Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
John Lennon's son Julian is auctioning off pieces of memorabilia relating to the Beatles, including three guitars given to him by his father and handwritten notes about the 1968 song "Hey Jude" -- but not physically.
Instead, the auction is a sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a type of digital asset. Each winning bidder will be able to claim ownership of a digital file described as an "audio/visual collectible" in which Julian Lennon narrates a "specific heartfelt memory."
"I feel incredibly lucky to live in a day and age where innovation allows me to share such personal pieces of my Lennon family history," said Julian Lennon, who is a singer-songwriter, writer and artist.
"Through this NFT collection, I'm able to grant exclusive access to special items that I cherish and carry on the legacy of my father in a new way."
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) use blockchain to record who owns a digital file, such as an image, video or text.
Although NFTs are sometimes sold alongside physical items, as a sort of digital certificate of authenticity, owning an NFT does not confer ownership of the underlying item -- rather, it can be thought of as a kind of digital bragging rights.
Such sales have nevertheless exploded in popularity, with NFT artworks selling for millions of dollars.
In this case, the buyers of the Beatles NFTs will not receive a guitar or physical piece of paper. What they will get is a unit of blockchain data recording that their crypto wallets own an NFT linked to a digital file showing the item.
So for the "Hey Jude" notes, which show Paul McCartney's doodles and drawings, the buyer will receive an NFT of an image of the object "brought to life in an even more personal way through Julian Lennon's exclusive audio narration," the auction website says.
Bids on this NFT were at US$50,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
"It really made me learn to love Dad again because I just saw him the way I remembered him back in the day when I was a kid and when I was with him around those years," said Julian in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.
"So it was very special to me."
The sale also includes an NFT representing an image of an Afghan coat that John Lennon wore on the set of the 1967 film "Magical Mystery Tour" and an NFT of an image of a black cape he wore in the 1965 film "Help!." Bids on these were last at $8,000 and $6,000 respectively.
Surging interest in crypto assets has led traditional auction houses such as Christie's into NFT sales. The Lennon auction is run by Julien's Auctions and YellowHeart NFT and closes on Feb. 7.
Bids can be placed online or at a physical auction in Beverly Hills. Payments are allowed in various cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether and dogecoin.
An unspecified portion of the proceeds will be donated to the White Feather Foundation, which Julian Lennon said in a Tweet would "offset" the carbon emissions linked to the auction via a carbon removal marketplace called Nori.
The blockchain technology used for NFTs and cryptocurrencies has been criticized for their large carbon footprints.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Sujata Rao, Catherine Evans and Karishma Singh)
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.
When one is extended an invitation to the Royal Garden Party in London, England, there's undoubtedly no shortage of pomp and circumstance. Barrie, Ont. natives Megan Kirk Chang and her husband Brandon experienced just that as they entered the prestigious event hosted at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
An unlikely celebrity emerged from social media to cheer on the Edmonton Oilers as they face the Dallas Stars tonight in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
The proprietors of Regina's sole discount theatre are aware they're carrying on a significant legacy.
When Jujhar Mann said he wanted to be a pastry chef on a grade school career project, he didn't imagine that pursuing his dream would land him on a popular Netflix baking competition.
A city known for its history, ties to outer space and southern barbecue, is also home to a Winnipeg chef dishing out dozens of perogies.
A Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.