William Richert, the maverick writer-director behind the Jeff Bridges-starring conspiracy thriller Winter Kills and A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, which gave River Phoenix his first leading role, has died. He was 79. Richert died Tuesday at his home in Portland, Oregon, his wife, Gretchen, told The Hollywood Reporter. She would not disclosed the cause of death but said he chose to use Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act. 
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors on Friday showed jurors photos of the horrific damage the bullets fired by Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz's AR-15 rifle did to some of his 17 victims, causing extensive wounds to their heads, bodies and limbs. The jury also saw gruesome crime scene photos showing victims who died in their classrooms at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, some falling on top of each other. It was an unusually graphic display in a U.S. courtroom as most of the nation's mass shootings never reach trial because the killer dies during or immediately after the attack. 
Flip through the gallery for a look at 18 iconic country stars who've also made their debut on the big (or small!) screen, ranging from George Strait's appearance in "Pure Country" to Dolly Parton's beloved turn in "9 to 5." 
EXCLUSIVE: To test whether Mark Zuckerberg's claims that 'about 15%' of posts are from accounts you don't follow, six MailOnline reporters analysed posts in their Instagram feeds.Celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner led calls to 'make Instagram Instagram again', and claimed the app was 'trying to be like TikTok. 
Kim Kardashian and her sister Kylie Jenner, seen in 2020, led criticism of Instagram's changes
Entertainment: Instagram kills changes and will phase out full-screen videos and photos after celebrities complain
- By dailymail.co.uk
- july 29, 2022
William Richert, Writer-Director of ‘Winter Kills,’ Dies at 79
William Richert, the maverick writer-director behind the Jeff Bridges-starring conspiracy thriller Winter Kills and A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, which gave River Phoenix his first leading role, has died. He was 79. Richert died Tuesday at his home in Portland, Oregon, his wife, Gretchen, told The Hollywood Reporter. She would not disclosed the cause of death but said he chose to use Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.
Instagram is rolling back a recently released version of its app that features full-screen videos after being met with harsh criticism from influencers and celebrities.
The social media platform has been testing full-screen videos and photos, but numerous Instagram users, including famous sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, complained the app was copying rival TikTok and shared a petition to 'Make Instagram Instagram Again.'
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri told Casey Newton's Platformer on Thursday that the some of the changes will be phased out, but while the number of algorithmically recommended videos people see will be reduced, he says the number will rise again when the company feels the technology has improved.
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'I'm glad we took a risk — if we're not failing every once in a while, we're not thinking big enough or bold enough,' Mosseri said.
'But we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup. [When] we've learned a lot, then we come back with some sort of new idea or iteration. So we're going to work through that.'
© Provided by Daily Mail Instagram has been testing full-screen videos and photos, but numerous users, including famous influencers and celebs complained the app was copying rival TikTok 
© Provided by Daily Mail Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner led the movement to 'Make Instagram Instagram Again.' The pair voiced distaste for the app's new redesign that is similar to TikTok The head of Instagram has previously admitted that changes to the app were 'not yet good' after Kim Kardashian joined the chorus of criticism about alterations to the photo-sharing site over claims it is obsessed with taking on TikTok.
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Instagram is increasingly promoting its Reels function - a short-video feature that seems to have taken a page from TikTok's playbook.
On Tuesday, Mosseri insisted that the changes were necessary and here to stay - while acknowledging there had been teething problems.
But by Thursday, the Instagram boss told Platformer that the company was temporarily scaling back the use of its recommendation algorithm, which places content in users' feeds from accounts they don't already follow.
© Provided by Daily Mail Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said Thursday that the company is temporarily scaling back the use of its recommendation algorithm, which places content in users' feeds from accounts they don't already follow 'When you discover something in your feed that you didn't follow before, there should be a high bar — it should just be great,' Mosseri told Platformer.
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'You should be delighted to see it. And I don't think that's happening enough right now. So I think we need to take a step back, in terms of the percentage of feeds that are recommendations, get better at ranking and recommendations, and then — if and when we do — we can start to grow again.'
Mosseri has said that the app will continue to support photos, but said Thursday that Reels were likely the future of Instagram's feed. He claimed that 'personal sharing' of photos was happening more in stories and in direct messages than in the feed.
Video: Instagram CEO releases video explaining changes to app following backlash from users (NBC News)
'Feed could be, and to some degree is, a place to discover things to talk about with your friends. With Reels, we're seeing this happen a lot,' he said. 'Reels are inspiring a lot of conversations — people just send funny videos to their friends that they've discovered in feed.'
Mosseri said this shift is occurring in response to user behavior and added that people whose screens were altered were part of a test group, ahead of a wider rollout.
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Journal Editorial Report: Manchin Deal Tees Up Billions In New Taxes And Spending. Image: /Associated Press He said they believed a more full-screen experience — for both photos and videos — 'might be a more fun and engaging experience'.
But users have said they're sick of having random strangers' posts foisted on them, and that they only want to see their contacts.
Critics have bombarded Instagram executives with pleas to stop the push for video, and return Instagram to its simple picture origins.
On Monday, Kardashian and her sister Kylie Jenner - who is the most-followed woman on Instagram - begged Adam Mosseri to rethink the video plan.
'Make Instagram Instagram again,' they both posted.
'Stop trying to be TikTok, I just want to see cute photos of my friends.'
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, launched Reels in August 2020 in response to the growing dominance TikTok had in the video sharing market. It now works across Instagram and Facebook.
© Provided by Daily Mail Mosseri admitted the changes to the app were not perfect yet, but said they were essential 
© Provided by Daily Mail Mosseri is pictured with Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta. Meta now owns Instagram On Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors on the company's second-quarter earnings call that the company planned to more than double the amount of recommended content in Facebook and Instagram feeds by the end of next year, Insider reported.
A little more than 15 percent of content in Instagram users' feeds is recommended content, Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg also said in the call that viewing Reels accounted for about 20 percent of the time people spend on Instagram.
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Kate, William, And The Royal Fam's Statements On Meghan's 41st Bday Are Revealing .
The family acknowledged Meghan's big day in a telling way.But for Meghan's 41st birthday today, the royals gave a rare look into the current state of affairs with the Duchess of Sussex—or the version they want the public to see, anyway. Prince Charles; Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Kate Middleton; and Prince William shared posts celebrating Meghan's big day on their social media accounts. Meghan and Harry, of course, don't have social media, so they have not reacted to any.
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