Amazon is raising the minimum wage for all of its workers to $15 an hour next month, the company announced on Tuesday morning. Amazon executives also said they would push for a raise of the federal minimum wage. The raise is going to benefit more than 250,000 full-time and part-time Amazon employees as well as
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Millions of American wireless-phone users on Wednesday, Oct. 3, will receive an emergency test message bearing the banner “Presidential Alert,” unless their phones are shut off or out of reception range or if they’re in the middle of a long phone call. Users will not be able to block or otherwise opt out of the
October 2, 2018 8:00AM PT Investors include SEGA Sammy Holdings. Santa Monica, Calif.-based virtual reality startup Tyffon has raised a new $2.17 million round in funding from investors including SEGA SAMMY Holdings, Mizuho Capital, Tokyu Recreation and Canal Ventures. The new round of funding brings the total raised by Tyffon thus far to $4 million. Tyffon
Chernin Group has become the principal investor in MeatEater Inc., a new outdoor-lifestyle company founded by Steven Rinella, author, podcaster and host of Netflix’s “MeaterEater” series. The Bozeman, Montana-based media company, formed in February 2018, caters to an audience of wildlife enthusiasts, providing a hub for hunting, fishing, food and conservation. MeatEater will center on
Video has been a big hit for Reddit: A little over a year after first launching native video hosting, the self-proclaimed front page of the internet already surpassed one billion video views per month. Reddit is also quickly approaching one million monthly video uploads every month, reaching 996,000 uploads in August. Reddit officially launched native
Netflix remains the 800-pound gorilla of the streaming world: Video from the service consumes a significant 15% of all internet bandwidth globally, the most of any single application. That’s according to the latest Global Internet Phenomena Report from Sandvine, a vendor of bandwidth-management systems. Netflix was followed by HTTP media streams, representing 13.1% of all downstream
When Netflix first began experimenting last year with non-linear storytelling in some of its children’s shows, it barely registered as more than a footnote to everything else going on at the streaming service. But with a Bloomberg report Monday suggesting this style of content will be showcased in a series of specials beginning with an
Facebook has caught the interactive trivia game-show bug with “Confetti,” which doles out real cash prizes to the winners of the game each weekday — and this week, it has lined up its biggest prize-pool payout ever along with a roster of guest creators to co-host the show. Facebook’s pop-culture trivia game was launched in
October 1, 2018 11:12AM PT NBCUniversal has unveiled plans for its first bilingual series, “Latinx Now!,” a weekly talk show produced in both English and Spanish to air digital platforms of Telemundo and E! and the Spanish-language Universo cable channel. Hosted by influencers Christian Acosta, Nastassja Bolivar, Claudia Vergara and a special guest host each week,
October 1, 2018 10:43AM PT Longtime Facebook exec Adam Mosseri has officially been named the new head of Instagram, assuming the helm after the surprise departure of the Facebook-owned service’s co-founders, CEO Kevin Systrom and CTO Mike Krieger. Mosseri, a 10-year veteran of Facebook, in May 2018 was named VP of product at Instagram. He
October 1, 2018 10:00AM PT Google hasn’t officially announced the next version of its Chromecast steaming adapter yet, but that didn’t stop a Best Buy employee from accidentally selling it to a lucky customer. The new device looks very similar to Google’s existing Chromecast, save for some minor design changes. “The top is no longer
Pluto is extending its orbit to Europe. The free streaming service has set the U.K. as the first stop of an international roll-out and will become available via Sky’s Now TV service in Britain starting Monday evening. Sky was an early investor in Pluto. Now TV is Sky’s low-cost streaming service. Pluto TV will be
October 1, 2018 9:00AM PT Can a brief audio snippet help Fandango close ticketing deals? The service will test that theory with its first-ever movie audio integration for Amazon’s Alexa voice service tied to superhero pic “Venom.” Starting Monday (Oct. 1), when users activate the Fandango skill on Alexa-enabled devices to find showtimes for “Venom”
Netflix beat out Silicon Valley’s biggest heavy-hitters on a new survey of the most-coveted places to work among technology pros. Netflix took the No. 1 spot on Hired’s 2018 survey of tech workers ranking the companies they’d most like to work for, moving up from fifth place on the job site’s 2017 survey. That put
October 1, 2018 7:00AM PT The first group to be featured will be K-Pop dance act NCT 127, who perform on October 8. Apple Music is partnering with ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for the second iteration of its “Up Next” program which showcases new and emerging artists. The first group to be featured will be
Consumer electronics upstart Caavo is back with a new gadget that’s supposed to simplify streaming across multiple devices. After first announcing a $399 limited-edition device in early 2017, Caavo introduced a new gadget aimed at the mass market Monday. The new $99.95 Caavo Control Center promises to unify streaming across up to 4 TV-connected devices.
As the National Hockey League gets ready to drop the puck on the 2018-19 season, Disney Streaming Services is promoting new and enhanced features of NHL.TV, the over-the-top hockey subscription package it operates on behalf of the league. For the new season, which starts Wednesday, Oct. 3, NHL.TV will add nearly 50% more local broadcast pre-
September 29, 2018 3:05PM PT Elon Musk has agreed to step down as chairman of Tesla’s board for three years as part of an agreement with the SEC to resolve a securities fraud case. He will also pay a $20 million fine, the New York Times reported. Tesla and Musk became the subject of an
Kiefer Sutherland’s accidental president is now streaming exclusively on Netflix: The first two seasons of “Designated Survivor” are now available to Netflix subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. Hulu had previously nabbed exclusive U.S. subscription VOD rights to “Designated Survivor” seasons 1 and 2, which aired on ABC, under a deal announced in November 2017. Episodes
September 28, 2018 1:03PM PT Disney tried to save the Club Penguin kids multiplayer gaming franchise with a mobile reboot last year — Club Penguin Island — but now has decided to shut down the whole thing. “There’s no easy way to say this but after 13 incredible years, Club Penguin will be sunsetting at
Facebook has reset the access to 90 million user accounts after finding a security breach, forcing the affected users to log back into their accounts, the company announced Friday. The breach allowed hackers to access other people’s accounts, and directly affected 50 million of those accounts. “We patched the issue last night,” Facebook CEO Mark
Redbox hired Chris Yates, who’s worked at companies including CinemaNow, Dell and Omnia Media, as general manager of Redbox On Demand — the DVD-rental kiosk operator’s bid to extend its business into digital. In the newly created role, Yates oversees Redbox’s digital video business and is responsible for P&L and strategy. Yates reports to Jason
Reinventing the DVR is hard, but Amazon thinks it can succeed where others have failed. Last week, the company announced the Fire TV Recast, a networked DVR for cord cutters and others looking to augment their TV viewing with recorded over-the-air broadcast programming. Amazon’s Fire TV Recast won’t ship until mid-November, but this week, the
Netflix is expanding its international footprint with the launch of a fully staffed Paris bureau, its third European outpost after Amsterdam and London. The Paris office will kick off with about 20 employees, some of whom are already working for Netflix in Amsterdam, and others who will be new hires. The French bureau won’t be
K-drama fans will be able to dig into new series of “micro-stories” on the Yarn app — embroidering on the narrative arcs of characters from popular Korean TV shows — under a partnership between DramaFever and Mammoth Media. Mobile-entertainment startup Mammoth Media is launching serialized short-form fiction content on Yarn, inspired by shows on DramaFever,
Die-hard Philadelphia sports fans who reside outside the City of Brotherly Love’s market confines can now stream NBC Sports Philadelphia’s programming for the Eagles, Phillies and Sixers — but the new subscription plan doesn’t include any live games. NBC Sports Regional Networks is launching “Philly Pass,” a direct-to-consumer product targeted at displaced Philadelphia sports fans,
WndrCo, the investment and holding company led by Jeffrey Katzenberg, invested $30 million in The Infatuation, a digital-media and events company focused on restaurant guides and food. The Infatuation was founded in 2009 in by Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal, two former music-industry execs. The New York City-based company in March 2018 acquired restaurant-review brand
Reflector Entertainment has announced its “Unknown 9” franchise, and will host an experiential showcase introducing the transmedia universe during New York Comic-Con. The Montreal-based production company enlisted industry veterans to bring the project to life across multiple platforms, including comic books, podcasts, novels, video games, film, and TV. The company’s CEO and creative director Alexandre
Fox Sports hired David Katz, founder of ThePostGame and a former exec at Yahoo and CBS, as executive VP of digital. In the role, Katz is responsible for managing the Fox Sports digital business, overseeing content and distribution for the group. Fox Sports Digital’s properties include FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports Go live-streaming authenticated video
The NFL’s live-streaming pact with Amazon for the 2018 season kicks off Thursday — and the ecommerce giant company has some new tricks up its sleeve for “.” Amazon is offering Fox’s feed of 11 “Thursday Night Football” games this season, available across Prime Video and Twitch, the company’s game-streaming platform. New this season, Amazon