consider this an ideal pick for scary movie night no matter where you live (or what time of year it is).

I live in relaxed straight-leg jeans, so this pair is bound to see serious wear, even if I don’t wind of wearing them as part of the admittedly far-too-niche ’90s-supermodel-off-duty costume I’ve been mulling over.

I see a Little Mermaid costume in your future—and thanks to the shell jewelry trend’s continued popularity, these can also be the finishing touch to a whole lot of vacation looks. Sha-la-la-la-la-la…

A twist on a fashion-girl staple… Whether you choose to use it for a Cher Horowitz costume or prefer to dress as one of the Heathers (from, well, Heathers), you’ll get serious cost-per-wear out of this piece. Make sure to also nab the matching miniskirt for the full effect.

Just layer a short-sleeve Hawaiian shirt over this nostalgia-evoking T-shirt and you’re halfway to looking like Leo (aka Romeo) circa 1996.

So many ’70s costume possibilities with this very on-trend fringed jacket. (Personally, this is the topper that’ll be seeing me through fall and winter here in Southern California—seriously, the Western trend shows no sign of fading.)

There’s a good chance I’ll be a farmer this year for the sheer convenience and comfort of wearing these polished overalls, my favorite flannel shirt, and the cowboy boots I’ve barely taken off since last winter. (Try these!)

The perfect piece to ground a good punk-rock costume, but also ideal with a big chunky knit. Win-win.

In case you’d like to show off your adoration for Stephen King’s horror franchise rather than dressing up like a full-on scary clown. (Kind of you to be mindful of my coulrophobia—yes, that’s a real term I didn’t have to google at all.)

I see a Josie and the Pussycats–inspired group costume moment in your future. Leopard print continues to reign supreme for fall, and this coat’s as cozy as they come.

Rosie the Riveter called—she said you can rewear this pivotal costume centerpiece long after Halloween (when you’ll need a paisley bandana to wrap around your hair, obviously). Affordable boilersuits are right up H&M’s alley.

So many options you can take with this sheer dayglow dream of a top.

Very Spice Girls circa ’99, but also very NYFW circa, oh, F/W 19 (especially if you layer a pair of rainbow-striped metallic socks underneath—just saying).

A vital layer to keep around this time of year. Just make sure to grab some black fleece-lined tights…

The perfect grounding piece for you and your friends’ Grease-themed costumes. See you around Rydell High, Sandy (or Rizzo or Frenchie).

I see a very Austin Powers–era look in your future (just add this, this, and this). Also easy to rewear come New Year’s Eve, or for that girls’ Vegas trip you’ve got on your event horizon.

We’ve established that the nineties are well and truly back, so you don’t really need a Halloween-adjacent excuse to pull on a bucket hat. (Still, we’re pretty sure you’ll think of a killer costume this could be a part of.)

Looking for more fun fall wardrobe building blocks? Check out H&M’s newest arrivals.

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Excited CDC Employees Begin Decorating For Flu Season

ATLANTA—Adorning their headquarters with wreaths of vomitous greens, cyanotic purple bunting, and jolly, glittering papier-mâché viruses, researchers and clinicians at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began putting up decorations Thursday for the 2019 influenza season. “Coming to work is fun this time of…

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