Twitter is testing a feature that lets you see how many times a user tweets per month. Reverse Engineers spotted this in development about a month ago, but as of this morning, some Twitter users have shared that they have gained access to this feature.
For those of us who already know that we spend way too much time on the app, this feature feels a bit … intimidating. But it could probably be useful as a metric when determining whether to follow someone. If someone tweets thousands of times a month, maybe you don’t want them on your timeline — or if they barely tweet at all, maybe you don’t think it’s worth throwing them a follow.
“This is part of an ongoing experiment in which we want to learn how providing more context about the frequency of an account’s Tweets can help people make more informed decisions about the accounts they choose to engage with,” a Twitter spokesperson said.
Based on past studies, it’s not surprising that the general reaction to this feature among dedicated users is horror at how much we tweet. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that 10% of Twitter users create 80% of the tweets on the platform. The study also showed that the median user on Twitter only posts twice per month. As of last quarter, Twitter has 237.8 million monetizable daily active users.
So, if you feel personally attacked by Twitter’s “tweets per month” test, you may be entitled to compensation. For legal reasons, that was a joke, although we assume Twitter’s lawyers are a bit preoccupied at the moment.
Update, 8/1/22, 6:55 PM ET with comment from Twitter.
ANDEarlier this month, the irrepressible Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi found himself detained in Tehran and facing six years in jail. It’s the latest move in a long and largely fruitless campaign by the Iranian authorities to silence an artist who continues to be an international beacon of inspiration – not least to his son, Panah Panahi, who worked on his father’s most recent films, and who here makes his own triumphant feature debut as writer and director.
We meet the stars of Hit the Road in the borrowed car in which they will spend much of the film. Hassan Madjooni is the outwardly grouchy Dad, wrestling toothache and a broken leg, the authenticity of which is slyly doubted by Pantea Panahiha’s quietly exasperated but endlessly loving Mum. In the driver’s seat is their elder son (Amin Simiar), who is apparently on his way to get married, but whose real purpose will be only gradually revealed. And then there’s the younger brother, a six-year-old whirling dervish played by Rayan Sarlak who leaps around the car like an untrained puppy (the family’s actual dog, Jessy, is quietly ailing in the rear), and whose babbling observations on life , the universe and everything drive his family to distraction, but also remind us of Psalm 8:2: “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength.”
Pantea Panahiha and Amin Simiar in the ‘deceptively light-touch’ Hit the Road. Alamy
“We’re being followed,” Mum observes early on, establishing an underlying air of tension and paranoia about this family pilgrimage, a clandestine venture that we learn has already cost them much (“we lost our house and sold our car”). Later on they will meet a motorcyclist whose face is hidden by a sack, a potentially terrifying encounter that is utterly punctured by the six-year-old’s observation that he looks like Batman’s arch enemy, Scarecrow. The Dark Knight will, in fact, feature prominently in the en route conversation, not least during a gorgeously fanciful exchange between father and son on the depreciating value of a scratched Batmobile, provoking hilarity as they imagine Bruce Wayne weeping because his beloved car is now worth only $500m!
It’s one of many superbly judged moments in which Panahi’s deceptively light-touch film hits that sweet spot between laughter and tears (the two elements are literally juxtaposed on screen). We understand that much is being hidden from the youngster – the dog’s illness; his brother of him ‘s true course of him – as we travel toward the border. Yet somehow we come to share his childish wonder at the mysteries of the world, causing him to kiss the ground and offer praise to the almighty at sublimely inappropriate moments.
Cinematographer Amin Jafari, whose extensive CV includes Jafar Panahi’s 3 Faces, lends a Kiarostami-esque sense of grandeur to the landscape, which changes from arid sands to verdant hills. In one superb twilight long shot, the players are tiny figures dwarfed by the vastness of the sky. Elsewhere, a thermal garment becomes a spacesuit as our down-to-earth characters slip into an intergalactic void, recalling an earlier conversation about Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. “It’s mesmerizing,” says the older brother, sharing a moment of truthful intimacy with his mother. “Like Zen. It calms you down. Takes you deep into the galaxies.” (“Galaxies are full of wars,” retorts his mother. “How can it calm you down? I don’t get you men.”) And then there are the interludes of musical fantasia, as car-bound karaoke mutates into fourth- wall-breaking lip-syncing of popular tunes by artists who have long since fled Iran.
At times I saw echoes of the comic pathos of Laurel and Hardy, both in a slapstick brush with a cyclist and in a beautifully deadpan riverside scene in which Dad struggles to impart all the fatherly knowledge he will soon be unable to deliver. “Whenever you kill a cockroach,” he tells his son, “do n’t throw him back in the toilet. Remember his parents of him sent him out in the world with lots of hope. ” To which he then adds: “And stop whining in front of your mum. You break her heart from her.” It’s that blend of heartbreak and joy, depth and absurdity that is the key to this enchanting movie’s magical spell.
Sydney is at risk of losing the NRL grand final to its northern rivals unless the NSW Government delivers on its promise to upgrade suburban stadiums.
ARLC chairman Peter V’landys had a meeting with Premier Dominic Perrottet on Monday night, hoping to guarantee the deal to revamp four stadiums would be honored.
The agreement would see Brookvale Oval, Leichhardt Oval, Penrith Stadium and Shark Park receive significant upgrades — and if delivered, the grand finale would remain in Sydney for the next 20 years until 2042.
Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
But, according to The Daily Telegraph, V’landys is fuming as the initial deal struck in May to spend $800 million on stadium improvements is now in doubt.
“We are in delicate negotiations with the NSW government,” V’landys said.
“All options will be on the table if these negotiations fail.”
Last year, the Queensland government allowed the competition to continue, relocating all teams into the ‘Sunshine State’ due to Covid-19.
As a result, the end-of-year spectacle was played at Suncorp Stadium and now V’landys has left the door open for Queensland to host the grand final again if no deal is confirmed with the NSW government.
How long will Carrigan get for hip drop? | 03:22
Meanwhile, the only stadium given confirmation of a $300 million upgrade has been Penrith’s — in the electorate of sports minister Stuart Ayres.
Mr Ayres told 2GB on Tuesday that the Premier’s negotiations are “ongoing” with the NRL, but explained there were “limitations” to the budget.
“We have been really clear with the NRL about the limitations that exist on our budget,” he said.
“We have invested well in excess of $1.5 billion. Part of that is to say that we would like to have a long-term commitment from the NRL for the grand finale.
“I think there comes a point where you have got to say we have invested enough in that sporting infrastructure and when we have got the capacity to invest in more sporting infrastructure in the future there is no reason why we won’t do that.”
During the Covid pandemic, the $800 million upgrade of Accor Stadium was scrapped and the NRL moved to shift those funds to suburban grounds — and as a result the grand finale would remain in Sydney.
But now, that money which was said to be allocated towards Brookvale, Leichhardt and Sharks Park is unlikely to be put towards upgrades.
MORE NRL NEWS
DEADLINE DAY: Grading your club’s mid-season moves as frenzy shakes up title race
RESERVES WRAP: Tigers star’s big switch as beast stuns; answer to Storm’s woes
‘CAN’T REPAIR A SPLIT THIS BIG’: Manly player divide could ‘derail their season’
WHISPERS: Broncos gun set to sign with the Warriors as Walsh replacement
DEADLINE CHANGES: V’landys set to scrap the August 1 signing deadline
V’landys moves transfer deadline | 03:02
The Queensland government is now readying a bid to claim to NRL grand final for years to come.
2GB’S Ben Fordham questioned Mr Ayres surrounding the Panthers upgrade being approved, while other grounds are looking unlikely to receive any funding.
“You’re the Sports Minister, your home ground is Penrith, you’re a Panthers fan and for all I know you’re probably the number one ticket holder,” Fordham said.
“So they got the $300 million, so what about Brookvale, Shark Park, Leichhardt Oval… I would be seriously surprised if you don’t know the answer I am posing to you.
“Why did your home ground get the money at your home ground and the others didn’t?
“Why don’t we just tell the listeners now, those other grounds aren’t getting their redevelopments?”
“Ben, there’s a long-term strategy,” Ayres said.
Inside Klemmer’s failed move to the Eels | 02:08
Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!
“We made decisions in what was the best interests of the public.
“We’ve had a long-term stadia strategy that we’ve been delivering since 2015. We’ve rebuilt Parramatta Stadium, we’re just about to open the new Sydney Football stadium.
“We’re committed to a stadium in Penrith, it reflects our three city strategy.
“We’ve invested well in excess of $1.5b dollars, part of that is, we’d like to have a long-term commitment from the NRL for the grand finale.
“We’ve just had Covid, we’ve had substantial flood impacts that have put more pressure on the budget.”
Asked what his message was to Coalition opponents of the Voice, Wyatt said “no government in Australia has provided continuity of advisory structures to Indigenous Australians”.
“They change with every government and we have seen organization after organization come and go and the advice they give to make a difference to quality of life never changes. We have to have something that is more permanent so that a minister or government can’t abolish it,” he said.
Liberal MP James Stevens said he was supportive of constitutionally enshrining the Voice, but disagreed with the government’s view that the Australian people be asked to vote in a referendum on the principle without the detail of how it would operate.
“We can’t risk holding a referendum that proceeds to be unsuccessful. That would be a disaster for reconciliation in this country,” Stevens said.
“It’s my view that it’s much more likely to pass if we’re very clear with the people of Australia on what the Voice will be that they are voting to create.
“Whether people like or not, Indigenous Australians have lived on this continent for 60,000 years and they need certainty, they need to be part of the co-designing process at the community and regional level. That includes having an impact on federal thinking for solutions to address the 17 targets for closing the gap.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the Garma Festival.Credit:Getty
Wyatt said he did not support direct election of representatives to the proposed 24-member Voice and backed the 2021 report prepared by professors Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, which recommends selecting them from regional and local Voice bodies around the country.
However, in an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday evening, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney flagged that a directly elected model would be on the table.
“What the Leeser-Dodson [2018 parliamentary] report [on constitutional recognition] said is that the Voice will be representative. The point I was attempting to make was, in fact, that there is obviously – as the prime minister has pointed out – consultations, particularly with First Nations people, that need to be had about the way in which a Voice would be constituted,” Burney told the ABC on Monday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted that the detail on how the Voice would work was readily available.
“Hundreds of pages of detail have been worked through by Marcia Langton and Tom Calma – they’re all out there for people to see,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told The Project on the Ten Network on Monday night.
Noel Pearson threw his support behind Albanese’s weekend speech on Monday, telling ABC TV’s 7.30 the proposed three-sentence addition to the constitution was “the detail we have been waiting on”.
Pearson, an Indigenous lawyer, academic and land rights activist, said Australia needed to come together behind the proposal.
“In order to succeed we have got to rise above the culture wars, we’ve got to rise above our tribal divides and see that this is the one question that requires Australians to make common cause. Because if we make common cause on this, we will make our country better,” he said.
“I think that this is a modest proposition, modest but profound, capable of being consistent with liberal and conservative thinking.”
Professors Megan Davis and Pat Anderson, who co-chaired the Uluru Dialogue, which produced the Uluru Statement from the Heart that proposed a Voice model, both said more detail on the proposed model would need to be released before the referendum was held. But it would not be necessary for the model to be finalized or the draft legislation prepared.
Anderson said “we won’t have every ‘i’ dotted and ‘t’ crossed before we go to the referendum” but “governments have held referendums in the past without all of the background information”.
loading
“This national conversation is going to require a level of sophistication and maturity. This is an opportunity for Australia to decide what kind of country we are, what our principles and values are. This can change the country, this is nation building, let’s suspend the knocking attitude and lift this debate,” she said.
Davis said there did not need to be a “fully fledged structure” to the proposed Voice before the referendum was put but enough detail so people could make an informed decision.
Both women dismissed claims from opponents of the Voice that there was insufficient detail about the proposed model, pointing to the Uluru statement, the 2019 parliamentary inquiry and the 2021 Langton-Calma report.
DENVER (AP) — A wealthy dentist accused of fatally shooting his wife at the end of an African safari was found guilty of murder and mail fraud Monday.
The verdict for Lawrence “Larry” Rudolph’ came from a jury in a Denver federal court following a trial that lasted three weeks.
Rudolph was charged with murder and mail fraud for cashing in $4.8 million in life insurance claims in what prosecutors describe as a premeditated crime.
Rudolph maintained his innocence. His attorney suggested his wife of 34 years, Bianca Rudolph, shot herself while trying to pack a shotgun in a hurry as they prepared to return from Zambia to the United States in 2016.
But prosecutors countered that evidence showed that it was impossible because the wound to her heart came from a shot fired from 2 to 3.5 feet (1 meter) away.
Prosecutors also accused Rudolph’s girlfriend and manager of his Pittsburgh-area dental franchise, Lori Milliron, of lying to a federal grand jury about the case and her relationship with Rudolph.
She was found guilty by the same jury of being an accessory after the fact to murder, obstruction of a grand jury and two counts of perjury before a grand jury. She was found not guilty on two other counts of perjury.
Prosecutors alleged that Rudolph decided to kill his wife to regain control over his life after Bianca Rudolph asked for more say in the couple’s finances and demanded that Milliron be fired. Rudolph’s attorneys called that a false narrative.
August 1 2022, 9:15 am | BY Ricki Green | 23 Comments
Independent Creative Agency, Thinkerbell, has launched its first piece of work for Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt, following winning the business late last year. The Aussie All-Rounder platform celebrates Aussies’ love for putting Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt on everything.
The idea celebrates Aussies’ love for Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt, through a humorous film, featuring adults chasing down a Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt truck, desperate to add a bit of Australia’s most-loved plain Greek Style Yogurt to their various meals.
Says Sharon Winton, Marketing Director, Bega Dairy & Drinks Limited: “Farmers Union has been around in Australia for over 100 years, and we’re thrilled to be able to celebrate the many ways Aussies use Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt. We love the energy and fun that this idea creates and how unique it is in the yogurt category, much like our product.”
Says Ben Couzens, executive creative tinker at Thinkerbell: “Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt is a go-to for many Australians so we wanted to create work for the brand that dials up people’s love for it and their habit of plopping it on anything.”
The idea has been launched nationally in major broadcast channels, in conjunction with OOH, online and social.
Client – Bega: Sharon Winton – Marketing Director Jess Hoare – Senior Brand Manager Amy Hu – Assistant Brand Manager Anne Dowsley – Head of Yogurt & Culinary
Creative Agency – Thinkerbell Izzy Daniels – Thinker Regina Stroombergen – Lead Creative Tinker Ellen Woods – Creative Tinker Jess Evernden – Lead Production Tinker Ben Couzens – Executive Creative Tinker Adam Ferrier – Chief Thinker Nikia Shepherd – Head Thinker Katrina Khao – Lead Brand Thinker
Production Co – The Producers Director – Mitch Kennedy Executive Producer – Noelle Jones Music Composer – Terry Mann Sound Mix – Bang Bang
Media Agency – Starcom: Georgina O’Hare – Account Director Helen Karambilas – Group Business Director
Sabrent has just unveiled their very latest Rocket 4 Plus G SSD that offers the very fastest storage performance, enough for Elon Musk to power the systems required to get him to Mars… hell, he’s a big gamer, so Elon could power his Mars -based gaming PC with Sabrent’s new Rocket 4 Plus G SSD.
VIEW GALLERY – 10 PICTURES
The new Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G SSD is perfect for your new Windows 11-powered gaming PC, where the Microsoft DirectStorage API is ready to be taken advantage of in storage-strapped applications and games. Sabrent is pushing 7GB/sec+ with its Rocket 4 Plus G SSD, and capacities of 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB.
One of the crown jewels of the Rocket 4 Plus G is Sabrent’s new O₂ firmware, which the company says is “specially engineered to elevate our cutting-edge hardware to all-new levels. Sustain high levels of performance throughout your long gaming session, without ever missing a beat. Your drive’s health is intelligently maintained seamlessly in the background.”
Sabrent has promised that the new Rocket 4 Plus G SSD is running at 1600MT, which makes it considerably faster than the competition that’s still sitting at 1200MT. I’m truly loving the color-infused Rocket 4 Plus G style that Sabrent has gone with, as it’s a true shame it’ll be hidden behind an M.2 SSD heat sink. Speaking of heat sinks, Sabrent has a beautifully designed M.2 “gaming heat sink” that it sells separately for $30. If you buy the 4TB variant of the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G for $700, you’ll get the gaming heat sink for free.
hunted is an incredibly silly show and I have watched every minute of it. Ten’s reality fugitive competition where contestants try to stay one step ahead of the production’s professional pursuers – alternate title: Tom Clancy’s Amazing Race – is a patchwork quilt of simulation and shortcuts tied to a fantastic concept and some intriguing implications. It also featured a tall, heavily bearded man trying to disguise himself as a “nonna” so as not to attract attention to himself. In this series being serious invariably gets bonkers.
If you’ve ever enjoyed the many sequences in a Jason Bourne film where the supporting cast stand in a darkened control room full of surveillance tech and bark orders as they pursue their elusive quarry, hunted is probably for you. Based on a successful British format (they even did a celebrity edition, which is a hilarious concept), the show is an elaborate game of tag: with curtailed resources and a lack of digital privacy, nine teams of two have to last 21 days on the run within Victoria’s borders.
The surveillance experts who are charged with tracking and finding the escaped fugitives.Credit:Network 10
Let’s get this out of the way: “Some powers available to government agencies including electronic surveillance have been simulated in the production of hunted” reads a closing credit. Much of the gameplay – the idea that the Hunters have access to CCTV and smartphones, for example – is duplicated by the production team, although both the Hunters and the Hunted are committed to staying in character and pretending it’s all happening in real-time. The paranoid should not watch hunted. Then again, maybe they could win it?
None of this actually matters. For a start, the seams are so obvious that some viewers enjoy pointing out the production’s fails; I’m watching with a 16-year-old who derisively noted that Google Maps and Microsoft Word are doing a lot of heavy lifting at Hunter HQ. More importantly, the idea is sticky. Could you survive on the run? Do you have instincts to not give your position away? Could you handle the deprivation, unlike the team that was yearning for champagne a few days in?
as with survivorviewers can at least imagine themselves being a contestant on hunted. That has helped make the series a mid-season success for Ten, prominent in the ratings and – crucially – not outstaying its welcome with just nine episodes spread over three weeks. It’s a palate cleanser, with the near misses and catches doled out across each installation. It’s also a reminder that perhaps we’re more open to new reality TV pitches than the networks imagine. Please give us more new concepts and make them as enjoyably stupid as this one.
Stathi and Matt put the hunters to the test, but one of their friends made a mistake when questioned.Credit:Network 10
“You’re cleared hot to go into anywhere you need to go,” senior Hunter Reece Dewar will bark to one of the ground teams, which sounds exciting but actually means politely knocking on someone’s door. All the Hunters have impeccable credentials, whether they’re former senior police officers, intelligence analysts, or ex-SAS operators. But not all of them can act. I am convinced that one of the HQ analysts is not even paying attention.
Occasionally the tone gets questionable, as when one Hunter driving around a country town muttered, “come on, girlies, where are ya?” but it’s fun watching people commit to this illusion. Some teams have embraced disguises and elaborate plots, while others have daft strategies that leave you yelling at the screen. I even have a favorite team of ground Hunters, Jason Spivey and Michelle Corlett of Alpha Team, although I prefer to recognize them as Jason Statham’s uncle and day-rate Charlize Theron.
Hunters Jason Spivey and Michelle Corlett of Alpha Team, although I prefer to recognize them as Jason Statham’s uncle and day-rate Charlize TheronCredit:Tins Smigielski
South Australian lighting company Valo has been announced as the naming rights sponsor for the return of the Adelaide 500.
The event will close out the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship over December 1-4.
It sees action return to the Adelaide Parklands Circuit for the first time since the event’s demise in 2020.
New title sponsor, Valo, a local advanced technology manufacturer, was confirmed at an official launch today.
The company was recently introduced into motorsport with a two-year Walkinshaw Andretti United partnership.
“At Valo, we’re passionate about motorsport and we couldn’t be more excited to be the naming rights sponsor of the Valo Adelaide 500,” said Valo CEO and founder Aaron Hickman.
“We support the South Australian Government bringing back the Valo Adelaide 500 just as we’re bringing back advanced manufacturing.
“Just as motorsport is a high-performance team sport, Valo produces high-performance products and emphasizes valuing team like family.”
The support category line-up for the event is also taking shape, with three Australian Racing Group categories locked in.
Last held at the beginning of 2020, the Adelaide 500 was axed later that year by former Premier of South Australia, Steven Marshall.
Opposition Leader, Peter Malinauskas, vowed to restore the event as a campaign promise, with Supercars committing to a 2022 season finale when Malinauskas won office in March 2022.
The chief of staff to Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has resigned, after reportedly asking a Liberal Party donor to make a $100,000 payment to his private marketing business.
Key points:
Mitch Catlin reportedly proposed a contract that would have seen a donor pay more than $8,000 a month to his private company
Matthew Guy says there are no similar agreements in place within the Victorian Liberals
The state government has criticized Mr Guy and put out a list of questions directed at him
The Age has reported that Mitch Catlin asked Mr Guy to forward a proposed contract to a donor that would have seen the donor pay more than $8,000 a month to Mr Catlin’s private marketing company, Catchy Media Marketing and Management.
The Andrews government this afternoon said it would refer the issue to the state’s corruption watchdog, as well as agencies including Victoria Police, the Victorian Ombudsman and the AFP.
In response, Mr Guy said he would cooperate with any investigation and looked forward to the state’s integrity agencies “confirming this referral for what it is — an unfounded and desperate political stunt.”
Earlier, Mr Guy said while “there was nothing signed” and he had not passed on the proposed contract, he had this morning accepted Mr Catlin’s resignation.
“I make it very, very clear that I value integrity in government and also in opposition,” he said.
“To that end, my chief of staff Mitch Catlin has this morning offered me his resignation.”
Mitch Catlin runs a private marketing company called Catchy Media Marketing and Management.(LinkedIn)
The Liberal leader pledged to establish a code of conduct for opposition staff.
“I accept that as an issue that needs resolution, I will fix that and I will make sure there is a code of conduct for opposition staff as there is, and should be, for government staff,” he said.
Mr Guy said there were no agreements in place within the party that resemble Mr Catlin’s proposed contract.
“We’ll make sure that any issues, even the perception of integrity, is taken seriously. We’re acting on a perception — this wasn’t even put in place,” he said.
MPs call for greater transparency
Labor minister Danny Pearson said Mr Guy needed to “come clean” and reveal his level of involvement.
“Matthew Guy is putting himself up as the alternative premier,” he said.
“He may be the premier by Christmas, and this goes to his credibility.”
The state government has put out a list of 14 questions directed at Mr Guy, asking why the documents have not been released and how the proposed contract would have benefited the donor.
Reason Party MP Fiona Patten said greater integrity was needed in the state’s political system and renewed calls for the urgent introduction of a parliamentary ethics committee.
“We know that the system needs greater transparency and greater integrity,” she said.
“What the major parties do affects us all.”
Addressing media this morning, Shadow Police Minister Brad Battin denied all knowledge of the proposed deal and took aim at the government’s recent issues with integrity.
“We need to make sure that integrity is the highest priority here in this state,” Mr Battin said.
“That includes in the parliament, that includes in your party and that includes trust across the whole sector.”
