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Which Shakespeare Hunk Should You Hook Up With?
O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
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Scholastic Will Sell Its Entire Education Technology Business
Costumed fans hold their copies of the book at the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book release party at the Scholastic Book publishers headquarters in New York.
Clark Jones / AP
Scholastic Inc., the publisher of children's books including the Harry Potter series, is taking itself out of the education technology game. The company said today it plans to sell its entire ed-tech business to the publishing giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for $575 million.
Both companies' stock fell on the news of the sale. Houghton Mifflin fell by 7.5%, to $24.50, and Scholastic fell 11.5%, to $39.
Scholastic's move to get out of ed-tech is an unusual one in an era where most education companies are scrambling to beef up their technology capabilities and pushing all-digital content on sometimes-wary schools. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and its two main competitors, Pearson and McGraw-Hill, have all made ed-tech central to their businesses.
Scholastic, however, said it wanted to refocus on its core book business, which includes publishing classic children's titles like Harry Potter, the Golden Compass, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. Scholastic titles are sold in stores, used in classrooms, and through the company's much-beloved book fairs, are a longtime institution of American schools. The company also prints more traditional educational materials.
Scholastic's CEO, Richard Robinson, said in a statement that the company saw growth potential in a "renewed focus on books and reading in schools and at home." The ed-tech division, he said, had a "substantially different model for product development" that did not fit with print publishing and distribution.
The ed-tech division has some 800 employees, who will move to Houghton Mifflin, and revenues of $250 million in 2014. Its central product is a brand of computer-based software focused on remedial education for middle-grade students, called Read 180 and Math 180.
Someone Made A Game Of Thrones "Too Many Cooks" Mashup And It's Perfect
Westeros really does have “Too Many Kings.” Warning: spoilers.
If you weren't living under a rock last November, you probably saw Adult Swim's wonderfully bizarre "Too Many Cooks."
Adult Swim
Well now there's a Game of Thrones version called "Too Many Kings" and it's even more bloodthirsty than the original:
Made by Youtuber Alex Cohen, "Too Many Kings" uses the audio from "Too Many Cooks" alongside cleverly cut scenes from HBO's Game of Thrones.
The first three minutes show just how many characters there are in Game of Thrones, but things get weirder near the four minute mark (as in the original video).
Here, the Three-Eyed Raven and King's Landing from Game of Thrones' title sequence replace the falcon and mansion sequence from "Too Many Cooks."
A Straight Guy Asked His Gay Friend To Prom And It's The Cutest Thing Ever
#PromposalGoals.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's officially prom season.
Fox
You know what that means: Teens across the country are dusting off their tuxes and dresses, and prepping their most creative ways to ask their friends to prom.
Fox
Barbie Made An Ava DuVernay Doll And It's Pretty Awesome
The Selma director makes a badass Barbie.
Ava DuVernay is the mega-talented director of the film Selma.
Paras Griffin
She's the first black female director to have her film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
And the founder of the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement, which promotes film-making among people of color.
Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images
And just generally really inspiring. “There’s something very important about films about black women and girls being made by black women. It’s a different perspective," she said in an interview with the Huffington Post.
"It is a reflection as opposed to an interpretation, and I think we get a lot of interpretations about the lives of women that are not coming from women.”
Valerie Macon / Getty Images
So it's no surprise that DuVernay was recently honored at the Variety Power of Women luncheon, and selected as one of six "Sheroes" by Mattel, the company that makes Barbie.
Other honorees included Eva Chen of Lucky magazine, country singer Trisha Yearwood, actress Emmy Rossum, five-year-old designer Sydney “Mayhem” Keiser, and Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth.
Jason Merritt / Getty Images
