The rare sighting of a Predator drone flying over protests causes a stir, a story about how messaging technology is helping protestors remain organized catches fire over the weekend, and social media gets hyped about the next Matrix sequel.
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While it’s not a rare sight in American cities for a drone to fly overhead taking photos or telling people to social distance, it is a rare sight to see Predator drones making rounds in the sky. One was spotting over Minneapolis recently during the protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. Predators are mostly used for aerial reconnaissance but have also sometimes been equipped with missiles, and according to Yahoo News, the drone belongs to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), but it’s not known who requested it.
The ongoing protests have also highlighted the importance of digital communication. Reddit users got into a meaty conversation about the various solutions available to protestors, and how reaching as many people as possible is the number one criteria for which platform is to be used. Despite its CEO’s inaction towards waves of misinformation campaigns, Facebook still remains a popular tool. Steve Jones, a University of Illinois at Chicago media researcher who studies communication technology, was quoted by the Associated Press saying that half a century ago during the civil rights protests, it was hard to know what was going on during a protest. “There was a lot of rumor, a lot of hearsay,” he says. “Now you can reach everyone almost instantaneously.”
And lastly, as the lockdown efforts continue, social media couldn’t help but look ahead to next year’s movie theatre releases. And naturally, that meant hyping up the Matrix sequel slated to release sometime in 2021. The popular sci-fi series trilogy about a hacker turned digital saviour who saves the world with a rag-tag group of buddies, wrapped up in 2003. The spicy blend of hacking and gun-fu captivated audiences worldwide, and fans are speculating wildly about what a fourth installment could look like. Will it be a straight-shooter sequel that tries to address the clumsy ending of the third movie? We hope not. Others are hinting at a more fourth-wall breaking approach thanks to one of the movie’s directors recently telling Hollywood Reporter that they want the sequel to be “as crazy as possible.”
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