Tech

Elon Musk’s purge of blue check-marks from Twitter accounts verified under the company’s previous regime has begun. Now a blue check-mark badge on Twitter primarily signifies that it’s an account belonging to someone who is paying Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, for the perk. The move to trash Twitter’s former verification system, which

BuzzFeed is shutting down BuzzFeed News because it is not able to turn a profit, according to a memo CEO Jonah Peretti sent to company staff Thursday. The digital publisher is laying off 15% of its employees, or about 180 people, across BuzzFeed News and other divisions. Going forward, BuzzFeed will concentrate its news efforts

Crossmint, a start-up that provides infrastructure for building blockchain applications, has partnered with Tintinimaginatio, the company which has been set up to protect and promote the work of Hergé, to release the iconic Tintin comic series’ first NFT collection. In partnership with artèQ, the collection comprises the illustration “The Blue Lotus,” which was created by

Netflix said it will stage a “broad rollout” of its paid-sharing plan in the second quarter of 2023, including in the U.S., aiming to convert freeloaders borrowing someone else’s password into revenue-generating subscribers. The streamer announced the news in releasing its first quarter 2023 earnings report. Previously, Netflix had said it planned to commence a

Netflix’s famous red envelopes are headed to the recycling bin of history. The company announced the shutdown of the DVD-by-mail business Tuesday ahead of its first-quarter 2023 earnings report. Since 1998, according to the company, it has mailed out more than 5 billion DVD and Blu-ray rentals to subscribers across the U.S. The final Netflix

Turkish TV content powerhouse Medyapim and digital distribution company Merzigo and have forged a partnership that aims to boost the global circulation of its vast library of Turkish dramas. The four-year agreement between Medyapim and Merzigo, which uses cutting-edge technology to provide innovative monetization, marketing and distribution services, will facilitate the global distribution of Turkish

Wait — WTF did Jack Ryan just say? Amazon’s Prime Video debuted a new feature called Dialogue Boost, which lets viewers increase the volume of dialogue relative to background music and effects, available on a limited selection of originals. According to Amazon, it initially built the feature for Prime Video customers who are hard of

A new podcast from Audible and Wondery investigates Michael Jackson’s staying power as a pop-culture force in the face of disturbing allegations. “Think Twice: Michael Jackson” is hosted by journalist and podcaster Leon Neyfakh and hip-hop radio veteran Jay Smooth. The 10-episode audio series is a co-production from Audible and podcast network Wondery (which are

Rakuten TV has announced the launch of two new owned and operated FAST channels, bolstering its role as a curated channel programmer in the free ad-supported streaming TV services space. The channels, announced during MipTV’s FAST Summit, will see the growing pan-European video-on-demand streaming service enter the TV series landscape by launching a reality/factual entertainment channel in

Producer Timur Savci co-heads prolific Turkish shingle Tims & B that a decade ago made “Magnificent Century” the Ottoman costume drama which spearheaded the country’s TV boom. Savci and his team are currently at the MipTV market in Cannes with their new show “Modern Woman” (pictured above) in which a young working woman in Turkey

After almost four years in the role, Kenny Mitchell is departing as Snap’s chief marketing offer “to pursue another opportunity,” the company announced. The Snapchat parent is promoting Colleen DeCourcy to lead marketing at Snap, after she has served as chief creative officer since February 2022. Mitchell will officially depart Snap next month following the

“Subscription fatigue” among consumers is only getting worse, making it even more challenging for direct-to-streaming video providers to retain customers, according to Deloitte’s latest Digital Media Trends survey. As streaming video competition continues to intensify, subscription growth rates across the industry have slowed — and churn rates have increased, according to the Deloitte’s 17th annual

The live “Love Is Blind” reunion failed to launch on Netflix Sunday night. The live reunion for the mega-hit dating show “Love Is Blind” experienced major delays on Netflix Sunday evening, displaying an error message for users attempting to tune into the live stream of the reunion. The event was set to begin at 5

Parler, the self-described “uncancelable free-speech social platform” that catered to right-wing users — which was nearly acquired by Kanye West last year — has been shut down by its new owner. “No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more,” Arlington, Va.-based digital media company Starboard said

Less than a year after Spotify acquired Heardle, the audio streamer is mothballing the music game. “Heardle is going away on May 5th,” a message on the service’s website says. “Thanks for playing Heardle, but unfortunately we have to say goodbye.” In the note to Heardle users, Spotify said that if they have statistics they

MrBeast, who runs the most-subscribed individual channel on YouTube, has hit back against a suggestion that his friend and collaborator, Chris Tyson, is a becoming “nightmare” for the popular video creator because of Tyson’s hormone replacement therapy. MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, on Thursday responded on Twitter to someone who posted about a

Japanese electronics giant, Sony has opened a virtual production studio in Shanghai, China, that it says can be used for shooting film, TV and commercials. The studio opened last month and is jointly operated with Gwantsi, one of China’s largest commercials production companies. Virtual production involves the use of high-resolution screens that create a backdrop

Paramount Global’s Pluto TV recruited Valerie Kaplan, who hails from Hulu, the Chernin Group and HBO, to lead global consumer marketing for the free, ad-supported streaming TV service. Kaplan joins the company as global senior VP, head of consumer marketing for Pluto TV. She most recently was operating partner at Peter Chernin’s investment firm the

PBS said it has suspended posting to Twitter after Elon Musk’s social network pinned a “government-funded media” descriptor to its primary account. The public TV broadcaster joins NPR in ceasing Twitter activity following the Twitter changes, which the organizations say inaccurately represent them. “PBS stopped tweeting from our account when we learned of the change

An animated television series based on the digital collectible RPG game Momoguro is in development from Baobab Studios. The independent interactive animation studio is working on the series in collaboration with Momoguro directors Martin Allias and Nico Casavecchia. While Baobab has not yet decided on a distributor, the Emmy-winning studio recently announced two upcoming projects with

Vox Media announced that NowThis, the social media-focused news division it picked up through the 2021 acquisition of Group Nine Media, will become an independent entity through a deal with the Accelerate Change media network. Vox Media will retain a minority ownership stake in the newly independent NowThis and will continue to sell, produce and

Warner Bros. Discovery has unveiled Max, its big consolidated streamer that will supersede the three-year-old HBO Max service and pull in content from Discovery+. So what does this mean for current HBO Max customers? One big change: Following the launch of Max, all 4K Ultra HD content will be available only to subscribers of the

It’s not HBO Max — soon it’s just going to be Max. Warner Bros. Discovery officially announced Max as the new name of its flagship streamer, lopping off the HBO part of the name as it mixes in a big bucket of new content from Discovery+ and other new original series. The company announced the

A smart TV may be the biggest technological investment you make in your home. Yet it’s not being used approximately 20 hours per day. That strikes Daniel Rausch, VP of entertainment devices and services at Amazon, as an opportunity for the brand he oversees at the tech giant: Fire TV, which allows consumers to stream

It’s unclear how many people were hungrily anticipating this, but here it is: Peacock subscribers can now watch the streaming service while strapped in to one of Meta’s virtual-reality headsets. Peacock as of Wednesday (April 12) is available on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro devices, the first time the NBCUniversal streamer is available

National Public Radio is suspending all activity on Twitter effective immediately, after the public radio broadcaster said the Elon Musk-owned platform’s “government-funded media” label on its account falsely implies NPR is not editorially independent of the U.S. government. NPR is the biggest news organization to quit Twitter since Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the company

Elon Musk has called his take-over of Twitter “quite painful” in an unexpected late-night interview with the BBC. The tech billionaire sat down with BBC North America tech reporter James Clayton at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco on Tuesday evening local time. Asked about his previous comments regarding Twitter being “painful,” Musk acknowledged that was

Google is bringing together more than 800 livestreaming channels — including news channels from ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox — into a new guide in the Google TV interface. Google TV is launching free built-in channels that users can watch without downloading or launching an app. In total, it now offers over 800 channels and

Elon Musk has set a deadline — maybe — for purging legacy blue check-marks from Twitter accounts that aren’t paying him for verification. On Tuesday, the multibillionaire owner of Twitter tweeted, “Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20.” Musk is notorious for his love of memes and jokes, including those involving 420 (i.e.,

The NFL’s Sunday Ticket is making its historic move to YouTube starting next season after Google’s rich, seven-year deal with the league. And unless gridiron fans act soon to take advantage of YouTube’s special early-bird pricing, they’ll have to pay more for the out-of-market games NFL package than when it was carried by DirecTV. YouTube