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But some of these influencers are looking for something more: They want to own their photos and their audiences. They want freedom from the algorithms that decide who sees their content. And they want to stop relying on sponsored content and ad posts. Meanwhile, users have similar concerns. Some, fed up with the constant privacy violations and lack of transparency on the part of platforms, are looking away from the news feed and toward the refuge of messaging, small groups, and even separate apps like Renner’s and Rose’s. They all offer an antidote to Big Social Media. The company Escapex, which makes these apps, offers exactly that. Each app is a decentralized social media platform that acts like Instagram but is fully controlled by the influencer, offering them an unique insurance policy: When Instagram’s popularity inevitably shifts, they’ll still have their own safe haven for their biggest fans to congregate–and pay them. And for fans, they get more than an intimate glimpse at their chosen celeb; they also get a community of people who feel the same way.

Digital Media

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Russian Photoshop wizard Igor Lipchanskiy inserts himself as a willing assistant, doing whatever it takes to make the musicians on the album covers happy.

Music

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Since the birth of the USA on July 4, 1776 with the Declaration of Independence, the country has been at war for 93% of its existence. It all started with the American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783. Now, to most Americans that conflict was more than necessary. Had it not taken place it is doubtful that King George III of Great Britain and his Parliament would have simply waved goodbye to the Thirteen Colonies and wished them well for the future.

Alt Travel

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In 2017, an uncovered toy theft ruptured the Star Wars collecting community. Two years later, the collectors—and the convicted—are still looking for a way forward.

Movies, Series & Docs

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Japanese occupation and the subsequent fight by the U.S. military to reclaim the territories were lethal. Manila, then the sixth-largest city in the United States, was devastated in the war. And many of the lives lost there — 100,000 is a common estimate — were claimed by friendly fire. “It was United States bombs and shells that did most of the damage,”reported the New York Times. In all, the war probably killed more than 1.5 million in the U.S. territories. More than 1 million, mostly Filipinos, were U.S. nationals. World War II in the Philippines was the bloodiest event ever to take place on U.S. soil, killing twice as many as the Civil War.

In The News