Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Ellen sets new retweet record with Oscars selfie, shoots past 2m mark

twitter offers stats on tweets from the oscars retweet record
Image used with permission by copyright holder
A group selfie posted to Twitter by Ellen DeGeneres during the Oscars Sunday night has become the most retweeted post of all time, by a looong way.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised that DeGeneres’s tweet took off in the way it did; after all, a message from an account with 26.7 million followers that combines the selfie phenomenon with a bevy of Hollywood stars at an event with a massive global audience is hardly going to pass by unnoticed.

But two million retweets?!? That’s going some. Especially when you consider the record previously belonged to Barack Obama, whose ‘victory’ tweet from 2012’s presidential election got more than 300,000 retweets in its first 40 minutes (it now has a mere 780,000 retweets).

Actor Bradley Cooper used DeGeneres’s Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to grab the shot, which included stars such as Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Julia Roberts and Lupita Nyong’o, as well as DeGeneres herself, of course. Look at ’em all, crowded together in front of the lens, carefully making sure their heads don’t touch.

“If only Bradley’s arm was longer,” DeGeneres tweeted with the selfie, adding, “Best photo ever.”

Samsung’s presence was felt throughout Sunday night’s ceremony, which was hosted by Degeneres. Besides her use of the Note 3 for the selfie, and the device’s multiple stage appearances (which had absolutely no air of product placement about them whatsoever) as she grabbed various shots of the star-studded audience, the Korean tech firm also ran a slew of ads highlighting its range of mobile offerings, among them the very first TV spot for the new Galaxy S5 handset, shown below.

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Buying an iPad Mini today? You need to know about this deal
The Apple Pencil attaches to the iPad mini magnetically.

If you've had an eye on iPad deals for the latest model of the Apple iPad Mini for a while now, this may be the offer that you've been waiting for -- a $100 discount from Best Buy on the tablet's Wi-Fi, 64GB model, slashing its price to $400 from $500. It's still pretty popular years after its release, so we don't expect stocks of the device for this sale to last long. If you're thinking about taking advantage of this bargain, you better push through with your purchase as soon as possible to make sure that you don't miss out on the savings.

Why you should buy the Apple iPad Mini 2021
The latest generation of the Apple iPad Mini was released in 2021, but it's still featured in our roundup of the best iPads because it's the model that you should buy if you want a smaller and more compact version of Apple's tablets. Its 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display is smaller than the screens of its peers, but it's still big enough to enjoy watching streaming shows and browsing websites, while allowing you to use the device with one hand. Unlike its predecessor, there's no Home button, so the Touch ID sensor is instead built into the power button at the side of the Apple iPad Mini 2021.

Read more
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 9 heavily discounted today
The Surface Pro 9 in laptop mode on a table.

Microsoft's Surface devices are well known for their versatility and performance, but they command premium prices. That's why there's always high demand for Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals, as who doesn't want to enjoy a discount when making a huge investment? If you're interested, Best Buy is offering the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 at $300 off, which brings its price down to $1,000 from $1,300, and the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 at $540 off, which lowers its price also to $1,000 from $1,540, ahead of the arrival of the consumer versions of the Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10. You need to push through with your transaction as soon as possible if either of these bargains caught your attention, as we're not sure how much time is remaining before they disappear.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 -- $1,000, was $1,300

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a traditional Windows 11 laptop that's powered by the 12th-generation Intel Core i5 Evo processor, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and 8GB of RAM. It won't match up to the performance of the best laptops, but it's going to be more than enough to handle daily tasks for work or school. The laptop features a 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen with vibrant colors and sharp details, a battery that can last up to 18 hours on a single charge, and a 512GB SSD that provides ample storage space for your files. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 also comes with a 720p webcam and dual far-field Studio Mics for clear video calls.

Read more
We have some bad news about the Google Pixel 9
A render of the Google Pixel 9 smartphone in black.

When the first wave of Google Pixel 9 series leaks arrived on the scene a few weeks ago, what really got us excited was the camera upgrade for the entry-level model. The leaked renders envisioned a triple-lens rear camera setup for the Pixel 9 that added a periscope-style telephoto snapper at the back alongside a radical design change.

Well, it seems those changes will remain a pipe dream, at least in 2024. OnLeaks, in collaboration with 91Mobiles, has shared alleged renders of the Pixel 9, claiming that the triple-camera devices in those leaked renders actually depicted the pricier Pixel 9 Pro and a new Pixel 9 Pro XL variant.

Read more