Tech

YONDER SERIALIZED FICTION LAUNCH Blackstone Publishing, Aethon Books and Sterling and Stone are among the first publishing partners to join Yonder, a new serialized fiction app combining mobile reading, a serialized experience and thousands of curated stories. Then venture is being launched by South Korea’s Naver, the tech giant that owns Webtoon and Wattpad, the

There’s a new wrinkle in the six-month-plus saga of Elon Musk’s mercurial attempt to buy Twitter. The multibillionaire is being investigated by federal authorities over his “conduct” in connection with his proposed Twitter acquisition, according to a letter from the company’s lawyers filed with the Delaware Chancery Court. The letter was filed Oct. 6 and

The streaming revolution was supposed to usher in a big, bright, beautiful future for media conglomerates. Instead, increased competition, rising interest rates, a looming recession and the mountain of debt that these corporations amassed to fuel a wave of consolidation has left everyone from Netflix to Warner Bros. Discovery scrambling to revise their pitch to

After years of Netflix execs spurning the idea of serving up commercials to viewers, the streaming giant is flipping the switch on its first cheaper, ad-supported plan next month. Netflix Basic With Ads will launch in the U.S. on Nov. 3 at 9 a.m. PT, priced at $6.99 per month, the company announced. The cheaper

Trump Media & Technology Group claims its Truth Social social network — which is essentially a Twitter knockoff — is a “Big Tech alternative” and the former president has claimed the company is fighting “against the tyranny of Big Tech.” But TMTG still has to comply with the policies of huge tech companies, namely Apple

Roku launched the Roku Channel in Mexico — the free streaming service’s first expansion beyond the U.S., Canada and U.K. In Mexico, the Roku Channel is available starting Thursday (Oct. 13), offering access to thousands of free, ad-supported movies and TV episodes. The lineup includes exclusive access to more than 30 Roku original series, including

UTA and Investcorp have set up a partnership to invest in tech and pop culture-related startup ventures. The deal extends the ties between the talent agency and the investment firm that previously had an equity stake in UTA. Investcorp exited as a UTA owner in July. The partners will work through the newly established UTA.VC

Right-wing conspiracy figure Alex Jones’ company has already filed for bankruptcy protection, and it’s not clear how much of the staggering $965 million verdict reached Tuesday he’ll actually wind up paying to the 15 plaintiffs in the defamation case about his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. Jones plans to appeal the massive

Netflix has taken peak TV to a new peak. In a data point sure to fuel more quantity-versus-quality debate, Netflix broke its own record for number of original episodes released in a single quarter — with 1,026 in the third quarter of 2022, according to a tally by Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson. That’s more than

Three days after Emily Rataj­kowski’s book of essays (“My Body”) was published, in No­vember 2021, Britney Spears was released from her conservatorship. As the subject of “Toxic,” one of Ratajkowski’s most pointed pieces about growing up as an object of lust and scrutiny, Spears has long been a preoccupation for the 31-year-old model, author and mother.

Emily Ratajkowski, the model and bestselling author of essay collection “My Body,” is ready to add “podcast host” to her resumé. “High Low with EmRata,” which Ratajkowski describes as “‘Call Her Daddy’ meets ‘Fresh Air,’” will launch Tuesday, November 1. “I decided I wanted to write the book before I ever would even think about

The inaugural class of the Gotham Film & Media Institute’s the Gotham/Variety Audio Honors, presented by Wondery, are the next generation of storytellers, and have been selected in recognition of their innovations in audio storytelling by a committee of distinguished audio industry professionals, chaired by award-winning podcast creator, producer and new host of NPR’s “It’s Been

Streaming soon on Roku devices: your front door? Roku is expanding beyond its streaming-media players, Roku-branded TVs and home-entertainment speakers with the launch of an array of new smart-home products. The smart-home products include security cameras, video doorbells, smart lightbulbs and smart plugs. Roku developed the products in partnership with Wyze Labs, a Seattle-based smart-home

From “The Shrink Next Door” to “We Crashed” to “Slow Burn,” the stock of podcasts as IP have soared over the past several years, with the most popular making the transition from audio stories to on-screen smash hits. But where podcast source material can and does serve as creative inspiration for successful TV and film

Ready to mingle with the Dunder Mifflin gang in virtual reality? Meta, looking to spark broader interest in VR, announced a partnership with NBCUniversal under which the companies will team to bring the media company’s Peacock streaming app and a range of properties to the Meta Quest VR headsets. Meta announced the NBCU pact at

Netflix this week is opening the doors on a new retail destination for Angelenos to drop cash on merchandise based on the streamer’s hit shows — as well as get a full-frontal look at “Stranger Things 4” super-baddie Vecna and other characters. The Netflix pop-up shop at The Grove shopping complex in Los Angeles is

Prosecutors have formally dropped the murder charge against Adnan Syed, the Baltimore man who served 23 years in prison before being released last month. The decision by the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office to drop the case against Syed, who was the focus of the viral “Serial” podcast back in 2014, came three weeks after a

YouTube’s popular “Tab Time” preschool series is coming back for Season 2, starring “America’s mom” Tabitha Brown — alongside celebrity guests including Liza Koshy, Terry Crews and Tamron Hall. The hybrid live-action/animated series, one of YouTube’s marquee kids originals, is hosted by Brown, an actor, vegan foodie, author and mother. Brown, or “Ms. Tab” as

Tito Puente, the influential Nuyroican musician and entertainer, is being honored in a new animated Google Doodle. The animated doodle highlighting Puente’s musical career, illustrated by New York-based Puerto Rican artist Carlos Aponte, will be visible on the main page of the search engine throughout Tuesday (Oct. 11). The doodle coincides with U.S. Hispanic Heritage

Nordisk Film, the deep-pocketed Copenhagen-based Scandinavian film powerhouse, has launched an advanced LED virtual production stage. Named the Shortcut LED Stage, the venue will provide advanced virtual production services for TV, film, commercial shoots, music videos and live events from Scandinavian banners that are owned by Nordisk Film, as well as other companies around the

The National Association of Latino Independent Producers will host a sneak peek of the new NBC comedy “Lopez vs. Lopez” as part of this week’s 8th Annual Latino Media Fest Official Selection lineup. The 2022 lineup includes “Hoar” directed by Jeanette Dilone, “El Triste” directed by Manuel De Valle, “Inés Unfortunately” directed by Anna Salinas,

YouTube is finally going to give @uniquenames — that are comprehensible to human beings — to every single channel on the platform. On Monday, the video giant announced that it is introducing handles, which it described as “a new way for people to easily find and engage with creators and each other on YouTube.” The

Life imitates art in a new promotional deal between “Ted Lasso” and dating app Bumble. Bumble, the women-focused dating and social networking app, announced a pact with Apple TV+’s hit comedy to let members experience Bantr, the fictitious dating app featured on “Ted Lasso.” Launching this Thursday (Oct. 13) at 7 p.m. local time, a

Instagram has placed a restriction on Kanye “Ye” West’s account after deleting content for a violation of the platform’s policies. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the decision to Variety, sharing that temporary restrictions on posting, commenting and messaging are standard practice for accounts that regularly violate the social media platform’s policies. The company did not indicate

Spotify terminated at least 38 employees across the Gimlet and Parcast studios as the company canceled 11 original shows, according to the unions representing employees of the divisions. In a joint statement Friday, the two unions said the layoffs represented about 30% of their members. “These aren’t small cuts, they are massive restructurings,” the Gimlet

Any Slingboxes still out there are about to get bricked. Dish Network this week emailed reminders to users of Sling Media’s Slingbox — the once-controversial devices that “place-shift” pay-TV services by streaming live TV over the internet — that the servers that power Slingboxes will be permanently taken offline on Nov. 9, 2022. The Slingbox,

Spotify has appointed new managing directors for its Gimlet and Parcast podcast studios — Nicole Beemsterboer and Liliana Kim, respectively — coming amid the company’s cancellation of 11 original podcasts from the two divisions. Spotify elevated Beemsterboer (above left), a former longtime NPR exec who joined Spotify this year, to the role of Gimlet’s managing

Bethenny Frankel says she’s had enough of scammers on TikTok using her voice, image or content to sell counterfeit products. The entrepreneur and star of “The Real Housewives of New York” filed a federal lawsuit against ByteDance’s TikTok, the hugely popular short-form video app, alleging that TikTok has ignored her requests to remove unauthorized content

In a new episode of the Try Guys’ podcast “The TryPod,” Keith Habersberger and Zach Kornfeld opened up at length about the removal of Ned Fulmer, who admitted on Sept. 27 that he engaged in what he called a “consensual” workplace affair and was the subject of an internal investigation.  In the episode, titled “ok,

UDPATED: A Delaware judge granted mega-billionaire Elon Musk’s motion to halt Twitter’s upcoming trial — seeking to compel him to pay what he promised for the company — until Oct. 28 in order to allow the parties to close on the $44 billion deal. Musk, after trying for three months to exit his deal to