Yesterday, apropos of seemingly nothing, a tiny voice deep in the folds of my brain squeaked at me: “Pika-pi,” it said. “Pika, pika-chu.” Well-conditioned late-’90s child that I am, I was compelled to answer the call: I had to consume some Pokémon.
It was only after I was eight episodes into the original series that I realized (no, really, I am not making this up for dramatic effect): the next day — today — was the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon pilot airing in the US That “Pika-pi” has been drilling into my skull for two decades, years after I’d stopped giving a damn about new Pokémon games (sorry, friends, 250 is my limit), and now here it was again, to passive-aggressively remind me of my encroaching mortality.
The start of the Brickyard 400 on Sunday has been moved up because of the likelihood of rain, with Cup drivers expecting the race to be moved to Monday.
President Donald Trump suggested this morning that Apple should move its manufacturing plants to America as a way to avoid tariffs in the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China, following reports that the company’s products could become more expensive.
The Trump administration began imposing a series of tariffs on goods from China this summer, but up until now, consumer electronics have been left off the list. That could soon change, as the latest proposed round of tariffs could include products from companies like Apple, Fitbit and Sonos. This week, Apple said that the tariffs would amount to a 25 percent tax on products like the Apple Pencil, AirPods, Apple Watch, HomePod, Mac Mini, and others (or individual components used in…
One of 1998’s biggest tech stories was the massive antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. It’s Monopoly Week on The Verge, so I wrote a bit about that lawsuit’s place in the ‘90s legal landscape. I also reviewed Antitrust, the 2001 thriller about a fictionalized Microsoft that murders software developers to steal their code.
But today’s big news involves another incredibly important, potentially monopolistic tech company: Google, which was founded on September 4th, 1998. To celebrate, you can check out some “stickers” from one of Google’s earliest iterations. Or you can read on for news about celebrity chat rooms, flame mail, and a North Korean satellite.
Hello Google, goodbye Backrub
Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched the Google search…
In July 2008, science fiction publisher Tor launched a new website called Tor.com to promote its upcoming releases. But the site was designed to go beyond Tor’s books. It was meant to provide coverage for books from other publishers as well as original fiction chosen by Tor editors.
Since its founding, Tor.com has gone from a simple website to a full-fledged publishing operation. In addition to publishing shorter works of fiction, it also publishes a range of novelettes, novellas, and even some short novels, with books like Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti and Martha Wells’ All Systems Red earning considerable acclaim from the science fiction community. This week, the site published the anthology Worlds Seen in Passing: 10 Years of Tor.com Short…
Despite protests from some consumers who set their swoosh-embroidered shoes ablaze, the sportswear giant’s online sales have rocketed since releasing ads like this commercial narrated by the former 49ers quarterback.
After an initial dip immediately after the news broke, Nike’s NKE, -0.12% online sales actually grew 31% from the Sunday of Labor Day weekend through Tuesday, as compared with a 17% gain recorded for the same period of 2017, according to San Francisco–based Edison Trends.
Some analysts predicted that Nike’s support of the NFL player who called attention to racial inequality by kneeling during the singing of the national anthem before games would lead to a sales slump. That’s not been the case so far.
“There was speculation that the Nike-Kaepernick campaign would lead to a drop in sales, but our data over the last week does not support that theory,” said Hetal Pandya, co-founder of Edison Trends.
Nike stock has also held steady. Per Market Watch,
The stock was up 1% on Friday and remains in the black for the month. It has gained 29% in 2018, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.31% , which since 2013 has counted Nike as a member, has gained 5%, as the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.22% has risen about 8%.
Data from marketing technology company 4C Insights shows that in addition to financial growth, Nike saw a 1,678 percent uptick in mentions and comments on social media over Sunday and Monday as sentiment toward the brand dropped 38 percent.
“You can be darn sure that Nike has done its research and knows what will move its product and who this campaign will resonate with,” said 4C Chief Marketing Officer Aaron Goldman. “They are the ones [Nike has] decided will be its future customers, so, if others are getting upset, [Nike has] planned for that, and it doesn’t care.”
If any team wanted to sign Kaepernick, now might be the ideal time to do so.
The rappers reportedly brawled during New York Fashion Week’s Harper’s Bazaar ICONS party on Friday night.
Footage of the catfight is making the rounds on social media. In one video, Cardi B lunges at someone believed to be the “Barbie Dreams” artist. Someone can be heard screaming, “I will fuck you up!”
Cosmopolitan has further details on what went down:
Sources from inside the party say Nicki was taking a photo with Kelly Rowland and La La Anthony when Cardi walked past. Reportedly, Nicki deliberately stepped on Cardi’s train, and then Cardi threw her shoe at Nicki.
You can see a shoe being removed in the video above, and hear a ‘thwack’ noise as it makes contact with its intended target, or some poor security guard who had to take it.
People reports that “Bartier Cardi” was left with a ripped Dolce & Gabbana gown and a giant lump on her head that was visible in multiple photos.
The “Bodak Yellow” singer addressed the altercation without specifically naming Minaj in a profanity-laced Instagram post.
“I’ve let a lot of shit slide! I let you sneak diss me, I let you lie on me, I let you attempt to stop my bags, fuck up the way I eat!” she wrote. “You’ve threaten other artists in the industry, told them if they work with me you’ll stop fuckin with them!! I let you talk big shit about me!!”
Cardi B went on to claim that the rival femcee had spoken ill about her parenting abilities.
“I addressed you once in person, I addressed you a second time in person, and every time you copped the plea!! But when you mention my child, you choose to like comments about me as a mother, make comments about my abilities to take care of my daughter is when all bets are fuckin off!! I’ve worked to[sic] hard and come too far to let anybody fuck with my success!!!! Bitches talk all that shit in they raps but in real life they pussy!! This shit really is for entertainment!!”
An NYPD Public Information Officer told People that the “incident itself has ended, the investigation is still ongoing.” No arrests have been made.
