Tech

For Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood issue, we interviewed TikTok stars about their lives in quarantine. Charli D’Amelio doesn’t know how she became the most-followed person on TikTok. Since posting her first video in May 2019, the 16-year-old has danced with Jennifer Lopez, appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” performed at the NBA

Gaming entertainment company Rovio Entertainment Corp. has appointed IMG as the exclusive worldwide consumer products licensing agent for its “Angry Birds” franchise. The partnership will give Rovio the opportunity to develop a holistic consumer products strategy for the mobile app-turned-blockbuster across all content and platforms. “Over the years, Rovio has worked with a number of

On July 29, in a congressional antitrust hearing, the CEOs of four of the world’s biggest tech companies endured a five-plus-hour cross-examination filled with combative and accusatory questioning. The livestreamed bipartisan grilling was aimed at making the case that the rich corporate quartet — Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet — have repeatedly abused their outsize

Like the rest of us, the talents on this year’s Young Hollywood list have had their lives disrupted by the coronavirus: Productions were halted and tours canceled. But these artists, who include actors, musicians and digital stars, have continued to flourish during the pandemic-forced shutdown of the entertainment industry, flexing new creative muscles or simply

For Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood issue, we interviewed TikTok stars about their lives in quarantine. Noah Schnapp goes to a regular school with normal people and cringes when his parents watch him on TikTok. He just got a Husky and regularly makes videos with his sister, Chloe. He also just so happens to star

Phil Schiller, Apple’s top marketing exec who has served in senior marketing roles at the tech giant over a career spanning more than 30 years, is stepping into a new role at the company as an “Apple Fellow.” In the new role, Schiller will still report to Apple CEO Tim Cook. As an Apple Fellow,

For Variety’s Power of Young Hollywood issue, we interviewed TikTok stars about their lives in quarantine. Emma Chamberlain is blonde again. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’m just going to dye my hair because I just want to feel something,’” said the internet “it” girl in a Zoom interview with Variety. Chamberlain, who rose to YouTube

Disgruntled employees at games developer Blizzard Entertainment — some of whom reportedly earn only minimum wage — have shared their compensation details in an internal document, hoping to spur the company to pay workers more fairly. According to a Bloomberg report, a company employee created a spreadsheet and encouraged others to share their compensation info

Noah Schnapp got a taste of fame in 2016 when he was cast as Will Byers on the Netflix drama “Stranger Things.” But the 15-year-old actor admits that his “really young fans” have never even heard of the series. “Sometimes I’ll see a group of little kids on the street, and they’ll be like, ‘Noah,

Twitter disclosed that it anticipates being forced to pay an FTC fine of $150 million to $250 million related to alleged violations over the social network’s use of private data for advertising. The company revealed the expected scope of the fine in a 10-Q filing with the SEC. Twitter said that on July 28 it

President Trump will not try to immediately shut down TikTok as he had previously threatened but said the Chinese-owned app will be “out of business” by Sept. 15 in the U.S. if parent company ByteDance has not sold TikTok to Microsoft or another American company. “I set a date of around September 15, at which point

When the MTV Video Music Awards announced its nominations last week, it added a new category that’s fitting for the times: best quarantine performance. Those competing for a Moonman include Lady Gaga’s performance of “Smile” from Global Citizen’s “One World: Together At Home” concert, CNCO’s “Unplugged At Home” and Post Malone’s Nirvana tribute. Several of

Placing an early bet on the booming Spanish-language market, Starzplay, Starz’s premium international streaming service, has unveiled its first slate of international original productions, made up of four series from Spain and Mexico. The titles will all be made available across the service’s footprint in Latin America. Select titles will debut in Spain and the

Snap, whose features have been copied directly by Facebook, is now borrowing a concept popularized by short-form lip-sync app TikTok: It’s going to let Snapchat users add officially licensed music tracks to videos. Snap plans to launch the music feature widely in the fall of 2020 for English users. For now, Snapchat has kicked off

Microsoft confirmed that it is in talks to buy TikTok from China’s ByteDance — and expects to conclude the M&A negotiations by Sept. 15 — coming after Donald Trump said he opposed such a deal and has claimed he plans to ban TikTok. Microsoft said that if it consummated a deal for TikTok, it would

HBO Max still isn’t available directly on Roku or Amazon’s Fire TV streaming devices — more than two months after the service’s launch — as the companies remain deadlocked in disputes over business terms. For now, Roku and Fire TV still support the newly renamed HBO app for legacy customers of HBO Now, and both

Netflix will now let all users of its Android app play back video at different rates — ranging from half-speed to 1.5 times faster — a feature that elicited a strongly negative response from some Hollywood creators when the streamer began testing it out last fall. According to Netflix’s Keela Robison, VP of product innovation,

Two years after agreeing to pay $17 million to settle a landmark privacy case, TV maker Vizio is back in court, accusing two insurers of failing to defend the suit. Vizio filed suit against Navigators Insurance Co. and Arch Insurance Co. on Thursday, accusing both of wrongfully denying coverage. The lawsuit is particularly harsh about

Basketball fans can’t sit courtside these days, but they might just get the ultimate view of NBA action when ESPN opens its coverage of the league’s season this evening. Fans who use the ESPN App will be able to access full games with a “rail-cam” view, which lets the streaming audience see the action through

After canceling MipTV in April in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Reed Midem will be hosting a hybrid physical edition of Mipcom, the international TV showcase, without exhibition stands. Named Mipcom Rendezvous, this year’s format will also see the launch of Mipcom Online +, a premium digital service which will run from Oct. 5

Agnes Chu, a 12-year Disney veteran, is leaving as senior VP of content for Disney Plus to join Condé Nast as head of the media and publishing company’s entertainment division. Chu will start as president of Condé Nast Entertainment in September 2020, reporting to Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch. There’s no immediate word on a

Australia is getting closer to moving ahead with controversial legislation that will make the U.S. tech giants pay local companies for news. Other measures to contain their influence are also on the cards. The “Draft Mandatory Code of Conduct Governing Digital Platforms and Media Businesses” was announced on Friday by Treasury Minister Josh Frydenberg. The

Layoffs have hit Legendary Digital Networks, a spokesperson for the company’s corporate parent Legendary Entertainment confirmed to Variety. The cuts are to eight full-time positions, representing 30% of the staff, according to sources. The layoffs are across the division’s marketing, production and sales teams. Legendary had been scaling back the digital division since Joshua Grode

Cocomelon, the YouTube children’s animated nursery rhymes and songs channel that is one of the platform’s most-viewed channel with over 3.3 billion average monthly views, has been acquired by Moonbug Entertainment. Moonbug also said it acquired Blippi, a live-action educational show on YouTube that generates more than half a billion average monthly views that feature

“Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston has revealed via Instagram that he contracted COVID-19. Now recovered and with the antibodies, he has decided to donate plasma to aid scientific research of the virus. Cranston made the announcement with a two-minute video in which he takes his followers through the plasma donation process at the UCLA Blood

Apple trounced Wall Street’s expectations with a blowout third-quarter earnings report. The technology titan reported revenue of $59.7 billion, an increase of 11% from the $53.8 billion in revenue that Apple reported in the prior-year quarter. The company’s earnings per share of $2.58 was also an improvement on the $2.18 a share that Apple earned

YouTube’s revenue growth cooled in the second quarter of 2020, but even with the COVID-19 pandemic Google’s internet video platform carved out year-over-year growth of 5.8%. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, posted a 2% decline in revenue — its first-ever revenue drop — while it still topped tempered Wall Street estimates. For Q2, YouTube’s ad revenue

Facebook keeps growing at healthy clip: The social giant beat analysts’ financial estimates the second quarter of 2020, on both the top and bottom line, as it netted around 100 million new monthly users in the period for its flagship service. Facebook monthly active users were 2.70 billion as of June 30, 2020, an increase

Erich Bergen was staring at his computer screen on the desk in the bedroom of his Harlem apartment. In a couple minutes, the July 21 final installment of Nancy Pelosi’s virtual Hold the House fundraisers for Democratic congressional candidates was going live. The Zoom grid on Bergen’s monitor included a shot of former President Barack

Universal Music Group and Canal Plus Group’s international operations helped Vivendi stay afloat during the first half of 2020 which saw the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The European media giant posted a 3% year-on-year increase in revenues to €7.5 billion ($8.87 billion) during the first half of 2020, which ended on June 30. During