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Twitter had a week so strange that it could easily make up this entire newsletter, so we’ll keep to the bullet points:
Last week Elon laid off a huge chunk of the company. This week, some of those who were let go were reportedly asked to come back.
Twitter started giving blue verified checkmarks to anyone who’d pay $8. Things got chaotic fast.
Twitter rolled out a new, second checkmark for “Official” accounts. And then got rid of them. And then…brought them back?
By Friday morning, after fake “verified” accounts popped up for everything from companies to athletes to politicians, Twitter paused the $8 verification badge program.
A number of execs quit — to the point where the exits perked the ears of the FTC.
Elon reportedly told Twitter employees that “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question” for the company.
FTX collapses: Once one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world, FTX effectively exploded this week. It briefly looked like competitor Binance would step in to acquire FTX, only for Binance to take one look at FTX’s books and back out almost immediately. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has since resigned, and the company has filed for bankruptcy.
Meta layoffs: Meta — the parent company behind Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp — laid off 13% of its workforce this week. With a worldwide headcount of around 87,000 employees, that works out to over eleven thousand roles cut.
Gmail will no longer let you go back to old Gmail: Don’t like the new look that Gmail started rolling out back in July? Bad news. While users could previously revert to the old design, the Gmail team announced this week that the new design will be the “standard experience” for all within weeks.
Google finds exploits in Samsung phones: “Google says it has evidence that a commercial surveillance vendor was exploiting three zero-day security vulnerabilities found in newer Samsung smartphones,” writes Zack Whittaker. “The chained vulnerabilities allow an attacker to gain kernel read and write privileges as the root user, and ultimately expose a device’s data.”
audio roundup
Looking for a new podcast to tune into on your commute? Here’s what’s up in TC podcasts lately:
The Chain Reaction crew broke down the absurd collapse of FTX as it was happening.
Equity (with a guest appearance from TC’s Becca Szkutak) covered the seemingly endless layoffs we’re seeing from tech companies big and small, and what FTX’s meltdown means for it and companies like it.
Darrell was joined on The TechCrunch Podcast by TC senior reporter Dom-Madori Davis to talk about “the coalition of VCs that are standing for reproductive rights” and to recap the biggest tech stories of the week.
TechCrunch+
Not a TechCrunch+ member yet? Here’s what members were checking out most behind the paywall:
How ButcherBox bootstrapped to $600M in revenue: How did ButcherBox grow from a modest Kickstarter to $600 million in revenue in just a few years? Haje outlines the company’s path so far.
The Exchange: In his increasingly popular daily newsletter, Alex Wilhelm wonders: Has everyone been valuing software companies the wrong way all along?
Meta lays off thousands, FTX collapses, and Twitter has a very weird week by Greg Kumparak originally published on TechCrunch
Meta lays off thousands, FTX collapses, and Twitter has a very weird week
Архив рубрики: Media & Entertainment
Chris Rock is set to be the first to perform live on Netflix
After Netflix’s historic launch of an ad-supported tier, a very unexpected move from the streamer, Netflix will make history again with its first-ever livestreaming event starring comedian Chris Rock. The company announced on Thursday that Rock’s live comedy special is set to stream in early 2023, with more details to be announced later.
“Chris Rock is one of the most iconic and important comedic voices of our generation,” Robbie Praw, Netflix vice president of Stand-up and Comedy Formats, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled the entire world will be able to experience a live Chris Rock comedy event and be a part of Netflix history. This will be an unforgettable moment, and we’re so honored that Chris is carrying this torch.”
Netflix confirmed in May that it would roll out a livestreaming capability. The company said it would focus on unscripted content, competition shows, reality reunion specials, live comedy shows and a future “Netflix is a Joke” festival.
Rock is an easy choice for the streamer as he will likely draw in thousands, if not millions, of viewers. This will be his seventh stand-up special overall and his second Netflix special after “Tamborine” premiered in 2018. He also made an appearance at the 2022 “Netflix is a Joke” festival.
Plus, many people will want to tune into Rock’s live comedy special to hear all the Will Smith-related gossip. Rock has yet to talk about the Oscars slap incident with Smith. During a show in London, the comedian told the audience, “People expect me to talk about the bull****, I’m not going to talk about it right now. I’ll get to it eventually, on Netflix,” Deadline reported.
Netflix subscribers may be getting a livestreaming option for unscripted shows and stand-up specials
However, livestreaming tech is complex and typically more unreliable than video-on-demand. A few months ago, many live TV apps crashed across the sports streaming space. If Netflix’s first test with Chris Rock goes well, it will potentially clear the way for dozens of Netflix titles to get the live treatment.
Netflix will also get to compete head-to-head with other live TV streaming services. Most recently, Disney+ had its first-ever live TV show when it debuted Season 31 of “Dancing with the Stars.” While Disney+ didn’t experience any major crashes, there were still reports of the app crashing as well as minor delays and lags.
Now that Netflix has ads and eventually livestreaming, it’s a no-brainer that Netflix should invest in live sports next. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the streaming giant is “warming up to the idea” of live sports coming to the platform.
Netflix is not yet considering live sports — but here’s why it should
Chris Rock is set to be the first to perform live on Netflix by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Chris Rock is set to be the first to perform live on Netflix
Peacock adds live TV from all local NBC stations to its Premium Plus tier
Peacock announced that on November 30, its Premium Plus subscribers will get 24/7 access to their local NBC station in all of NBC’s 210 markets, including live TV programming like local news, sports, weather and entertainment.
Subscribers will soon be able to livestream popular programs like “The TODAY Show,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Saturday Night Live” without paying for cable. As part of yesterday’s soft launch, some Premium Plus subscribers already gained access to their NBC local affiliate channel livestream.
“With Peacock’s local affiliate livestream, our subscribers are getting the unique combination of the ad-free on-demand content they love with the local news and NBC programming that is already part of their daily life,” Kelly Campbell, president, Peacock and Direct-to-Consumer, NBCUniversal, said in a statement.
NBC’s local affiliate stations join brands and channels like NFL, Golf, Premiere League, NBC News, Sky News, TODAY, Hallmark, WWE and others.
Peacock is likely including more live TV options to compete with rival Paramount+, which has always included local programming on its platform. Paramount+, with its 46 million subscribers, brings live TV to 99% of the United States, the company claims on its website.
After experiencing a slowdown in subscriber growth, it’s also possible that Peacock is urging more of its subscribers to upgrade to Premium Plus. Peacock recently revealed that its total paid subscriber base jumped from 13 million paid subscribers to over 15 million in the third quarter.
While it’s unlikely that many Peacock subscribers of its free ad-supported plan will switch over to the $9.99/month Premium Plus tier, its possible subscribers paying $4.99/month for the Premium plan will want to switch over to get 24/7 access to their local NBC station.
Plus, $9.99/month is a better deal than paying the hefty price for cable or live TV streaming services like Sling TV.
“This is an exciting new offering that expands our best-in-class broadcast and local programming to new audiences,” added Philip Martzolf, president, NBC Affiliate Relations.
Peacock grows its paid subscriber base to 15 million after pulling back shows from Hulu
Peacock adds live TV from all local NBC stations to its Premium Plus tier by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Peacock adds live TV from all local NBC stations to its Premium Plus tier
Why watch a movie when you can watch your corporate all-hands meeting?
Movie theater attendance is down, largely thanks to the pandemic, but chains like AMC still need to make money. If meme stocks aren’t a reliable business plan, why not find another use for a giant room with a huge screen and lots of seats?
In partnership with Zoom, AMC Theatres will launch a product called Zoom Rooms next year. Basically, you go to the movie theater to join a Zoom meeting with your company. Yes, you must commute to the movie theatre only to join a meeting with your colleagues across the country, who are also at an AMC movie theatre. If your company isn’t strapped for cash, you might even get some complimentary popcorn.
These theatres, which range between 75 and 150 seats, will be available to book for three-hour blocks.
“AMC has an abundance of attractive theatres at centrally located venues in city after city after city, each with ample seating capacity, especially so during daytime hours on weekdays when most meetings take place,” said AMC Theaters CEO Adam Aron. “Zoom Rooms at AMC broadens our scope, as we now can participate as well in the multi-billion [dollar] market for corporate and other meetings.”
While the idea of one person sitting alone at a movie theater on a Zoom call is funny, that’s not what’s going on here. This technology is supposed to connect groups of people in different locations — so, for example, a New York-based team might meet at one theatre to catch up with a Los Angeles-based team at another theatre. But it remains unclear how you can actually tell who’s talking if you have dozens of people crowded into a theatre. Movie theatre popcorn aside, it seems like a technical nightmare to figure out how to actually conduct a meeting this way… and perhaps working from home and mailing your employees some nonperishable popcorn bags is a simpler alternative.
“As hybrid work has become more commonplace throughout the United States, Zoom Rooms at AMC will enable companies and other entities with decentralized workforces and customer bases to bring people from different markets together at the same time for cohesive virtual and in-person events and meeting experiences,” a press release from AMC Theatres says.
It feels like someone put a handful of publicly traded companies into a hat, picked out two randomly, and challenged them to create some kind of new collaboration.
AMC floundered during the pandemic, since its core business was rendered moot by a once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe. But even as vaccines become more widespread, people aren’t returning to the movies like the company hoped. Even though AMC’s quarterly revenue increased, the company still reported a quarterly loss this week. Meanwhile, Zoom is trying to broaden its scope by adding features like email and calendar as its unprecedented growth slows down.
Zoom’s adding email and calendar as it pushes harder to expand the platform
GameStop, meme stocks, and the revenge of the retail trader
Why watch a movie when you can watch your corporate all-hands meeting? by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch
Why watch a movie when you can watch your corporate all-hands meeting?
GIPHY comes to connected TVs with launch of a GIPHY Arts app for Roku
GIPHY Arts, the Giphy division dedicated to GIF art and artists, launched a free exclusive app on Roku today that allows users in select regions to view GIPHY Clips — 30-second original short clips with audio — with their Roku devices.
The new “Public Axis” channel is Giphy’s first app for connected TVs and brings short-form video content made by artists from mobile to the TV screen. It arrives on the same day that YouTube introduced its own plan to bring short-form video to TV viewers to challenge TikTok.
At launch, “Public Axis” is available to Roku users in the U.S., the U.K., Mexico, Canada, Germany, Ireland, France, Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Australia, El Salvador, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras and Brazil. It’s free to download in the Roku Channel Store and doesn’t have ads.
Users have access to various shorts, clips or “episodes” made by a commissioned artist. For instance, ListenMi released a three-episode series, “Remote Work Tales,” that features relatable animated shorts about the work-from-home experience.
Viewers can also check out Public Axis content on publicaxis.giphy.com.
GIPHY Arts launched the Public Axis app on Roku devices to help promote artists to “an even broader audience,” the company wrote in its blog. Roku reported a net add of 2.3 million active accounts for the third quarter, bringing the total to 65.4 million.
Roku, meanwhile, has recently embraced the short-form video trend, as well. The streaming media platform rolled out a new short-form video feature, “The Buzz,” to give users access to short content like trailers, interviews and images from AMC+, Apple TV+, BET+, SHOWTIME, Starz and other partners.
Roku’s latest update adds short-form video, a universal save list and ‘continue watching’ feature
Giphy has been in the short-form video space a bit longer. It made its first step into this market in 2019 when it launched “GIPHY Video,” which has since been renamed “GIPHY Clips.” Today’s announcement comes eight months after TikTok integrated GIPHY Clips into the new TikTok Library, an in-app creation tool.
Also, the company revealed a new 30-second ad last week, which is currently playing in movie theaters across New York City and Los Angeles.
TikTok partners with GIPHY on new video creation tool, ‘TikTok Library’
GIPHY comes to connected TVs with launch of a GIPHY Arts app for Roku by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
GIPHY comes to connected TVs with launch of a GIPHY Arts app for Roku