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Wall Street Journal:
Russia frees Evan Gershkovich, RFE/RL reporter Alsu Kurmasheva, and others as part of a prisoner swap involving 24 prisoners and at least six countries — Release of 32-year-old American from Russia secured as part of largest East-West prisoner swap since Cold War
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Wall Street Journal:
A detailed timeline of Evan Gershkovich's arrest and release and the months of negotiations involving spy agencies, billionaires, politicians, and his mother — The secret negotiations to free The Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich unfolded on three continents, involving spy agencies …
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Wall Street Journal:
WSJ Editor Emma Tucker thanks the Biden administration, other governments, especially Germany's, and Evan Gershkovich in the effort to release him and others — Today is a joyous day for the safe return of our colleague Evan Gershkovich, who left a Russian aircraft moments ago in Turkey's capital …
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New York Times, Fox News, Mediaite, Press Gazette, New York Post, Talking Biz News, @edmundlee@threads.net, @jbillinson@threads.net, TMZ.com, The Guardian, Associated Press, The Hill, Nikhil Deogun on LinkedIn, Gordon Friedrich on LinkedIn, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, Politico, CBS News, Boston Herald and NPR
Kate Conger / New York Times:
Don Lemon sues Elon Musk and X, arguing Musk refused to pay him after a $1.5M/year exclusive X content deal fell apart; Lemon did not sign a formal contract — The former CNN reporter said in a lawsuit that X had refused to pay him after a testy interview with its billionaire owner.
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Bill Donahue / Billboard:
Court filings: AI startups Suno and Udio respond to copyright lawsuits from major music labels, saying their use of proprietary music to train AI is fair use — In their first responses to the sweeping copyright lawsuits that could define AI music, lawyers for Suno and Udio don't exactly hold back.
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Suno, Axios, TorrentFreak, Reuters, CMU and Rolling Stone
David Shepardson / Reuters:
A US appeals court blocks the FCC's reinstatement of net neutrality rules, saying broadband providers are likely to succeed in a legal challenge — A U.S. appeals court on Thursday blocked the Federal Communications Commission's reinstatement of landmark net neutrality rules …
Discussion:
@newsguyusa@threads.net, Fast Company and Iowa Capital Dispatch
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Apple reports Q3 revenue from Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, rose 14% YoY to $24.21B, vs. $23.96B estimated, an all-time record — The company is seeing double digit year growth in its services division, which includes Apple TV+.
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Variety, CNBC, The Information, Apple, Deadline, BGR and 9to5Mac, more at Techmeme »
Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:
Roku reports Q2 revenue up 14% YoY to $968.2M vs. $935.3M estimated, a net loss of $33.95M vs. $107.6M in Q2 2023, and 83.6M streaming households, up 2M from Q1 — Shares rose over 6% in after-hours trading as the company posted a smaller than expected loss of 24 cents per share and better than expected revenue of $968 million
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Variety, The Desk, Reuters, Deadline, Roku and Cord Cutters News, more at Techmeme »
Akash Sriram / Reuters:
Snap reports Q2 revenue up 16% YoY to $1.24B vs. $1.25B est., DAUs up 9% YoY to 432M, and forecasts Q3 revenue below expectations; SNAP drops 15%+ after hours — Snap (SNAP.N) forecast current-quarter sales and adjusted core earnings below market expectations on Thursday as the Snapchat owner grapples …
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Ad Age, The Information, Snap Inc. and Deadline, more at Techmeme »
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon misses Q2 estimates, reporting $147.98B in revenue vs $148.56B expected, $12.8B in ad revenue vs $13B estimated, and gives weaker-than-expected guidance — Amazon missed on revenue in its second-quarter earnings report on Thursday and issued a weaker-than-expected forecast for the current period.
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Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Variety and Quartz, more at Techmeme »
Noah Shachtman / Vanity Fair:
Entertainment news outlets like Pop Base, the Shade Room, and more have been posting nonstop about Kamala Harris, and her campaign aims to leverage the coverage — Celeb-news-only accounts like Pop Crave are suddenly coconut-pilled, posting religiously about the Harris campaign to their millions of followers.
Discussion:
@noahshachtman, @dougheye and Cartoons Hate Her
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
WBD, Disney, and Fox plan to launch their joint sports streaming venture Venu for $42.99 per month initially, with a seven-day free trial, expected in fall 2024 — Streaming sports on a stand-alone basis won't be cheap. … The service is expected to debut in the fall in conjunction with the start of the next NFL season.
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