October 25, 2018 10:53AM PT Niantic has announced Adventure Sync, a new “Pokémon Go” gameplay system that allows players to track their steps while their phones are in their pockets. The new feature is part of the Niantic Real World Platform, offering a way for players to get inspired to get out and walk without
Tech
Google over the last decade protected — and rewarded — several high-level execs who had been accused of sexual misconduct, including Android inventor Andy Rubin, who received a $90 million exit package, according to a New York Times report. The Times, in a nearly 2,800-word exposé published Thursday, said that in addition to Rubin two other top
Over 300 from the entertainment industry’s digital-marketing community gathered Thursday to celebrate some of its best and brightest at Snapchat’s Venice offices. For the fourth annual Silver Pixel Awards, which honor the pioneers of the field, three different awards were handed out for the first time by Hollywood in Pixels, a non-profit organization that saves
Joy Marcus, formerly Condé Nast Entertainment’s head of digital video, has joined Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) as a partner focused on digital media. Marcus, based in New York City, also will join the boards of JVP’s portfolio companies in the media sector. At the venture-capital firm, she’ll focus on deal flow in digital media in
October 25, 2018 9:24AM PT Facebook seems to be once again taking cues from a popular competitor: The social networking giant is building a music video app that’s strikingly similar to TikTok, according to a new Techcrunch report. Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Lasso, as the project is reportedly being called
Pandora today announced that Brad Minor has joined the company as Vice President, Head of Brand Marketing and Communications. According to the announcement, in this newly expanded position, Minor will be responsible for defining Pandora’s brand positioning to listeners and the industry together with the brand marketing, communications, experiential and social media teams that report to
“Fortnite” streams may have finally reached their peak viewership and Twitch is still dominating as the game streaming platform, according to a new report from StreamElements. Streams of the unbelievably popular battle royale game “Fortnite” peaked on Twitch in July, with 151 million hours of streamtime watched that month, according to a report released Thursday
Less than two weeks ahead of the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, Hulu is bringing ABC News Live and CBS News’ CBSN — two made-for-the-internet, 24-hour news channels — to its over-the-top live TV service. Starting Thursday (Oct. 26), Hulu With Live TV subscribers will be able to tune to three news streaming channels: ABC News
Media company Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment has acquired Truli Media, focused on Christian and “family friendly” content, the latest move in its strategy to assemble a lineup of VOD assets aligned with the parent company’s uplifting and inspirational brand. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. Bill Rouhana Jr., chairman and
October 25, 2018 6:00AM PT Mark and Jay Duplass have set a deal with interactive media firm Eko to develop a slate of live-action series. The pact calls for the brothers’ DBP Donut banner to produce series rooted in Eko’s proprietary technology that allows viewers to seamlessly shape stories as they unfold. Eko, a digital
Twitter shed 9 million user accounts in the third quarter of 2018 — and, as the company spun it, that’s a really healthy sign. The stock surged as much as 15% in premarket trading after Twitter reported better-than-expected profit and a revenue increase of 29% year-over-year thanks to strong ad sales. It was the fourth
Millennial-targeted news startup Cheddar is getting into the prof-assessment biz with the acquisition of Rate My Professors from Viacom. The RateMyProfessors.com website and its app are used by 6 million college students monthly, who write an average of 125,000 new professor and course ratings per month. Currently, it hosts over 20 million ratings across 1.8
October 25, 2018 4:35AM PT British authorities have levied the maximum possible £500,000 ($644,900) fine on Facebook after the social media network failed to safeguard its users’ data. The U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office investigated the breach, which centered on a data-harvesting app developed for tech and analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, which has since closed. “The
AT&T, prepping a new effort to offset declines in its traditional pay-TV biz, plans to test a “thin” streaming set-top box and service in the first half of 2019 aimed at improving the profitability of its TV bundles. Variety first reported on the set-top box a year ago (pictured above), a wireless device that runs Google’s Android
Facebook is turning up the volume on its push into music. The company is broadly launching a way to add songs to News Feed posts and Facebook Stories, expanding the rollout of its lip-syncing feature, and will soon let users add songs to their profiles. To date, Facebook has inked licensing deals for songs with
NBC News is joining the parade of traditional news outlets trying to capture the interest of a rising generation of news junkies who get their fix with mobile devices and streaming video. The NBCUniversal unit, which already produces broadcast programs like “Meet the Press” and “Today,” cable hours including “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “Deadline:
October 24, 2018 9:27AM PT Snapchat corporate parent Snap has poached Amazon advertising executive Jeremi Gorman as its new chief business officer while also appointing former Huffington Post CEO Jared Grusd as its new chief strategy officer. The two executives are effectively replacing Snap’s outgoing chief strategy officer Imran Khan, who had announced his departure in September.
Apple CEO Tim Cook called for the U.S. to enact tougher privacy laws similar to Europe’s GDRP Wednesday, and warned against negative consequences of tech companies collecting huge amounts of data for their artificial intelligence efforts. Giving a speech to EU regulators in Brussels, Cook said that his company was “in full support of a comprehensive,
Alisha Marie and Remi Cruz, top digital influencers and best friends, are collaborating on a new weekly podcast — which the duo promise will be like having a sleepover with your BFFs. The pair have a combined fanbase of over 28 million followers across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms. In their “Pretty Basic” podcast,
Deutsche Telekom launched a new OTT service Wednesday as the German market heats up, with research suggesting that Netflix now has more subscribers than paybox Sky Deutschland. That finding comes after similar trends were reported in the Britain, meaning that streaming subscribers now surpass traditional pay-TV users in Europe’s two biggest markets. The deep-pocketed incumbent telcos
October 24, 2018 6:00AM PT House of Highlights, the youth-skewing sports-highlights media brand owned by Turner’s Bleacher Report, has been an Instagram sensation — with currently over 10.8 million followers and billions of video views. Now Bleacher Report hopes to crank up the House of Highlights footprint on Twitter: The new “House of Highlights Show” on
Hollywood gave them the idea for their product. Now, their product could help Hollywood come up with new ideas: New York-based augmented reality (AR) startup Spatial came out of stealth Wednesday with a new collaboration tool that seems like taken straight out of “Minority Report.” Spatial’s 3D workspaces allow users to hold distributed meetings with
Travel and entertainment startup Culture Trip is premiering “Hungerlust,” its first original series — which the company describes as a food show that’s not really about food. Culture Trip, founded in 2011 by former academic psychiatrist Dr. Kris Naudts, runs a network of more than 300 freelancer around the world, and it tapped eight of
Spring cleaning started early at Facebook: The company unveiled a new version of its Messenger chat app Tuesday that cuts down on a lot of the clutter that had found its way into the app in recent years. The biggest change: The new Messenger version features just 3 tabs, as opposed to the previous 9
Netflix announced terms of $2 billion in debt securities, which will bring its long-term debt to more than $10 billion as the streamer seeks more cash to continue buying up content. The company on Monday announced plans to raise the new debt — the sixth time in less than four years it’s raising financing with
The first images of Lego’s full line of “Overwatch” sets have leaked online. While the the official Lego “Overwatch” website still only offers a splash page stating more information is “coming soon”, fan-site The Brick Fan (via the Overwatch subreddit) spotted the images on Target’s registry app. There are several sets scheduled to release, comprising
October 23, 2018 10:00AM PT Reddit has struck a partnership with membership services platform Patreon that will let creatives use Subreddits to raise funds, and directly interact with their paying supporters. A close integration of the two services is already being tested with a subset of creators, and both companies have plans to open up
Hulu is now seeing Starz: The streamer reached a deal with the Lionsgate-owned premium TV network to offer Starz as an option to customers on any of Hulu’s subscription plans. Starting Tuesday, Oct. 23, Hulu subscribers can add Starz for $8.99 per month, the same price it’s available for directly and through Amazon, Sling TV
This year’s TwitchCon, which kicks off later this week, will feature a series of celebrity-driven talks designed to “inspire and entertain the Twitch community,” Twitch announced Tuesday. The talks are all geared toward getting into streaming, how to build audiences and the sustainability of the medium with talks from “Fortnite” superstar Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, Tony Hawk,
Digital media company Refinery29, facing a 5% revenue shortfall for the year, is cutting 10% of its workforce, or about 40 employees. Company co-founders and co-CEOs Philippe von Borries and Justin Stefano announced the cuts in an internal memo. “While our 2018 revenue will show continued year-over-year growth, we are projecting to come in approximately