Facebook Home, unveiled today, is the company’s attempt to stop what it sees as an alarming trend: Facebook users actually spending less time on Facebook . So what is Facebook Home? To quote the video below: Facebook Home “Home isn’t a phone or operating system, and it’s more than just an app. Home is a new experience that lets you see the world through people, not apps.” Basically, it’s a suite of apps that constitute an interface for Android users willing to let FB mediate pretty much everything they do on their mobile devices. The video announcing Facebook Home does make the thing look pretty cool, despite not explaining much of anything … perhaps that’s partly by design? A product designed to make a public saturated by “Facebook Fatigue” spend more time on Facebook may seem like a risky move, but it also makes sense. CEO/Founder Mark Zuckerberg‘s vision has always been about Facebook evolving from a destination into a social layer blanketing the entire Internet. That is what he’s trying to do here. But will Facebook Home – available April 12 – provide the means to his goal or impede it? What do you think, THGers?
So much for talk of a Will Smith divorce due to infidelity. In an interview with The Huffington Post this week, Jada Pinkett Smith implied that it would be impossible for one side of her relationship to cheat on the other… because they have an open marriage! Sort of! “I think that people get that idea because Will and I are very relaxed with one another,” the actress said of the open marriage rumor. “But I’ve always told Will: You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay.” Jada, of course, was the one accused of cheating with Marc Anthony not long after the latter singer split from Jennifer Lopez. But Smith made it sound like her marriage is strong, referring to Will as her “best friend” and emphasizing the freedom each allows the other to enjoy: “At the end of the day, Will is his own man. I’m here as his partner, but he is his own man. He has to decide who he wants to be and that’s not for me to do for him. Or vice versa.” Jada Pinkett Smith also made her voice heard a couple weeks ago, sticking up for Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift in the face of those young stars facing a lot of criticism.
Roger Ebert, a movie critic whose sharp wit and depth of knowledge delighted millions of readers and viewers, has died of cancer at the age of 70. Ebert, who reviewed films for the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years and on TV for 31 years, was America’s most prominent and influential critic. He had been in poor health for years, battling cancers of the thyroid and salivary gland. He lost part of his lower jaw in 2006, and with it the ability to speak or eat. That calamity that would have driven other men from the public eye, but Ebert refused to hide, instead forging what became a new chapter in his career. His chronicle of his devastating illness won him a new generation of admirers, and his positive attitude never waned or became tinged with bitterness. Always tech-savvy – he was an early investor in Google – Ebert let the Internet be his voice, and his website, rogerebert (dot) com, had millions of fans. His Twitter feeds had 827,000 followers, a remarkable achievement for a man whose peer group, on the whole, doesn’t even use the social network. Even more remarkable? Ebert was both widely popular and professionally respected. He had a Pulitzer Prize and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the first critic to achieve either, and the same year Ebert won the Pulitzer, 1975, he also launched his television program with Gene Siskel. As a tandem, Siskel and Ebert reviewed as many as 285 films a year and their program became nearly as influential as the movies themselves. Two thumbs up.
Witnesses to the infamous Rick Ross drive-by in South Florida say another car pulled up beside his Rolls Royce and numerous gunshots were fired, police say. The rapper then crashed into a nearby building, unharmed. A Fort Lauderdale police report released Thursday says witnesses saw three or four people inside an older model, burgundy or maroon BMW before shots rang out. He was with his girlfriend, fashion designer Shateria L. Moragne-el, on January 28. The bullets from the Rick Ross shooting struck nearby businesses. Fortunately, no one was injured in the attempted murder. Witnesses tell police that the car’s occupants fired out of their passenger-side window at Rick Ross, and that police have recovered 18 bullet casings . “The witnesses ducked for cover in their vehicle due to the rapid gunfire, but were still able to see the vehicle flee eastbound,” the report says. The report also says that Ross was armed with a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun located in his waistband, though he did not draw the weapon. Ross did have a (suspended) concealed weapon permit for it. Police are reviewing video from 20 surveillance cameras in the area for clues as to who tried to off the rapper . The footage has not been made public. In any event, it doesn’t look like he staged it, as 50 Cent posited .
You can own the Notorious B.I.G.’s old apartment if you want! And if you have more than $700K. Gentrification is no joke. The famous one-room shack he used to rap about is a recently-renovated “three-bed plus den / office condo” complete with a formal dining room no less. Notorious’ native Bed-Stuy ‘hood is not quite the area he once knew, with the Pratt Institute, BAM, the Brooklyn Flea and the Barclays Center nearby. If anything, given the area’s rapid real estate boom, it’s surprising the $725K list price isn’t higher still. Many condos there fetch seven figures easily. Where Brooklyn at? The center of hip these days .
Zombie rom-com takes #1 spot at the box office with a $20 million debut. By Ryan J. Downey Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer on the set of “Warm Bodies” Photo: MTV News
World tour will kick off in April in Serbia and end in August at hubby Jay-Z’s Barclays Center in Brooklyn. By Gil Kaufman Beyonce Photo: Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images
My name is Sophie, I’m 18 and I have been supporting Justin for 3-4 years now. I seriously don’t know what I would be doing with my life right now if it wasn’t for Justin. I always knew that in my mind I would meet Justin, even if it took 10 years, I would. I always got bullied for supporting him and always got told: “you’re never going to meet him Sophie” or “he will never know you exist so just stop!” or “step into reality and stop telling everyone your going to meet him because your not!” But the thing is, I always used to laugh and say, “You watch I’ll prove you wrong one day!” and guess what…I DID, TWICE. I met Justin at his hotel the day before, and at a meet & greet the day after. I live in Australia and I travelled 25 hours halfway across the world JUST to see Justin perform at the Believe Tour. It wasn’t just to see him because I ended up with MEET & GREET tickets at the Barclays Centre on the 12th November 2012. We got to New York and it’s beautiful. We woke up on the 12 th November and that was the day of Justin’s concert. We were sitting in the lobby stealing the wifi and my e-mails went off and I had about 20 e-mails, so I just flicked through and deleted all of them until I realized when I clicked delete, I saw “Congratulations Sophie!” and it was from Bieberfever! I went into deleted items and brought the e-mail back into my inbox to read that I WON TWO MEET & GREET PASSES TO JUSTIN’S CONCERT THAT NIGHT. I cried and my heart was beating so fast, even though we already had meet & greets. I was thinking…what am I going to do with them. While I was lining up for the M&G I told my dad to find two girls so he went up to 2 young girls and said, “Have you got tickets to the show?” and confused they were like “Yes, yes we do! Why?” He said, “My daughter won 2 M&G passes for Justin Bieber and she already has meet & greet tickets, would you like them?” It was honestly the most amazing thing I have ever heard. (I was on the phone with my dad at the time) . One of the girls started to cry while the other one screamed “ARE YOU LYING? OH MY GOD PLEASE DONT LIE!” When it was true, they just kept saying, “OH MY GOSH THANK YOU SO MUCH, THIS MEANS SO MUCH FOR MY GIRLS” and they walked into the entry to go meet Justin. Justin is so nice, and so amazing. I walked in and he said, “Hello ladies” and I felt so faint! I said “HI JUSTIN!”, he hugged me and we got a photo! I said, “We came from Australia, just for you!” and it was the best moment of my life . He is just flawless and I love him. After the show, Lauren and I got interviewed by some documentary people outside. We got filmed for about 10 minutes, they were asking us questions about how long it took to get to NY, how much we love Justin, why we love him etc. It was a great way to end an AMAZING night. -@SimplyBieberr View post: My name is Sophie, I’m 18 and I have been supporting Justin for…
This video is a play by play of My Bieber Experience. December 1st, 2012 was the best day of my life. I’m a 21 year old Belieber and I was extremely excited when my dad told my sisters and I that we got amazing seats plus meet and greets for the Toronto show. Finally the day came and we were on our way. We were running late and the Toronto traffic was super bad. We had planned on checking into our hotel, getting ready and then head over to stadium, but at 4 p.m. we were driving by the Rogers Center and that’s when we found out the meet and greet was at 4:30. We pulled in, got changed and ready in the parking garage then zoomed to the gate to pick up our tickets and wristbands. After we got them, we were beyond excited when we walked into the stadium with our orange wristbands. Since we were late we were near the end and there were hundreds of people in front of us. We were told we had to take the picture with a group of 6 so my two sisters and I joined up with a girl (@thebieberbarbie) and then two others. There were SO many people and we waited for a while. While waiting we saw Pattie, Diane, Bruce, Alfredo, Kenny etc. The wait didn’t seem too long but once I turned the corner, saw the black curtain and knew Justin was behind it, I was in shock. They told us it was our turn to go in. I remember I made myself lean over and look Justin in the eyes. He said, “Hey” then double looked at me and then said, “How are you” and then we took the picture. I was holding his arm which was behind the girl beside me (@thebieberbarbie). After the picture was taken and we were ushered out, it was pretty quick. I have some regrets about not saying anything because I was in shock but it was still amazing. I remember looking at his flawless face not believing I was seeing it in real life. I honestly didn’t even know he was wearing a hat until our meet & greet was posted online. Alfredo was at the exit of the meet & greet and was filming everyone’s reactions which was cool. After the meet & greet we went outside, found our gate and headed to our seats. We were shocked to see how amazing they were. We were right beside the catwalk. We got wristbands that allowed us to stand right next to it during the concert. When Justin came down in those wings I almost lost it, we were so close we could see his eyes under the sunglasses and literally count the sweat drops on his forehead. After Justin sang ‘Be Alright’ and ‘Fall,’ he tossed the guitar pick he was using into the crowd. I remember thinking, there’s no way I’ll get it because I can’t lose my spot along this fence. I turned to look at the lucky person who caught it and that’s when I saw my dad bent over and to my surprise he stood up with the pick in his hand! ! My sisters and I freaked out. We have his guitar pick! (6:24 in the video) During ‘One Less Lonely Girl’ Justin touched my hand and I got video footage of it (9:13 in the video). He also touched it again during another song but I didn’t get it on video. We got to go backstage and meet up with Pattie and Diane during The Wanted,’s performance and we actually saw them coming off stage on the way back to our seats and took a picture with them. Overall it was an amazing experience. I still can’t believe I can say “I met Justin Bieber”. I tried to get tickets for the 2013 Summer Toronto shows but was unsuccessful. I’m still hopeful because of what Justin has taught us – Never Say Never right, and you’ve gotta believe. -@nicholedouble Visit link: This video is a play by play of My Bieber Experience. December…
Reason 3948730 why Jay Z is boss: a video has surfaced of HOV making friends with an elderly woman on the NYC subway. Mr. Carter was riding the subway to his final performance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, when he chose a seat next to 67-year old Ellen Grossman. Obviously taking note of the legions of screaming fans on the train and massive bodyguards, the unknowing Grossman asks Jay if he’s famous. Adorableness ensues: Jay Z Makes a New Friend On The Subway The Washington Post interviewed Ellen Grossman about her experience meeting the music megastar. The clip is part of a 24 minute documentary called “Where I’m From” about Jay Z’s series of Barclays concerts.
