Music
The Good: Drake Breaks Another Record
It was “God’s Plan”. This week Drake became the first solo artist to hit the number 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 solely from streams. The Toronto native dropped a new EP titled: “Scary Hours” bringing in 68 million streams in the first week. The project dropped on Friday January 19th featuring production from Boi-1da, Noah Shebib, Cardo, and Nick Brongers. In addition to reaching the top of the charts, Drake also broke records at Apple & Spotify with the biggest single release day mounting 14 million plays with Apple & 4 million with Spotify.
The Bad: CEO Of Recording Academy Outrages Women
Even though women across the entertainment industry have made great contributions to music over the past several months, women only made up 8% of the 899 nominees at this year’s Grammy awards. The CEO of The Recording Academy Neil Portnow addressed the issue calling for women to “step up” which received a wealth of backlash. After the comment hit the internet, several artists such as Iggy Azalea, Pink and Rapsody gave their own opinions on Twitter. Portnow re addressed the issue apologizing for his comments saying: “Regrettably, I used two words, ‘step up,’ that, when taken out of context, do not convey my beliefs and the point I was trying to make.”
Media
The Good: JAY-Z Doesn’t Hold Back On Addressing Trump
In a recent interview with CNN’s Van Jones, JAY-Z opened up about several topics including President Trump. Although no one seems to be safe from Trump’s twitter account, JAY-Z didn’t shy away from talking about the President’s recent actions and words. Referencing Trump’s “sh*t hole nations” comment while discussing African nations, JAY-Z struck back saying: “It’s disappointing and hurtful. It really is hurtful, more so. Everyone feels anger, after the anger, it’s really hurtful because you’re looking down on a whole population of people. And you’re so misinformed, because these places have beautiful people and beautiful everything. And this is the leader of the free world speaking like this.” Later in the interview JAY-Z discussed race relations and how to correct the issues were facing within the country, noting that racism is nothing new.
The Bad: Glee Star Dies At 35
Mark Salling who was best known for his character Puck on the FOX TV show “Glee” was found dead in Los Angeles. He was 35. Salling’s lawyer Michael Proctor issued a statement however did not reveal the cause of death. “Mark was a gentle and loving person, a person of great creativity, who was doing his best to atone for some serious mistakes and errors of judgment.” In 2016 Salling was indicted on child pornography charges and was expected to face several years in federal prison. Despite the controversy surrounding his name, his former cast members took to social media to pay their respects. This is the 2nd fatality to hit the Glee cast with Cory Monteith passing from an overdose in 2013.
Technology
The Good: The Google Launches Competition With Audible
This week Google announced that it will be launching Google Play Books. The new launch will be available in 45 countries, and 9 languages making it a major competitor in the market. The books will be compatible with Android, iOS, the web and Google Assistant-enabled devices like Google Home smart speakers. Audible which is owned by Amazon has been dominating the audio book space, however Google may scale better by allowing people to purchase books individually instead of providing a subscription based service.
The Bad: Chinese Firm Charged With Stealing U.S. Information
A Chinese wind turbine company Sinovel was found guilty of wire fraud and stealing trade secrets from an American technology firm American Superconducter Corp (AMSC). Prosecutors claim that Sinovel owes over 500 million dollars to AMSC for services they purchased back in March 2011. Although AMSC provided it’s services, Sinovel refused to pay the money owned and also convinced an AMSC employee to illegally download source code from the company’s computer system. After receiving the code, the company used the information to make changes to their existing turbines, and developed new models. U.S. Attorney Scott Blader issued a statement concerning the conviction: The verdict “sends a strong and clear message that the theft of ideas and ingenuity is not a business dispute; it’s a crime and will be prosecuted as such,”
Hilarity:
5 Men Arrested For Stealing Fruit
In Seville Spain, Police detained 5 men in connection with the theft of stolen oranges. The men were pulled over after police became suspicious of the van they were driving. Upon searching the vehicles, 8,000 pounds of oranges were found. Seville city security spokesman, Juan Carlos Cabrera, told Europa Press that the arrests were important not only in thwarting theft but also in “preserving the food security of the possible consumers who would have had these oranges.”
Man Goes To Jail Over BBQ Sauce
In Bibb County Georgia a man was arrested after a restaurant failed to provide him with BBQ sauce. In the Sheriff’s report, Willie Edward Drake came into the Waffle House on Tuesday and requested the sauce, after the server informed Drake they didn’t have any more he “began screaming obscenities and insulting the workers”, then added: “I’ll go to f*cking jail over some barbecue sauce!” Drake’s wishes came true and was arrested for disorderly conduct.
