I’ve recently found that people toss around the term ‘anxiety’ like a football on Thanksgiving day, but what does it really mean to be clinically anxious. Well, for some it manifests itself right before sitting down to take an exam, while others may feel jittery and unnerved before driving a car. What I find interesting is how quick we are tell people that we have anxiety before we’ve even taken a visit to a primary care physician. For individuals who’ve received a proper diagnosis for anxiety, when they have an ‘attack,’ many have described themselves as feeling like they’ve lost complete control of their life and the world is collapsing in front of them. Terrifying, I know. I wholly support every person’s right to affordable access to mental health care, but in the interim, be wary of the terms you use to describe your feelings without knowing whether it holds true for you.
Having said all of that, here’s what you missed in the news yesterday.
Note To Self (Driving Car)
Remember how terrifying it was to find out that Skynet, the overseeing tech company in the Terminator movies, unleashed its autonomous robots on civilians, causing widespread panic and murderous rampages spread across a very successful film series? Well, forget all that dark and twisted foreshadowing of our future and listen to this! Google’s (GOOGL) self-driving subsidiary, Waymo, just released their first commercial autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service in Arizona, called Waymo One.
Similarly to Uber or Lyft, Waymo One users will use a smartphone app to indicate their location and call a car over, but this time, there won’t be a driver in the front seat to offer you gum or a phone charger.
“Self-driving technology is new to many, so we’re proceeding carefully with the comfort and convenience of our riders in mind.”
–John Krafcik, Chief Executive Officer, Waymo
Once In A Fortnite
Anyone with a pulse and a basic connection to the internet has heard of the globally popular game, Fortnite. If you haven’t played the game, perhaps you’ve seen the countless videos shared on the internet of the many ‘emote’ dances you can command your avatar to perform while playing the game. Well, it is this very aspect of the game that has gotten Fortnite creator Epic Games in a heap of legal trouble.
Hip-hop artist 2 Milly filed a lawsuit against Epic Games, claiming that the game developer stole his “Milly Rock” dance move by adding it as an ‘emote’ for Fortnite players.
“This isn’t the first time that Epic Games has brazenly misappropriated the likeness of African-American talent. Our client Lenwood ‘Skip’ Hamilton is pursuing claims against Epic for use of his likeness in the popular ‘Cole Train’ character in ‘Gears of War’ video game franchise. Epic cannot be allowed to minute to take what does not belong to it.”
–Legal counsel for 2 Milly
Burger King-Troll
Burger King is at it again with the competitions and the tricks, and what not. According to a recent report from CNN, if you’re within 600-feet from a McDonald’s, you can unlock a deal for a penny Whopper from the Burger King app. This promotional move serves as both a great incentive for people to download the fast-food joint’s new smartphone app as well as a decent prank pulled on one of its biggest rivals.
Some people have reported having issued with the promotion:
“Sometimes someone has a poor connection, or maybe one specific restaurant out of 14,000 may not have been geolocated properly or somebody tried to redeem the coupon during breakfast.”
–Fernando Machado, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Burger King
