In the latest threat from the “Guardians of Peace” (the hackers behind the release of confidential documents from Sony), the group threatened to release the private information of two executives if the company did not “stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism,” i.e., “The Interview.”
The number of users Napster claimed at its peak, in the early years of the new millennium. That’s not even accounting for the many other file-sharing services that cropped up during that time. Napster is long dead, but a new Retro Report documentary looks back at the powerful paradigm shift it kickstarted, one the industry is still sorting out: that media online should be free.
Airbnb currently has about 300,000 more than the number of beds of either Hilton and Marriott. But now the brand is having an identity crisis: when someone stays at an Airbnb rental, there’s nothing that distinguishes the experience. It’s why the lodging service is launching “Pineapple,”a magazine that will be sent to hosts and bookstores around the world.
The portion of web ads that don’t appear on screen for even a full second, if they appear at all, according to new data from Google. One contributor to this problem is virus-affected computers, Quartz reported, which request ads billions of times without actually displaying them.
When the flu vaccine targets the wrong strain (like it did this year), it means more people will get sick. According to some estimates, businesses spent almost $140,000 more on flu-related costs per 100,000 workers the last time federal scientists made the wrong guess.
That’s how much viewership on YouTube has increased since 2010. Online video hasn’t just exploded, it’s in the middle of a big bang. It’s already produced a staggering number of largely independent and niche producers whose viewership rivals television and movies, but attract young audiences that don’t fit the conventional wisdom attached to those media. The New Yorker took a deep dive this week into the lives of YouTube and Vine “creators” and their uneasy relationship with an entertainment industry that sees dollar signs but doesn’t know how to grab on to such a rapidly changing business.
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