Tech

The Critical Role crew swings back into hilarious, perilous and profanity-laced fantasy action with the Season 2 debut of “The Legend of Vox Machina” on Friday, Jan. 20, on Prime Video. As with the first season, Prime Video will release Season 2 of the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired show in three-episode weekly batches, culminating in 12

Amazon’s podcast studio Wondery is teaming with independent podcast company Novel on U.K. original series “Stolen Hearts.” Merging crime and romcom in a twisting true life story, the six-part series journeys back to 2006 to tell the story of a highly respected police sergeant from rural Wales who falls for the wrong guy. Whilst looking

Independent filmmaker and media personality Andrew Callaghan, who gained prominence for his comedic man-on-the-street Channel 5 interviews on YouTube and a new HBO documentary “This Place Rules,” has shared a video apology to further address allegations of sexual misconduct, first levied against him in early January. The nearly five-minute video, posted on a YouTube channel

Rapper Iggy Azalea has joined OnlyFans, planning to release a stream of exclusive and uncensored photos, videos, music, illustrations and poetry as part of her “Hotter Than Hell” yearlong multimedia project. The “Hotter Than Hell X OnlyFans” collaboration, which marks Azaela’s first creative project in more than a year and a half, will encompass the

Sony Interactive Entertainment has tapped Ben King, a former Apple services executive, as senior VP of direct-to-consumer, overseeing the gaming division’s PlayStation Store and PlayStation’s DTC businesses. At Sony Interactive Entertainment, King reports to Veronica Rogers, SVP, head of global sales and business operations. Most recently, King was chief subscription officer at sports-streaming venture DAZN,

Has Elon Musk moved to cut off third-party Twitter apps from his social network? Or is Twitter just experiencing technical issues? Late Thursday, developers and users of multiple apps for accessing Twitter — including Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Fenix, Talon and Echofon — reported problems including being unable to log in or access their timelines. The reported

Andrew Callaghan, the popular indie filmmaker known for his Channel 5 YouTube videos and recent “This Place Rules” documentary, has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in the last week. Callaghan has yet to publicly address the allegations, but comedian Tim Heidecker, who produced “This Place Rules” with his comedy partner Eric Wareheim,

Harley Quinn, aka Dr. Harleen Quinzel, is about to tell her story to the world. Spotify, in partnership with DC and Warner Bros., announced that audio series “Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind,” starring Christina Ricci and Billy Magnussen as the respective Gotham City villains, will premiere with all episodes available to listeners on

Warner Bros. Discovery is raising the monthly price of HBO Max for the first time since launching it more than two years ago. Effective Thursday, Jan. 12, the price of a new HBO Max ad-free monthly subscription in the U.S. will increase from $14.99 to $15.99 plus applicable taxes. That’s about a 7% increase. Existing

DirecTV is pink-slipping hundreds of staffers, telling employees that 10% of managers will be losing their jobs in a round of layoffs aimed at reducing costs amid ongoing cord-cutting subscriber losses. DirecTV’s cutbacks were first reported by CNBC. Employees were notified about the layoffs in a Jan. 6 memo; most of the cuts affect managers,

Netflix founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings is donating $20 million to Minerva University, styled as a next-generation institution of higher education. Founded in 2012 with $25 million in venture capital from Benchmark, San Francisco-based Minerva University is a U.S. accredited non-profit university with more than 600 students and nearly 600 alumni. With Hastings’ $20 million

YouTube Originals show “Behind the Beats” has clocked up almost 12 million views since the release of its first eight episodes, which began on Nov. 17. It has 6.7 million subscribers. The 26-part animated music anthology is produced by leading French animation company TeamTO, with rights clearance firm 22D Music Group, in partnership with public

Twitter said that after investigating reports that data on upwards of 400 million users was being sold online, it found “no evidence” that was obtained by exploiting vulnerabilities in its systems. The Elon Musk-owned social network provided details on the investigation in a blog post Wednesday. In December 2022, a hacker was claiming to be

Netflix revealed “Full Swing” as the title of its upcoming docu-series following the PGA Tour and its biggest stars, and also announced the premiere date and dropped a trailer for the show. The eight-episode series will debut globally on Netflix on Feb. 15. “Full Swing” showcases PGA players through their wins and losses, promising a

Andrew Tate lost an appeal of Romanian authorities’ seizure of his assets, including luxury cars and property, in connection with their investigation into charges of human trafficking and rape against the polarizing social-media figure. Tate, a former champion kickboxer, internet entrepreneur and self-proclaimed misogynist, was arrested on Dec. 29 in Bucharest along with his brother

Investors in failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX included Endeavor’s IMG sports division, NFL quarterback Tom Brady and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, according to bankruptcy court documents. FTX’s epic crash has likely rendered the holdings of its dozens of investors worthless. The company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, had raised a

Digital publisher G/O Media has finally found an editorial director — filling a role had been vacant for a year and half — hiring veteran journalist and media exec Merrill Brown for the job. As editorial director, Brown will oversee the newsrooms and coverage of all G/O Media properties, which include Gizmodo, The Onion, The

With the new year comes a new collection of pressures: get fit, eat better, get your finances in order, become an entirely new person. That’s probably not the most realistic goal, but experts say changing one thing at a time can lead to permanent results. One painless way to get into the habit-changing mindset is

The 2023 Consumer Electronics Show returned to Vegas with a plethora exciting announcements and with it, the annual Variety Entertainment Summit. Hollywood insiders and creators filled the Aria hotel with a days worth of panels bringing in big names from Disney, Netflix, Reddit and lots more. Hollywood’s top advertisers and studio executives tackled challenging subjects

FaZe Clan has named Rana Kaplan general manager and appointed five other staffers to prominent leadership roles within the youth gaming-focused media and lifestyle company. Kaplan, who most recently served as chief of staff, has been at FaZe Clan for five years. In her new role, she will oversee an operations team focused on business

Roku reported Thursday it ended 2022 with more than 70 million accounts globally, adding nearly 5 million in the final quarter of the year. The customer total was up 16.5% from the end of 2021, when Roku totaled 60.1 million global accounts. Per Roku, streaming hours reached 23.9 billion in the fourth quarter and 87.4

Amazon will eliminate “just over 18,000 roles” at the company, CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo to staffers Wednesday, well more than previously expected by the ecommerce giant. The layoffs will occur across “several teams” but the majority of job cuts are in the Amazon Stores group and its People, Experience and Technology (PXT)

Vimeo has pared back its workforce, laying off 11% of its global full-time employees, the video-hosting company disclosed. The headcount reduction is “part of the company’s effort to focus on its top priorities, and to put itself in position to become sustainably profitable,” Vimeo said in an SEC filing Wednesday. It is expected that the

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission issued a fine against Meta totaling €390 million — about $414 million — after determining the social-media giant’s Facebook and Instagram services violated European Union data-privacy regulations. Meta said it “strongly disagree[d]” with the DPC ruling and that it planned an appeal. The regulator fined Meta Ireland €210 million for breaches

Hartbeat, Kevin Hart’s multiplatform media and entertainment company, has hired four senior execs to build out its leadership team across divisions. Joining the company are former ATTN: executive Sara Abdulahi as senior VP of people and culture; NBCUniversal alum Annie Balagot as senior VP of global media; Neil Wright, who hails from BuzzFeed’s Complex Networks,

Roku has spent eight years of working with partners to produce HDTVs powered by its streaming tech. Now the company is rolling into the category itself with the first line of exclusively Roku-branded smart TVs. Scheduled to be available in the spring of 2023, the Roku Select and Roku Plus Series TVs will be available

Warner Bros. Discovery’s content purge of HBO Max continued with a year-end culling of a bucket of classic “Looney Tunes” shorts and “The Flintstones” episodes. As of Dec. 31, HBO Max removed Seasons 16-31 of the original “Looney Tunes” library, Variety has confirmed. Still remaining on the service are “Loony Tunes” Season 1-15, which comprise

Ken Block, a pro rally driver who rose to internet fame with his astonishing “Gymkhana” stunt videos on YouTube, died Monday in a snowmobile accident in Utah. He was 55. The death of Block, who lived in Park City, Utah, was confirmed in a statement released by his company, Hoonigan Racing. “It’s with our deepest

New Year’s Eve revelers across the globe can watch the iconic Times Square Ball Drop live from New York City online — for free, without commercials — along with a lineup of musical performances and other festivities ushering in 2023. The six-hour Times Square 2023 livestream will start at 6 p.m. ET on Dec. 31,

Keenan Cahill, a popular YouTube creator who made lip-sync videos with celebrities like 50 Cent, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and more, died on Dec. 29 after open-heart surgery on Dec. 15. He was 27. “Keenan is an inspiration and let’s celebrate by remembering all the content he created, artists he collaborated with, music he produced