Top News:
Krishnadev Calamur / NPR:
The Interview now available to rent for $5.99 or purchase for $14.99 through YouTube, Google Play, Xbox Video, and SeeTheInterview.com — Sony To Stream ‘The Interview’ On YouTube, Other Sites Starting Tonight — Sony Pictures' The Interview, the comedy that centers on a plot to assassinate …
Discussion:
CNNMoney.com, New York Times, Variety, The Official Microsoft Blog, The Wrap, Re/code, USA Today, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, ABC News, Washington Post, CNBC, AppleInsider, Inside Movies, GeekWire, The Wrap and Gigaom
RELATED:
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Netflix in Talks to Stream ‘The Interview’ as Starz Releases Pay TV Rights (EXCLUSIVE) — YouTube, Google Play and Xbox will also offer the Sony comedy — Netflix is in talks with Sony Pictures to make “The Interview” available for streaming by its subscribers.
Discussion:
CNNMoney.com, The Official Google Blog, The Verge, Forbes, Business Insider, Reuters, Polygon, New York Times, Japan Times latest, Mediaite, Engadget, The Film Stage, Home Media Magazine, /Film, Digital Spy, @variety_cynthia, TechCrunch, Open Culture, Deadline, @streamdaily, ZDNet, Pocket-lint and Media & Entertainment
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Amazon added 10M new Prime members worldwide this holiday season since Thanksgiving — Amazon added 10M new Prime subscribers over the holidays, could make up to $1B in annual revenue — Correction: Updated 7:05 a.m. PT to clarify that the company could make as much as $990 million.
Discussion:
Amazon.com, Business Insider and The Verge
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Interlude targets YouTube with more engaging “choose your own adventure” music videos — YouTube Challenger Lets Music Fans Call the Shots — Five years ago Yoni Bloch, an Israeli rock star, wanted to make a music video that would let viewers choose what happened as the story unfolded.
Discussion:
@interludevideo, @sub8u and @craigbsnyder
Agence France-Presse:
Mauritania sentences blogger to death for article deemed blasphemous of Islam, for the first time since its independence in 1960 — Mauritania issues first apostasy death sentence — 18 hrs ago — Nouakchott (AFP) - Mauritania has delivered its first death sentence for apostasy since independence …
Discussion:
The Age, Voice of America, New York Times and DW.DE
Jonathan Mahler / New York Times:
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki encourages experimenting with professional content and new business models, like subscription-based Music Key, to grow revenues — YouTube's Chief, Hitting a New ‘Play’ Button — This fall, Susan Wojcicki, the chief executive of YouTube, appeared on a panel …
Caroline O'Donovan / Nieman Lab:
What does it mean to run “product” in a news organization? Hayley Nelson's big challenge at Wired — f there's a news outlet you would expect to be ahead of the curve in digital media, it might be Wired. The San Francisco-based magazine of technology has been at it longer than just about anyone …
Discussion:
@ceodonovan
Regina Ruiz / KOAT.com:
The Albuquerque Journal website taken down for several hours to investigate ISIS propaganda post; no data compromised says the newspaper — Albuquerque Journal, on ISIS headline: There was no data breach — Newspaper site goes down after ‘Cyber Jihad’ — A radical group's Christmas …
Discussion:
KRWG, Gawker, The Santa Fe New Mexican, Mediaite, The Inquisitr News, bizjournals and KRQE-TV
Ken Kurson / The New York Observer:
New York Times Insider: Multi-Million Dollar Shortfall Causing Drastic Cuts — The New York Times building. (Photo by Arman Dzidzovic/ New York Observer) — Yesterday, New York Times readers were treated to a beautifully nuanced and balanced and richly detailed feature about a topic very much in the mix.
Discussion:
JIMROMENESKO.COM, @danmunns and Capital New York
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
MPAA Secretly Settled With Hotfile for $4 Million, Not $80 Million — It's been nearly a year since Hotfile was defeated by the MPAA, resulting in a hefty $80 million dollar settlement. — While the public agreement left room for the file-hosting service to continue its operations …
Discussion:
Techdirt
Lisa O'Carroll / Guardian:
Ex-News of the World journalists given go ahead to sue for unfair dismissal — Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup get green light from employment tribunals to take action against News Group Newspapers — Two former News of the World journalists who were jailed for hacking the phones …
Hadas Gold / Politico:
AP denies Pyongyang bureau under North Korean control — The Associated Press is pushing back on a report its bureau in North Korea is nearly completely controlled by the North Korean government. — In a lengthy article for NKNews.org, Nate Thayer, a former AP stringer …
Discussion:
NK News, Foreign Policy and Mediaite