The NBA and Houston Rockets collaborated to bring exciting initiatives to the AfroTech conference in Houston from Nov. 13-16. One of the key highlights was the first-ever NBA Foundation Tech Challenge, where 25 students from local universities like the University of Houston, Rice University, Prairie View A&M University, and Texas Southern University presented business ideas based on real-world challenges.
Houston Rockets CMO Julian Duncan judged the challenge, NBA All-Star Baron Davis, and Amplitude’s Nikki Lasley. Prairie View A&M took home the top prize, with each student receiving $1,000 and a scholarship funded by a $25,000 donation from Amplitude.
The NBA Foundation also sponsored 100 Houston-area students to attend AfroTech, giving them access to valuable networking opportunities and career insights from top tech professionals. On the Executive Stage, NBA President of Basketball Operations Byron Spruell, WNBA Head of League Operations Bethany Donaphin, and Rockets GM Rafael Stone participated in a panel discussing the intersection of tech and basketball, offering advice on career development.
Additionally, Baron Davis engaged in a Fireside chat about entrepreneurship and innovation, sharing his expertise on blending business and basketball.
IBM and UFC®️ have announced a groundbreaking partnership that will bring the power of IBM’s AI platform, watsonx, to the global audience of the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization. With this collaboration, IBM becomes UFC’s first-ever Official Global AI Partner, introducing a new dimension to live event viewing.
Central to the partnership is the development of the UFC Insights Engine, which will utilize IBM’s AI and data technology, including Granite large language models, alongside UFC’s extensive data feeds. This engine aims to provide UFC fans with real-time, advanced insights during live events, such as fighter tendencies, match projections, and potential victory outcomes. These insights will continuously update on-screen as live data rolls in, offering fans an enriched experience.
Expected to launch in early 2025, the Insights Engine will integrate branded stats and graphics into key UFC platforms. Fans can expect to see this technology across UFC Pay-Per-View broadcasts, pre-event programming, social media, and in-venue displays, reaching millions in 170 countries.
“This partnership with IBM is one of the most significant milestones for UFC and a game changer for how fans will experience our sport,” said Grant Norris-Jones, Head of Global Partnerships at TKO. “IBM is an iconic blue-chip, global brand with decades of experience in sports marketing. Together, we’re pioneering a product to revolutionize analytics and information in live sports. This partnership marks a pivotal win, not only for UFC and IBM, but also for fans around the world who will experience our sport in a whole new way.”
This partnership not only marks UFC’s expansion into AI-driven experiences but also IBM’s commitment to redefining fan engagement. Together, IBM and UFC are set to deliver real-time, data-driven content, enhancing viewer connection to each fight and offering unparalleled access to in-depth UFC fight information.
“Data and AI solutions like UFC Insights Engine built with IBM watsonx can offer current fans entirely new ways to connect with their favorite athletes and sports, while also building excitement among new generations of MMA fans,” said Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at IBM. “Leveraging watsonx and our Granite models also allows UFC to enhance its digital operations and to harness the power of its extensive library of match data – all to the benefit of current and future fans.”
“IBM watsonx is synonymous with AI, and they have been leading the charge in this space from the beginning,” said Alon Cohen, Senior Vice President, UFC Research and Development. “UFC has been working on the concept of the Insights Engine for several years, and now we finally have the right partner in IBM with the depth of expertise in AI to bring it to life. We’re looking forward to rolling this out to our fans in the months ahead.”
Ice Spice is one of a couple of rappers joining Fortnite Battle Royale‘s Chapter 2 remix, with Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Juice WRLD coming soon with their own playable skins, map zones, challenges, weapons, and much more. But the Bronx femcee is keeping things going as of Thursday (November 14) after Tha Doggfather kicked them off. The in-game location Shark Island is now Ice Isle, and its abandoned shopping mall is now covered in a Y2K! aesthetic. Her Grappler and Rifle are now available along with two skins based on her “Deli” and “Fisherrr (Remix)” music video outfits, respectively.
“I’m most excited to see how happy my fans are that they get to use my skins and just grateful to stand next to icons,” Ice Spice stated to Billboard. “I have a bunch of younger siblings that play the game and [I] also get to have big sister cool points.” “Not yet,” the “In Ha Mood” rapper answered when asked if she had the chance to try her in-game contributions out. “But I am excited to as soon as I wrap up tour. She’s super cute and I love her looks. […] I grew up playing on consoles like the Wii and Nintendo. I’m obviously a huge Super Mario fan.” Check out gameplay footage of these new drops down below.
Of course, we know that Ice Spice is a big media consumer and a fan of all things style, so this Fortnite collab and the skins for it should come as no surprise. In fact, she often fuses these interests in other ways that go beyond the video game world, showing love to an iconic ’90s movie for her Halloween costume.
As such, seeing Ice Spice switch things up for this Fortnite team-up is a treat, and we wonder what else she has in store. With evolving looks and new fashion choices, her closet and style repertoire could probably make for more than a few skins for the video game. But what players care about most is the actual in-game experience. Let’s see how Ice Isle and the other gameplay elements stack up.
Here’s one we never would have had on our bingo cards. Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly joining forces with T-Pain in the studio, sparking speculation about a possible music collaboration.
We’ve seen it all in 2024. This can’t be real life.
The Meta CEO shared a video on his Instagram Story of himself and the Grammy-winning artist in the studio, captioning it, “It’s happening guys.” T-Pain later reposted the same image with his own caption, “It is time…” while playfully referring to Zuckerberg as “Z.”
“Z.” There you have it.
What’s interesting, we guess is the two have developed an unexpected friendship over time. Earlier this year, in July, T-Pain gifted Zuckerberg a custom “Nappy Boy Meta” chain. Zuckerberg proudly showcased the chain in a video, calling it a “vibe” and adding, “Thanks @tpain for the epic new chain. Perfect opportunity to show how the new Segment Anything AI research model we’re releasing today can track different objects in the same video. Lots of fun video effects will be possible with this.” In the comments, T-Pain expressed his admiration for Zuckerberg, writing, “Looks great on you buddy. Thanks for being a great friend.” Zuckerberg responded warmly, “It’s a great chain! Looking forward to more adventures ahead.”
Naturally, the details of their studio session remain a mystery, the presence of Zuckerberg’s AI tools—demonstrated with his new chain in the video—suggests that artificial intelligence might play a significant role in their collaboration.
AI. The future of how we tie our shoes to eat our Frosted Flakes. it’s coming for us all.
Anyways, the duo first bonded in 2021 when Zuckerberg joined T-Pain’s livestream. During their conversation, T-Pain jokingly urged Zuckerberg to improve Instagram’s direct messaging features, admitting he had no idea about the platform’s request folder and listing several celebrities who had tried, and failed, to reach him. This playful exchange marked the beginning of their unlikely friendship.
It seems like the complex business relationship between Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z still needs to smooth out some rough edges. Moreover, according to a Fortune report, the former and his management teams “sternly warned” their employees at Dorsey’s tech company Block to not make reference to the East Coast rap legend. Jay is one of nine Block board members, and anonymous employees reportedly alleged that no reason emerged as to why they couldn’t mention the reclusive billionaire in any of the company’s various communication channels, such as Slack and email. Also, the report points to Block’s many recent layoffs as a contributing factor to workplace dissent.
For those unaware, Block acquired a major stake in Jay-Z’s TIDAL streaming platform back in 2021, which many saw as a financial finesse. In addition, TIDAL themselves reportedly laid off dozens of employees from an already small staff last week, and the conversation is that Block acquisitions like Cashapp and Square will face similar processes soon. The report also alleges that various of Jack Dorsey’s employees brought Hov up in connection to the Diddy scandal before this ban.
Of course, Jay-Z doesn’t actually have anything to do with Diddy’s federal case, as any and all connections are merely speculative allegations. As such, it’s curious why Jack Dorsey would allegedly choose to do this. Maybe he is trying to support the “Song Cry” MC by quelling salacious criticism against him, or he instead doesn’t want people to point to Jay to fix problems they might be having with Dorsey? There are a couple of possible options, but nothing that gets us closer to the truth. Perhaps the tech tycoon will address this at some other point down the line.
Elsewhere, Jack Dorsey’s thoughts on hip-hop extend far beyond his alleged censorship of Jay-Z’s name in the office. He also ruffled feathers earlier this year for picking a side in the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, causing a whole lot of OVO Stans to suddenly praise Elon Musk’s Twitter without ever really caring about it. Jokes aside, fans have their criticisms of these moves, so we’ll see if they ever get an explanation.
Rapper GloRilla is lighting up TikTok once again with her newest singles, “I LUV HER” featuring T-Pain and “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME” featuring Sexyy Red, which have quickly gained traction on the platform.
Released on October 11, “I LUV HER” has already inspired nearly 76,000 videos from creators, rising to #18 on TikTok’s Viral 50 chart. A standout trend involves users employing the CapCut app to overlay lyrics onto their videos, showcasing TikTok’s creative possibilities. GloRilla’s own post promoting the song has accumulated over 1.3 million views and 67,000 likes, driving even more engagement.
Meanwhile, “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME” is also making waves, generating nearly 34,000 creator videos and reaching #6 on the Viral 50 chart. Fans have embraced the track with viral dances, and even pop icon Taylor Swift joined in, sharing a TikTok video featuring the song. Swift’s post skyrocketed, amassing over 28.6 million views and 5 million likes within four days.
GloRilla’s latest successes build on her previous viral achievements, cementing her influence in shaping TikTok trends and reinforcing the platform’s pivotal role in music discovery. With these chart-topping tracks, GloRilla continues to dominate TikTok, making her one of the most exciting artists in today’s digital music scene.
Whelp, the legal fight against TikTok rages. This time a bipartisan group of over a dozen state attorneys general, including those from New York, California, and the District of Columbia, have filed lawsuits against social media giant TikTok, citing harmful effects on teens and young users. The District of Columbia’s Attorney General Brian Schwalb, leading one of the lawsuits, accuses TikTok of misleading users by claiming its app is safe for children, despite its “addictive” features, and of operating an unlicensed virtual money transmission system. Schwalb stated, “TikTok is intentionally trying to addict young people to its platform” and referred to the app as “digital nicotine,” claiming it poses significant mental health risks, including depression, anxiety, sleep loss, and body dysmorphia.
Get this, Schwalb’s lawsuit also highlights TikTok’s virtual currency system, “TikTok Coins,” which allows users to buy virtual gifts during live streams, with streamers cashing out for real money. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok has profited substantially from this system, charging commissions as high as 50%. Schwalb contends that the platform’s lax age verification processes have allowed minors to access age-restricted features, leading to instances of exploitation.
Naturally, TikTok strongly denies these accusations, asserting in a statement, “We provide robust safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screen time limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16.” The company expressed disappointment that state attorneys general chose litigation over collaboration to address industrywide concerns.
Here’s their statement on X (formerly Twitter):
Our statement on today’s Attorneys General lawsuits:
“We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading. We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve…
This serious legal action against TikTok comes amid growing scrutiny of social media platforms for their impact on children. Similar lawsuits have been filed against other platforms, such as Snapchat and Facebook, which have faced accusations of enabling exploitation and fostering harmful content. In a broader context, TikTok is also fighting a new law that would ban the app unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells it to a non-Chinese buyer by January 19, 2024, a move TikTok argues violates the First Amendment rights of its users.
Kerry Washington is best known on the big and small screen but now you can add tech investor to her repertoire. The Scandal star has recently become an investor in Spill, a Black-owned social media platform that fosters connections, culture, and commerce. According to an exclusive report from TechCrunch, Washington provided financial backing as the platform approaches its second anniversary.
Washington has been an active participant and early adopter on the platform, perhaps by design, regularly hosting live video sessions called “tea parties” for her followers. Alphonzo Terrell, Spill’s founder, praised Washington’s engagement with the community, saying, “She’s incredibly accessible and knowledgeable, especially around these topics, and is not scared in any way, shape, or form about really engaging with people directly. I think it really does represent the kind of environment we want to cultivate on Spill … We’re all human here, too. Let’s connect.”
Get this, the actress shared her motivation for supporting Spill, explaining, “When I joined Spill as a user, I was amazed and inspired by how safe the community felt. I immediately wanted to support the growth of the platform, because safety is a powerful tool to foster honesty, creativity, connection, and community.” She went on to highlight how Spill prioritizes marginalized communities, adding, “In a digital world where marginalized groups, especially Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA folks, rarely feel prioritized, Spill stands out. I’m proud to be part of this community as both a user and an investor.”
What’s more, Washington hosted a voter registration-themed Tea Party on Spill, engaging her followers in discussions about the upcoming election and the vital role of voters in driving social and political change.
As for Spill users, known as “Spillionaires,” they can share posts that combine 90 characters of text with images, GIFs, or videos. The platform allows users to “Spill” their thoughts, share, comment, or quote posts. The Spillboard helps users stay updated on trending topics worldwide, while live conversations, games like Spades, and tea parties foster further engagement.
Spill is available for download on both iOS and Android.
Not many know the story of the platform Twitch, and how it went full circle in a way. It started as Justin.tv, where anyone could stream what they were doing. However, the creators noticed how the gaming section was getting way more attention and started the streaming site called Twitch. This quickly became a social hub exclusively for gamers, and from it, a whole slew of internet celebrities rose. Now, Twitch is owned by Amazon and has a massive user base. What’s more, just like the original intention behind Justin.tv the streaming content has become more diverse.
People just chat with subscribers, comment on the latest events and developments, and some create exciting content by gambling. In fact, Twitch had a big impact on the gambling industry as it inspired live dealer games. According to experts from casinoofthekings.ca traffic on their project started to grow at the same time as Twitch launched a separate category for gambling and online casinos.
The Appeal of Twitch for Celebrities
Everyone is pretty much aware that most celebrities have teams of people in charge of their social media accounts. In other words, when you interact with your role models online chances are you are just talking to the members of their staff. That’s not the case with Twitch streaming.
Here you see the person, and you directly interact with them. That’s why both fans and celebrities love this platform. It helps them form a more genuine connection. Not only that but Twitch makes it easy to send money or make donations. So, if a celeb wants to run a charity event and help gather funds for a specific cause, Twitch is a perfect place to do so.
Not only that but Twitch can help celebrities reach more people. Maybe someone didn’t find them interesting based on their music or sports career. But now they get to know the other side of them and maybe re-evaluate the initial image they had of that person.
Celebrities Influencing Twitch Culture and Content
As stated, this platform started out as a social hub for gamers. Over the years they manage to attract socialites from other walks of life, and celebrities were an important factor in this change. Now there are several new categories that aren’t gaming-related:
IRL (In Real Life) – Category that features podcasts, live chatting, ASMR, sports, discussion on politics, and other more general topics.
Music and DJ – A category for music artists where they create new music and collaborate with fans. It’s a great way to get instant feedback and include followers in creative process.
Creative – Category for arts and crafts that is great for live tutorials.
Clearly, there is an intention here to attract more influencers from other spheres, in order to grow the number of active users. With more active users it’s easier to attract more sponsors who wish to advertise on the site.
Top Celebrities Making Waves on Twitch
Given their busy schedules, celebrities don’t stream as frequently or regularly like other top creators. But whenever they are online users definitely notice. Below are some notable examples.
Post Malone
As a young artist, Post Malone is adored by younger generations. In other words, many gamers love his songs. It comes as no surprise that when Post Malone starts to stream his channel lights up. He also plays very popular battle royale titles like Apex Legends. Not only that but he is genuinely good at it; he even reached the rank of diamond.
Snoop Dogg
Music made Snoop Dogg famous, but his success as an artist is only matched by his achievements as an entrepreneur. And to this day his portfolio of business ventures continues to expand. Back in 2023, he even launched a game studio with his son called Death Row Games, and Snoop has been involved with the industry for quite some time now.
Felicia Day
A lot of World of Warcraft players know Felica from the web series she created The Guild, but she was also in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Supernatural TV show. People who love narrative-driven games like God of War, and Last of US also love to watch Felicia on Twitch. She is very committed to gaming and does a full playthrough of these games.
Mike Shinoda
Before Linkin Park found its new lead singer, the co-founder Mike Shinoda saw Twitch as a home for his creative outlet. While on Twitch Mike connected with his community, played Valorant, and created new music. What’s more, he collaborated with Twitch to white label the music he created on stream so that his fans can freely use it.
Madison Beer
The number one reason Madison Beer started a Twitch channel was to promote her music or music projects. But even some of those music projects were gaming-related. For example, she played or sang as League of Legends’s Evelyn during K/DA concerts.
That said she does play games on her streams and easily attracts over 30,000 viewers. Madison plays indie releases like Only Up as well as some popular titles like Valorant and Fall Guys.
Impact on Twitch’s User Demographics
Obviously, celebrities help this platform grow further. They have a lot of star power and a fan base of devotees who are eager to socialize with them. It helped Twitch become more than just a place for gamers.
However, the core users of Twitch are still gamers, so the platform also helped these celebrities reach more people. As you can see, all of them played different games while on the stream, and many players who don’t necessarily know these celebrities will hop on to check out their stream. After all, the platform directs viewers to those channels that have the highest view count.
Of course, this is in a way bad for other content creators who are trying to make it and have a low number of followers. Now with celebrities streaming getting noticed will be even harder.
How Celebrity Involvement is Attracting Brands and Advertisers
There are many other celebrities who occasional stream T-Pain, Keke Palmer, Soulja Boy, Doja Cat, and Neymar Jr. to name a few. Unlike other social networks, Twitch is a place where streamers reply to messages in chat. These are all big names in their respective industries and that’s incredibly relevant for brands who want to advertise on Twitch.
Unlike with ads on YouTube, users have an incentive to stay on Twitch when the ads start to roll. The stream is happening right there and then, you can’t come back tomorrow or after a few hours and enjoy the same content. Ever since Twitch grew the ads campaign became more aggressive, which once again kills the discoverability of smaller creators. People just don’t want to sit that long and wait for ads to stop playing.
This isn’t the case with celebrity streams. These are high profile individuals and viewers look forward to interacting with them. So, even when ads are unskippable on these streams viewers will stick around. As a result, more brands who want to advertise on Twitch, especially during these streams.
Conclusion
To sum up, Twitch has drastically changed over the past decade and celebrities and influential internet personalities played a big role. It can be difficult to re-brand especially when your identity is so heavily centred around one hobby. Luckily, Twitch has managed to follow through and create a place that Justin.tv was meant to be. They did this thanks to a strong infrastructure for socializing, advertising and online donations.
In a way, whenever someone who is famous wants to connect with their fans and raise funds in the process, Twitch is the go-to option. The brand is visible and already has a big user base, and it has categories that invite creators from different niches.
Usher has fallen under a lot of social media scrutiny over the past few months due to his connection to Diddy, as they had a collaborative relationship from very early in the former’s career. Given the Bad Boy mogul’s current incarceration and federal indictment against him, many raised their eyebrows at a recent social media development. Moreover, the R&B star or someone from his team seemingly wiped all of his Twitter posts from his page, leading to many theories that this has something to do with Sean Combs’ scandal. However, there’s nothing explicitly hinting at that or suggesting it either in the legal space or online, so we’ll have to see if he elaborates on his social media pages.
Still, some highlighted posts remain at press time, including tour announcements, ticket sales, some NFT stuff apparently, and a Twitter Spaces post from earlier this month. On the other hand, Usher’s Twitter account says that it still has 7,112 posts as of writing this article, but none of them are visible. This is all very odd and unexplainable, so hopefully someone sheds more light on the situation, whether it’s the Super Bowl halftime performer himself or his team.
For those unaware, Usher’s name is rumored to have been redacted in one of the first lawsuits against Diddy, and this caused their entire relationship to fall further into question. “I got a chance to see some things. I went there to see the lifestyle, and I saw it,” he said back in 2016 about living with the Bad Boy mogul when he was just 13. “It was pretty wild. It was crazy. They called me Baby Boo. He wasn’t disciplinary, he was letting me be a young man. He was always a family member from afar, so I never felt a disconnection. I will always look at him like a brother.” The singer also stated that he would in no way allow his children to go through the same experience.
Meanwhile, Katt Williams is the latest celebrity to react to the Diddy arrest. He believes that the executive will end up snitching on everybody. A lot of people are very curious about this possibility, as part of what makes this scandal so horrifying is just how large the scope of celebrity influence is and how many people this situation seemingly affected and continues to affect. As such, whenever someone like Usher does anything mysterious, folks can’t help but tie it back to this controversy.
