Kanye West Accused of Plundering Trade-Secret Tech To Fund His Internet Church (gizmodo.com) 152
Kanye West is being sued for pulling the tried-and-true Silicon Valley tactic of allegedly stealing trade tech secrets. Gizmodo reports: First spotted by TMZ, the suit is being spearheaded by small, Pennsylvania-based ecommerce company MyChannel (MYC, for short). MYC allege that after pouring millions of dollars and half a year's worth of work into mocking up a spiffy new site for Ye's online clothing store, the rapper stepped out on their contract. According to the lawsuit, West then took the company's ideas for himself, and from the sound of things, just... ghosted them -- breaking multiple promises, violating NDAs, and acting like a huge tool in the process.
According to the [30+ pages of MYC's complaint], West initially contracted MYC back in the spring of 2018 with the promise that if the company created a juiced-up video platform for his e-commerce site, he'd not only, y'know, pay the company for its services, but would invest a hefty $10 million into the business. MYC also had West sign an NDA just to make sure that the company's proprietary video tech wouldn't be "ripped off" without any payment. Probably assuming that Kanye would keep his word, MYC says its team spent the next six months clocking 80 hour workweeks on the project, spending tens of thousands on the proposed video software in the process. Not only that, but because Kanye "demanded" that the team move its HQ from its home in Philly over to California, and later Chicago, living expenses sunk them even deeper into the hole. All told, MYC claims to have spent spent $7 million of its own funds before confronting West and telling him to make good on his end of the deal.
Instead of fulfilling his side of the bargain, the suit describes how West -- who it's worth pointing out is a literal billionaire -- came up with some "untrue perceived slight," and cut all ties with MYC's team, leaving them stranded and in a mountain of debt. Meanwhile, West spent the months immediately afterward using what MYC describes as a near-carbon copy of their platform as part of the promotion for "Sunday Service," West's so-called pop-up church experience.
According to the [30+ pages of MYC's complaint], West initially contracted MYC back in the spring of 2018 with the promise that if the company created a juiced-up video platform for his e-commerce site, he'd not only, y'know, pay the company for its services, but would invest a hefty $10 million into the business. MYC also had West sign an NDA just to make sure that the company's proprietary video tech wouldn't be "ripped off" without any payment. Probably assuming that Kanye would keep his word, MYC says its team spent the next six months clocking 80 hour workweeks on the project, spending tens of thousands on the proposed video software in the process. Not only that, but because Kanye "demanded" that the team move its HQ from its home in Philly over to California, and later Chicago, living expenses sunk them even deeper into the hole. All told, MYC claims to have spent spent $7 million of its own funds before confronting West and telling him to make good on his end of the deal.
Instead of fulfilling his side of the bargain, the suit describes how West -- who it's worth pointing out is a literal billionaire -- came up with some "untrue perceived slight," and cut all ties with MYC's team, leaving them stranded and in a mountain of debt. Meanwhile, West spent the months immediately afterward using what MYC describes as a near-carbon copy of their platform as part of the promotion for "Sunday Service," West's so-called pop-up church experience.
And... (Score:5, Insightful)
We care about Kayne West why?
Married to Kim Kardashian (Score:3)
Try and keep up.
Re:Married to Kim Kardashian (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll never understand why that is impressive, either...
Keeping up with the Kardashians (Score:2)
they tell me, is the name of their reality TV show.
I mean, once all the tabloids featured on their front page was Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? Lately, it has been Harry and Meghan Mountbatten-WIndsor.
Why is that? One of life's many mysteries.
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Americans love royalty. They usually stick to their own, but some of the British variety recently moved there, and that's a bit novel.
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I'll never understand why that is impressive, either...
It is impressive because we still allow organized religion to maintain the (often corrupt) stronghold it has on society. It also wields the power to make an impression on the human psyche strong enough to justify bloodshed to defend it. We label it a "core" belief, because humans are often willing to die for it.
Humans have literally been warmongering for thousands of years. Almost all of that conflict boils down to differences in belief systems, justified by Greed. And yes, it would be interesting to se
Re:Married to Kim Kardashian (Score:5, Funny)
Who's that? The only Cardassian I remember is Gul Dukat.
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Re:Married to Kim Kardashian (Score:5, Funny)
Who's that? The only Cardassian I remember is Gul Dukat.
You have made the common mistake of confusing Cardassians with Kardashians.
One group is a bunch of vaguely reptilian, amoral creatures who will stop at nothing to further their plans. The other group, of course, occupied Bajor.
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For us non-Americans, the idolization of the Kardashian by Americans is baffling.
It's really a small percentage of Americans that happens to buy a lot of trashy supermarket magazines and watch a lot of daytime TV.
Celebrity gossip is a big business and it's not that people are demanding information on these people, it's more that the gossip media have carefully crafted a product and delivered it to us. You're free to ignore that trash, it's not intended for you.
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We care about Kayne West why?
He is annoying the party.
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I don't even know who he is, all I know is he's a black guy who ran for president and... that's it.
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"We care about Kayne West why?"
Because he should be committed before he hurts somebody.
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Yesterday I submited a story about the largest synchrotron in the world oepning this week. It was tagged as SPAM.
Slashdot is a gossip website. "OMG Kayne West Yesss" !!!
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Yesterday I submited a story about the largest synchrotron in the world oepning this week. It was tagged as SPAM.
I have had this happen too, to a report on the Zika mosquito fight.
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Kanye West Guilty of running for president... (Score:2, Funny)
He's not running for President (Score:5, Insightful)
The goal is to delay mail in ballots every chance they can get. At this stage they goal is to make it harder in places for people to request them. Trump plans to shut down polls in districts where his opponent is likely to win while delaying mail there too. He's trying to steal the election, and like most things he's not very subtle about it.
What's crazy is how little anyone's talking about this.
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What's crazy is how little anyone's talking about this.
It's crazy that few people are concocting wild conspiracy theories about two known nutcases? Our Quarterwit in Chief is doing enough tampering with the election, deliberate and publicly acknowledged. There's no need to come up with some wild crazy conspiracies involving mentally deranged religious bipolar opioid addicted rapper who has literally been committed to hospital in spates of psychosis
Dedicate your energy to talk about things that verifiably Trump has admitted to doing instead of concocting conspir
Re: He's not running for President (Score:5, Informative)
Except known Republican operatives have been involved in key roles in Kanye's "campaign". The goal is pretty clear, actually: try to siphon off as many young or black voters from Biden as possible. Statistically there's no way Trimp can win a significant portion of those voting demographics, so the next best option is to try and keep Biden's portion of those demographics as low as possible.
What is interesting is that in several states, the petitions are being reviewed for fraud, having been turned in with false or incomplete signatures. This will open up the campaign, and Kanye, to allegations and potential charges of fraud.
And even if he had gotten started early enough to be on ballots, we've already seen what one inexperienced, mentally unstable president can do. We don't need to add messiah complex to the list.
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I like your signature line. That's why President Trump won the last election, and it's why he's going to win this one. The Democrats keep finding people MORE evil than President Trump to run against him.
The Dems need to find a new playbook.
Just to be clear Kayne isn't trying to drain votes (Score:4, Insightful)
He's not there to steal votes, he's there to suppress votes. It's election interference.
Re: He's not running for President (Score:4, Informative)
That's a cool story, but again with the president *actively* interfering with the running of an election, keep the crazy conspiracies (however true they may be) to yourself.
What story [npr.org]
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What story [npr.org]
That one. Now please stop distracting us with new things that need investigating when we are still trying to get support for the bigger things Trump is already admitting to doing.
Re: He's not running for President (Score:4, Interesting)
So...an incumbent campaign directly supporting a third party campaign designed to act as a spoiler for their main opponent's campaign is a non-issue to you?
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Yep, kind of like if I get shot in the shoulder and while stumbling I break my little toe, that break is a non-issue.
An incumbent president is actively attempting (and admitting to) to directly subvert the count and execution of the election through a postal system in a way that overwhelmingly favours him. I only have so many fucks to give at any time, and I already had to create a whole new set of fucks just for the stupid illegal shit the president is already doing, the spoiler is a non-issue, a distracti
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>According to an article from Joseph in Vice, the person seen dropping off West’s paperwork was Lane Ruhland, a lawyer who previously worked for the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Matt Smith, a reporter for WISN in Milwaukee, tweeted a video of Ruhland walking into the state Election Commission
Re:He's not running for President (Score:5, Interesting)
In my state the GOP funded and ran Kanye's attempt to get on the ballot. The elections commission voted 5-1 to deny his attempt because the "campaign" did not file the paperwork in time. There were 2 Republican members who voted against their party's wishes. Good for them.
This spring, that same party kept Bill Weld and any other possible challenger to Donald Trump off the primary ballot. How hypocritical must you be to not allow one legitimate candidate on the ballot, but try to stuff a bogus candidate on another.
Are they afraid of a fair fight?
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Are they afraid of a fair fight?
In an authoritarian oligarchy you don’t get the freedom to pick a fight, see: Alexei Navalny.
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Please explain what authority the President has "to shut down polls in districts ". I mean you make the claim, but elections are run by the states,
The same authority he has to direct federal officers to fire on American citizens on U.S. soil to clear space for a photo op.
The same authority he has to redirect military funding to instead build a border wall.
The same authority he has to pressure foreign governments to take actions against his political rivals.
In other words, as long as various government agencies and employees follow his orders, and those responsible for holding him accountable to the law choose to ignore that responsibility, he has the
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Donald Trump's campaign has (very illegally) coordinated with Kayne's "campaign" to do this.
Is there any evidence of that?
Million dollars in computer hardware for a juiced (Score:2)
What does that look like
Sounds like US president material (Score:4, Interesting)
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I'd vote for Kanye if it kept Biden, Sanders, and Clinton out of the White House.
Think about it. If Kanye won, it would really become the West wing.
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I'd vote for Kanye if it kept Biden, Sanders, and Clinton out of the White House.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present the modern world in a nutshell: I don't care if we burn the fucking country to the ground as long as "X" doesn't get in.
We're going to have 3 more years of Trump because people like the parent actually vote.
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Give me someone better to vote for than Trump, and I'll vote for them.
Until you can do that, feel free to STFU.
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Give me someone better to vote for than Trump, and I'll vote for them.
Until you can do that, feel free to STFU.
I just looked outside my window and saw a toddler. Done.
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Find a way to replace Biden on the ballots with the toddler, and you're moving in the right direction.
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Make all elections ranked choice and do away with all primaries. Get the election over with in two months max like a normal democracy, instead of dragging it out fo
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Why is the drinking age 21 virtually everywhere when the federal government doesnâ(TM)t have control of that either? Because they can just withhold all funding...
Funding which came from the states in the first place. You don't see the massive abuse of power in taking money from states and holding it hostage unless they comply?
BTW, if you look county-by-county it's the big cities (mainly Democrat) which are net recipients of federal funding, and the rural areas (mostly Republican) which are net tax payers. If you were to cut off those federal payments it would be the "blue" cities that would suffer most.
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Literally all of the people you mentioned are orders of magnitude better than Trump. Not finding a perfect alternative and therefor picking someone who is demonstrably destructive is a sign of psychosis.
I would STFU but I feel obligated to help my fellow man by recommending you get your broken brain checked.
Re:Sounds like US president material (Score:4, Insightful)
Three more years? Did term limits change or are we counting on the big nuke parade in year three?
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Three more years? Did term limits change or are we counting on the big nuke parade in year three?
Yes.
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I'd vote for Kanye if it kept Biden, Sanders, and Clinton out of the White House.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present the modern world in a nutshell: I don't care if we burn the fucking country to the ground as long as "X" doesn't get in.
We're going to have 3 more years of Trump because people like the parent actually vote.
Modern? Douglas Adams pointed this out, what, 40 years ago?
“It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I th
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So many questions. But the foremost is, 3 more years? What happens then?
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Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Facts? (Score:4, Insightful)
its team spent the next six months clocking 80 hour workweeks on the project, spending tens of thousands on the proposed video software in the process.
You have a team, and you tasked them with embedding video into a web site, and then they spent 6 months, maximized their overtime through all of it, and still didnt have it completed?
The problems isnt that Kanye stole from you. The problem is that your team stole from you.
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As long as it's in the contract, all is forgiven.
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Insisting that the company move to be closer to him should have been a red flag for the developer. A client who feels the need to continually peek over your shoulder as you do your thing will piss away any amount of money he offers you.
Customer input is important, but it has to be constrained to places where it is useful. Software development is an art, but it's not a *fine* art; creativity is a necessary evil; a means to an end and not an end in itself. But that kind of client views the development tea
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He asked the company to move twice. Once would have been a red flag. The second time should have been a red drape that covered the entire sky and beat them over the head as it flapped in the wind.
It's almost as if they were seeking out a way to lose their hind-quarters.
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Nah. I'm sure they saw Kanye coming. Rich celebrity wants video on a web site? Why sure, we have some super duper technology to do that for you!
What they didn't count on is that Kanye has the attention span of a, well, celebrity, so he lost interest before they could cash in.
Now they're in the rather unique position of trying to sue someone for stealing the tag.
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*video* tag.
Fuck Over a Contractor? (Score:5, Funny)
He HAS been getting advice from trump.
Kanye is a Black Trump (Score:2)
Kanye is a black version or Trump.
He's a Psychotic self centered liar with a narcissistic complex, just like Trump. And just like Trump he's going to cheat on every wife he has.
"Stole their tech" (Score:3)
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Smells like money laundering to me.
Trade Secrets, Tool? (Score:2)
Those are interesting word choices. A public-facing design is hard to defend as a trade secret.
Say it's not true! (Score:4, Funny)
A church built with lies, bullying, theft and misrepresentation?
I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
Re:Say it's not true! (Score:4, Insightful)
A church built with lies, bullying, theft and misrepresentation?
think we should start a pool for when Scientology will sue him for stealing their business model?
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think we should start a pool for when Scientology will sue him for stealing their business model?
I don’t know. How many celebrities are involved again?
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As a person who grew up in Christianity and has studied its history pretty extensively, they had this model in place long before Scientology existed. Heck, long before most countries existed as we know them today.
If true.... Kayne is in the wrong, but ... (Score:4, Informative)
I remember from my experience in the past just offering to build small, relatively basic web sites for people -- it's ALWAYS been difficult to get people to make good on their promises to pay for the work involved!
I can't imagine how clueless (or star struck?) you'd have to be to go $7 million in the hole before finally demanding compensation?!
I found with web development work, people constantly go into it with a vague but grand idea of a web site they'd like to have out there for some service they offer. But as soon as you start getting into ANY level of detail about it, such as photography you'll need to illustrate what they do, some text content like a company slogan or testimonials or just a description and short history of their business to post up? It's like pulling teeth to get it from them, or they expect YOU to do a lot of that work for them -- and don't expect to pay a penny extra for it. One guy with a pest control business in town asked for my help, and basically expected me to craft a logo for his company as part of a "free sample" of a main web page he wanted to see, just to decide if he was going to pay me to build any more of it!
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One guy with a pest control business in town asked for my help, and basically expected me to craft a logo for his company as part of a "free sample" of a main web page he wanted to see, just to decide if he was going to pay me to build any more of it!
So true. Most people don't understand the difference between graphic designers, copy writers, and developers. They also want top quality for bottom dollar. But if anybody ever tried to do the same for *their* business, no way, they wouldn't have it.
Re: If true.... Kayne is in the wrong, but ... (Score:2)
Any contract can go bad. Business is a bit like gambling -- never extend yourself more than you can afford to walk away from. And you start lacing your shoes at the first sign of trouble, not $7 million later.
Headline (Score:2)
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Not the first headline that makes a story sound way more interesting than it actually is.
training for Whitehouse (Score:2)
Who is actually surprised by this? (Score:2)
Kanye is a giant douche, this has been established. He's also a billionaire. That tends to exacerbate the douchiness.
untrue perceived slight (Score:2)
He's mentally ill, and this is sad (Score:2)
Re: He's mentally ill, and this is sad (Score:2)
It can be hard to feel bad for a rich celebrity but you're right -- very often sports & entertainment stars have way more money than they have the skills or time to manage properly. Some luck into a relationship with someone trustworthy, others repeatedly blow millions on mistakes.
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I don't think Kanye West is a con man, or at least not entirely. He's a mentally ill person. Given "his" recent actions, I suspect that he's surrounded by a group of people who are pulling his strings as puppetmasters.
It really is a shame how the Republicans have found someone with a mental illness and, using subtle and not so subtle means, are controlling him in an effort for further their agenda and wreck havoc on the upcoming election. And they're doing the same thing to Kanye too!
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As little as I know of the situation, Kim did try to talk him into stepping out of the spotlight for a bit and seeking some therapy. When that didn't work, she asked if he wouldn't voluntarily commit himself (to an up-scale mental health facility that's probably more day-spa than psych ward). So he does have one person that cares, but like most narcissists with other mental health issues, he saw all of that as an all-out attack rather than an attempt to help a loved one find some sort of happiness.
I never
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I don't think Kanye West is a con man, or at least not entirely. He's a mentally ill person.
Wouldn't a con man profit from the impression that he is mentally ill by generating sympathy from the people he robs?
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The most creative people have "broken" brains according to psychology. So long as he's not hurting...others.....then I don't think there is any reason for concern. Don't be surprised if Kanye runs in 2024, and wins.
I'd say we need to be really fucking concerned then. The guy is diagnosed bipolar and is known to regularly go off his meds. You don't want someone like that in a position of power and authority.
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He himself speaks openly of being bi-polar. It's not about the fact he's black. It's about the fact that when he's lucid and coherent, he's quite frank about his mental illness.
Is he really a billionaire? (Score:2)
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Kind of like how Trump has screwed The People out of hundreds of millions of dollars with his Mar-a-Lago golf trips. If he were really a billionaire, he wouldn't need to screw us out of anything.
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It's important to attack Kanye West now (Score:2, Insightful)
...because he's registered as a candidate in several states.
It's CRITICAL to attack him because if he can draw even 1-2% of black voters away from their habitual Democratic ticket, he can ensure a Trump victory.
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Presidential material (Score:2)
Trumped up cat in different clothing... (Score:2)
Pulling subcontractor's chains, making them move HQ twice and ripping whole cloth design-build architecture and implementation created for one project to nurture development of a completely new one-off. Billions are made off this! Kanye may ye rot in...
Invoice as you go (Score:2)
Seriously. Why would anyone self mutilate themselves like this just on someone's word? Even if it is backed up by contracts? Has no one learned anything from Trump's behavior?
They should have known better. (Score:4, Insightful)
There's billionaire-entrepreneur-wacky unstable, and then there's Kanye-West-fucked-up-gibbering-nonsense unstable. Regardless of his accomplishments or alleged accomplishments as an artist, it's been obvious for a while that he's mentally unstable and not-quite-all-there. Being a member of the Kardashian clan is just more evidence that he's not-quite-right. Even if MYC didn't catch the first dozen clues from all the press about his behaviour and ramblings, they probably should have caught on when West "forced" them to move their headquarters not once, but twice. When you're partnered with someone who displays that level of capriciousness and irrationality, just back away and cut your losses.
sounds mighty familiar (Score:2)
"came up with some "untrue perceived slight," and cut all ties with MYC's team, leaving them stranded and in a mountain of debt." No wonder he an the Orange Buffoon get along so well.
Not Really a Tech Story (Score:2)
"Rich dude fucks small company" isn't really tech news. It's barely qualifies as news at all.
Could it be? (Score:2)
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What are the chances both parties are being played here, and Kanye is more guilty of being gullible than dishonorable?
I'm not one to follow pop culture, but do you know nothing about Kanye West? Occam's Razor says that Kanye blew up about something stupid. Or you could believe an extraneous theory that involves some unknown actor hacking/social engineering a dispute between Kanye and this company because . . .?
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Wow. Firstly, that sounds like a not-at-all-novel application of decade old open source Computer Vision software. Secondly, doesn't Kanye only sell Kanye-branded products? What's the point of searching the internet? And uh, the video is on a "ecommerce" site, where presumably they are selling said merchandise, so.... no need to "leave the video experience". How many products per "sermon" could he possibly be hawking? Wouldn't it just be easier to plug it in manually ahead of time to make sure it goes as pla
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So you're saying 43 minutes into the video when a picture of Kim appears it might show me an ad for Kotex?
Not interested.