Top News:
Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal:
News Corp in advanced talks to sell off its education division, Amplify, will cease production of tablet, continue to develop software during talks — News Corp Posts Loss on Education Write-Down — Media company in advanced talks to sell off Amplify digital-ed unit
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
The New York Times built a Slack bot to help decide which stories to post to social media — The New York Times publishes more than 300 stories each day. Which ones should editors feature on its many social media channels? While the humans behind the Times' social media accounts have refined …
Politico:
European Commission extends deadline for Google to respond to antitrust charges to Aug. 31 — Google gets more time in EU antitrust case — Tech giant Google has until August 31 to respond to the Commission. — Google has got a second extension — until August 31 …
Discussion:
Bloomberg Business, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Search Engine Land
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Vertical video gains acceptance as viewers spend more time on phones and tablets — Vertical Video on the Small Screen? Not a Crime — In 2012, Vincent Bova and Damien Eckhardt-Jacobi, two puppeteers who host a YouTube series called Glove and Boots, created a public service announcement …
Discussion:
Adweek, @brianstelter, @jackshafer, @digiphile, @ferndiaz, @ernie_mourelo, @sfshag, @shanebarnhill and @pargery
Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:
New episodes of Sesame Street to air on HBO, nine months before airing on PBS, starting this fall — HBO Strikes Deal for ‘Sesame Street’ — Partnership means new episodes will air on HBO first, PBS nine months later; deal will double the number of episodes produced yearly — Big Bird is flying over to HBO.
Discussion:
Sesame Workshop, New York Times, CNNMoney, Adweek, TIME, Current.org, New York Times, The New York Observer, Politico, Broadcasting & Cable, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Business Insider, @alexweprin, New York Daily News, Deadline, Financial Times, TIME, Vanity Fair, EW.com, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, E! Online, New York Post, Hollywood Reporter, ABC News, Variety, The Week, @brianstelter, Mashable, @jbflint, Jezebel, @ronmwangaguhung, Engadget, PBS NewsHour, Yahoo TV, Ars Technica, NBC News, Fortune, Newsweek, @robertmackey, @nickconfessore, @poniewozik, @brianstelter, The Inquisitr News and Current.org
Gerry Smith / Bloomberg Business:
SNL Kagan report: pay-TV services record biggest-ever quarterly drop in Q2, losing 625K accounts — Cord-Cutting Accelerates as Pay TV Sees Record Subscriber Losses — Cord-cutting is gaining steam. — Pay-TV services recorded their biggest-ever quarterly drop in subscribers …
Discussion:
MediaPost, Hollywood Reporter, PRWeb, The Drum, Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable
Sahil Patel / Digiday:
With BI Films, Business Insider ventures into long-form video — Business Insider is going long on video, quite literally. — On July 28, the business news site launched “League of Millions,” a documentary series centering on e-sports gamers Team Liquid as it pursue the annual “League of Legends” world championship.
Discussion:
The Hill and New York Times
Jennifer Maloney / Wall Street Journal:
As reading of e-books on phones increases, publishers are rethinking content for small screens — The Rise of Phone Reading — It's not the e-reader that will be driving future books sales, it's the phone; How publishers are rethinking books for the small screen
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
GQ cut its webpage load time by 80% by reducing its server calls by 400%, using a single CMS, and decluttering articles — How GQ cut its webpage load time by 80 percent — It used to be that publishers measured their success in audience size. Now, with the rise of reading on mobile devices …
Discussion:
Vox Product Blog, @lmoses and AdExchanger
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook plans to open Mentions, which houses Periscope competitor Live, to all verified profiles, many of which belong to journalists — Facebook Confirms Live Broadcasting Will Soon Open To Journalists And Verified Profiles — Facebook plans to open up its Periscope livestreaming competitor to more than just celebrities.
Discussion:
SocialTimes, dna, NDTV Gadgets, The Irish Times, Engadget, The Next Web and The Drum
Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:
Tribune Media Q2: revenue up 6% to $501.5M, net income fell $3.3M — Tribune Media reports loss despite revenue growth in second quarter — Ready for some preseason football? Try sportsPlus today for unlimited sports coverage.
Discussion:
Broadcasting & Cable, TVNewsCheck.com, Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal and Variety
Julie Chu / South China Morning Post:
Two men found guilty on all charges in knife attack on Hong Kong newspaper editor Kevin Lau — A High Court jury today found two men guilty on all charges against them in the brazen daylight knife attack on the chief editor of the Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao last year....
Discussion:
thesundaily.my, bangkokpost.com, Agence France-Presse and New York Times