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Today — 31 October 2024Main stream

‘Red One’ Release Plans Include HDR By Barco

31 October 2024 at 22:07
Amazon MGM Studios’ “Red One” will open in theaters in formats including HDR by Barco, as part of a pre-release program for the Belgian cinema tech developer’s new HDR-capable premium line of theater projectors. In cooperation with AMC Theatres, B&B Theatres, and Regal Cinemas, a specially graded and mastered version of “Red One” will be […]

Oscar Predictions: Best Picture — Will ‘Wicked’ Defy Gravity for Awards Attention?

31 October 2024 at 21:50
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual […]

George Lucas Cut a Bombshell ‘Star Wars’ Twist From ‘Phantom Menace’: Liam Neeson Was Going to Play the Real Obi-Wan Kenobi Who Died

31 October 2024 at 21:41
Love it or hate it, “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” is at least universally beloved for its casting of Ewan McGregor as young Obi-Wan Kenobi. But hold up. A recent interview with “Star Wars” concept and storyboard artist Iain McCaig (via StarWars.com) to mark “The Phantom Menace’s” 25th anniversary reveals that George Lucas was originally […]

Nielsen Streaming Top 10: ‘Love Is Blind’ Takes Third Place With 1.1 Billion Minutes Watched After Season 7 Debut

31 October 2024 at 21:40
“Love Is Blind” has once again returned to the Nielsen Streaming Top 10. The series re-debuted in third place with 1.1 billion minutes watched from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6, during which the first six episodes of Season 7 were available for five days, though it should be noted that this total also includes any […]

Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and More Avengers Stars Assemble to Endorse Kamala Harris

31 October 2024 at 21:32
Mark Ruffalo, aka Hulk, gathered a group of his fellow Avengers to endorse Kamala Harris for President on Thursday. “Don’t sit this one out. It’s the one where we will lose big: Project 2025, women’s reproductive rights, climate change, LGBTQIA+ rights, public education, student debt relief, Affordable Care Act, Social Security, and as of today, […]

Dodgers Win! Here’s Where to Find the Team’s Official World Series Championship Merch Online

31 October 2024 at 21:27
The Los Angeles Dodgers managed to close out Game 5 in a very dramatic come-from-behind win against the New York Yankees at Yankees Stadium in The Bronx, New York to win the 2024 World Series, in front of a star-studded crowd that included Rob Lowe, John Travolta, Tim McGraw and Alec Baldwin. The Dodgers won […]

Young Thug Accepts Plea Deal in Georgia RICO Case

31 October 2024 at 21:07
After a long, drawn-out trial, Young Thug has accepted a plea deal in his long-standing RICO case. Standing before a judge earlier today, the rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, pleaded no contest to RICO and gang leader counts, and pled guilty to the rest of his charges including two gun charges and […]

Apple Profit Drops 36% on EU Tax Charge as Services Revenue Hits $25 Billion in New Quarterly Record

31 October 2024 at 20:40
Apple’s bottom line took a hit from a recent European Union tax ruling, as smartphone revenue — including sales of its new AI-enabled iPhone 16 — rose 5.5% while the tech giant’s services segment turned in record revenue. The company reported revenue of $94.93 billion, up 6.1%, and net income of $14.74 billion, down 36%, […]

Matthew Lillard Thought ‘Scooby-Doo 2’ Would Make Him ‘No. 1 on the Call Sheet for the Next 10 Years.’ Then It Flopped and His Career Became ‘Irrelevant’

31 October 2024 at 20:39
Matthew Lillard thought his career would explode when the success of 2002’s live-action “Scooby-Doo” (the film earned $275 million worldwide) launched a franchise. The actor signed up to reprise the role of Shaggy in 2004’s “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” and earned the biggest payday of his career. The only way forward for his career was […]

Donald Trump Talked About Fixing McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines. Lina Khan Actually Did.

31 October 2024 at 21:01

On October 26th, Donald Trump promised that “WHEN I’M PRESIDENT THE MCDONALD’S ICE CREAM MACHINES WILL WORK GREAT AGAIN!” But it is Lina Khan, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, who, earlier today, announced she had actually done something about it. 

The day before Trump’s proclamation, the United States Copyright Office announced a new copyright exemption that will grant some small business owners and franchisees—such as those operating the 13,000 McDonald’s in the United States—the “right to repair” the machinery within their own shops. Back in March, the FTC submitted a comment to the US Copyright Office asking to extend the right to repair certain equipment, including commercial soft-serve equipment. 

The saga is in miniature a good example of how to potentially combat Trumpism. There is a problem: To many, the McDonald’s soft-serve extruders of this great nation seem perpetually broken (a fact that McDonalds itself has acknowledged). Trump vaguely promised to do something about it. Khan—on the vanguard of a new class of anti-monopolistic Democrats—moved aggressively to try to push a change unpopular with business interests, solve the problem, and get you ice cream more easily.

The new ruling could be a game-changer for drive-through employees, too. They often contend with rageful customers over broken devices. “Victory is sweet,” wrote Elizabeth Chamberlain of iFixIt. “This is a big win—and we’ll be celebrating with ice cream!—but copyright law still needs fixing before we’re free to fix everything we own.”

McDonald’s soft serve machines are manufactured by the Taylor Company. Since 1956, those soft-serve machines could only be legally repaired by Taylor Company licensed technicians—and if anyone without that license attempted to repair the machines, they voided the warranty. That, the FTC said, squashes competition for replacement parts and for repair technicians.

It shows Khan’s knack for proving the government can do things to help make life suck less. And it is a window into how Khan has used the FTC to respond to American grievances.

In 2020, an independent developer scraped data from delivery apps to create a constantly updating map of broken and unbroken ice cream machines. (Called McBroken, it showed that 32 percent of all McDonald’s soft serve machines were out of order at the time of this writing.) In 2021, the FTC launched an inquiry that showed that the broken ice cream machine memes populating the internet contain a grain of truth. When they asked franchisees about the issue, they called the devices overly complicated and hard to fix. In 2023, iFixit, a DIY-focused website and tools retailer, published a breakdown of the machine’s “easily replaceable” parts which frequently break, and which McDonald’s workers were nonetheless forbidden to replace themselves. It seems simple and unspectacular when you lay it out, but the basics are here: hear about a problem, ask why it’s happening, try to find a solution.

Khan has earned a reputation for big moves. She has introduced sweeping crackdowns against companies the FTC considers to be monopolies, such as Amazon, and pushed for consumer-protection interventions like the “click to cancel” rule, designed to make the process of canceling unused gym and magazine subscriptions less arcane. On October 31st, the House Oversight Committee called for her to be replaced, claiming that she is infecting the agency with “left-wing ideology.” Elon Musk tweeted today that “[Khan] will be fired soon.” (Under Musk’s plan for a $2 trillion cut to the federal budget, it’s possible that the FTC would be eliminated entirely.) 

Even some Harris-aligned figures, such as billionaires Mark Cuban and Reid Hoffman, have publicly jostled for a less active FTC and to potentially replace Khan.

The ice cream saga may prove why her ways of running the FTC are so valuable.

Discounters Like Burlington, T.J. Maxx Expected to Win Holiday-Shopping Wars

31 October 2024 at 19:27
Investors can expect a bleak outlook for department stores that have struggled to provide consumers with the value they’re looking for, but discounters such as T.J. Maxx, Ross Dress for Less and Burlington anticipate higher foot traffic this holiday season.

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