The first episode of Seeso’s new original series, Bajillion Dollar Properties, features rivalries and drugged-out actors, but a chess match between real estate agency owner Dean Rosedragon and office manager Glenn is the real highlight. It shows just how much improv and negotiating have in common. 

“I like following these realtors who have very high-strung personalities, and watch them sort of put that aside to deal with even stronger personalities in their clients,” she said. “So I saw that this would be a good playground for the improvisers I know to play heightened versions of these types of people.”

Vilaysack is also the co-host of podcast Who Charted?, which, she tells me, started after a particularly robust Four Loko party. At Esther’s Follies last weekend, she and co-host Howard Kremer did a live taping of the show, along with Tompkins and series executive producer Scott Aukerman. There was a larger sense of the improv that goes into the show, but heightening the series even further is its main character: Los Angeles. 

“A town of dreamers, people with big ideas,” Vilaysack said. “L.A., through and through, I love L.A. But it’s a heightened reality. You’re always pitching, not just in, like, television, but in the juice that you want to sell.” 

After watching the first two episodes, the throughline between realtor and improviser becomes more apparent. The realtor, Vilaysack says, has to be a “therapist, party planner, voice of reason... you have to play all these roles. And then you’re gone until the next sale.

“It’s just a very high-stress situation, and from high stress comes high comedy.”

Screengrab via Seeso 

Today YouNow launched the ability for fans to get literal face time with their favorite broadcasters as part of their mobile apps. In addition to other forms of support, tipping, and emoji, users can share their selfies with the broadcaster, who can then choose to share that GIF with the wider audience by displaying it as a split-screen image.

"Over 70 percent of YouNow’s audience interacts with the broadcasts in some way, whether chatting, gifting or guest broadcasting," said YouNow Founder and CEO Adi Sideman in a press release. "With the introduction of Selfies, YouNow is adding a new way for audiences and broadcasters to engage and meet face-to-face.”

Illustration via Max Fleishman

Worry not, March Madness has got you covered across multiple platforms. As in previous years, all 67 NCAA games will be streamed online on March Madness Live. Most (including all CBS games) will be free to watch. But games that air on TBS, TNT, or TruTV—including the Final Four and the national championship games—will require you to login and verify you have access to those channels. There are a couple of other options for those games, which we'll get to later. 

Now you're all set to watch the free CBS games, but what about the rest of March Madness? The app gives viewers a three-hour grace period to watch any of the games on TBS, TNT, and TruTV before asking for credentials. 

If three measly hours of March Madness isn't enough for you and you're not above working the system, here are a couple of harmless-to-shady March Madness hacks from the folks at Wired. 

One in particular is perfect if you have the Chrome Incognito browser installed. 

"The easiest way to watch the games without cable is to open a Chrome Incognito window. Watch a game on the March Madness Live site, close the window, open another one, and start the next game. Rinse and repeat through the tournament. "

If you don't have cable but have a Chromecast, Roku, FireTV, or any other steaming device, one option is to subscribe to a service like SlingTV. SlingTV is like a no-strings-attached basic cable package for your streaming device. It's $20 per month to subscribe to SlingTV, but there's a seven-day free trial that you can cancel after March Madness is over. 

Photo via Kate Ter Haar/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Warning: This post contains graphic descriptions that may be upsetting to some readers.

YouTube has removed a user posting graphic videos of animals being crushed following public outcry. 

After Gizmodo reported that the creator behind a channel that features stomping and crushing of inanimate objects was also running a secret, unlisted YouTube channel to host illegal animal-crushing videos, YouTube took action and suspended the offending account.

Bootsmade4crushing, which housed crushing fetish videos that did not violate terms of service is simply listed as closed, likely by the uploader himself, but Boots666, allegedly run by the same creator and which hosted the unlisted animal videos, was “suspended due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube’s policy on violence.” Animal crushing is not only against YouTube guidelines, it is also illegal in the United States.

The Tumblr that was sharing these videos was also deleted after the owner cleaned house following Gizmodo’s emails.

Channels like Boots666 illustrate the uphill battle YouTube and similar platforms face in combating content in violation of posting guidelines. Another area that troubles the service is pornography, which continues to proliferate the system as quickly as YouTube flags and removes content. There’s even a subreddit dedicated to finding explicit content, r/youtubetitties.  Other content violations are grayer areas for YouTube, such as complaints of sexual harassment under YouTube’s sexual misconduct guidelines, like the allegations against prank channels like Sam Pepper.

Just like with copyright violations, misconduct can be flagged by users, resulting in strikes against a channel that limit a creator’s functionality. In Boots666’s case, a strike against him left him unable to upload videos, even unlisted, for six months, according to screenshots obtained by Gizmodo.

For all infringing content, the process remains the same: YouTube reviews flagged content and removes material that violates policy. That means for unlisted content, which is not part of Google’s search, the flagging must be done by people in-group who have access, often giving them little incentive to do so. This presents the biggest problem for YouTube when combating these sorts of violations.

YouTube declined to comment on this specific incident.

H/T Gizmodo | Illustration via Max Fleishman

BY GEOFF WEISS

A decidedly quiet delivery that begets a shrieking impact has lately been the Beyoncé way. And it came as no surprise to anyone that the songstress’s rollout of her new single, "Formation," was characteristically cryptic.

In addition to launching the single for free on Tidal—the beleaguered subscription service owned by Knowles’s husband, Jay Z—she also dropped an accompanying music video on YouTube. But she dropped it with a catch: It arrived on the service unlisted, a privacy setting that shrouds content from being accessed by basic search functionalities on YouTube (and the Internet at large).

“Why is it so difficult to find this damn video?” reads one of the top YouTube comments on its explicit version. Others echoed this sentiment.

Viewers, it turned out, had to unearth the link on Beyoncé’s official website. It was a calculated call on her part.

“Tidal only has a base of one-to-two million subscribers,” says Andrew Hampp, brand strategist at music sponsorship agency MAC Presents. That pales in comparison to Spotify’s 30 million and Apple Music’s 11 million. Therefore, in order to familiarize the masses ahead of her Super Bowl performance, Hampp surmises Beyoncé conceded (some) access beyond Tidal’s pricey walls. All this despite the fact that Jay-Z has made his distaste for YouTube’s monetization model clear—in freestyle rap form, no less.

“Tidal just doesn’t have enough scale to make a record go to No. 1 the same way that YouTube could,” says Hampp. “Look at 'Harlem Shake.' It went to No. 1 on the Hot 100. That was a direct result of YouTube streams. Sales and radio were such a small part of that track’s success.”

Screengrab via Beyoncé/YouTube

With the Emmys now open to short form video production, the scramble to be among the first to win those accolades has begun. But just as important as who makes it will be where that content is featured. Just like streaming services like Netflix and Amazon gained legitimacy through awards, digital video outlets will be looking to prove that YouTube isn’t the only game in town for outstanding content.

These five services are 2016’s brightest stars in the digital video space, homes for content and proving grounds for future power players. While they may not see themselves as YouTube competitors per se, these outlets are vying for the digital attention of the same market of YouTube obsessives glued to mostly mobile screens. Their next moves might redefine the world of digital video.

Vimeo

Vimeo has long made the commitment to quality original programming, like High Maintenance and its newly launched Share the Screen female filmmakers initiative. YouTube-bred stars have launched pay-per-download titles on the service like Oscar’s Hotel, which set a sales record for the company. While it may not be the first stop on a digital video search online, Vimeo’s reputation for quality and commitment to original programming has helped elevate it for fans and creators alike.

Vessel

In 2015 former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar launched Vessel, an early-access premium service that promised fans a better viewing experience for less than three dollars a month. Creators were offered hefty upfront payments to put their content on Vessel first, and even big names like Ellen DeGeneres signed deals to share their content, some of which is free and non-exclusive. Vessel is closing in on one year post-launch, which means the end of a 12-month free trial period for new subscribers. When the $2.99 a month rate kicks in, Vessel will see how many fans stick around for early access to their favorite stars, especially now that Vessel has moved to a no-ads model just like YouTube Red.

YouNow

While stars on platforms like Vine or YouTube are old hat, the buzz on everyone’s lips at 2015’s VidCon was the rise of the YouNow star. It’s the service of choice for teens looking for immediate connection and the chance to earn some potential cash without the hoops of a brand deal or ad payouts. YouNow allows tipping for its biggest stars, checks that can be thousands for a single broadcast on a platform that puts a priority on creator discovery. Established stars have gotten into the act too, turning to the service to connect with fans for special events or build new connections. It even earned a Shorty Award category for its creators in 2016.

go90

Verizon’s entrance into the digital video space is go90, an exclusively mobile platform that has partnered with established digital creators to produce new shows. The name go90 comes from the action of turning your phone 90 degrees to view video, and the service has launched series like CollegeHumor’s webseries Fatal Decision and a modern digital video take on MTV’s Total Request Live with AwesomenessTV’s Top Five Live. While it’s been primarily the domain of teen-focused content since its launch, go90 has also played host to big cultural moments like a Super Bowl livestream. Despite Verizon’s involvement, the service is open to anyone on mobile, regardless of service provider. While everyone else is figuring out how to develop for mobile in addition to their Web platforms, go90 has made that its sole focus, perhaps giving it a leg up in 2016.

Twitch

Gamers might be big on YouTube, but they’re livestreaming themselves on Twitch, which started in 2011 as a branch of the now-shuttered streaming service Justin.tv. Twitch touts absolute dominance in the gaming world, and in 2014 Amazon stepped in as owner, following a rumored Google acquisition earlier that year. In March 2015 YouTube announced a focus on streaming options for gamers (and famously responded to Daily Dot’s request for comment with this gif). The trick to winning 2016 will be to see how far Twitch can branch into non-gaming content, but if its experiments with Bob Ross and Julia Child are any indication, there’s hope.

Illustration by Max Fleishman

Brace yourselves: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have teamed up to launch a new reality competition series called The Runner on go90, Verizon Wireless’s mobile-only streaming video service. 

Things get complicated when a team of “chasers” get the chance to win money for catching the contestants. Plus, go90 users will also be able to contribute tips, sightings, and clues about the runner’s whereabouts in order to win money in the process. 

ABC originally purchased the show’s concept in 2000, but pulled it shortly after 9/11. It got sold again in 2006 to Yahoo, where it never left the development stage. So go90 is The Runner's third, and hopefully final home.

No premiere date has been announced yet. 

Cozart, aka Paint, paired up with Vine superstar Thomas Sanders for the ditty, that has the duo joking about the world of their chosen platforms.

Sanders jokes about having double the reach of Cozart (7 million to Cozart’s 3.8 million), and Cozart jokes about Sanders only lasting six seconds. They even pop in some graphic tricks like Sanders’ looping video head and Cozart showing off his a cappella chops.

If you’re looking for a good burn for your favorite YouTube or Viner, this video doesn’t pull any punches, yet still ends on a friendly note.

Screengrab via Paint/YouTube

The animated feature adaptation of The Little Prince will finally make its way to the U.S. with help from Netflix.

The film—which is based on the beloved book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and has an all-star cast including Rachel McAdams, Jeff Bridges, Paul Rudd, Benicio del Toro, and James Franco—was originally slated to be released in theaters March 18 by Paramount Pictures. Since its debut at Cannes last year, it has received mostly positive reviews from critics and currently holds a 94 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Internationally, The Little Prince has made $100 million through various distributors and won Best Animated Film at France’s Cesar Awards last month.

But just before it was supposed to start showing in U.S. theaters, Paramount Pictures quietly dropped the film from its schedule. Director Mark Osborne addressed the new development and said that it would be “released by another distributor later this year.”

H/T The Hollywood Reporter | Screengrab via Movieclips Trailers/YouTube

Chelsea Handler is on a roll. 

The comedian and late-night host announced the premiere date and format for her new Netflix series on Wednesday in a hand-written “note to self” that she shared on Twitter.

The show does not currently have a title, and Handler is taking suggestions from fans via Twitter.

From the description Handler provides, the show sounds like a combination of her previous late night talk show (where she interviewed celebrity guests at a desk), and her Netflix docuseries (where she traveled the world trying new things). 

One aspect is markedly different: Handler's nightly E! show usually aired once and then disappeared forever, while a long-term commitment to a streaming service will be a considerable change of format for the comedian. 

“Once an episode is up and streaming on Netflix, it will be available until the end of time,” the standup joked in her note. “So put a little more thought into what you say this time around.”

New York City is an essential part of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, the follow-up to 1988’s Big Top Pee-wee, but the film took a while to get there. Reubens, who started out on TV with the influential Pee-wee’s Playhouse before transitioning the character to film, told the Los Angeles Times that there was “minimal interest” in a new film for years, until Apatow showed up with that photo.  

Netflix eventually picked up the movie after other studios passed, with Apatow producing, Love star Paul Rust co-writing the script, and Inside Amy Schumer’s John Lee directing. In terms of plot, there isn’t much of one, which is perhaps deliberate: Pee-wee, still looking mostly the same as he did 30 years ago, is enjoying life in the wholesome, perma-’50s town of Fairville. As with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, the film opens on his morning, but instead of his breakfast machine ushering in the day, the 2016 Rube Goldberg contraption encompasses a whole block.    

The character of Pee-wee Herman has always been one of positivity; he’s pure, childlike, and timeless, and perhaps that’s why everyone he meets instantly connects with him. This happens with Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike, True Blood), who cruises into town on his motorcycle and urges Pee-wee to look outside Fairville and take a road trip. This sets the film in motion, as Pee-wee meets a cast of characters who further the plot along: two Amish guys, whom he introduces to the joys of deflating balloons; a group of black hairstylists in an RV; a trio of bank robbers (Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat, Jessica Pohly, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz) who look like they were plucked from a John Waters movie. 

Not every scene hits: When Pee-wee happens upon a farmer with a host of daughters who need to be married off, their weight and appearance seem to be the punchline. The girl gang, which serves as Pee-wee’s moral compass, could have been featured more; we don’t really get enough time with them. But this is a movie about men, specifically friendship between men. Manganiello, who plays himself, at first seems like an odd choice as Pee-wee’s insta-pal, but in this world, friendship can be forged over something as simple as a love of candy. He tells Pee-wee he likes him because he’s “normal.” Manganiello is playing with his hunky alpha male persona—via some more-than-friendly moments between him and Pee-wee—and it feels like one of the most subversive threads in the movie. 

In the ’80s, Pee-wee Herman was a counterculture figure, a subversive answer to ’50s children’s programming. In 2016, when subversion is a click away, that’s harder to recapture, but Pee-wee's Big Holiday isn’t necessarily trying for that. This is a film viewers will want to dip in and out of, which makes Netflix the perfect home for it. And at a time when the streaming company is going hard on the revival front, with varying results, this one feels like it was meant to be. 

Photo by Glen Wilson/Netflix 

If you're one of the thousands of people who tried to score Radiohead tickets today, you're probably a little frustrated. Tickets for the band's upcoming U.S. tour dates sold out within minutes—and fans are livid.

Many people using Ticketmaster reportedly never saw ticketing open up. The site just refreshed to a "sold out" message.

But fans weren't the only ones upset at the user experience. Thom Yorke, the band's lead singer, tweeted his disappointment too: 

At least there's the comfort of knowing Yorke is just as annoyed as you are.

How do you spot three Texas musicians amid the chaos of South by Southwest? In a venue riddled with sound techs, promoters, and out-of-towners smack dab in the center of Austin, Texas's most notorious party street?

Keep an eye out for worn baseball caps, shaggy facial hair, and an easy-going confidence strengthened from years of performing at these kinds of things. 

The locals from Blue Healer are at SXSW playing a show just about every day of the week. They even opened for Third Eye Blind—frontman David Beck coolly described it as an "entertaining experience."  

They're talking to the Daily Dot at the Rooftop bar on Sixth Street about their beginnings, futures, and optimism toward living in a world where we all pay $10 per month for Spotify despite a musician's dubious position of needing to make money. 

Fans are too busy tending to their hangovers to be here at noon, but festival-goers might recognize up-and-coming Austin band Blue Healer by their unconventional upright bassist frontman and an infectious, humor-driven chemistry. 

The musicians teamed up last January after their former group Sons of Fathers suffered a “traditional implosion,” disbanding the six-piece Americana band in 2014. After being together three and a half years, the group announced an indefinite hiatus on Facebook, making the decision to put the brakes on following disillusionment with the music business and pressure to compromise morals and their very love for music.

“And the dust and the aftermath... and the Big Bang swirled around,” Beck says, as drummer Dees Stribling chimes in.

After the fallout, the trio gathered gear and got back to songwriting—their retro rock colored by distorted upright bass, analog synths, and drums. They cite the classics as their biggest influences, like Bob Dylan and the Beatles.

“Stuff my dad would listen to,” Beck says.

“I think part of what’s going to make this band really successful is that we’ve been on the road together before,” keyboardist Bryan Mammel says.

But in this online-driven world, what’s the point of going on a strenuous tour as an unknown? Wouldn't it make more sense to pay some college kid to run your social media?

For Blue Healer, it's simple: When it comes to streaming platforms like SoundCloud, Spotify, and YouTube freely disseminating work to prospective fans, connection trumps currency.

“There’s still a human element in music,” Mammel says. “There’s so much to choose from now. And what’s going to set you apart from other bands that I like as a fan, they’re the ones that I feel a huge connection with. I think it’s almost more important to be out there touring and to be doing those things than maybe ever before.”

Aside from the infinite supply of free sunglasses and mini-totes, the band says SXSW means invaluable mingling. Sure, record label suits aren't approaching startup bands with briefcases of cash and contracts backstage these days—but you'd be surprised.

Just this week, a throwaway set brought luck. Half hungover, Blue Healer played an early show at a Whole Foods rooftop, taking notice that only some in the thin crowd were paying attention. A man approached them after the show—he liked the last song. 

He was the co-CEO of Whole Foods.

“You say yes to as much as you can and all the things that you might not expect to be a thing might end up being a great connection,” Mammel says.

These digital preconditions have also reportedly given rise to monetary loss at the hands of the dominant streaming giants. A reported two-thirds of Spotify users do not own a subscription—opting for its free, ad-supported tier. With that comes the perpetual consumer expectation to stream anything, anytime.

But Blue Healer deems this method of listening to music as “the product of our times”—and they say the pros may very well outweigh the cons.

“Maybe there’s some revenue lost for artists here and there but at the same time you’re also accessible much more quickly without the backing of an entire system,” Mammel says.

Besides, Beck adds: “If we got into music for making money, we’d be shitheads.”

The band will release music videos this year, and they hope to release an album by the summer. It'll probably be streaming on Spotify.

Photo via BlueHealerUSA

We've all been there: A conversation with friends or family comes to a screeching halt when someone can't remember that one movie... with the guy. You know... from that TV show.  

Enter Finnish tech company Valossa, based out of the University of Oulu, which was given $650,000 in December to fund a descriptive search engine that is "capable of analyzing video streams in real-time to identify more than one thousand concepts (e.g. places and objects) from any video stream." 

Whatismymovie.com is the end result. The voice-assisted tech reads video files "through a combination of natural language processing and pattern recognition AI," as well as Deep Content, which is content one can see and hear in a video, but is often difficult to analyze. 

According the site, only English-language movie are searchable right now, and while a search for "What is that one movie with the guy from that TV show" brings up some more general results like Wayne's World, specific searches will be more helpful. After watching Deadpool, I could not remember the name of that one Ryan Reynolds movie. You know, where he plays a waiter. 

There's also an option to purchase a movie through the site, via Amazon. 

H/T Independent | Photo via Sarah Ackerman/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

After a mural of Kardashian's recent nude selfie appeared in Melbourne last weekend—and was quicklydefaced—another artist, Scott Marsh, paid tribute to West in Sydney. And he used a digitally enhanced image that West—at least according to Reddit—wants "removed from the Internet." 

Claire Bogle doesn't want to tell me the password.

"It's like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction—you'll never know," she says.

Tall, blonde, rocking a black leather jacket, and speaking with the dialed-in composure of a made pro well beyond her 26 years, Bogle is the coolest person to hang on the Scholz Garten rooftop since the German-themed bar opened in 1866. She's talking to the Daily Dot late Saturday in Austin, Texas, about the end of the Internet's most FOMO-inducing hip-hop house party, the Illmore. But she doesn't want to tell me the password that's been the bane of existence for fans online.

For the first time since 2011, Bogle, who co-owns concert promotional hub ScoreMore, opened up her guarded and viral event to the Internet during SXSW. To get in, the kids on Twitter needed a password to enter a website that—for an instance so fleeting it'd make Ticketmaster blush—let you purchase three-day wristbands. 

"We wanted the general public to be able to experience what we've been doing," Bogle says. "If we're going to go out, might as well invite everybody." 

The New York Times noted that at 2.5 percent, the Illmore has a lower admission rate than Harvard. (Disclosure: The Daily Dot coincidentally shares a PR company with the Illmore, which this reporter learned upon arrival.)

Security is layered and uncompromising—on Friday, police halted rap duo Rae Sremmurd's loose, anthem-churning set about 15 minutes early because the main hall, according to security, vastly topped out its 540-person capacity. 

"Security: Let the people have fun, y'all gotta stop tripping," a muffled voice said from the stage.

But after hosting a generation of rap's brightest heroes since 2011—Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, A$AP Rocky, Future, Chance the Rapper, and Drake, who was in last year before a European scheduling conflict—the invite-only SXSW party is ending tonight.

"Everything's just king of changing," Bogle says. "South by is transitioning as well. ...We felt we should kind of go out with a bang."

Unfortunately for Bogle and ScoreMore co-founder Sascha Guttfreund, the Reddit haters are here. And they're drunkenly booing what should be a feel-good reunion show by Chicago clique the Cool Kids.

The Illmore was never supposed to be a concert. At its core, it's a house party. Performances are loose and subject to last-minute texts. Behind me, rap trio the Outfit, Texas, mingles by a foosball table. A young man standing near the backstage bowling lanes has a plastic baggie and is handing out blunts.

Corporate sponsors—Tito's vodka, Red Bull, Tunes Headphones—help foot the bill. The talent shows up reportedly unpaid because it's already in town for SXSW and, well, it's a historically lit occasion.

At its most essential, Chance the Rapper meets producer Nate Fox; the duo goes on to write breakout SoundCloud indie record Acid Rap. DJs Diplo and Skrillex spin back-to-back Illmore sets, and Bogle says this leads to them partnering up to form Jack Ü.

Now that people bought tickets, however, they want not playful pass-the-mic sessions or aux cord stream-offs, but a structured festival. When the Illmore 2016 is dominated in running time by staring at the stage and hearing Metro Boomin's radio singles (the St. Louis producer performed Friday night, but his inescapable hits droned over the PA all weekend), people will grow restless. 

Shortly after 3am CT Sunday, an ocean of boos and chants of "fuck this shit." On social media, about the same:

As BuzzFeed noted last year: "The steady supply of rumors fuels an annual snipe hunt—everyone in town stands at the ready for a pop-up Kanye or Rihanna or Drake performance that, more times than not, never materializes."

It's fallen on Chuck Inglish of the aforementioned Cool Kids to save this thing. They played the first one of these five years ago, and are here for what is supposed to be an epic sendoff. 

"I came here and did this shit for free," Inglish tells the thinning crowd. "Don't boo." 

After reviving breezy blog hit "Black Mags," the room mellows out. 

Bogle admits that the Web noise became a turnoff for her. I ask if the Internet killed this thing.

"I don't think anybody ever has the power to kill the Illmore," she says. "People use the Internet as an outlet to get out their aggression, and those people just don't need to be here. It's not for them."

But she admits that "it just got too big." Bogle clarifies: "The Internet is also kind of what made the Illmore."

That's certainly true. More than 11,000 accounts follow the Illmore on Twitter. In 2015, a reported 22,000 people RSVP'd online.

In another era, the Illmore—which has had to upgrade facilities to accommodate demand three years running—would have been able to quietly exist as a literal house party for well beyond that first 2011-2013 window.

"When we brought in more production it slowly transitioned to more of like what felt like a show," Bogle says. "And it's just been that way a little more every year, which is another reason we decided to end it because it's not a show, it's a party."

Three years ago, Kendrick Lamar's audience caused what Bogle calls "foundational issues, structural issues" to the second story of a suburban Austin mansion. He was performing "m.A.A.d city."

This weekend, well, apparently Johnny Manziel showed up and bowled.

The point of SXSW is to wander and find new music—less so to gawk at celebrities. The reputation was shrouded by selling tickets to the unknown, but more importantly ScoreMore can point to its record of fist-bumping new names in hip-hop. It can bet on this lineup to look twice as impressive with time.

Photo by Greg Noire/the Illmore

The DeGeneres Effect is real, and it just made Quincy Jones's dream come true. 

On today's episode, which taped March 17 when Jones made a follow-up appearance, DeGeneres delivers the news: HBO will air the special, which will film in L.A. on April 4 and debut later this spring. 

When we spoke with Jones earlier this month, a distributor still wasn't set in stone, but the special had already far exceeded its funding goal. Comedian and filmmaker Nicole Blaine, who launched the Kickstarter to help out her friend, is set to executive produce, with her husband, Mickey, directing. 

"I keep repeating to myself, 'What's happening?'" Blaine told the Daily Dot. "I've been blown away by the kindness of strangers. There is a true, giving side to the entertainment industry, and I'm honored and humbled to be a part of something made by pure love. Quincy deserves this." 

Screengrab via TheEllenShow/YouTube 

Two weeks after FanDuel stopped offering paid games to Texas residents, the two biggest daily fantasy sports sites suffered another blow on Monday. That's because both FanDuel and DraftKings announced they will halt paid games in the state of New York, as well.

It's yet another loss for the DFS industry. Even though Virginia earlier this month made it legal for FanDuel and DraftKings to operate in that state, the banning by another state continues the downward spiral that began last October when a DraftKings content manager won $350,000 playing on FanDuel in the same week he accidentally leaked inside information from his own site.

In November, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent DraftKings and FanDuel cease-and-desist letters after his office proclaimed that daily fantasy sports was gambling and not, as the two websites contend, a game of skill.

“Unlike traditional fantasy sports, daily fantasy sports companies are engaged in illegal gambling under New York law," Schneiderman said at the time. "Daily fantasy sports is neither victimless nor harmless, and it is clear that DraftKings and FanDuel are the leaders of a massive, multi-billion-dollar scheme intended to evade the law and fleece sports fans across the country.”

On Monday, as CNBC writes, the two sites made an agreement with the state that it would stop paid contests and not appeal until September.

Yet, hope remains for those DFS users in New York. The state legislature has been considering bills that would regulate the industry and, thus, bring it back to New York residents.

"As I've said from the start, my job is to enforce the law, and starting today, DraftKings and FanDuel will abide by it. Today's agreement also creates an expedited path to resolve this litigation should that law change or upon a decision by the appellate division," Schneiderman said in a statement Monday.

Along with Texas, New York, and Nevada—which banned DFS sites in November—Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, and Montana also don't allow FanDuel and DraftKings to operate. The FBI also has investigated the two sites to see if they violated federal law.

As for New York, FanDuel said in a statement, "We believe this is in the best interest of our company, the fantasy industry and our players while we continue to pursue legal clarity in New York."

Photo via Ian Kennedy/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Think your tweets are worth money? Ever wonder who much your favorite digital celebrity is making for those #ads in your feed? A new calculator can help demystify the world of paid Twitter content.

In honor of Twitter's 10th anniversary, Webfluential, a platform for social influencers to monetize their channels, launched a free a calculator that analyzes just how much anyone should be paid for a sponsored tweet. The algorithm focuses on geolocation, follower count, and the resonance of your existing tweets.

While the science is imperfect for hyperinfluencers like YouTube stars, who might combine Twitter campaigns with other platforms, if you ever wondered how much they might make when they’re promoting an app or an event, this calculator can help. We ran the analysis on our 12 most influential YouTubers of last year to see who’s got the most earning potential.

Tyler Oakley
5.11 million followers
$15,895-$19,430 per tweet

Nicole Arbour
72,700 followers
$225-$275 per tweet

Ingrid Nilsen
1.01 million followers
$3,035-$3,710 per tweet

Todrick Hall
227,000 followers
$685 - $835 per tweet

Sam and Nia
16,900 followers
$60-$75 per tweet

Franchesca Ramsey
84,900 followers
$260-$320 per tweet

PewDiePie
7.19 million followers
$22,750-$27,805 per tweet

Heaven King
1,864 followers
$15-$20 per tweet

Pentatonix
706,000 followers
$2,120-$2,590 per tweet

The Muppets
278,000 followers
$835-$1,020 per tweet

Matt Bellassai
242,000 followers
$730 - $890 per tweet

Colin Furze
12,600 followers
$45-$55 per tweet

It’s a wide range, and some of YouTube’s most influential don’t replicate their reach on Twitter the same way they do on other platforms. However, big stars like Tyler Oakley or PewDiePie are clear winners in the sponsored Twitter race, and that’s no surprise. Either way, even a few sponsored tweets can help tip the checkbooks of YouTube’s most influential each month, if they're open to it. 

Illustration via Max Fleishman

As the NFL and the media who cover it continue to try to infiltrate the technological world with more livestreamed games, more microchips embedded on players, and more unconventional ways to figure out if a player is good at his job, the league is trying something a little different for Amazon Video.

The NFL announced Monday that it had created a new series called All or Nothing for Amazon that tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 2015 Arizona Cardinals, one of the most successful teams in the league last year.

Though the HBO series Hard Knocks has been a mainstay for the past 15 years in showing what an NFL training camp is like, this is the first time a series has followed a team for the entire regular season.

“All or Nothing will deliver the ultimate behind-the-scenes look at America’s most popular sports and entertainment media property—the NFL’s regular season—and we couldn’t have asked for a better franchise for our inaugural season than the Arizona Cardinals,” Jordan Levin, the chief content officer of NFL Media, said in a statement. "We’re thrilled to team up with Amazon on this new series, providing fans even more ways to engage with award-winning NFL programming over a variety of digital channels.”

The Cardinals went 13-3 in the regular season and won the NFC West title with quarterback Carson Palmer throwing for 4,671 yards, receiver Larry Fitzgerald recording one of the best seasons of his career, and the defense ranking as one of the league's best. Also, there was at least one fantastic celebrator of good fortune.

“We take tremendous pride in the dedicated and talented people that make up our organization and welcomed this opportunity to showcase them,” Cardinals president Michael Bidwill said. “This unprecedented look into what it takes to compete in the National Football League is something that we think viewers will find fascinating. We all know the quality of work NFL Films does and are just as excited to work with Amazon to find such an innovative way to distribute this series.”

The show, the NFL said, will premiere later this summer and will be eight, one-hour episodes. Amazon customers can watch on the Amazon Video app on TVs, connected devices, mobile devices, or online.

Photo via FF Swami/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)