Paramount launches a hostile $108 billion bid to snatch Warner from Netflix

Paramount has launched a $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, calling Netflix's $83 billion arrangement to purchase the entertainment giant's studios and streaming service "inferior." The Paramount proposal, unlike Netflix's, would also include the linear networks owned by WBD. Paramount says its deal offers a "superior alternative to the Netflix transaction," citing […]

Segway’s new Myon e-bike will straddle past and future

Segway’s modest e-bike lineup is about to gain a new entrant. The Ninebot-owned brand, once known for its pioneering self-balancing scooters, currently only sells two e-bikes: the moto-styled Xyber and the low-step Xafari. Now it’s getting a third, Myon, which it plans on officially debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next year. […]

How the creator economy destroyed the internet

Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has the most popular YouTube account with over 450 million subscribers, or a little over 1 in 16 people in the world. His success with high-production, high-output stunt videos have made him the aspirational model for independent content creators everywhere: the actualization of the promise that, thanks to the […]

Stop, Shop, and Scroll

In 1914 Joseph Pilates was sitting in a World War I-era internment camp watching his fellow inmates waste away when he had an idea. As he later recounted to a journalist, the skinny prison courtyard cats kept spry and limber, stretching and moving even as they starved — could the German citizens interned in the […]

You need to watch the modern horror masterpiece, His House

There's an argument to be made that "the real monster is trauma" has become an overused trope in modern horror. Hereditary, The Babadook, and, much less effectively, Smile, are just a few higher-profile examples. But, if you ask me, few films have deployed this trope quite as effectively as the 2020 film His House. The […]

Netflix CEO made a visit to the White House before buying Warner Bros.

In November, Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO made a trip to the White House for a lengthy meeting with Donald Trump. According to Bloomberg, the two discussed a number of topics, but chief among them was Netflix’s plan to bid on Warner Bros. At the end of their conversation, Sardonos felt that “Netflix wouldn’t face immediate […]

X cuts off the European Commission’s ad account after being fined €120 million

Friday, the EU slapped X with a €120 million fine (about $140 million) for violating the Digital Services Act (DSA). It was the first time that a company had been hit with a penalty for running afoul of the law. Elon Musk responded with his trademark tact and professionalism by posting “Bullshit” on X in […]

A very human vision for going all-in on AI

It's easy to think about AI as a sort of existential battle between human and machine. Maybe it will be, someday, in a Skynet sort of way. But there are also lots of people trying to figure out how to use AI not as a replacement for human creativity and thinking but as a tool […]

What Google Glass got right — and really, really wrong

Google didn't invent the concept of smart glasses, but it did help make them mainstream. In retrospect, 13 years after their launch, this is both a good and bad thing. Glass made a lot of people dream about new ways to use computers without staring down at screens all day. Glass also made a lot […]

A love letter to glory days of iPhone gaming

It may be hard to believe now, but the App Store was once a thriving place for inventive indie games. The ubiquity of the iPhone coupled with the relative ease of development for the platform meant that smaller studios were able to get their games in front of huge audiences, leading to a great time […]