B.S.

The Strange Ballad of John McAfee

Part man, part meme, total legend.

Software programmer. Tech entrepreneur. Yoga guru. IRS dodger. Presidential candidate. Drug dealer. Murder suspect. Whale fucker. The world's most eccentric millionaire is best known for his least interesting accomplishment.

When most people hear the name John McAfee, they likely think of McAfee Antivirus, the first consumer antivirus software to grace computer screens. But John McAfee hasn't been associated with his namesake software for over 20 years. Instead, he's been hiding from (potentially imaginary) drug cartels, writing yoga books, tangling with the government of a small Central American nation, eyeing the U.S. Presidency, and attempting to have sex with whales. All of this is true.

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TV

Why Women In Sports Need #WomenInSports

This is what it is to be one of the #WomenInSports: It is a duality of being pushed down and lifted up solely because of our gender.

JEAN CATUFFE/DPPI/Shutterstock

On December 2nd, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers played against one another in a rugged divisional matchup. Millions of Americans tuned in as announcer Cris Collinsworth intended to pay a compliment to an impressive group of Steelers fans he met. They just so happened to be women.

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Film News

Hollywood's Greatest Talent, Oreo the Raccoon, Has Died

The inspiration for Rocket Raccoon is flying off to new space adventures.

Oreo the raccoon being showered with adoration (and treats!)

It's only February, but 2019 is already turning out to be tragic.

Donald Trump still hasn't been kicked off Twitter, blackface is making a prominent comeback amongst old Virginian men, and worst of all, the best model in Hollywood, Oreo the Raccoon, has passed away.

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Popdust Presents

Popdust Presents | CXLOE Breaks the Mold for Pop Superstardom

From 'The Land Down Under,' the pop newcomer offers up inspired, quirky songwriting.

CXLOE will show you her true worth.

September 19, 2018 | CXLOE is not necessarily anti-establishment, but her brand of pop is dipped in dyes of alternative music, playing with expectations of rhythms and vibes. And it's always soaring, as you'll witness with her new single "Show You," which bends around a quirky Sigrid-like vivacity and a Felicity kind of height-defying sensibility.

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Screenshot from Fortnite Season 6 Battle Pass - Now with Pets! / Fortnite / Youtube.com

Season 6 of Fortnite starts today. Here's a rundown of all the updates:

One thing that will stay the same is how the usual Weekly Challenges will be broken up into Free Challenges and Battle Pass Challenges. Before Season 5, Weekly Challenges were only accessible to players with a Battle Pass — now, there will be three Challenges for both pass holders and non-pass holders.

However, the Challenges themselves will present new gameplay. For example, you'll have the option to regain health from a Cozy Campfire in a Free Challenge. Other Free Challenges will include Pickup a Legendary Item in Different Matches and Stage 1: Search Chests. Battle Pass Challenges will include Apply Shields, Stage 1: Land at Junk Junction, Dance Under Streetlight Spotlights, and Eliminate Opponents in different locations.

After completing three Challenges, the player will unlock a mystery loading screen that contains a secret Battle Star. After completing four, the player obtains a bonus of 4,000 XP. Completing extra Challenges will gain you extra XP and Battle Stars, helping you to level up more quickly and encounter free loot, including skins, emotes, gliders, and pickaxes.

The new Battle Pass will include 100 levels and over 100 rewards. Battle Passes will cost 950 V-Bucks, available for purchase either directly in-game or earned through playtime. To gain more V-Bucks, prices in USD include: 1,000 V-Bucks for $9.99, 2,500 for $24.99, and 6,000 V-Bucks for $59.99.

Other than the new Battle Pass, the update will include Pets, little creatures that will travel with you on your adventures. Also introduced are Shadow Stones, new consumables that can be found around the map, which will also be updated. Players will be able to find floating islands, growing crops, and approaching storms.

Fortnite will also introduce a new enemy to its Save The World mode: Riot Husky, a zombie-like masked figure who carries around a refrigerator door for protection. Also, there will be a Cram Session mini-event to earn additional rewards. Other updates will fix general issues and bugs to enhance gameplay.


Amber Wang is a freelancer for Popdust, Gearbrain and various other sites. She is also a student at NYU, a photographer and a marketing intern.


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Trending

Instagram Co-Founders Resign

Zuckerberg's "meddling" to blame

It's time to move on...

While you were uploading well-filtered pics to IG yesterday, co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger were packing up their cardboard boxes (so to speak) and saying sayonara to the social media site. Bloomberg reports "clashes with Mark Zuckerberg" were the cause for the duo to throw in the towel and move on to something new.

Unless you still hand-write your letters and use a rotary phone, you know Zuckerberg is the CEO of Facebook Inc. which acquired Instagram in 2012. With more than 1 billion users worldwide, The Verge notes, "Instagram is arguably Facebook's most successful acquisition." Aside from the friends you know who constantly share pics of their faces masked by cute animal noses and doe eyes, the site is a celeb power player, giving fans a place to follow their fave stars. Example? Selena Gomez has 136 million followers on Instagram. But surely Systrom and Krieger have new ideas brewing as to how they can create something spectacular yet again.

According to The Verge, Systrom released a statement, "Mike and I are grateful for the last eight years at Instagram and six years with the Facebook team. We've grown from 13 people to over a thousand with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over 1 billion."

So what happened? " People familiar with the matter" have explained the rationale - "Growing tensions with Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg over the direction of the photo-sharing app. They were frustrated with an uptick in day-to-day involvement by Zuckerberg, who has become more reliant on Instagram in planning for Facebook's future."

With the co-founders out, predictions that Instagram will become more integrated into the Facebook platform are buzzing. As per Bloomberg, "For years, Systrom and Krieger were able to amicably resist certain Facebook product initiatives that they felt went against their vision, while leaning on Facebook for resources, infrastructure and engineering talent. A new leader may not be able to keep the same balance, or may be more willing to make changes that help the overall company at the expense of some of Instagram's unique qualities."

But Systrom and Krieger are ready to jump onto the next big idea, leaving Facebook with an increasingly popular platform and setting their sites onto their next project(s). Systrom took to the blogs on Monday night with this to share with interested parties, "We're planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again. Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that's what we plan to do..."

With what we've seen from these men so far, anticipate something amazing.


Melissa A. Kay is a New York-based writer, editor, and content strategist. Follow her work on Popdust as well as sites including TopDust, Chase Bank, P&G, Understood.org, The Richest, GearBrain, The Journiest, Bella, TrueSelf, Better Homes & Gardens, AMC Daycare, and more.


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