Tech

David Rogier got the inspiration to launch MasterClass, the online learning platform, from advice he received as a boy from his grandmother. Education is something that can never be taken away from a person, she explained to him. Years later, when Rogier had the opportunity to start his own venture after working for some time

Amazon Prime Video this month launched the local version of its comedy show “LOL: Last One Laughing” in Italy where it has rapidly become the most watched title ever on the platform’s Italian service, says Amazon Studio Head of Italian Originals Nicole Morganti who in an exclusive interview with Variety discussed Amazon’s local strategy a

In the wake of escalating violence against Asians in the U.S., crowdfunding site GoFundMe collaborated with independent film director Bao Nguyen to produce a short film that shines a light on the historical issue of anti-Asian racism in the country — with the participation of Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Lisa Ling, and other entertainment and

Streaming media service Plex, looking to grow its free, ad-supported video business, announced that it raised more than $50 million in Series C financing from existing investor Intercap. The financing round includes approximately $15 million in new capital. The remainder represents Intercap’s secondary purchases from employees and other early shareholders. To date, Plex has raised

Netflix’s multibillion-dollar content spending continues paying off: The lion’s share of U.S. consumers say the streamer has the best original programming, according to a new Morgan Stanley survey. Netflix remains the most frequently cited as offering the best original programming — with 38% of survey respondents picking it as No. 1, per the Wall Street

The celebrity Courtney Stodden came out as non-binary Tuesday night, and announced their new pronouns on social media. Posting on Instagram and Twitter, Stodden began by writing, “They/them/theirs. I don’t Identify as she or her. I’ve never felt like I ever fit in anywhere.” Reached via a direct message on Twitter Tuesday night, Stodden said,

Netflix veteran Jessica Neal is leaving the company, after leading the streamer’s HR, recruiting, culture and coaching teams since 2017. The company didn’t provide a reason for her departure. A Netflix rep declined to comment on Neal’s exit and would not confirm whether the company is planning to hire an exec to replace her in

DraftKings is upping its bet on original content: The sports-wagering company announced the appointment of Brian Angiolet, a two-decade veteran of Verizon, as its first chief media officer. Most recently, Angiolet was senior VP and chief business officer at Verizon, after originally joining the telco in 1999. He starts at DraftKings on April 26 and

Ask any executive what the music business was like in the ’00s and their face may take on an expression more commonly associated with narrowly averted disasters like car accidents or, more accurately, attempted robberies. Due to peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms like Napster and Limewire, U.S. recorded-music revenues lost more than half their value in the

Looking to upgrade your Roku remote? The company launched its first rechargeable remote control, priced at $30, that will let you track it down if you’ve lost it by simply saying “Hey Roku, find my remote.” The Roku Voice Remote Pro works with all of the company’s players and Roku TV models dating back to

Epic Games, the company behind global smash hit “Fortnite,” announced that it completed a $1 billion round of funding — giving it a whopping equity valuation of $28.7 billion. The round includes an additional $200 million investment from Sony, which pumped $250 million into Epic last year (for an implied valuation of $17.9 billion at

Netflix wants to get tykes clicking into their favorite TV shows and movies faster: The streamer is launching a redesigned kids profile on connected TVs to prominently feature characters from their most-watched titles right on home screen. It’s an effort by Netflix to engage kids more immediately, by using a visual language they grasp more

Netflix has renewed its biggest new original series, “Bridgerton,” for seasons 3 and 4. Season 2 of the sex-soaked show set in Regency London is currently in production and in keeping with the novels, tells a new romance story — that of Lord Anthony Bridgerton’s quest for love. Sadly for fans of the show, Season

Google is killing off the Google Play Movies & TV app, which lets users purchase and rent films and series, from Roku devices and smart TVs. As of June 15, 2021, the Google Play Movies & TV app will no longer be available on the Roku players or TVs or Samsung, LG and Vizio smart

MeWe, a privacy-focused social network that runs no advertising, has hired entertainment and tech exec Jeffrey Edell as CEO as the upstart looks to lure more celebrities to the platform. Edell, who also is joining MeWe’s board of directors, succeeds company founder Mark Weinstein, who is assuming the new role of chief evangelist. Edell has

UPDATED: Many users trying to access several Google productivity applications — including Google Docs and Google Drive — encountered serious technical problems Monday morning. Google said the issues were resolved by 12:20 p.m. ET, more than three hours after people first began reporting various issues with the services. According to the internet giant’s status page,

Marc Maron’s long-running “WTF” interview podcast is the recipient of the top accolade for the Podcast Academy’s first-ever Ambies awards. The Podcast Academy selected “WTF With Marc Maron” as the winner of the inaugural Governors Award, which recognizes a podcast or individual for the “compelling impact they’ve had on the industry.” Maron and “WTF” co-creator

Microsoft said it clinched a deal to buy Nuance Communications, a pioneering voice-recognition tech company, in an all-cash transaction valued at $19.7 billion, inclusive of Nuance’s net debt. It would be the second-biggest acquisition for Microsoft behind its $26 billion deal for LinkedIn in 2016. Microsoft expects the deal to close in calendar year 2021,

Vox Media, the media company whose properties include New York Magazine, announced the acquisition of Cafe Studios, the podcast company co-founded by Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bharara — who inspired the character played by Paul Giamatti in Showtime’s “Billions”

The FBI arrested a Texas man who allegedly plotted to blow up an Amazon data center in an attempt to “kill… about 70% of the internet” and bring down “the oligarchy” in power in the U.S. Seth Aaron Pendley, of Wichita Falls, Texas, was apprehended Thursday after allegedly attempting to obtain an explosive device from

Starz has partnered with the Alliance of Women Directors on the #TakeTheLead director’s program, which is designed to create more directing opportunities for women and people. The announcement was made by president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch during the company’s first #TakeTheLead “Transparency Talk,” which will be held on a monthly basis and bring relevant discussions

The 5-year-old son of Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) came home one day to tell his father a story about an older child that kept calling him “Chinese boy” over and over again. Kim’s son said he kept laughing it off, replying that he is a “New Jersey boy.” “Oh, he’s so sweet,” Kim said when

Did “Godzilla vs. Kong” just push WarnerMedia’s HBO Max to a monster quarter of subscriber signups? For the first time, HBO Max landed on the quarterly rankings of the top 10 most-downloaded apps in the U.S. for the first quarter of 2021, as tracked by research firm App Annie. The subscription-streaming app stood at No.

Last year, Patrick Simondac — the makeup artist, digital influencer and entrepreneur known online as Patrick Starrr — noticed a trend of people going back to natural beauty looks during the pandemic. He wondered what that might mean for the brand appeal of Patrick Starrr, whose makeup style he describes as “maximalist,” with a “technique

Community, a startup that lets celebrities and marketers communicate with their fans and customers via text messages, announced an additional $40 million investment from Salesforce Ventures. The new round of financing brings Community’s total amount raised to nearly $90 million, the company said. Previous investors in Community include Twilio, Live Nation Entertainment, Sony Innovation Fund,

A surge of users of Facebook and Instagram reported problems accessing the apps and websites on Thursday. Reports of technical issues for both Facebook-owned services spiked at about 5:15 p.m. ET on DownDetector.com. By 5:27 p.m. ET, the number of error reports for Instagram had hit nearly 90,000 while Facebook user reports were just over

SoundCloud today announced the appointment of Eliah Seton as President of SoundCloud, effective May 1, 2021. He will report directly to Michael Weissman, Chief Executive Officer, SoundCloud. The news was announced the day after Seton stepped down as chief of Warner Music’s ADA and was tipped by Music Business Worldwide. In this new role, Seton

CrimeDoor, whose augmented-reality app provides recreations of true-crime scenes, has scrapped plans to produce an AR-based depiction of George Floyd’s killing. Earlier this week, a PR agency enlisted by the L.A.-based startup sent reporters a pitch touting CrimeDoor’s upcoming slate of historical crime reenactments, promising to let users “experience final moments in history” — including

Video sharing social-network TikTok and Toho, Japan’s biggest and grandest studio, are partnering to launch a film festival aimed at scouting new creative talent. The TikTok Toho Film Festival 2021 will start accepting entries worldwide on April 12, with a closing deadline of May 31. Creators should upload their entries, which can be from 15 seconds

Twitter recently was in talks to acquire Clubhouse, the heavily hyped live-audio social media app, in a deal worth $4 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. Twitter’s overture came even as it has been developing a similar feature called Spaces. According to the report, the discussions between the two companies have since ended. Asked about