Top News:
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Memo: Amazon is shutting down Amp, its live audio streaming app launched in March 2022 that let users act like DJs by playing music and talking alongside songs — The service launched in March 2022 following a frenzy around live-audio services during the pandemic.
Discussion:
@ashleyrcarman, @bradydale and NBC 7 San Diego, more at Techmeme »
Anna Nemtsova / The Daily Beast:
The family of award-winning Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna says she has been missing since August 3, when she returned to Russian-occupied territory — Victoria Roshchyna has been missing since Aug. 3. Her father told The Daily Beast that her family is desperate to find out where she is.
Discussion:
Byline Times, New York Post, @jalefkowit@octodon.social, @stommedia, @milxind and @pierrecrom
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
Wall Street and music industry analysts see Spotify's move into audiobooks as an opportunity for the company to increase its profit margins and value for users — An Evercore ISI analyst expects the effort to be a higher margin business than its music offerings, while a Morgan Stanley expert highlighted …
Discussion:
@tvgrimreaper, Publishers Weekly, Fox News, Engadget, CMU, Music Industry Blog, Spotify, Music Ally, Financial Times, The Verge, RAIN News, Wall Street Journal, Publishing Perspectives, Billboard, The Messenger, Consequence, Fast Company, The Sun, TechCrunch, Cord Cutters News and New York Times
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:
@thisguyoftheai, MediaPost, Business Wire and Beet.TV, more at Techmeme »
Hamilton Nolan / How Things Work:
Cable news networks continue to hire politicians' relatives and former White House flacks as news anchors, breaking the most basic rules of ethical journalism — It's kind of impressive how long cable news has been openly corrupt. — When you work in the parts of the media where I have spent …
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Fortune CEO and former EIC Alan Murray plans to step down at the end of April 2024; he became CEO in December 2018, after Chatchaval Jiaravanon acquired Fortune — Alan Murray, the chief executive officer of Fortune and its former editor in chief, is stepping down in six months.
Discussion:
New York Times, @davidclinchnews and Fortune
Ian Youngs / BBC:
GB News fires hosts Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson after concluding its internal investigations, and says its “investigation into Dan Wootton continues” — Laurence Fox has been sacked by GB News after an outcry about comments he made on air about a female journalist.
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
The Messenger hires AI company Seekr to flag clickbait, bias, and more; reporters can get a score reflecting their political lean that is visible to readers — What counts as clickbait? Merriam-Webster's definition is “something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta rolls out generative AI features for advertisers, including to create backgrounds, expand images, and write 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:
Facebook, @kvnbbg, Search Engine Land, @blyons151, @thisguyoftheai, Bloomberg, AdExchanger and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
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, @moorehn, Washington Post, Fox News, @60minutes, @macrocephalopod, @samanth_s, @samanth_s, The Overspill, @juleshyman, The Messenger, @jbarro, @parikpatelcfa, @noahpinion, @zekefaux, @buccocapital, @samanth_s, @followtheh, @alexnazaryan, @molly0xfff, @samanth_s, @joshkraushaar, @matthewstoller, Deadspin, @juliedicaro, @alderlaneeggs, @jack_raines, @sokane1, @buccocapital, @julie_bush, @coffeebreak_yt, @samanth_s, @samanth_s, @ugarles, @rdnarang, @samanth_s, @molly0xfff, @juliedicaro, @glynmoody, @jenszalai, @davidedgarwolf, @samanth_s, @mrianleslie, @petercontibrown, @gdnlongread, @michaeldavsmith, @smtuffy, @ben_a_goldfarb, @gdnlongread, Insider, New York Post, Molly White, New York Times, @jeffjarvis@mastodon.social, The Hollywood Reporter, Awful Announcing, Bloomberg, Fast Company, CNBC, New York Magazine and The Block
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
News UK and DMG Media propose a joint venture to combine their printing operations for a more sustainable business model, which the UK CMA would need to clear — The companies believe the plan could help ensure a “long-term sustainable future” for the UK newspaper ecosystem.
Discussion:
MediaPost, @newsuk, The Guardian, News UK and AOL
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:
Plagiarism Today, CNET, Bloomberg and Fast Company, more at Techmeme »