While it is debatable that celebrities should be within contacting range, this is not the case for all. Each person has their reasons for doing things, and these five celebrities will tell you why they prefer little contact with the outside world that is social media:

1. Christopher Walken  

At seventy-seven years old, Christopher Walken is considered to be an icon in his own right. Yet, when it comes to smartphones’ newest innovations, Christopher Walken does not know it nor pretend to. Confirmed that since he does not own a phone, the studio lends him a phone for contact. As soon as the project is complete, he will immediately turn off his phone. The reason? Walken once reported that he is too old to care about this invention. He does want to pretend that he understands it, nor does he have any interest in learning. Walken even mentioned that his agent has to send him a fax, for Walken does not even own a computer. While Walken may be hard to reach, he’s keeping up with his own life as he prefers it.

2. Elton John 

A musical icon that is considered a musical genius from the twentieth and twenty-first century, Elton John has admitted in past interviews that he does not own a cell phone. While he does own an iPad, primarily to skype with his children while he is on tour, that is the full extent of his interaction with it. While Elton John does have social media and an email, he has also admitted that he delegates work to his staff and partner, David Furnish, on such matters. While the film Rocketman has put him back in the spotlight, Elton John prefers to avoid addicting technologies as a result.

3. Shailene Woodley

Known best for her role in Divergence, this actress ditched the cell phone back when she was the busiest. The reason? Shailene admitted in several interviews that she felt her smartphone was driving her insane and making her feel upset about things outside of her control. She has since ditched the smartphone and traded in for a Motorola old-school cell phone. Woodley acknowledges that she feels she has been able to be more productive in the long run as a result. Getting rid of the smartphone in favor of the classic has been a life-changer for the actress.

4. Werner Herzog

Considered to be one of the greatest directors in terms of art and passion, Herzog does not use a cell phone nor has any desire to do so. Unlike his counterparts, the only way to get ahold of him is through a landline or letters. It has something to do with the fact that he has no desire to keep up with modern technology and that he is a bit wary of the new technology present in society. Herzog prefers to engage with things his way, not the other way around.

5. Warren Buffet

The legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffett is known to be eccentric yet savvy when it comes to the world of finance and life. Warren Buffett has reported that he has no use for a smart cell phone but prefers his Nokia flip phone over a mini-computer in his hand. The reason? It could have to do with a man like Warren Buffett who has no use for any wasted time in his life. After all, this is the man who has turned entire companies around and invested in stocks that brought immense wealth, despite his humble upbringing. Technology, to him, is a tool and nothing more.

In an age where everything is online, these celebrities remind us of how human we are and that technology should not be exploiting our weaknesses. Having a smartphone does not have to be a need. It doesn’t even have to be a want. It all depends on the individual and what they would like to spend their time on. While this concept may appear to be out of the norm, it’s because it is. 

While some of these celebrities can have the unique pleasure of turning in a phone and not using it until the next project, we are lucky that there are few of them. And we’re working hard at Payphone X to fill our catalog with actors, musicians, TV personalities and other talents to bring you joy from getting in touch with them. We respect the right of anyone to disconnect, however, we also believe that the direct contact between celebrities and their fans is vital for both sides. That’s why if you still don’t have Payphone X app, download it right now and find someone you would love to have a chat with. We promise, it will make your day!

The post Five Celebrities Who Do Not Use Smartphones appeared first on Fanzine by Payphone.

Let us guess: During October, your collection of watched series was replenished with new interesting examples. But we are still going to try to surprise you. How about the most unusual celebrity podcasts?

Read this article to the end and find out what Kevin from Home Alone has to say and what Snoop Dogg is sharing with fans.

1. Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland Has Recorded a Podcast From Prison

Billy McFarland is known as an organizer of the Fyre Festival, which is famous all over the world as the biggest party that never happened. We believe you watched the documentary about it on Netflix. The poor organization or, to be more precise, a lot of lies and even fraud resulted in a six-year prison sentence for Billy McFarland. A little over two years into his sentence and three years since Fyre Festival burned spectacularly on the funeral pyre of internet schadenfreude, Billy McFarland is back and appeared in podcast form; one called Dumpster Fyre. The author of the doomed festival is releasing the episodes from inside prison, while “Billy’s team” posts it on his Instagram.

McFarland once reported, “I’m not going to hide behind my mistakes. I am going to share everything that happened.” However, it’s obvious that McFarland simply has to take hold of the narrative and make audience believe in his reality rather than in the mass media’s. And it’s true that no one wants to deal with such a person, but it is very difficult to meet, in ordinary life, a guy who got six years for one of the most impressive public frauds.

We can’t help mentioning that you have the chance to talk to another co-organizer of the Fyre Festival: Andy King. He is available on Payphone X and can give you a great piece of advice on how to organize festivals in a proper way.

2. Macaulay Culkin Launches Bunny Ears Parody Lifestyle Website

Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin launched Bunny Ears media, which can be delineated as “A mixture of Goop (a wellness and lifestyle website launched by Gwyneth Paltrow) and The Onion (US satirical news site).” It’s difficult to say anything more precise.

The Bunny Ears website has horoscopes, comic advice on how to “arrange furniture according to feng shui to improve your sex life,” how to “look pregnant enough to do whatever you want,” and how to “buy yourself a gravestone and not screw up,” Macaulay’s personal experience on “how I ate soap for a week and now I can say whatever I want,” and celebrity advice. In short, it’s got everything we are used to seeing on ordinary lifestyle sites (just kidding). In addition, Bunny Ears has a podcast hosted by Macaulay Culkin and actor Matt Cohen with new episodes released every week. There, almost everything is the same as on the site, only the format is different. For example, Macaulay Culkin reads works of world literature with his own jokes.

3. Life Is Short with Justin Long, or What Ordinary and Not So Ordinary Things People Think About

Justin Long is an American theater and film actor, screenwriter, producer, and the face of Mac in Apple videos. He became famous for the horror movie Jeepers Creepers, Die Hard, and Alvin’s voice in all parts of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

In April 2019, Long launched the podcast Life is Short with Justin Long. Justin Long himself describes his project like this:
“I’m Justin Long, and I’ve been an actor for most of my life, so I’m used to getting inside the heads of the characters I play. But now that I’m getting older, and I want to peek inside the heads of real people to learn how they find meaning in life. I’m also very curious what their favorite snack food is and what emoji they use most often—ya know, the REALLY important stuff. Every episode, I’ll get personal with all kinds of people, from actors to musicians to deep thinkers who fascinate me.”

4. JLouis Mills from Heartbeat and his podcast On the Level

JLouis‌ ‌Mills‌ ‌‌is‌ ‌an‌ ‌actor‌ ‌best‌ ‌known‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌television‌ ‌series‌ ‌Heartbeat.‌ ‌‌He‌ ‌played‌ ‌‌a‌ ‌snarky‌ ‌yet‌ ‌loveable‌ ‌anesthesiologist named Dr. Forester. Most likely, JLouis was inspired by this role and decided to create his own project, but now in the role of a host, and instead of patients, he invites different celebrities. From controversial to conversational, JLouis Mills talks On the Level with a variety of guests on his weekly show.

On the Level covers everything from current events to social issues or the latest hot topics to chatting it up with celebs. JLouis also invites everyone to participate in the discussion. Callers can either join the discussion or leave their question in a particular window.

By the way, you can chat with JLouis Mills on Payphone X. Ask him anything you want or even suggest a topic for his new podcast episode.

5. GGN Podcast by Snoop Dogg

GGN Podcast is a fun podcast by Snoop Dogg, the iconic rapper of the early 90s with an instantly recognizable voice. Snoop Dogg and his guests chat about all sorts of things in their pseudo-gangster manner. So far, there have been only 10 issues, but numerous fans believe that everything is still on the way.

It’s hard to describe the project in a better way than Snoop Dogg himself did by saying, “This podcast right here is hosted by none other than me, yours truly, music legend and pop culture icon, Snoop D-O-double G, ya dig? Listen to some funny-ass comedic tales or me bustin’ some off tha’ cuff freestyles. Man, me and my guests speak on everything related to popular culture. No one does uncensored and uncut quite like ya boy Big Snoop, aka Finding Nemo, aka Nemo Hoes. And now I’m inviting you to blaze one up with us and jump on in.”

The post TOP 5 Celebrity Podcasts You Must Listen To appeared first on Fanzine by Payphone.

Big Hit Entertainment is now listed on the Seoul Stock Exchange, and the public offering will give BTS a total value of more than $4 billion, giving the K-pop band more career prominence and fame. This move by Big Hit Entertainment entering the IPO has become the biggest public offering in South Korea since 2017.

BTS members Kim Tae-hyung, Jung Ho-seok, Kim Nam-joon, Kim Seok-jin, Park Ji-min, Jeon Jung-kook, and Min Yoon-gi are benefiting from the IPO. They each received 68,385 shares from Big Hit Entertainment, and each of their individual shares are now worth $7.9 million.

What is a public listing?

When a company goes public in its country, it means that it has opened shares to the public to invest in its projects. That is, people can become a partner of the company by contributing a sum of money. As there are more partners within a company, the commercial value of the same grows, and the partners who already had invested capital can double it.

Who Benefited the Most from Big Hit Entertainment IPO?

Big Hit Entertainment, which currently represents the musical and commercial career of the Bangtan Boys, was just a regular company a few years ago, but now it is a true phenomenon. It is one of the entertainment companies with the highest earnings per year worldwide.

Big Hit was founded by Bang Si Hyuk in 2005. For now, he owns more than 40 percent of this company, which means that he is worth $1.6 billion. Compared to the number of shares boy band members own, Bang Si Hyuk is definitely the biggest winner of the IPO. His shares are 200 times larger than the shares of each member of BTS.

How Much Money Does BTS Make?

BTS as an entertainment brand is valued at over $3.6 billion a year for South Korea’s national economy, and one out of 13 foreign tourists visited South Korea in 2017 just to go see BTS, according to a study by the Hyundai Research Institute.

In August, Big Hit Entertainment reported semi-annual earnings of more than $30 million derived from sales of promotional items and online concerts, which highly compensated for the several event cancellations the band had due to COVID-19.

This phenomenal boy band has managed to sell no less than 11 million copies of albums since 2013.

The Future of Big Hit Entertainment and BTS

The reality is that Big Hit Entertainment is heavily dependent on BTS, with 87.7% of its net income in the first half of 2020 coming from the group. In 2019, the importance of BTS was even more significant for Big Hit Entertainment, as 97.4% of its net income came from the boy band.

As we can see, the record label is actively working to diversify its income stream. It’s dangerous to rely on a single band to be a successful company. It’s possible that BTS members will have to enter mandatory military service in the following years, and this may become a disaster for Big Hit Entertainment until they find alternative ways to make money.

But . . . Who is the Richest Member of BTS?

Each member of BTS has an estimated net worth of $8 million, except for one, and that would be Jung Ho-Seok—aka J-Hope—who reportedly has about $12 million.

If you are wondering how he managed to knead a little more than his bandmates, then here is the answer: Anyone would think that being in a global-dominant band and being an idol 24/7 wouldn’t give him a lot of free time, but J-Hope has also managed to maneuver himself as a solo artist and collaborated with other K-pop artists.

His first solo mixtape saw the light of day in 2018, reaching number 19 on the rap album chart, positioning him as the third Korean artist in history to appear on the chart.

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We have to admit, BTS members are not available in the Payphone X catalog for now. But we have lots of other prominent artists who will be happy to get in touch with you!

The post BTS: Multimillionaires In One Day appeared first on Fanzine by Payphone.

Surprised?

India has already banned TikTok. The USA, EU, and Australia are thinking of doing the same. What is wrong with TikTok, one of the most popular apps in the world? Let us tell you everything in detail!

On June 30^th, India’s government bans TikTok

Well, to be clear, they did not just ban TikTok but also 58 more Chinese-made applications.

The Indian Ministry of the Interior and the Computer Incident Response Team (CERT-IN) believe that these mobile applications pose a threat to national security and “stole and secretly transmitted user data.” Previously, the whole world complained about Facebook, but now, the biggest question the world has is, why exactly were Chinese applications banned?

Perhaps the Indian authorities were affected by the Sino-Indian Border Conflict in the disputed region of Ladakh. Shortly before this decision, on June 16^th, the first deadly clash between the Chinese and Indian militaries took place there, as a result of which 20 Indians have died. In India, mass protests began with a call to boycott Chinese-made goods. For example, in Lucknow and Mumbai, protesters smashed phones and burned other electronics made in China. The world’s most populous democracy could not ignore the call of the people to have China take responsibility for its violence and protect the national security of India. That is why TikTok is no longer in India.

The US “is looking” at banning TikTok

On July 7^th, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he wants to ban TikTok for U.S. users.

The United States did not succumb to the world’s hype over TikTok. Authorities have had a suspicion that the application illegally collects confidential information about users. And not without cause!

Back in February 2018 in the United States, TikTok was convicted of illegally collecting data from children under the age of 13 without the consent of their parents. Developers then fined $5.7 million, but that was only the beginning.

At the end of December 2019, the U.S. Army forbade its employees to use TikTok, as U.S. authorities suspected the application was stealing user data.

In January 2020, employees of the State Department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were banned from using TikTok on office devices.

Now, the U.S. government, represented by Trump and Pompeo, claims that the data of users of TikTok and other Chinese applications are in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party and that this not only helps China win the political and economic confrontation with the United States but also poses a direct threat to national security.

TikTok is leaving Hong Kong

On July 7^th, the TikTok administration announced that it was phasing out its activities in Hong Kong. After India’s decision, it looks like China is putting a spoke in its own wheel. But things are more complicated!

Autonomous Hong Kong has been fighting for its state independence from China for a long time, which the authoritarian communist country is trying to strangle in the bud. On June 30^th, China issued the Hong Kong National Security Law, which criminalizes calls for country independence and criticism of China’s central authorities. They also demanded that Internet providers remove information that the PRC authorities would consider subversive and provide the police with information about users.

In general, if activists put forward a call for independence for Hong Kong on TikTok, a social network headquartered in Beijing could not help but obey the law and would have to hand over all the data of peaceful protesters to the authorities of China, where the death penalty still takes place. Therefore, TikTok decided to save the lives of activists and its international reputation.

EU initiated TikTok check on the illegal collection of users’ data

The EU suspected something was wrong when the whole world was shocked by the scandal of the spread of misinformation by the Chinese authorities about COVID-19. Did TikTok spread or forbid this misinformation? No one can say for sure.

How the video ranking algorithm works is not yet clear. However, the fact that TikTok did not have hashtags from Hong Kong activists (while there were a few of them on Twitter) raises even more suspicions that the Chinese authorities may be deleting information and using social networks for propaganda.

The European Data Protection Committee created a working group to check TikTok for the illegal collection of personal data of users in order to understand how to regulate the operation of social networks in the EU. It happened a month ago, but there have been no results so far. So, stay tuned!

A hacker on Reddit exposed how TikTok works

An amateur hacker, under the nickname Bangorlol, discussed on Reddit how the TikTok application actually works.

“TikTok is a data collection service masquerading as a social network,” states Bangorlol.

He claims that TikTok collects:

• Names (real), addresses, passwords, phone numbers, and dates of birth.
• Information about other applications on the phone (even deleted ones).
• Information about Internet activity.
• Location (updates every 30 seconds).

The hacker also found code fragments in the Android version that allow downloading a file from a remote server to a user’s device.

In the research of Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk from a couple of months ago, TikTok got into a list of 54 iOS applications that tracked sensitive data, such as passwords, crypto-wallets, credit card numbers, addresses, and private messages.

A recent report by Ars Technica states that TikTok has access to the most important data of Apple users on all devices. iPhone and Mac on the same Apple ID use a universal clipboard, so the contents of the “working computer” can be copied to the phone where TikTok is installed and the application has no barriers to reading information.

Will TikTok be banned?

We do not know.

We hope not; we have just registered an account there recently! The good news is, even if this happens, personal videos from celebrities are still available on Payphone X, and they can be shared on any social network.

Therefore, TikTok is not the only app out there! After all, Payphone X does not meddle in politics and does not cooperate with any governments. We aim to build a global fan community, and we hope that you will support us on our path.

Photo by Kon Karampelas

The post The Biggest TikTok Trend Is to Ban TikTok appeared first on Fanzine by Payphone.