Netflix acquires rights to ‘The Open House’ starring ’13 Reasons Why’ actor Dylan Minnette

It might be safe to say that 13 Reasons Why is a breakout role for actor Dylan Minnette. It also drew a lot more attention to Netflix than what it already gets. The two will be working again in a sense as Netflix just acquired worldwide rights to Minnette’s newest film, a thriller called The Open House. It’s written and directed by Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote. It follows a teenager (Minnette) and his mother (Piercey Dalton) into a new house where they find themselves attacked by threatening forces. The film is set to premiere on the streaming service on January 19, 2018.

Source: Variety

Tech4SickKids fundraising initiative hopes to raise funds for SickKids

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is launching a new initiative to upgrade its facilities to meet the needs of its patients. Called #Tech4SickKids, the initiative is calling on the help of the tech and innovation community of Toronto to help raise $25 million for the improvement of child healthcare at SickKids. They will be hosting a launch event on November 15, which you can purchase tickets for from this link. A panel discussion will be held with SickKid experts entitled “SickKids: The other Canadian tech hub.”

The fundraising effort will help with things such as support for the first Chair in biomedical informatics and artificial intelligence in Canada; make SickKids the first children’s hospital in Canada to make use of data intelligence to improve efficiency of health care delivery and help cut down patient risk; as well as provide the funds to build a new campus complete with a state-of-the-art Emergency Suite. SickKids is currently housed in a 1949 building, which isn’t the best facility for furthering modern day, cutting edge child health care.

Snap Inc. says they’ll start paying top creators

A platform is only as good as the content it produces. And while it might be a bit late, Snapchat is looking to put a bit more effort to support its pool of creators. Aside from revamping its Android app, Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., plans to start paying its top creators, similar to what YouTube does with its star YouTubers that are encouraged to create videos in exchange for advertising revenue. Snap Inc.’s CEO Evan Spiegel acknowledges in his prepared quarterly remarks that they have “neglected the creator community on Snapchat that creates and distributes public Stories for the broader Snapchat audience.”

Spiegel says they plan to develop more distribution and monetization options for its creators over the next year. Snapchat might also introduce professional tools and help facilitate sharing beyond friend groups.

Source: The Verge

Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ reportedly won’t be available on streaming services on its first week

To say Taylor Swift’s relationship with streaming services is tenuous is an understatement. And it looks like that’s just going to continue. A new report from Bloomberg claims Reputation, the pop superstar’s fifth album, won’t be on any streaming services at least a week after it goes on sale. The die-hard fans who want to get their hands on the record will either need to buy it online or if you live in the US, through Target. Taylor Swift has openly criticized the music streaming service industry for devaluing music.

The move might also be prompted by the importance to Swift of getting to the top spot of the charts with physical and digital record sales, which is also seen as a more lucrative endeavor. It hasn’t really been outright confirmed by Swift’s camp and she could change her mind. But we won’t be surprised of the likelihood of this happening.