Tech

Magician David Blaine will attempt his first live stunt in almost a decade in a YouTube-exclusive livestream later this month — this one involving a bunch of balloons. In the live special, Blaine will float through the air a la Pixar’s “Up,” elevated by helium-filled balloons. The multi-hour “David Blaine Ascension” global livestream event will

Mondo.NYC, the music and tech conference created by the founders of CMJ Music Marathon, has announced the initial speakers for its fifth annual edition, taking place virtually Oct. 13-16. They include Binta Niambi Brown, attorney and founder of Omalilly Projects in conversation with Ty Stiklorius, founder & CEO of Friends at Work and John Legend’s

Indie film and series distributor 1091 Media, which recently renamed itself as Streamwise, hired another key exec for its forthcoming business-to-business analytics platform for content owners: Doug Shineman, an alum of Roku and The Orchard, who has joined the company as chief revenue officer. As CRO at Streamwise, L.A.-based Shineman leads teams responsible for revenue

TikTok collected device-specific addresses of users’ smartphones via its Android app for at least 15 months over 2018-19, using a technique that Google had banned developers from using without user consent, according to a Wall Street Journal report. TikTok tracked Android phones’ MAC (media access control) addresses — unique hardware identifiers assigned to a network

The broad restructuring at WarnerMedia is a “natural progression” for the media conglomerate to hone its focus on HBO Max, according to John Stephens, AT&T’s chief financial officer. WarnerMedia laid off hundreds of employees Monday across Warner Bros., HBO and DC Entertainment. That came after a major management shakeup under new CEO Jason Kilar, under

China Literature, which is both China’s leading online bookstore and owner of one of the country’s top TV producers, swung from profits of $55 million a year ago to net losses of $465 million in the six months to June. Revenues were up 10% to $461 million. The company, which is majority owned by social

Draya Michele, famous for her turn in reality TV show “Basketball Wives L.A.,” has inked a deal for a docu-series — all about her life — coming to subscription-streaming service Zeus this fall. The 10-part series, “Doses of Draya,” promises a behind-the-scenes look at the actor-model-entrepreneur-social media influencer’s life as she builds her businesses and

CuriosityStream, the nonfiction streaming company headed by Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks, is going public through a reverse merger with a firm set up to execute just such a roll-up deal. CuriosityStream is combining with Software Acquisition Group Inc., a special purpose acquisition company that raised about $150 million in November 2019. The merger is

TikTok is facing an uncertain future — and the popular app may be effectively banned in a few weeks by the Trump administration in the U.S. — but it’s still plowing ahead as if all systems are go. Last month, TikTok announced the formation of a new Creator Fund to support creators who are building

Amazon is sunsetting the Twitch Prime name — relaunching it as Prime Gaming, which will continue to be available for no extra cost to all of the company’s more than 150 million Prime members worldwide. On Monday, Aug. 10, the Amazon Prime Gaming service went live, replacing the four-year-old Twitch Prime. By moving it outside

Unsurprisingly the coronavirus crisis has prompted an uptick in views of classic and heritage cinema titles on streaming platforms, even spawning new online outlets for vintage films. Now the hope is that this increased interest can serve as a stimulus to foster greater preservation of the world’s cinematic patrimony before it’s too late. That is

Could a Twitter–TikTok tie-up transpire? The social network and TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, have engaged in “preliminary” discussions about merging TikTok’s U.S. operations with Twitter, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous individuals. Twitter declined to comment. A TikTok rep said via email Sunday, “As a matter of corporate policy we do not comment

The Weeknd took TikTok viewers to another dimension — and gifted them with a snippet of a brand new song — during “The Weeknd Experience,” an augmented reality, interactive livestream held on the platform Friday night (Aug. 7). With the music industry currently inundated with a slew streaming events and performances, The Weeknd’s record label

With much of the world still stuck in a coronavirus-mandated lockdown, and most TV and film production still on pause, theater of the mind-style content could emerge as one of the best options for modern-day escapism. At least, that’s what Amazon is banking on with its new interactive audio game for Alexa, “Starfinder.” Amazon partnered

The talent roster behind the popular Bon Appétit Test Kitchen series on YouTube continues to unravel. Two more BA Test Kitchen hosts said Friday they won’t appear in the videos anymore — continuing the string of allegations that Condé Nast is not delivering on its promise to support diversity in its entertainment division. Gaby Melian,

Netflix has launched a user interface in Hindi — a new functionality that will cater to almost half of India’s 1.4 billion population. The platform’s subscribers will be able to switch over to the Hindi interface from the “language” option on the platform — which has largely been accessible only in English to date in

Back in 2007, Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube by his soon-to-be manager Scooter Braun. The two skyrocketed to fame together seemingly overnight with the 2009 release of Bieber’s first single, “One Time.” At the ripe age of 13, Bieber’s path to stardom was set – but just a few years later, it all came

If Donald Trump wanted to shore up America’s national security with his Thursday night executive orders pinpointing two Chinese apps, he has certain not achieved much. On the other hand, if he wanted to send a political message, and make it perfectly clear that China’s technological rivalry with America comes at a price, he succeeded

A new slugfest has erupted between two of Silicon Valley’s biggest corporations. Apple, after repeatedly rejecting Facebook Gaming app for iOS devices, finally approved the social giant’s app for the App Store. However, Facebook had to strip out games entirely — allegedly because of Apple’s preconditions for it to be published in the App Store.

U.S. President Donald Trump has issued executive orders banning transactions with two leading Chinese apps; controversial video sharing app TikTok; and WeChat, one of the world’s most popular social media platforms. The separate orders, citing national security concerns, were published late Thursday and take effect in 45 days. They prevent any transactions with WeChat or

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook will give most of its workers the option to work from home until July 2021. Facebook’s move to extend WFH through mid-2021 follows a similar announcement by Google last month. Previously, Facebook had told employees to expect to work from home, if their job functions permit, through the end

You still can’t watch HBO Max or NBCUniversal’s Peacock on Fire TV — but now you can stream TikTok videos on your big-screen TV through the Amazon devices. For whatever fans of TikTok there might be looking to watch top lip-syncing and dance videos on an HDTV, the company has bowed an app on Fire

When Kevin Hart teamed up with Lionsgate back in the summer of 2017 to launch Laugh Out Loud Network, the idea was to create an owned-and-operated streaming home for comedy content, with subscriptions a big piece of the revenue pie. As it happened, that was right around the time NBCUniversal pulled the plug on Seeso,

The situation at Condé Nast’s Bon Appétit remains in flux, following the June ouster of editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport after allegations of racial discrimination at the food-media brand and a photo of Rapoport in brown-face circulated online. The media and publishing company announced that Sonia Chopra, former director of editorial strategy for Vox Media’s Eater, is

Talk about a bad [bleep] Addison Rae! The future of TikTok may be uncertain — as the Chinese-owned app’s forced sale talks with Microsoft continue — but the the most popular influencers on the platform have reaped a huge haul from their short-form celebrity. Addison Rae leads a new list of the top-earning TikTok stars,

Here’s a daunting editing assignment: Take more than 300,000 videos and boil them down into one 90-minute documentary film. For YouTube’s forthcoming “Life In A Day 2020,” the video platform says it received more than 300,000 submissions from 191 countries in more than 65 languages, representing thousands of hours of footage, all recorded on the

Epic Games, creator and publisher of the massively popular “Fortnite” game, announced a $1.78 billion round of funding — which the company says gives it a post-money equity valuation of $17.3 billion. The round includes the previously announced $250 million strategic investment from Sony Corp., under which Sony obtained a 1.4% stake in Epic. Following

For Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood issue, we interviewed TikTok stars about their lives in quarantine. At 14, Jalaiah Harmon created the most viral dance the internet had ever seen. The only problem? Nobody knew she made it. After a profile in The New York Times, she finally got the credit she deserved.  In an

Early on Wednesday morning, the FBI — including a SWAT team — raided YouTuber Jake Paul’s mansion in Calabasas, Calif., under a federal search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation into Paul. “We understand that a search warrant was executed at Jake’s Calabasas home this morning while Jake was out-of-state. We are still gathering

Roku, helped again by stay-at-home streaming during the coronavirus pandemic, topped Wall Street earnings estimates for the second quarter of 2020 and saw streaming hours skyrocket a whopping 65% year over year. Roku added 3.2 million incremental active accounts in Q2 to reach 43 million (up 41% year over year), while streaming hours increased by