Top News:
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
Inside quirky, self-funded and profitable The Awl: annual revenue in low seven figures, relative freedom for writers, and a cautious growth strategy — Why are the most important people in media reading The Awl? — In March, at the Code/Media conference in Dana Point, California …
Discussion:
FishbowlNY, @chaykak, @susie_c, @broderick, @lock, @saramorrison, @annaholmes, @caseyjohnston, @jamie_delancey, @scoutstout, @mattdpearce and @digiphile
Michael Wolff / MIT Technology Review:
Publishers should face existential crisis with Facebook Instant Articles ad revenue split, not embrace it — Facebook Instant Articles Just Don't Add Up for Publishers — Publishers like the New York Times should be having an existential crisis over Facebook's instant articles.
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Abigail Edge / TheMediaBriefing:
NPR and Panoply see podcasting as a way to reach “advertising-resistant consumers” — NPR and Panoply on the economics of podcasting — Advertising, Devices, Digital Media, Mobile — Podcasting is having a bit of a moment right now. Although video tends to dominate discussion …
Discussion:
@howsoundtweets
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Indian Media Startup News In Shorts Lands $20M Series B From Tiger Global — News In Shorts, the startup behind an India-focused mobile news app, has raised a $20 million Series B round from existing investor Tiger Global. — The VC firm, which has backed a number of India's top tech firms …
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Zealot Networks, the company run by ex-Maker Studios CEO Danny Zapping, buys aggregator ViralNova in cash-and-stock deal that could eventually be worth $100M — YouTube Pioneer Danny Zappin Buys Facebook Content Factory ViralNova — ViralNova, one of the first sites to figure …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Variety, Ad Age, Fortune, The Next Web and Fortune
Associated Press:
Nicaraguan police beat protesters and harass journalists — MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Police beat and detained government opponents and harassed journalists Wednesday at a protest outside Nicaragua's top electoral council. — The protesters were attending a weekly demonstration in the capital …
Justin Ellis / Nieman Lab:
When readers hated Globe and Mail's minimalist app launched in May, it began adding features through small updates within a week — Trials and iterations: The Globe and Mail tries to balance reinvention and familiarity in its new app — There's a predictable cycle that takes place whenever …
Discussion:
E&, @millie and @samkirkland
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Xbox Music for iOS and Android now streams songs from OneDrive for free — Microsoft updated Xbox Music on Windows to play songs stored on OneDrive back in March, and today the company is refreshing its iOS and Android apps with the same feature. While Xbox Music is being renamed to Groove …
Discussion:
Softpedia News
Micah Singleton / The Verge:
Facebook says it's not building a streaming music service — Facebook is denying a report from Music Ally stating that it has plans to launch a streaming music service in the next few months. A Facebook spokesperson told The Verge, “we have no plans to go into music streaming.”
Sarah Buhr / TechCrunch:
Meerkat updates app to include sign up via Facebook, 60 second viewer cameos, and a cloud storage option — Meerkat Makes Friends With Facebook's API, Adds Viewer Cameos And Streaming Storage — Live streaming app Meerkat rolled out several major updates this morning …
Discussion:
SocialTimes, Medium, Medium, Adweek, Variety, Engadget, Tubefilter, The Next Web, BuzzFeed, MobileSyrup.com and The Tech Portal
David Friend / Toronto Star:
Canada's Postmedia reports loss of $140.8M for Q3 as print ad revenue fell 20.2% to $19.1M; loss includes impairment charge after Sun Media acquisition — Postmedia losses mount as revenue declines speed up — The owner of the National Post and numerous major city dailies reported a loss of $140.8 million.
Associated Press:
Chinese news assistant for Die Zeit, Zhang Miao, to be released without charges after nine months of detention — Chinese journalist for Die Zeit to be freed without charge — BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese journalist will be freed without charge following nine months in detention …
Discussion:
Poynter
Kavya Sukumar / Vox Product Blog:
Vox open sources Autotune, a centralized management system for interactive elements like charts and graphics, and provides a reusable blueprint — Introducing Autotune — Today we're announcing a new project we've been working on at Vox Media: Autotune. We built this application to address the problem of reusability in our work.
Discussion:
@loritodd, @ivarvong, @digidave and Nieman Lab
Ben Huh / Medium:
Cheezburger's Ben Huh steps down as CEO, will be replaced with President and COO Scott Moore — How to Jump Into the Deep End of Change — I'm leaving Cheezburger, Inc., the company I started. — Dear Friends and Fans of Cheezburger, — After 8 incredible years, I am stepping down from being CEO of Cheezburger today.
Discussion:
Business Insider, GeekWire, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, @benhuh and @mikeisaac