Mediagazer: Yahoo plans to spin off Vespa, its open-source big data serving tool that powers the company's search, recommendations, and ad tech, into an independent venture (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)

1:50 PM ET, October 4, 2023

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Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:

Yahoo plans to spin off Vespa, its open-source big data serving tool that powers the company's search, recommendations, and ad tech, into an independent venture — Yahoo, otherwise known as the company that pays my salary (full disclosure: Yahoo owns TC), today announced that it's spinning off Vespa …

Discussion: MediaPost, @thisguyoftheai, Business Wire and Beet.TV, more at Techmeme »

Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:

Fortune CEO and ex-EIC Alan Murray plans to step down at the end of April 2024; he became CEO in December 2018, after the magazine was sold — Alan Murray, the chief executive officer of Fortune and its former editor in chief, is stepping down in six months. — Murray has been CEO since December 2018 after the magazine was sold.

Discussion: Fortune

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

News UK and DMG Media propose creating a joint venture to combine their printing operations, which would need to be cleared by the competition authority — The companies believe the plan could help ensure a “long-term sustainable future” for the UK newspaper ecosystem.

Discussion: @newsuk, The Guardian, News UK and AOL

Todd Spangler / Variety:

WBD hikes the price of Discovery+ without ads in the US from $6.99 to $8.99 per month and Canada from CA$6.99 to CA$8.99; ad-tier remains $4.99/month in the US — It's the first time Discovery+ has increased the price of a monthly subscription in the markets since launching in January 2021.

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Ian Youngs / BBC:

GB News fires hosts Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson after concluding its internal investigations, and says its Dan Wootton investigation continues — Laurence Fox has been sacked by GB News after an outcry about comments he made on air about a female journalist.

Discussion: Press Association, Variety, @arusbridger, Daily Mail, The Independent, Daily Express, Spectator, London Evening Standard, @forakin, @david_challen, @calvinrobinson, @gbnews, Deadline and The Sun

Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:

Canva unveils AI tools to automate labor-intensive tasks, and plans to pay out $200M over three years to designers who let their work be used to train AI models — As part of its 10th birthday celebrations, web-based design platform Canva is releasing Magic Studio — a new suite …

Discussion: Fast Company and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Meta rolls out AI features for advertisers, like using AI to create backgrounds, expand images, and generate versions of ad text based on the original copy — Meta announced today it's rolling out its first generative AI features for advertisers, allowing them to use AI to create backgrounds …

Discussion: AdExchanger, Facebook, The Messenger, @blyons151, @kvnbbg, @thisguyoftheai, Search Engine Land and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Nicholas Casey / New York Times:

A look at Monitor Michoacán, a Mexican news outlet that closed after two of its journalists reporting on drug violence and government corruption were murdered — Drug violence and government corruption have put the country's journalists in peril. In one town, reporters tried to fight back.

Discussion: @cpalbi, @farnazfassihi, @rebelryan77, @nytimes, @alfonslopeztena, @caseysjournal, @drixander and @brianmannadk

Mia Sato / The Verge:

Patreon rolls out a slew of new features and products, including a new visual brand identity, an updated home feed, and free membership tiers — A decade since launching with the mission of helping creatives make money directly through fan support, Patreon is undergoing a major rebrand …

Discussion: @ismaelnafria, @mattnavarra, @patreon, Patreon and @patreon, more at Techmeme »

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:

Q&A with Taylor Lorenz on her new book, Extremely Online, women's role in building the internet, new media's effect on journalism, Twitter, Threads, and more — “The personality-driven model of news is not going away.” — In 2017, Taylor Lorenz predicted for Nieman Lab that selfie journalism would become “a thing.”

Discussion: Wired, Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter, Platformer, @caseynewton@mastodon.social and The Information

Samanth Subramanian / The Guardian:

A profile of Michael Lewis, as he talks about his new book, Going Infinite, why he considers SBF to be essentially genuine, The Blind Side controversy, and more — As author of The Big Short and Moneyball, Michael Lewis is perhaps the most celebrated journalist of his generation.

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Post, @juliedicaro, @juliedicaro, Deadspin, Fox News, The Overspill, The Messenger, @davidedgarwolf, @60minutes, @macrocephalopod, @samanth_s, @samanth_s, @smtuffy, @juleshyman, @jbarro, @parikpatelcfa, @noahpinion, @zekefaux, @petercontibrown, @mrianleslie, @buccocapital, @samanth_s, @followtheh, @alexnazaryan, @gdnlongread, @molly0xfff, @samanth_s, @joshkraushaar, @matthewstoller, @samanth_s, @alderlaneeggs, @jack_raines, @glynmoody, @sokane1, @buccocapital, @julie_bush, @coffeebreak_yt, @samanth_s, @samanth_s, @ugarles, @rdnarang, @samanth_s, @molly0xfff, @gdnlongread, @ben_a_goldfarb, @michaeldavsmith, @jenszalai, New York Post, Insider, Molly White, New York Times, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, The Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, Bloomberg, Fast Company, CNBC, New York Magazine and The Block

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The Information:
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