Can the Night King on ‘Game of Thrones’ get it? An investigation

This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 3.

Last week on Game of Thrones, winter came prematurely. The Night King is dead, but the more shocking twist for many was the discovery that Mr. Long Night can, in fact, Get It.

Things got unexpectedly steamy during the Battle of Winterfell. After getting absolutely roasted by Daenerys (rude), our Strong, Silent, Undead type finally let down a bit of that emotional ice wall to give us a smile that melted our hearts.

There are literally dozens of us who think the Night King can Get It. And if wanting to bang an ice monster is wrong, we don’t want to be right.

Because the night might be dark and full of terrors, but we’re like super sure it has a soft spot too. So please, Night King, march your invasion south of our wall!

SEE ALSO: ‘Game of Thrones’ sets new record by conquering your Twitter feed

A king who will treat you like a queen

Not many people know this, but the Night King’s bangability is actually straight up canon.

In the books, legends of the Night King not only describe him busting his load with a special lady, but also having the decency to treat her like a total goddamn queen afterward. Can you say the same for your Tinder side piece? We didn’t think so.

Like a White Walker Romeo and Juliet, the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch became the Night King after falling in love with a literal ice queen (#relatable). The northern legend says he “loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well.” Not the kind to hit it then quit it, he put a ring on it by declaring himself king and her his corpse queen.

I mean talk about relationship goals! Ladies, if he’s willing to betray all mankind for you, he’s probably a keeper.

The BDE on this dude

Silent command of a room defines BDE. When the Night King strolled into the Godswood with his crew, he didn’t have to say a single word to make everyone bend to his will. 

Sure, that’s mostly because he telepathically controls the undead army. But also it’s the big dick energy thing. Is that a Valyrian dagger in your pocket, or are you just dying to see me?

Loves kids

It’s a stereotype that if you even mention the word “baby,” men will run screaming for the hills. But not Ice Bae! When you talk about kids, he gets this hungry, almost possessive look in his eyes.

He’s too shy to say it, but you know what it means: He wants to raise a family with you. Like, an army-sized family.

Ever heard of temperature play???

It’s called BDSM, sweetie — look it up. Ice me, Night Daddy.

Gives piercing blue eyes a new definition

Be still my undead heart!

While the Night King was getting pierced by Arya’s dagger, we shattered under his piercing blue gaze. Move over, Bradley Cooper. Leonardo Di Who? There’s a new pair of beautiful baby blues sweeping the nation.

The best part is you can guarantee the Night King will pass along this attractive trait onto the kids you have together. Because that’s, like, one of his main things (see above).

Impeccable fashion sense, almost to a fault

Ultimately the Night King was undone by his refusal to cover up his sexy midriff.

— Sean Thomason (@TheThomason) April 29, 2019

The patience to make long distance work

Even haters can’t deny the Night King’s enviable patience. He knows it takes time and investment to build something, like an army of the dead 100,000 strong or a healthy relationship.

He’ll for sure be the most reliable long distance relationship you’ve ever had. And when it finally becomes too much for both of you to stay apart, you know your Night Bae will move 30-foot mountains (OK, magical ice walls, same difference) to get to you.

Strong, goal-oriented leadership

The recent Valyrian dagger-shaped mistake not withstanding, the Night King has a pretty solid CV  built up over thousands and thousands of years of dedicated leadership.

His soldiers are all literally ready to follow him to hell and back, which is more than we can say for most of the other kings on this show. You also know he’s dedicated to longterm projects and investments, refusing to quit his goals even if he fails the first time around. 

A relationship of ice and fire

Ask any therapist: the key to a great romantic match is balance. So when you get hot off his cool exterior, you know he’s the right one. The yin to your yang, the Stark to your Targaryen, the winter to your summer.

Ice Bae’s watch has ended. But that doesn’t mean we’ll stop thinking about him for many long nights to come.

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Spotify and Pandora to test voice-activated ads

Why tap on an ad when you can talk to it?
Why tap on an ad when you can talk to it?

Image: Chesnot/Getty Images

By Alex Perry

We’ve all been there: You hear an ad while streaming music on Spotify or Pandora and it’s just too much effort to look up the product later. 

Well, both music streaming services are looking into ways to change that with interactive voice ads. 

SEE ALSO: Spotify now has 100 million paid subscribers worldwide

Spotify announced on Thursday that it would do limited tests of voice-activated ads in the United States. Right now it’s just advertising its own products, like original podcasts and branded playlists. The ads give users a moment to say “Play now” if they want to hear what is being advertised. If not, the ad will keep going like usual. 

The company initially hinted at the move in an earnings call this week, according to TechCrunch. So far it’s just happening with a limited amount of free users in the U.S., and they can opt out in the app’s settings menu.

This is just a month after Pandora announced it would try its own voice-activated ads — these would allow users to get more information about an advertised product — sometime in 2019.

This is what it might look like when you talk to one of Spotify or Pandora's new ads.

This is what it might look like when you talk to one of Spotify or Pandora’s new ads.

Image: Getty Images/Westend61

While this idea may seem a bit dystopian, it was probably inevitable after people started letting voice-controlled virtual assistants into their homes. There have been recent concerns about Google Assistant’s relationship with companies that advertise on Google, for example.

Advertisers might like it because it gives them firmer metrics to work with, including how many people actually interacted with their ads.  

Of course, both Spotify and Pandora offer paid subscriptions that remove ads entirely, so this is easy to avoid if you’re able to pony up the cash. Spotify just announced it has 100 million paid subscribers worldwide, so plenty of people will never get the chance to talk to ads. 

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Qualcomm expects to get $4.5 – $4.7 billion from Apple in settlement

Perhaps Tim has learned something from his pal Oprah.
Perhaps Tim has learned something from his pal Oprah.

Image: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

By Rachel Kraus

When Apple and Qualcomm unexpectedly settled their long-standing legal feud on the day opening arguments were supposed to begin in court, the companies did not disclose the amount that Apple was paying Qualcomm to end their war once and for all. 

Now, thanks to Qualcomm’s Q2 earnings report, we know that Qualcomm expects to get $4.5 – $4.7 billion from the settlement — a financial boon for Qualcomm, that costs cash-rich Apple relatively little.

SEE ALSO: What Apple and Qualcomm’s settlement means for the 5G iPhone

Apple and Qualcomm had been engaging in a tit-for-tat fight in the courts over what Apple argued were exorbitant royalties that Qualcomm was charging Apple for the use of its chip technology, on top of the price of the actual chips. In a surprise settlement, The companies agreed to end all legal action, worldwide, on April 16. The settlement included a six year licensing agreement, “multi-year” chip supply, and a cash payment from Apple, the amount of which the companies did not specify.

Qualcomm’s Q2 earnings report gives us an idea of the price Apple is paying for peace — and its 5G future. Qualcomm’s released its Q2 earnings report Wednesday, which included projected one-time cash revenue of $4.5 – $4.7 billion from the Apple settlement. Qualcomm says that figure is not set in stone, since it includes cash payment as well as the release of money that Qualcomm has to pay Apple. But it is reporting the number as revenue, or cash, that it expects to receive from Apple.

“While we continue to assess the accounting impacts of the agreements, our financial guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 includes estimated revenues of $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion resulting from the settlement (which will be excluded from our Non-GAAP results), consisting of a payment from Apple and the release of our obligations to pay or refund Apple and the contract manufacturers certain customer-related liabilities,” the report reads.

This is pretty dang huge for Qualcomm. Last quarter, Qualcomm earned $5 billion in revenue. The settlement effectively doubles their earnings for Q3. $4.5 billion is big money for Qualcomm.

So what’s it costing Apple? The settlement shows that, among tech giants, the word “billions” is relative. Even in a down quarter, Apple still made $225.4 billion in cash in Q2. That means that, even if the majority of the ~$4.7 sent to Qualcomm is cash direct from Apple, that’s about 2 percent of its quarterly revenue. Think Tim can spare it?

Qualcomm’s earnings report also indicates that the licensing agreement might not have been as big a win for the company as the cash payment. Although revenue for Q3 is expected to double from 2018, the New York Times points out that the projections indicate that Apple is not necessarily paying more in licensing than it was before. 

While we can’t say for sure, perhaps Qualcomm made out with cash in the short term, so Apple could get chip supply and licensing agreements for its 5G iPhones that it could live with. After all, Apple’s projected revenue for Q3 was pretty much unaffected by the loss of that five bil. Must be nice!

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Trump says Stephen Moore is withdrawing from consideration for Fed


Donald Trump

President Donald Trump’s selections of Stephen Moore and Herman Cain were a departure from his past picks for the central bank. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that conservative commentator Stephen Moore has withdrawn as a candidate for the Federal Reserve, a stinging blow to the president’s efforts to install political loyalists at the central bank.

“Steve Moore, a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process,” Trump tweeted. “Steve won the battle of ideas including Tax Cuts…and deregulation which have produced non-inflationary prosperity for all Americans. I’ve asked Steve to work with me toward future economic growth in our Country.”

Story Continued Below

Another Fed pick, Herman Cain, also withdrew from consideration recently. The president had declared both men to be his preferred choices for the Fed even before the White House and the FBI had completed vetting them, but both faced stiff opposition from Republicans in the Senate.

Moore, who like Cain was never formally nominated, is withdrawing after a chorus of GOP senators expressed doubt that he would be able to secure enough votes to be confirmed, given his past comments that demeaned women. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the GOP leadership, raised the most emphatic criticism, calling some of his previous writings “ridiculous.”

Senate Republicans were told that Moore would be pulled on Thursday morning, one senator said.

Trump’s selection of two overt political allies had set off alarms among lawmakers that they would erode the Fed’s political independence by focusing on the president’s reelection prospects rather than on what’s best for the long-term health of the economy. Moore has consistently defended the president on TV and in his writings, and Cain formed a super PAC last year to promote Trump’s agenda.

That concern was stoked, in part, by Trump’s relentless attacks on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and the central bank since last July for pursuing a campaign of interest rate hikes, a policy that has been all but abandoned.

But both Moore and Cain stepped down mainly because of issues with women; Cain has been accused of sexual harassment in the past, and Moore has written disparagingly of women.

In a March 2002 column, Moore criticized the NCAA for allowing a woman to referee a college men’s basketball game. “How outrageous is this?” he wrote. “Is there no area in life where men can take vacation from women?”

In 2014, he wrote that women earning more than men could be “disruptive to family stability,” and in 1994, he blasted the Violence Against Women Act, a tool aimed at combating and prosecuting sexual assault and other violent crimes, as “the most objectionable pork” in a crime prevention bill.

Moore said on Sunday that he was “apologetic” and “embarrassed” by some of his past writings, some of which he says were intended as jokes, but did not elaborate.

Republican senators had initially spoken warmly about Moore, who has long been a presence in the GOP, particularly as a fierce advocate for lower taxes. A founder of the conservative Club for Growth, he is also a prominent proponent of supply-side, or “trickle-down economics,” which suggests lowering taxes and deregulation are the best way to spur economic growth.

Moore has been defiant, decrying the attacks on his possible nomination as a smear campaign. “I think I’m going to be on the Fed. By the way, the president and the White House economics team’s totally behind me,” Moore said on April 30 on CNBC.

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, a close friend of Moore’s, also repeatedly affirmed the White House’s support for the Heritage Foundation fellow.

Trump’s selections of Moore and Cain were a departure from his past picks for the central bank. Four of the five Fed board members were appointed by the president, including Powell as chairman, and all of them cleared the Senate easily on bipartisan votes.

But Trump soured on Powell last year over the Fed’s interest rate moves. The president has also railed against the central bank for removing the extraordinary economic support put in place during the last recession and repeatedly called on the Fed to slash rates despite strong economic growth – an opinion shared by Moore.

In addition to his past comments, Moore faced blowback over a $75,000 tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service and for his previous failure to pay more than $300,000 in child support and alimony payments. He was also criticized for 2014 remarks in which he referred to Cleveland and Cincinnati as “armpits of America.” “If you live in the Midwest, where else do you want to live besides Chicago, right?” Moore said during a forum at the Heartland Institute.

Economists across the political spectrum also questioned his economic credentials, with Moore himself having admitted that he is not an expert on monetary policy or bank regulation – the Fed’s two main areas of purview.

As the controversy over his past writings intensified, Moore called for a focus on his economic ideas, but even some of those — such as his belief that interest rate moves should be tied to commodity prices — generated opposition and some derision.

He has also maintained that the U.S. economy is experiencing deflation, though the Consumer Price Index indicates the opposite, putting the inflation rate at just under 2 percent.

Burgess Everett contributed to this report.

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A$AP Ferg Is Still Striving Toward Bigger And Better Things

Underneath the unending glare of a wide-eyed sun in the Virginia Beach sky, A$AP Ferg’s waves pop off of his scalp. They’re the product of hours of brush work, applying the pressure of boar bristles in one uniform direction until the hair is forced into a pattern. “Even when you don’t have the fresh barber-shop hairline, you will still have the waves spinning,” he says gleefully. You can’t see his eyes behind his expensive shades, but the wide curve and exposure of his golden teeth let you know that, as he sits beneath shady trees before his set at Pharrell’s Something in the Water festival this past weekend, he’s happy. During our interview, his head snaps to a passerby like a curious watchdog. “Your fit is fire, bro,” he says in a hushed whisper.

MTV News caught up with the eclectic rapper to find out what’s been going on since his last album, Still Striving, dropped in 2017. It turns out, he’s been up to a lot. He’s preparing new music to be released, he’s making a mental map of merch to put out in the future, and most importantly, he’s given himself a new moniker: Flip Phone Shorty. And for those who have always wondered how to get waves like A$AP Ferg, he gives a detailed breakdown of what to do.

MTV News: I know it’s been a few years since Still Striving came out but I wanted to ask you what are you still striving toward in 2019?

A$AP Ferg: I’m still striving to learn how to appreciate the moment because I’m always on the go. I’m also always striving for success and greatness and to create better music, design better clothing, and do bigger collaborations. This year, I’m learning how to just take time away from everything and have more of a vibe with myself, my friends, and to have fun outside of my work.

MTV News: You’ve been the Trap Lord and Hood Pope at different points in your career. What name would you give yourself now?

A$AP Ferg: Flip Phone Shorty!

MTV News: What’s next for Ferg? When can we expect a new album? I saw a picture you posted on Instagram with the caption that you and A$AP Rocky have a lot of music in the cut.

A$AP Ferg: Me and Rocky actually just shot a video together for a song we have called “Pups.” We’re going to release that real soon. And I also have a lot of music about to come out.

MTV News: If you could do a joint album with anyone who would it be?

A$AP Ferg: I would love to do something with Pharrell. I’m not just saying that because I’m performing at his festival today. N.E.R.D. changed my life!

MTV News: It’s been a long six years since Trap Lord dropped in 2013. What has changed musically for you since then?

A$AP Ferg: I have traveled the world so I know a lot more. I’m more aware and more woke to certain things that I wasn’t privy to before. I’m 30 years old and I have more responsibility. I have more money. Certain things that I would do and say, I wouldn’t do now. It doesn’t take my edge away. You just learn how to go about things differently.

MTV News: I just got mine this year but I notice velvet du-rags, at least for you, have been a thing for a while. How long have you been wearing them?

A$AP Ferg: I don’t wear velvet du-rags. Never! They don’t do nothing for your hair. I only wear silky du-rags.

MTV News: How long have you been doing that?

A$AP Ferg: Forever. Since I was like eight years old, just brushing my hair. You have to wear silk. Silk City is a brand from Harlem that has the best du-rags in the world and it’s the only brand that I wear. It’s the brand of du-rags I wore in the “Plain Jane” video with the colored stitching. Brush your hair, throw the hot water on, throw the grease in, and throw the silky on top.

MTV News: How hard are you on proper wave etiquette? In regards to the du-rag, brushing, using pomade, and all that?

A$AP Ferg: I brush my hair every day until my arm gets tired. I don’t have it right now, but usually I’d be brushing my hair while I’m talking to you.

MTV News: It helps the haircut last way longer.

A$AP Ferg: Even when you don’t have the fresh barber-shop hairline, you will still have the waves spinning. I call it the four-quarter spin. You know, like the washing machines in the hood where you put the four quarters in? Like using one of those.

MTV News: What’s the key to longevity in this game to you? There are artists who have to frequently drop to stay relevant, and then you have people like you who can take as much time as needed without fear of dropping off. How do you manage?

A$AP Ferg: Sometimes, I feel like certain things are urgent, more urgent than others. But for the most part, it’s all about quality over quantity for me. I’m an artist. I come from an artist background. I went to an art school. So you see a Basquiat or Picasso — it’s rare. They weren’t putting out back to back to back to back. They might have painted for a month straight and then they might not have painted again for a whole year. They might have gone to Mykonos or somewhere like that to chill, relax, and get inspired. That’s the way I look at music. You have to get inspired or else it will be regurgitated. I’m listening to other types of music right now such as rock, alternative, and pop, that are different from my genre so I will actually have something fresh and new to bring to the table.

MTV News: You dropped a watch collaboration with G-Shock last year, and I wanted to know: What kind of future fashion drops could we expect?

A$AP Ferg: As of now, I have none. But for sure, there will definitely be more dope merch and collaborations to come along the way. I just don’t know who they will be with. I just re-signed my contract with Adidas so we should be working on something real new and real fresh soon.

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OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro leaks may have just revealed everything about the phones

The successor to the OnePlus 6T (pictured) is coming in a few weeks.
The successor to the OnePlus 6T (pictured) is coming in a few weeks.

Image: zlata ivleva / mashable

By Raymond Wong

There’s no stopping the flood of leaks about the OnePlus 7 and One Plus 7 Pro launching May 14.

Now, tech leak repository Slashleaks has shared what it claims are the full technical specifications for OnePlus’ upcoming flagship phones — and good lord, they sound like beasts.

SEE ALSO: OnePlus’s big year ahead could help it finally leapfrog the Android world

Corroborating previous rumors and leaks, the spec sheets suggest the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro will be very similar phones, but with a couple of key differences.

The OnePlus 7 is believed to have a 6.2-inch AMOLED display and Full HD+ resolution with 60Hz refresh rate. The 7 Pro, however, is said to sport a larger 6.64-inch Quad HD+ AMOLED screen with a faster 90Hz refresh rate. And even though the 7 Pro’s not out yet, the display is supposed to be really good — DisplayMate gave it an “A+” rating.

Prior leaks suggest the OnePlus 7 will retain the OnePlus 6T’s “teardrop” notch, but the 7 Pro will eliminate the notch by incorporating a pop-up selfie camera.

For cameras, the OnePlus 7 is likely to come with a dual-camera setup, consisting of a main camera and secondary telephoto. The main camera sensor is expected to get a bump up from 16-megapixels to 48-megapixels; it’s likely the camera will use the same “pixel-binning” technology from the sensor to get better image quality at a lower resolution instead of producing a full 48-megapixel picture. The Honor View 20 uses this camera technique and it really works!

In addition to the dual-cameras from the OnePlus 7, the 7 Pro is expected to have a third rear camera: an ultra-wide camera to keep pace with the ultra-wides on devices like Samsung’s Galaxy S10 series and Huawei’s P30 series.

The rest of the specs for the two phones are very similar as well. Both phones are expected to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 chip and run Oxygen OS, OnePlus’s lightly-customized version of stock Android 9 Pie.

The smaller OnePlus 7 might come with a minimum of 6GB of RAM and the 7 Pro with 10GB of RAM (like the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition). The OnePlus 7 is rumored to have a larger battery, though: 4,150 mAh versus 4,000 mAh on the 7 Pro and both phones will reportedly support the faster “Warp charging” introduced on the 6T McLaren Edition.

Lastly, the leaked spec sheet claims both phones will come with in-display fingerprint sensors. We weren’t expecting them to return to capacitive fingerprint sensors, but we hope for everyone’s sake the responsiveness of the new in-display sensor is faster on the new phones.

As always, take these leaked specs with a grain of salt. Nothing is confirmed until OnePlus makes it official. However, one thing we can be sure of is the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro’s pricing: It won’t cost $2,000.

Earlier this year, I predicted 2019 would be OnePlus’ biggest year yet. The company’s finally found its groove and has made major headway into the U.S. with its carrier partnership with T-Mobile. Might we see more aggressive partnerships with other carriers for the OnePlus 7? If OnePlus can lock up more carriers, the company puts itself in a good position to really challenge incumbent phone makers such as Samsung and Apple.

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Gamora putting on lipstick is the sassiest meme around

By Nicole Gallucci

The Avengers: Endgame journey may be over, but thankfully the behind-the-scenes content is still flowing.

Since the film hit theaters on April 26, cast members have been reminiscing about their emotional Marvel journeys by sharing throwback photos and videos from the set. Chris Pratt kicked things off earlier this week, and Zoe Saldana recently shared a video of herself getting into character as Gamora.

The video of Saldana applying her Gamora-green lipstick in the mirror is only about 20 seconds long, but once some hilarious context is added it transforms into the sassiest of memes.

SEE ALSO: We Photoshopped an alternate cast of Avengers who almost got the roles

The sight of Gamora getting ready reminded some Twitter users of other green things like lettuce, spinach, weed, and cold, hard cash in the form of bills.

The memes are both extremely ambitious and truly delightful.

Just as it’s not easy being green, it’s not easy being meme’d. But Zoe Saldana has managed to pull both off marvelously.

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Celtics GM Danny Ainge Suffered Heart Attack, Expected to Make Full Recovery

Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge speaks with members of the media during NBA basketball media day Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, in Canton, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Steven Senne/Associated Press

Former Boston Celtics player and current general manager and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge suffered a heart attack Tuesday in Milwaukee.

The Celtics announced as much Thursday, noting it was a “mild heart attack” and that he “is expected to make a full recovery.” Ainge received medical attention in Milwaukee and will return to Boston in the near future.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium noted Ainge is “expected to return home this evening and is active, walking around today and feeling much better.”

This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available.

Get the best sports content from the web and social in the new B/R app. Get the app to get the game.

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