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The DCEU has polarized fans almost since its inception,but hope has been returned in partthanks to the success of Wonder Womanin 2017. It all began in 2013 with Man of Steel, followed by Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice two years later, and then Suicide Squad in 2016. This universecultivated a lot of fan bickering over things liketone. The vibe of the DC movie-verse was gritty, violent and war-torn compared to the MCU. However, as were seeing with how Justice League is shaping up, theyre clearly injectinga much lighter tone, which will hopefully bring back even the most dejected DC fans.

RELATED:15 Times Cartoons Ripped Your Heart Out

While all of this gets sorted, the DCEU has had quite a few moments of ignorance, where thingsjust fellflat because of bad-writing and poor execution. Seriously, plot and character issues aside, there are some moments that make us cringe because they just dont translate well to the big screen. These instances are definitely a combination of issues but when they crash, boy oh boy, do they crash hard!It happens to the best studios, though, from the MCU to Fox to Sonys cinematic universe of superheroes. Taking that into consideration, CBR decided to dissect 15 of the cringiest moments in the DCEU so far.

SPOILER WARNING: Major spoilers ahead for all DCEU movies

In Batman vs. Superman, Lex Luthor wanted Superman dead because he saw him as the devil and not an angel like everyone else. He didnt believe someone wielding godlike power was any good for mankind. It was mostly because he was jealous and oh yeah, super-duper evil. However, he was stymied by Senator June Finch who wasnt fond of his methods.

Dont piss in a jar and tell me its Grandmas peach tea! she warned him when he tried to talk to her about blocking his import license on bringing in radioactive kryptonite. When Superman was eventually called to a congressional hearing to answer for dispatching mercenaries, Finch ironically found a jarof peach tea on her desk, which looked like urine. A bomb then went off, killing everyone and framing Superman, but it didnt stop the audience from gagging. This jar was sick and gross; the ultimate insult to injury.

We understood what Zack Snyder was trying to do in Man of Steelwhen he kickstarted the DCEU. He changed up a few things about the Superman mythos in order to modernize it. One of the elements he changedwas Jonathan Kents upbringing of Clark. He wasnt as inspirational as other depictions and wanted to shield his son from the world.

When a tornado hit them on the road and he made Clark get everyone to safety, Pa Kent was caught in no mans land and was about to be killed. Clark wanted to save him but Pa warned him not toso as to keep his secret.Clark obliged and let his dad die. Thiswas cringeworthy because it was so pointless. Pa Kents death was handled much better elsewhere, like in the comics, where he suffered a heart attack, which even Superman couldnt prevent. Thats how you do play this scene, not with a tragedy thatcould have been avoided.

In Suicide Squad, there were quite a few WTF moments whichleft us facepalming hard. One of them was an interaction between Deadshot and Diablo. Deadshot was the rugged leader who was all about business while Diablo was more reserved and struck by guilt over his familys death. The latter wasnt up for the mission and Enchantress monsters attacking didnt help the teams cause.

Deadshot realized they were being outmanned, so he hyped Diablo up to the point where the criminal lost his cool and broke out his fire manipulation powers. He roasted and toasted the creatures, butyou couldnt help but laugh when Deadshot was getting him worked up and angry. It was cheesy at best and disingenuous at worst, and felt like a scene betweenWill Smith and cousin Carlton from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Patty Jenkins Wonder Womanremains a huge hit but this scene was one of the more drawn-out and forced ones that tried too hard and left us shaking our heads. Steve Trevor was rescued by Diana but the Amazons didnt heed his rallying call to help mankind in their wars. Diana, however, left Themyscira with him and started her journey to becoming Wonder Woman.

However, before they did so, she walked in on him after he got out of a pool in his quarters and she started scrutinizing his body. We know it was the point to make this scene uncomfortable, but the whole affair made us cringe super hard, especially thanks to Dianasperceived innocence. It was still a funny scene, but it did drag and the whole encounter made us cringehard arguably intentionally so!

Cara Delevingne is a talented actor,but boy was she off in her depiction of the witch called the Enchantress. After Amanda Wallers plans to try to control her inside June Moones body went awry, the despot broke out and started her quest for global domination. However, all Delevingnes idiosyncrasies left us wondering what she was on!

We couldnt tell if she was drunk or just dancing for no apparent reason. Her distorted voice andcharacter quickly became hard to watch, morphing into a performance that was less black magic and more cringe.In general,Suicide Squad really leaned in to its over-the-top performances, which works for characters like Harley Quinn, but for Enchantress, it just came across as cartoonish; an antithetical move for such an ostensibly gritty movie.

Snyders Man Of Steel got a lot of flak, but there were many moments thatcast a contemporary light on the Superman character, sort of like whatMark Waid and Leinil Yu achieved in the landmarkSuperman: Birthright.Snyder focused on Kryptonian technology a lot butthis scene, while ambitious, just didnt quite hit the mark.

When Lois and Kal-El were aboard Zods scout ship, she was left to rescue him. After uploading a key into the vessel, the ghost of Jor-El (which was a holographic artificial intelligence) appeared tobasically act as a tour guide on how to save the day. He opened doors for Loisand predicted when attacks would come, all so that they could wrest Superman away from Zods iron fist. She was left alive, but we were allleft groaning because SUpermans dead father became adeus ex machina, which sort of defeats his whole purpose.

As Bruce investigated Lex in BvS, he went after some goons who packed a lot of firepower. It didnt faze Batman since he had his trusty Batmobile, but as the chase ensued he ran into Superman, literally! Now, one of the moments that made us cringe was when both gents decided to chat and forget about the escaping criminals. Even when they were done talking, no one knew if any of them went after the actual criminals.

As for their little pow-wow, it was basically Superman telling Batman he didnt approve of his violent methods and he threatened him if he didnt stop his vigilantism. It was apretty ironic momentbecause Batman felt an unchecked Superman was a threat to humanity. This schoolyard mouth-off ended with Batman asking him, Do you bleed? When Superman flew off, he said, You will.That makes for a great soundbyte, but lets be real, a pretty cheesy moment.

In Suicide Squad, Enchantress main objective was to transform the world once she escaped imprisonment into the one she felt she should be ruling. She saw the evolution of metahumans as a sign that things were swinging her way, and that was a sign to eradicate humanity. A key component was bringing her sibling, Incubus, back to help her in this genocide.

The demonic duo wanted to purge the Earth but every single scene Incubus spoke in, and tried to intimidate, left us wondering what was up with his voice. Look, we give full kudos to the studio for jumping right into the mystical realm and the siblings werent bad villains but the dialogue Incubus got and his depiction gave the impression of a video game character. Were specifically thinking of Kotal Kahn from Mortal Kombat X. When he challenged Diablo at the end, it was another flat and disappointing moment.

In Justice League Unlimited, it was great seeing the meet-cutebetween Batman and Wonder Woman. Come BvS, Snyder and company would have just as much fun with Bruce clearly smitten by Diana. When he tried to use tech to steal info from Lex, Diana flipped the table and stole it from Bruce instead.

Later on at a gala, he tried to get it back from her, and even tried wooing her a bit. She eventually told him where it was but not before their attempt at romance came off as cheesy, shock value and just poorly handled. There was no chemistry between the two, a malady remedied by her true love, Steve(Chris Pine) Trevor. When Diana told Bruce that she doubted he knew women like her, it should have been impressive, butit came off as trite.

Snyders DCEU debutgot really weird when Zods Kryptonian army came down to Earth to find the Codex (a repository that stored the DNA of Kryptons citizens for genetic engineering). They headed straight to Smallville to go after Clarks mom, Martha Kent, and actually got physical with her.

When they asked her for it, there was a really dumb moment where she looked over at the barn and then suddenly, they assumed it was there. What Faora jumped to find was Clarks stowaway ship. Apparently, Kryptonians had built-in lie detectors. Also, Martha gave in way too easily, as opposed to Pa, who died in a freaking tornado this family needs some consistency of message! Overall, this just points to howpoorly-written and shoddily executed the conflict in the movie ended up being; spectacular visually, sure, but absolutely zero nuance.In a movie this huge, this important, thats just embarrassing.

When the Suicide Squad was finally greenlit to go off on their mission to stop the Enchantress, the DCEU really screwed the pooch when they focused way too long on over-sexualizing Harley Quinn as she got into her gear. From her skimpy clothes to close-up shots of herbody, was it necessary to treat her like a piece of ass rather than abadass?

We understand that in the comics, and even the cartoons at times, she was sexually objectified (and used that as a weapon in her arsenal), but in this film, Harley was in minimal clothing throughout. We get it shes sexy and barely-clothed. That has arguably become part of her character, but it beingthisgratuitous just felt contrived and gross.

Now, this kiss wasnt a mind-wiping fail as with Superman II. No, this was on a whole new level. After Lois helped send Zods minions back to the Phantom Zone, Superman rescued her and they had to struggle to reach ground zero. They did and got wrapped up in a long, passionate kiss.

What makes this dumb? Well, for starters the Daily Planet employees, including Perry White, saw this which meant that when Clark arrived with his glasses later on, and Lois moved in with him, it wouldnt take an investigative mind to realize that Clark and Superman are one in the same. Secondly, Supermans making out while buildings are collapsing and people are dying. And oh yeah, Zods still out there waiting to kill the rest of humanity. Priorities please, people!

When it came to BvS, one of the biggest head-scratchers was with Lex and a politician. The villain was currying his favor as the likes of Senator Finch werent playing ball with him. This politician was willing, however, as Lex indicated that he wanted access to Zods body to study it, in what would become Doomsday. He also wanted to use the Kryptonian Genesis Chamber seen in the previous movie.

Now, while we appreciate Snyder flipping the concept of Lex and going for a quirky, eccentric start-up millennial, what unfolded was kind of sick. Lex slipped a Jolly Rancher in the mans mouth after indicating it was cherry-flavored. It seemed to be against the politicians will as he didnt seem to be enjoyingit. Lex then pushed it in with his own finger, which he then proceeded to lick. This onetook the audience a while to process after its collective cringe.

The finale of the Wonder Woman movie was entertaining and filled with action but the build-up to this spectacle was weak. Not to mention that dismal reveal that Sir Patrick Morgan, who was helping Diana and Steve fight the Nazis, was actually Ares. Bad dialogue aside, what really left a sour taste in our mouths was that this segment of the movie felt so haphazard.

Its as if they were rolling along and realized that they forgot to add in a Snyder-esque climax. This in turn apparently flicked a switch where they forgot about Ares and decided to throw him to the most unexpected character in the film. It didnt work. It was boring, predictable and rushed. This move felt like they chucked in a major super-powered villain just for the sake of having one; all style and no substance.

When things get rough, always have a safe-word. In BvS, the schoolyard fight had one and it was Martha. Bruces mother was Martha Wayne and Clarks adoptive one was Martha Kent so when Lex took her hostage in a complex plot to get Batman and Superman to brawl, all the alien had to do to show the Dark Knight he was indeed human was whisper his mothers name.

He did this, urging Bruce to go save her from Lexs clutches. A moment like this works in the comics but in film, not as much, especially in the wake of Superman not having a simple conversation with Batman before the fight to let him know that she was taken hostage. Batman powering down so quickly had us chuckling more than anything. Snyder wanted this scene to be profound and cathartic, but the majority of it felt heavy-handed and off-putting.

Let us know in the comments which DCEU momentsmade you cringe the most!

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15 Times DC Movies Made Us All Cringe - CBR (blog)

It was raining cats and dogs in the mountains, I could barely make out the local cafe that has looked after us so well during this trip.

One thing that was still functional was the crazy robotic lawnmower in the neighbours garden.

This piece of technology has to be seen to be believed, but the couple who we've been spying on throughout the week have worked the little man into the ground.

Every day that poor thing is up and down the lawn, there's no blades of grass left! And the wife was even on her hands an knees yesterday using scissors to even things out!

Is this normal behaviour?!

TS: I don't really think you're one to talk. You're a man in his 30s who wears Where's Wally? pyjamas. Every. Single. Night.

The podcast was the main task about town today! It's been a few weeks in the making... you may have noticed some new artwork thanks to a man we've paid handsomely.

It's a fresh revamp and will now exclusively be about Wolves and Wolves-only this season...so make sure you set your notifications as I think we'll have plenty to talk about over the next few weeks.

As we got in the car to grab a quick coffee, Spiers wasn't too happy with my request to drive up to the door to pick me up...nobody wants to get wet do they?! Plus I had heels on!

TS: It was literally 20 yards away. Mind you it was a good job you weren't trying to drive that far, you'd still be trying to reverse it now.

Daily vid was next on the cards. Pretty easy location shoot today as we filmed from our very own balcony due to weather issues.

My attire was slightly grim reaper, but others on Twitter saw it as another photoshop opportunity. Magnificent effort from @Mr94Official here.

Lots to say though...we always end up running over our predicted time, but no bloopers on this occasion so all was well.

That was until we tried to upload it onto YouTube. All video editing has been done at the team hotel from a video point of view. Despite the more than useful wifi in our kitchen, it appears uploading to film is a non starter.

Four hours later (for an eight minute video), we finally had got the damn thing on the website.

There was even a rainbow outside celebrating the occasion.

Our aim was to have some down time in Innsbruck on the night as we've been recluses for the last five days.

But Bodvarsson, Iorfa and a ground/kick-off change for Saturday's game delayed plans somewhat.

Still with most of the work done or near to completion, we were not to be defeated.

What went on next are events that are not, will not and have never been endorsed by the Express and Star.

TS: (Hic) I love you man

Love you more

TS: jfdkfnidgngnodgphjpgjhopgohxfjo#

Those are just random letters, go and drink some water

See you all tonight for the game.

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Wolves in Austria: Nathan Judah and Tim Spiers' Day 5 diary - expressandstar.com

Yoni Lappin

A leap of faith can change your whole life. For producer Mura Masa, it was moving from his small town in Guernsey, British Isles to London in order to make his music dreams a reality. The modest 21-year-old, born Alex Crossan, started uploading beats to SoundCloud when he was 18 and distanced himself from the crowd, literally and figuratively, by moving to the U.K. city in 2015, and dropping an EP,Someday Somewhere.

Mura is known for meshing together afrobeat, dancehall and deep house to create breathy party anthems. When I started to upload to SoundCloud and kind of gain a following and in the internet age, its really easy to put stuff out there and get feedback from other people, Mura tells XXL. I appreciate that.

Now, the English export is slowly making his presence known in the hip-hop space on and offline. In the past year, Mura has convinced A$AP Rocky to jump on the remix to his breakout track Love$ick, spontaneously linked with Desiigner for All Around the World and assisted on Stormzys debut album,Gang Signs & Prayer. Taking his stateside crossover to new heights, Mura performed for his biggest U.S. crowd yet during Weekend 1 of 2017 Coachellaand Rocky even showed love with a surprise performance during the set.

Mura is using this momentum to drop his self-titled debut album out nowviaApple Music.Before he released the LP via Downtown/Interscope Records and his own label, Anchor Point, the upstart chopped it up with XXL about getting hooked on hip-hop thanks to Lil Jon, working with Rocky and more.

XXL: What did you listen to growing up?

Mura Masa: Growing up, I listened to a lot of pop and rock. My dad was in a rock band in the 80s in Glasgow, Scotland. So it started from there. My mom also got me into like Jane Mitchell and lots of different things. I distinctly remember I started listening to hip-hop when I heard that Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz, that Get Low tune. I kind of started to listen to rap after that.

For producing, I kind of got into J Dilla very early on and yeah, so I grew up listening to lots of types of music really. When it came to music, my dad, he listened to everything from like, punk and heavy metal to funk and jazz. His influence on me was just keeping an open mind, I guessnot being opposed to experiment and kind of mix different types of music.

You say you got hooked on rap thanks to Lil Jon. What stood out to you about Lil Jons Get Low?

First of all, the beat is just like, absolutely slaps. Up until then Id never really heard anything like that before. Im from a really remote place called Guernsey. Its like a tiny island. So hearing that type of music for the first time, just how explicit it was and how sexual it was, that was a real eye-opener.

What inspired you to start producing music of your own?

I guess I was playing in a lot of punk bands and rock bands as a kid, stuff like that. But then when I started to produce I started listening to things like Hudson Mohawke and a lot of G.O.O.D. Music producers like Mike Dean. It really interested me of who producers kind of fill that role of playing every instrument themselves. Im a big fan of Prince as well because hes like a one-man band. It was just that interest in having control over all elements of the music.

What instruments do you play?

I play a bit of everything. I dont play anything particularly amazingly but I play a little bit of guitar and drums, keyboard, bass guitar and just a lot of traditional instruments. I guess coming from that background it was quite interesting to mix that with more electronic sounds.

What drew you to working with A$AP Rocky for the Love$ick remix?

Well, I first heard about Rocky when he dropped Live.Love.ASAP. I just remember that video of him walking out the corner store and being like, I be that pretty motherfucka, and all that. I was just a big fan of him from early on. So when it came to finding a rapper to work with on this debut album, I really wanted it to be someone I was a big fan of and who I believed in. And Rocky spends a lot of time in London and kind of calls it his second home.

He was in town for a film premiere I think and he had heard the original version of Love$ick and he got it contact with me and told me he really enjoyed it. So we met up at Abbey Road Studios, which is you know [laughs] where the Beatles did all that stuff. So that was pretty crazy itself. And we just met up this past September or [October] and just talked about lots of things like fashionTame Impala. We just shot the shit basically and got chatting for a while. And while we were doing that, he was just freestyling over the instrumental and I kind of took that away and made it what it is on the record.

Rocky has been spotted a lot in the studio lately. Did you get to work on anything more besides Love$ick? Did you work on anything for his new album or maybe Cozy Tapes?

Yeah, we hung out in London a lot. I think hes just kind of getting ideas together at the moment and deciding what hes going to do next. We definitely worked on some other stuff but you know how it goes. Im sure hes got hundreds of songs on the go but theres definitely an ongoing relationship there.

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And then how did you get Desiigner on All Around the World?

That was a bit of a weird one actually. Id had that beat laying around for like a year and I didnt actually know that Desiigner had gotten a hold of it. So one day, I was in L.A. and I actually was working in the Interscope Studios across from Kendrick [Lamar] while he was working on DAMN. [Laughs] Kendrick actually came across and said, Hey. That was cool.

So, anyway, the same day that that was happening, we got an email from Desiigners people saying, Desiigners in the booth, hes tracking something now. And we asked, Whats he writing to? We have no idea what youre talking about. And then they sent us All Around the World. He hadnt done any verses on it yet it was just the choruses and those Desiigner ad-libs.

So I had to kind of coax some verses out of him, but I just really like Desiigner. I think that like a lot of people try to shit on him because hes so young and hes kind of just doing his own thing but hes just like a really amazing character. Thats what I like about [the song.] Its something a bit different from him and something a bit different from me. Its good how we met in the middle.

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A lot of your beats are a mash-up of house, trap, future bounce. What is it about that intrigues you about trap and hip-hop?

I think the energy of it. Its so easy to nod your head to a hip-hop beat or its easy to dance to a trap beat because its ingrained in popular culture now. The culture of hip-hop and the legacy of these artists is just like a deep appreciation. Obviously learning about how deep the culture goes, I find that interesting.

Who are some of your favorite rappers right now?

Some of my favorites right now, I really like Playboi Carti. I think once he comes out of his shell a bit more, I think hell kind of blow up in a nice way. I really like XXXTentacion. I really enjoy how hes bringing punk into rap a bit more. Same with Lil Uzi Vert.

Who are some other producers youre influenced by right now?

Mike Dean, Hudson Mohawke because hes from Glasgow and hes signed to G.O.O.D. Music. Hes worked on a lot of Kanyes stuff. Rick Rubin as well. Ive always looked up tho Rick Rubin. I love his approach and attitude to creating music.

What was your favorite studio session in putting the whole album together?

I think the session with Rocky was an amazing one. I think just freestyling with him on the spot and freestyling off the top of his head. You never know what youre going to get with rappers. Whether theyre more methodical and write it all down or whether theyll make it up as they go.

What do you want fans, especially hip-hop fans, to learn about you with this debut album?

I guess its interesting for people who come from more of a hip-hop background to hear a couple of different sounds that maybe they werent expecting. Theres a lot of different types of tracks on the album, kind of like a musical collage. Im curious to see from people that will be the reaction of people who learned about me through hip-hop, what they make of it.

Who else are you working with this year on the hip-hop side?

Im not sure if I can disclose that. Deals have to be made and that sort of thing. Theres definitely more stuff from me. Im really looking up to people from James Blake at the moment for his work with Vince Staples and Jay-Z and Kendrick and stuff like that. Hes kind of the proof that English producers can really make an impact on the sound of American hip-hop.

Who else do you want to work with that you havent yet?

I dont know. I like to keep it quite open. I think that you should be able to collaborate with another as long as the musics good and youre a fan of them. I will say Vince Staples is doing some amazing stuff with the kind of U.K. influence hes bringing in. So yeah, Vince Staples would be a good one. I havent had the opportunity to [work with Vince] but hopefully we get connected at some point.

What else do you have planned for the rest of the year after the album drops?

Were doing a pop-up shop with exclusive merch weve done with designers and stuff. Lots of new music. Ive got a record label that Ill be releasing music under called Anchor Point Records. And I think I want to drop another beat tape soon. Hopefully before the end of the year.

See 133 Rapper-Launched Record Labels From the Past and Present

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Studio Session: Mura Masa Calls on ASAP Rocky and Desiigner for New Self-Titled Album - XXLMAG.COM

Vlogging online can be a great way to showcase your hobbies or even supplement your income. Once you decide on a topic and set up your own YouTube channel, you can start producing and posting your own content. To avoid having your bandwidth throttled when uploading large videos, you should consider using a VPN to connect to the Internet to bypass any restrictions from your ISP.

Most VPN service providers offer services globally and thus charge in US Dollars rather than in local currencies, so we've listed pricing in Dollars for the sake of simplicity. Bear in mind that when you click through to the actual deals, you may find the prices automatically displayed in pounds, or whatever your native currency may be.

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Check out the best VPN services of 2017 and visit thebestvpnfor.me to get the best VPN deals and offers on the market, straight from our VPN team.

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How to prevent bandwidth throttling with a VPN - T3

Slightly behind schedule than the original launch date, June 28, Google has today finally released Backup and Sync for PC and Mac. The new app from Google is designed to streamline the way users backup their files and photos online.

Now, users need only one application to save and sync their files instead of the traditional combo of the Google Photos uploader and Google Drive. With Google Backup and Sync, users can conveniently select all the folders that they wish to be automatically backed up to the cloud and Google will safely store everything online.

This means that there is no longer the need of having to move all the important files in a specific, dedicated Google Drive folder, as any location anywhere on the users PC or Mac will do. This will prove extremely helpful in scenarios where users want to save photos and files from multiple locations like desktop folders, SD cards, cameras, external hard drives, etc. on their Google Drive. With all this in mind, there might be an increased need for more than the free 15GB of data storage that Google provides.

For several users, this update has been long overdue as it is arguably much more practical to have one client instead of two separate apps uploading files and photos to the exact same cloud destination. The new app is also said to improve the stability and functionality of Google Drive and comes with a brand new and redesigned dashboard.

Backup and Sync is now available for Google Photos and Google Drive across both Mac and PC, while Linux users will have to go without. You can find additional information on how Backup and Sync works on the Google Help Center.

Source and image: Google

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Google Backup and Sync is now available and will change the way you backup your files - Neowin

For a long time, PSY's aggressively catchy hit Gangnam Style was the most-viewed YouTube clip on the platform, standing at 2.8 billion views.

Gangnam Style rose to the top back in 2012, beating out Justin Bieber's Baby which had been the ruling clip up until PSY's phenomenal success.

Now there's a new kid in town when it comes to ruling views. Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa's mega-hit See You Again has nabbed top place.

At the moment, there are just under 2.9 billion views on the track's music video, which features clips from the emotional Fast and Furious flick featuring the late Paul Walker.

Rapper Wiz Khalifa commented on the gigantic achievement in a press release:

"Im super excited and grateful to everyone who supported the song and video on YouTube, and happy to inspire and impact so many lives."

Meanwhile, Puth said:

"I remember when I signed up for YouTube in 2007 and had hopes of uploading a video and it reaching 10,000 views.Now a decade later, it feels incredible to be a part of the most-viewed video on YouTube."

However, Justin hasn't been bumped too far from the top of the heap since Baby's success the music video for his song Sorry is at Number 3 behind Gangnam Style. Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars is at Number 4.

Now, it's important to bear in mind that See You Again was released back in 2015. Gangnam Style was of course a 2012 hit, while Uptown Funk and Sorry were respectively 2014 and 2015 releases.

The fifth most viewed spot is currently held by Despacito, the Luis Fonsi track featuring Justin Bieber which was only released this year.

It's rising to the top incredibly quickly, raking in views at a much faster rate than YouTube's other contenders which hints that the bilingual hit will surpass the older songs much faster than we think.

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There's a new most-viewed Youtube video, pushing Gangnam Style off the top spot - Buzz.ie

I watched some amazing fireworks this past Fourth of July weekend, with powerful rockets screaming skyward to burst among the clouds and fantastic fountains erupting brilliantly at ground level. After the excitement, I found myself musing on the shows parallel to the question of whether it is better to transcode in the cloud or to use on-premise servers. People want to understand how cloud-based transcoding might benefit their business. Do we even need on-premise transcoding anymore?

The truth is that you cant discuss transcoding without considering the workflow around it. Lets start with two basic definitions:

1. Transcoding is the adaption of a media file from one format to another: converting a 1080i file to 720p or Avid DNxHD to H.264 web-compatible format, changing the bit rate, or making numerous other changes needed to deliver content to a particular platform.

2. Workflow is the path content takes between creation and delivery. A workflow can include manual processes such as Standards & Practices, machine-automated processes such as quality control, and, yes, transcoding.

In other words, transcoding is just one activity within the overall journey we call a workflow. What happens upstream and downstream of transcoding matters. We are really asking about content operations, which come in two flavors: Production Content that is in the process of being created and Distribution Content that is relatively complete but needs to be adapted for one or more distribution platforms.

Production content is the raw material of the production factory, from a YouTube producer creating a workout video to a broadcast newsroom creating this evenings newscast. Transcoding may be needed to bring in external content (such as from a news-wire service, archive or external library) or to share content between departments running different systems (such as production and promotions departments). Production content workflows tend to be heavily time-dependent, frequently operate on smaller files and typically require very few destination formats and variations.

Distribution content is the finished goods that need to be packaged for delivery. The destination could be a networks master control, iTunes, Roku, SVOD or any other distribution path. It tends to be longer in duration, although it may also include commercials and promos, and generally requires conversion into significantly more formats and varieties.

With all that in mind, lets re-ask the question: cloud-based or on-premise transcoding? The answer often comes down to three simple factors:

TIME

Transcoding large files can take significant time; uploading large files to the cloud, potentially even longer. If the delivery need is measured in minutes, as is frequently required with production operations, its unlikely cloud services will reliably meet that demand. If the need is measured in days, which is normal in distribution operations, the cloud becomes a more realistic option.

Internet connection speed also greatly affects time. Just comparing one recent Positive Flux client with a 100Gig internet backbone and another with only 200Mb, the client with the faster pipe was far better positioned to utilize cloud services for a wider variety of services.

DISTANCE

A widely-dispersed team whose members need to operate on the content at the same time could benefit from a cloud-based solution, if it has the workflow tools they need. For them, the time cost of bringing content to the cloud is offset by the benefits in freedom of location.

If the content is destined for multiple off-site locations, then time spent to upload it into the cloud is not wasted. In fact, it has the effect of moving the content closer to all its destinations and potentially reducing the number of uploads to just one. We can then leverage cloud-based workflows and transcoding to deliver the many variations to the different destinations.

If the content is only destined for an in-house master control facility, then cloud-based operations make less sense. Why go to the cloud only to return to the same starting point?

MONEY

Moving transcoding and workflow operations to the cloud trades capital investment for operational cost. Cloud-based operations could help avoid buying some servers and software licenses, or building a data room or complex networks, but careful financial modeling and good estimates of content volumes are critical. The pay-as-you-go model might help with cash-flow, but those with higher volumes may find themselves penalized. Cost calculations need to include upload, storage, transcode operations, and other processing and delivery charges from the cloud service provider. It is also important to amortize the incremental internet service used to and manage content operations.

On-premise solutions provide an all-you-can-eat solution with fixed pricing that should be easier to budget. Licenses can be used for years, although they incur annual support fees. Right-sizing is critical here: buy too many licenses and engines sit idle; buy too few and content piles up like flights into OHare. In our practice, 4,000 one-hour transcodes per year is the rule-of-thumb for the economic break-even point for one server.

People ask if there are maintenance or IT cost savings associated with using cloud services. It seems like this should be the case, but the reality is that web services need to be managed and monitored just like local servers. Companies find themselves needing the same size team either way.

WHY NOT HAVE IT ALL?

For many workflows, the decision of where to perform transcoding is not an A/B choice. One of the clouds many advantages is its elasticity. Its easy to spin up additional transcode engines in the cloud when a big job comes through or when many projects need to be accomplished at the same time. Although on-premises solutions do not offer this capability today, its conceivable that on-premise technology providers could soon provide the same elasticity, providing a hybrid on-site licensing/virtualization model or hybrid onsite/cloud service, which would manage the flow of content and scale on demand.

Like the fireworks, perhaps the best show of all ties together earth-bound launch platforms and cloud-based firepower.

Share your experiences in deciding to cloud or not to cloud media workflow operations in the comments.

Larry Thaler is the President of Positive Flux, a consulting firm that specializes in helping media companies take advantage of the rapid changes occurring in the industry. He can be reached viaTV Technology.

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Transcoding in the Cloud - TV Technology

FaZe Rain Explains His Absence From YouTube

Nordan FaZe Rain Shat speaks on his decrease in ad revenue on recent YouTube videos throughout his channel, and why he took a hiatus.

One of the owners of FaZe Clan, Rain discusses the fact thathis channel has been hit hard by a lack of revenue in recent months.

Multiple full-time YouTubers have expressed their discontent with the new way the platform handles revenue for potentially explicit content, and Rain has been plaguedwith the same issue.

He begins with the fact that his channel, one now with five million subscribers, has been making less than ten percent of what it originally had been.

Although he makes similar content to his roommates, Rain goes on to mention how he believes he is being treated unfairly by the platform.

Hows that going to make me feel? It makes me feel as if Im being mistreated or not being treated the same way. It makes me feel all these things and for what? For me being myself?

Continuing on, he assumes that he started to generate less revenue when he was uploading vape content, and quit using that genre for its potential adult oriented tag.

Later, he goes on to rant against the recent change in the YouTube platform. Rain originally loved being able to be himself while uploading videos, yet he believes the push for creators to fit into a character role has left a sour feeling for many in the community.

Fulfillment from having the ability to upload videos that he enjoys and provide for his family/ friends is his main drive and resents the fact that he may need to change his content in order to continue making money from uploading.

The full video can be found below, with his explanation beginning at the fourteen-minute mark.

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Now that he has found a new outlook on the situation, Rain believes that he has nowhere to go but up.

With his state of mind regained, motivation will become second nature again for the veteran content creator.

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Originally posted here:

FaZe Rain Explains His Absence From YouTube - Dexerto

Nest just launched in Australia, and its Google-connected, Alphabet-backed smart home products want to make your life safer and more comfortable. Here's how much you'll pay for one or more of Nest's new connected home gadgets, and when and how you'll be able to get hold of one.

One important note: the new Nest Cam IQ isn't being sold in Australia at launch, nor is the original Nest Learning Thermostat.

The Nest Protect is a connected smoke and carbon monoxide alarm that's a lot more serious than your regular $15 Bunnings special when it comes to monitoring the air inside your home. Its industrial-grade smoke sensor isn't too different to the one you'd find in a regular smoke alarm, though; what's different is all the extras that it packs in. The Protect checks itself regularly, has an internal microphone and speaker for two-way communication, and can be entirely controlled from your phone and also lights up a dark empty room with a soft night light when it detects motion.

The Nest Protect will be $189 in Australia, and it's on sale from today.

The microUSB-powered Nest Cam Indoor is a Wi-Fi connected, hard-wired (for power, at least) security camera with a 130-degree wide-angle lens and 1080p imaging sensor for daylight, low-light and night-time recording with the help of a bank of super-bright infrared LEDs. Nest's cameras also have a built-in microphone and speaker, so you can have a two-way chat with whoever's within around 6 metres distance of the camera itself.

Nest's Cam Indoor and Outdoor cameras have adjustable bit-rate streaming, so you can upload in 360p, 720p or 1080p depending on how good your 'net is and how many you have uploading simultaneously around your house. Bit-rates are dynamically adjusted on the fly, too, so you'll get a lower bandwidth and more compressed video if your home internet upload is struggling.

The Nest Cam Indoor will be $319.95 in Australia, and it's on sale from today.

The Nest Cam Outdoor has the exact same internal components as the Indoor version a 130-degree wide-angle lens and a 1080p HD image sensor, with the ability to zoom up to 8x digitally on live and archival video as well as the same infrared night vision. Because the Outdoor is hard-wired, it's actively capturing video and storing it in your Nest account for three hours (and for up to 30 days, if you're subscribed to Nest Aware), unlike entirely wireless outdoor cameras that activate based on motion or noise. It's also IP65 rated, so can handle some pretty seriously harsh weather conditions, and mounts to your wall with a solid magnetic puck.

The Nest Cam Outdoor will be $319.95 in Australia, and it too is on sale from today.

Nest Aware is the cloud-based subscription service that ties together all of Nest's remote-recording security cameras, with 10 days of recording history that you can scrub through in real time on your phone, and the ability to pre-select activity zones (like doors or windows) for alerts. You can also add on extra cameras for 50 per cent of the original asking price for each extra subscription.

A monthly subscription to Nest Aware will set you back $14 a month, and you can start and stop the subscription any time you want which makes a lot of sense if you're going on holiday and want that extra peace of mind.

Now this is the interesting part. Nest is teaming up with iSelect to sell its products in Australia in something that iSelect is calling the "Life Admin Store". You'll be able to buy any of the Nest products outright, or bundled at a discount with iSelect's other partners like Optus, Sumo Power and Mate Communicate.

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Last week South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announced he would take Elon Musk up on his offer to power the state, with the world's largest lithium ion battery set to be installed in collaboration with French renewable company Neoen and the State Government. But will it solve the state's power woes? Australian experts weigh in below.

Tailgating is the leading cause of rear-end crashes, with half of drivers failing to keep a safe following distance, a new report has revealed.

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Nest Protect, Nest Cam Indoor, Nest Cam Outdoor: Australian Price & Release Date - Gizmodo Australia

Jason Kander doesnt feel like a loser.

He doesnt feel much like a millennial either, whatever that means.

But having lost his bid to represent Missouri in the United States Senate at the age of 35 last year, he is, technically, both of those things. And so, on a recent Wednesday evening, one of the oldest, losing-est millennials in American politics headed to the annual gathering of the High School Democrats of America to speak about, what else, the future of their party.

We are, believe it or not, in the same generation, Kander, now 36, told the group of about 100 17-year-olds seated in a George Washington University auditorium. Its our generation that will have to fix all this stuff.

He might seem like an odd person to deliver this message, considering that voters decided against sending him to Washington to be the fixer of things. But Kander still has a lot to offer and Democrats arent in a position to turn away young talent.

The Army veteran and former Missouri secretary of state rose to national prominence thanks to a quirky campaign ad in which he assembled a rifle blindfolded; he went on to outperform Hillary Clinton by 16 percentage points in his state, winning over about 200,000 voters who also pulled the lever for Donald Trump. But in the end, he came up just short against the Republican incumbent, Sen. Roy Blunt.

Kander wasted no time turning a loss into a win. He started a nonprofit aimed at fighting voter suppression, giving him a campaign-like infrastructure to raise money for Democratic candidates and speak at events throughout the country. In the past six months he has been to Iowa and New Hampshire twice and attended events in Colorado, Arizona and Tennessee, to name a few. He has even visited Wisconsin as many times as Clinton did during the presidential campaign (once).

So when Kander speaks in front of groups such as this, they dont ask what gives him the right to lecture anyone about the path forward. Instead, people say things like this:

Im wondering, a young woman from New York broached during his Q&A segment, if you will ever run for president.

Kander seemed unfazed by the question or the applause it generated. It is always very flattering when people ask that, he replied. Im just really focused on making sure we still hold elections. And then maybe one day Ill be in one.

Democrats are desperate for something, for someone, to get excited about and these days, some of their most thrilling figures are losers. None more so than Jason Kander.

In 1996, the author Michael Lewis spent 10 months following the presidential candidates he knew would never win, for a book he titled Trail Fever. He wanted to call it Losers, he wrote later, but the publisher said no.

Never mind that the losers, and their passions, told you a great deal more about American political life in 1996 than the winners with their pollsters, he wrote in an afterword. It was the losers, he contended, who took real risks, who shaped debates and from whom the focus-grouped weenies who actually won stole their best ideas.

Today, with their party out of power in the White House and Congress, some Democrats are chanting Bernie would have won about Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), who lost. Others are looking to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), now best known as the also-rans in the race for Democratic National Committee chair, as leaders of the future.

Im biased, but I think that you can accomplish more with a transformative loss than with 100 mundane victories, said Tom Perriello, the young liberal who maintained such hero status after losing the central Virginia congressional seat he held for one term that he was hailed as a game-changer when he entered the 2017 Democratic gubernatorial primary (which he lost).

Hows that?

Well, said P.G. Sittenfeld, a 32-year old councilman from Cincinnati who last year lost the Democratic Senate primary in Ohio, even a losing campaign can show theres a hunger for fresh voices.

[Beto ORourke is a Mexico-loving liberal in Texas. Can he really beat Ted Cruz?]

Sittenfeld didnt become a senator, but his voice mail is full of Democrats urging him to run for the House of Representatives. Perriello didnt get to become governor, but hes stumping for the Democratic nominee, Ralph Northam, and he takes pride in helping the state party lurch leftward.

The party is yearning to figure out its next-generation leaders, said Brian Fallon, who was Hillary Clintons campaign spokesman. Theres a void, and people are hungry to figure out who could potentially fill it.

And Kander has raised his profile so much since the election that many have been wondering whether he might be better off than had he won.

I dont know about that, said Abe Rakov, Kanders former campaign manager and longtime political guru. But from his personal perspective, he is happier than Ive ever seen him. Hes fighting the battles he wants to every day and doesnt have to do some of the things hed have to had he won.

In 2016, Kander was widely considered the best Democratic recruit running for Senate. He had the look: young and fit, a guy comfortable in a skinny tie or fatigues. He had the life story: Married to his high school sweetheart, he had joined the military after 9/11, served in Afghanistan and came home to enter politics, eventually becoming the first millennial to hold statewide office in the country.

And perhaps most impressive for a politician, he kind of seemed like a normal guy.

Thats a compliment reserved only for politicians, Kander said, eating sliders at a Foggy Bottom TGI Fridays recently. You never hear someone say: You know what I love about my accountant? Hes just a normal guy. Thats how low the bar is for people in politics.

But to a lot of folks in the Democratic Party, theres nothing normal about his charisma.

There is a reflectiveness, a coolness, a reasonable approach to talking about politics that he shares with President Obama, said Tommy Vietor, a former spokesman for the Obama White House. And bear in mind: Obama did lose his first race for federal office, too, said Dan Pfeiffer, another veteran of the 44th presidents communications shop.

[Jon Tester could teach Democrats a lot about rural America if he can keep his Senate seat]

The night Kander lost, he stood in front of a ballroom of supporters in a neatly pressed suit to offer a concession speech he hadnt bothered to prepare beforehand. He urged young people not to give up on politics, that it would personally offend him if they did.

Youve got to pick yourself up, he said. Thats what Im going to do.

Shortly thereafter, Trump began proclaiming, without a shred of evidence, that millions had voted illegally to rob him of a popular-vote victory and Kander found his new mission.

Thats the biggest lie a sitting president has ever told, he says now.

Kander saw potential for genuine harm in this groundless boast: Republicans, he feared, could use this bogus claim to usher in efforts to make it more difficult for some people to vote, such as stringent photo-ID requirements. He wanted to be the guy to keep that from happening.

So he created Let America Vote, an organization dedicated to ousting Republicans he considered to be on the wrong side of the issue. So far, the group has raised nearly $2million and has more than 50,000 people nationwide signed up to volunteer.

Its a platform that has kept Kander in the public eye, especially now that Trump has moved forward with establishing the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Tasked with proving the presidents claims of voter fraud, Kris Kobach, commission vice chairman and Kansas secretary of state, recently asked all 50 states and the District of Columbia to provide him with all of their voter data a request that many have pushed back against.

Hes like a bizarro me, Kander said of his neighbor-state political colleague. One of us is working for good, and the other is Kris Kobach.

Meanwhile, Kander has a contract to talk politics on CNN and has developed a knack for jousting with far-right-wing bloviators on Twitter. He speaks to Democratic groups about progressive values and what it took to almost win in a red state being a progressive (Voters are okay with you believing something they dont believe, as long as they think you genuinely believe it, and you believe it because you care about them.), and tries to remind a despondent party that maybe there are still some reasons for optimism.

Or, if you will, hope.

Before speaking to the High School Democrats, Kander made a surprise appearance at a rally against the Republicans health-care bill, held outside the Capitol. Police tape kept him, and protesters, away from the building where he might have been casting a vote to save Obamacare, had things broken differently for him in November.

Yet in this crowd, it was as if he had won that race and was on his way to something bigger. Mobs of young activists hounded him for photos.

Can I take a snap with you? asked Jessica Blum, 23.

Can I take a snap, too? asked Meghan Mahoney, also 23.

Kander moved on, to join the hosts of the popular liberal podcast Pod Save America as they did a broadcast from the scene, and the young activists walked away, uploading their photos to social media.

Its just really refreshing to see someone like Jason out here, Blum said. Hes hope at a moment when there isnt any hope.

If he runs for something again, Im moving there to help him, Mahoney said. Wherever it is. I dont care. Im there.

Dave Weigel contributed to this report.

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Jason Kander lost a big Senate race. In today's Democratic Party, he's still a rising star. - Washington Post