Have you ever wondered what would happen if Ron Swanson and Valterri Bottas had a baby?
Well, you’re in luck…meet Matt Hamilton!
This guy looks like he is incredibly interested in wooden canoes and porridge.
All joking aside, Team U.S.A curler Matt Hamilton is an absolute legend!
The 32-year old Olympic gold medalist has been attracting a lot of attention at the Beijing winter games because of his incredible head of hair.
After fans began speculating over the reason behind his flowing locks, people found a tweet where Hamilton explained the brilliant motivation behind his hair:
Stache Strong is a non-profit organization fighting against glioblastoma, an aggressive type of cancer. According to a recent post on the official Olympics Instagram page, Hamilton has already helped the charity raise over $1.7 million dollars.
We applaud you Matt for your incredible work! Anyone inspired by Matt’s hair can learn more about the charity here.
🗞 Story of the Week
Nike in Lawsuit over NFTs 👟
Big brands are happy to take ‘inspiration’ from small creators, but the moment someone simply looks at their intellectual property too long they sue.
Take music as an example. If a creator on social media uses more than a couple of seconds of a popular song, the record label will call their boss, get them fired, steal their dog, and leak their nudes.
The rise of NFTs has made this intellectual property landscape even more complicated. Brands and small creators alike are trying to navigate this new technology while protecting their own rights and profit margins.
The recent lawsuit between Nike and one of their licensed sellers StockX, has the potential to completely alter the way NFTs interact with copyright law.
Essentially, StockX has created NFTs that are linked to real-world Nike sneakers. So, when you buy a Nike product from StockX you receive a virtual token that represents your physical purchase.
Each token not only mentions Nike registered trademarks (like Jordan) but also features images of Nike products.
The problem is that Nike was not involved in this project and did not give StockX permission to create NFTs of their products.
The question is, does StockX need permission to create NFTs of products that they are licensed to sell.
Nike’s point of view is clear. StockX is creating digital versions of real-world products of which they own the copyright and IP.
In their eyes, it is no different than someone printing the Nike swoosh on a pair of random white sneakers and selling them as Nike products.
This is a common complaint within the NFT industry, with artists finding that people are creating tokens for their creations without permission.
Copyright law is still catching up and there is a debate about how and when the minting of an NFT without permission becomes a breach of the creator’s rights.
StockX claims they are not actually profiting from the Nike brand any more than they would if they simply sold the sneaker in the physical world. Each NFT is merely a bonus gift that comes with every purchase and the brand has no intention to sell any NFTs that are not linked to a physical shoe.
It will now be down to the Courts to decide which point of view conforms with copyright law. A decision in favour of Nike will be a boost for creators as they look to prevent others from profiting from their work, while a positive result for StockX could see the minting and sale of NFTs become a major new revenue source in the fashion industry.
🤪 Weird Deal of the Week
Winter Olympics Creates Virtual Influencer 🤳
So, your ideal partner is 22 years old, super passionate about winter sports, with a sparkling personality and an amazing fashion sense…you might think that this person only exists in your wildest fantasies…but guess what?
You’re right! Not even the Olympics could find someone fitting this description so they made a virtual person instead!
Meet Dong Dong (no joke, it means winter in Chinese) the AI virtual influencer created by Alibaba for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Dong Dong, who was created using the latest 3D technology, has been tasked with interacting with fans in a lifelike manner.
She will respond to questions in real-time with a specially developed human-sounding voice and is capable of a wide variety of gestures and facial expressions.
She dances enthusiastically when she hears the Olympic theme song and is capable of wiping away tears after being told something disappointing or sad.
As with any influencer, Dong Dong’s main job will be to promote the sale of merchandise, and will direct fans to Alibaba’s official winter Olympics store.
“Our ambition is to use cloud technology to give the Olympic Winter Games a digital uplift and to deliver Olympic Winter Games experiences relating to cloud and e-commerce platform services to fans in a creative way,” explained Xiaolong Li, the leader of the incredibly scary-sounding ‘Virtual Human and Intelligent Customer Service’ department at Alibaba.
“That’s why we developed Dong Dong, with the hope that the cloud-based virtual influencer can create better engagement with the younger, digital natives in an exciting and natural way.”
✍️ Deal of the Week
Premier League Breaks TV Money Record
In 2021, we made a video about how David Beckham’s and Inter Miami were a match made in heaven. They proceeded to lose almost every game they played in MLS 😔.
A few months ago, we made another video talking about how football clubs should expect to see their TV revenue falling over the next few years…😤
Yeah, you guessed it, the Premier League has just announced that their broadcasting revenue for the next three-year period is set to go above £10 billion for the first time!
Before you make fun of us, it is important to note that most of Europe’s other top leagues are in fact experiencing shrinking TV revenues. This development in the Premier League is unexpected and is being driven by the English league’s recent popularity growth on the international market.
For the first time in European football history, a league will be making more money from international TV rights than from their domestic agreements.
According to the Times, international TV deals will bring in around £5.3 billion from 2022 to 2025. That is £200 million more than the league’s domestic deals will generate in the same period.
Newly signed deals with U.S. broadcaster NBC and Sweden-based Nordic Entertainment are said to have contributed £2 billion of this revenue for the 2022-25 period.
This is also good news for the Premier League teams, with the 2023 champions set to receive £176 million for their triumph and the bottom club still getting £106 million.
🎬 Video of the Week
Super Bowl Crypto Ad Creates Controversy
Super Bowl adverts are probably the only television adverts that people still pay attention to.
One of the most controversial and talked about clips this year came from Crypto exchange FTX.
No matter if you’re a Crypto geek or think it’s nothing but a scam, you’ll find this one entertaining.
Depending on your perspective, a crypto exchange placing itself next to the right to vote and the invention of the wheel as a historic step forward for humanity will either seem witty or completely out of touch. Time will tell who’s right.”