MS Dhoni may finish his career as one of India's greatest One-Day international players but the remarkable journey didn't start too kindly for the man who eventually went onto win everything there is in cricket.
Illustration by Ana Kova for The Verge
A report from The New York Times has revealed that messaging app ToTok, popular in the United Arab Emirates, is in fact a government spy tool, created for the benefit of UAE intelligence officials and used to track citizens’ conversations and movements.
ToTok launched earlier this year and has been downloaded by millions in the UAE, a nation where Western messaging apps like WhatsApp and Skype are partially blocked. It promised “fast, free, and secure” messages and calls, and attracted users across the Middle East and beyond, even becoming one of the most downloaded social apps in the US last week.
But, citing classified briefings from US intelligence officials and its own analysis, the NYT reports that ToTok is really a way for the UAE...
Illustration by Ana Kova for The Verge
A report from The New York Times has revealed that messaging app ToTok, popular in the United Arab Emirates, is in fact a government spy tool, created for the benefit of UAE intelligence officials and used to track citizens’ conversations and movements.
ToTok launched earlier this year and has been downloaded by millions in the UAE, a nation where Western messaging apps like WhatsApp and Skype are partially blocked. It promised “fast, free, and secure” messages and calls, and attracted users across the Middle East and beyond, even becoming one of the most downloaded social apps in the US last week.
But, citing classified briefings from US intelligence officials and its own analysis, the NYT reports that ToTok is really a way for the UAE...
Photo: Warner Bros.
Theaters are receiving a new version of Cats with “some improved visual effects,” just days after it premiered to dismal reviews. The update to the CGI-heavy movie was available to download on Sunday night, with hard drives otherwise ready to ship by Tuesday, according to a memo reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter. The change was requested by the film’s director Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The King’s Speech), according to THR.
Hooper admitted to finishing the film just a day before its Friday premiere after working on it for “36 hours in a row.” The last-minute tweaks left room for mistakes, apparently, like Judy Dench’s human hand slipping through unnoticed.
This isn’t a joke: CATS was rushed into theaters before being finished so a...
The MCG pitch will be scrutinised heavily after a first-class game between Western Australia and Victoria was abandoned earlier this month because it was considered dangerous.
The Australian Cricketers Association has it is working with Cricket Australia to develop guidelines for when smoke affects matches and the International Cricket Council is developing an "air quality policy."
Even though Lynn fell short of breaking the record for the fastest Big Bash ton, he did leave the SCG with his name in the history books. Photo: Warner Bros.
Theaters are receiving a new version of Cats with “some improved visual effects,” just days after it premiered to dismal reviews. The update to the CGI-heavy movie was available to download on Sunday night, with hard drives otherwise ready to ship by Tuesday, according to a memo reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter. The change was requested by the film’s director Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The King’s Speech), according to THR.
Hooper admitted to finishing the film just a day before its Friday premiere after working on it for “36 hours in a row.” The last-minute tweaks left room for mistakes, apparently, like Judy Dench’s human hand slipping through unnoticed.
This isn’t a joke: CATS was rushed into theaters before being finished so a...
Half-centuries from Elyse Villani and Heather Graham helped Australia A beat India A by 22 runs for a 3-0 T20 series clean sweep against India A on the Gold Coast on Monday (December 23).
On Saturday, the BBL match between the Sydney Thunder and the Adelaide Strikers in Canberra was abandoned after there was heavy smoke drifting across the Manuka Oval with the game four balls short of being a result.
Huami, a leading player in the wearable category is planning to expand its portfolio with new products. It has announced the unveiling of truly wireless earphones and a ‘Special Futuristic Category For Next-Gen Health Enthusiasts.’ This will be done at CES 2020 at Las Vegas on January 7. The event theme will be “LEAP OVER […]
The post Huami Amazfit TWS Earphones and a Futuristic Health Category set to be unveiled at CES 2020 appeared first on Smartprix Bytes.
Pat Cummins, who recently became the most expensive overseas signing in IPL history, will not be available to play in the Big Bash League this season.
The India captain had not fired in the first two matches, managing only 4 in Chennai before a first-ball duck in Visakhapatnam
Pakistan have grabbed 60 points for their victory over Sri Lanka in the Karachi Test to move to 80 points in the ICC World Test Championship points table.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite is expected to launch soon. It will be a toned-down and much affordable phone compared to the original (review). It is reportedly referenced by the SM-N770F model number. And it’s not just the version code, we have got an ample amount of details about the device, thanks to some recent […]
The post Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite said to come with Exynos 9810 at about €609 appeared first on Smartprix Bytes.
Pakistan celebrated the return of Test cricket for the first time in over 10 years with a convincing 263-run win over Sri Lanka in the second Test in Karachi on Monday, taking the series 1-0.
Left-handed all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who played a crucial role in India's emphatic victory in a tense decider against the West Indies, says all he tries to do every time he takes to the cricket field is to give his best and contribute to the team's win.While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hasn’t exactly been a hit with the critics and has proven divisive among the fans, director J.J. Abrams seems be taking the criticism in stride, explaining at a recent screening that you can’t please everyone, and that even the negative takes are perfectly valid.
After a showing of the Sequel Trilogy finale at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday, Abrams was asked by Vanity Fair’s Anthony Breznican if there was something about the film that the detractors just weren’t getting, to which he responded:
“No, I would say that they’re right. The people who love it more than anything are also right.”
The filmmaker then suggested that he never set out to make a movie that was universally beloved:
“I was asked just seven hours ago in another country, ‘So how do you go about pleasing everyone?’ I was like’ What…?’ Not to say that that’s what anyone should try to do anyway, but how would one go about it? Especially with Star Wars.”
Abrams later acknowledged that any new Star Wars film is inevitably going to be met with some resistance, before doubling down on his stance that all opinions are valid:
“We knew starting this that any decision we made — a design decision, a musical decision, a narrative decision — would please someone and infuriate someone else. And they’re all right.”
Right now, The Rise of Skywalker holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 57% based on 358 reviews, making it the least acclaimed installment in the Skywalker Saga since the Prequel Trilogy. What’s more, the movie’s CinemaScore, based on exit polls from the film’s first night, is graded at B+ – the lowest rating received by any live-action Star Wars flick to date.
Meanwhile, the feature’s early box office figures paint a similarly grim picture, at least by Sequel Trilogy standards. The film’s domestic opening, for instance, was a relatively modest $175.5 million, a figure that pales in comparison to the equivalent numbers for The Force Awakens ($248 million) and The Last Jedi ($220 million).
Nonetheless, if the film’s audience approval rating of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes is anything to go by, then it’s clear that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has its defenders, and it’ll be interesting to see how word-of-mouth affects the movie’s performance in the coming weeks.
While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker may end up a more divisive entry in the franchise than The Last Jedi, two elements that have been widely praised are Billy Dee Williams’ return as Lando Calrissian and his relationship with Naomi Ackie’s Jannah. In the final moments of the film, we see Lando explaining that together they’re going to figure out who she is and now, thanks to Jennifer Heddle, Executive Editor for Disney Publishing’s Star Wars books, we know that Jannah is indeed Lando’s daughter.
In a conversation on Twitter, artist Brandon Bird pointed out that the movie had left in the resolution but not the set-up, meaning that Lando looks like “a weirdo perv.” Heddle chips in though to say that the novelization will indeed cover Jannah being Lando’s daughter and that it’s considered official canon.
It will still be in the novelization!
— Jennifer Heddle (@jenheddle) December 20, 2019
It's considered canon, yes.
— Jennifer Heddle (@jenheddle) December 22, 2019
This confusion is emblematic of the problems with The Rise of Skywalker. J.J. Abrams is known for his breakneck pacing and it’s arguable that the film moves far too fast between plot points for its own good. Many reviews have complained that the first half is basically a series of nonsensical fetch quests, with the latter half a parade of fan service that doesn’t make a great deal of sense. And plotlines like Lando and Jannah’s being left half in the movie and half on the cutting room floor doesn’t exactly indicate a particularly well assembled or thought-out film.
Despite all this, we may yet have another chance to see Lando and Jannah as a father and daughter team. Our sources, the same ones who told us that [SPOILERS] dies in Rise of Skywalker and that Rey’s connection to Palpatine is due to [SPOILERS], have indicated that Disney and Lucasfilm are exploring the prospect of a Disney Plus Lando TV show following up on the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I sincerely hope this idea bears fruit, as whatever your opinion of the rest of the movie was, at least Billy Dee Williams can still bring it as Lando.
