Category Archives: Blog

Music-streaming king Spotify sees a future in podcasts.

The company announced on Wednesday that it has made two huge acquisitions that firmly plant Spotify in the podcasting business. The music-streaming giant has bought Gimlet Media Inc., a popular podcast producer, and Anchor, a platform that helps creators produce and publish their podcasts.

According to Recode, Spotify is paying around $230 million for Gimlet. Recode first reported that Spotify and Gimlet were in talks last week. It’s currently unknown how much Spotify spent on Anchor.

Recode points out that the acquisition puts Spotify in the content creation business for the first time — something the company hasn’t done in its almost 11 years in the music industry.  Read more…

More about Spotify, Acquisition, Podcast, Podcasting, and Tech

We’re just months from Game of Thrones’ final season, and HBO has released the first stills of Season 8 to get this hype train moving.

Though mostly character shots, it’s thrilling to see our favorite characters again – alive, for the time being, and moving around Westeros with the speed and urgency established in Season 7. Most surprising is the return of Varys (Conleth Hill) to the North…or does that snow mean winter is spreading south with the White Walkers?

For all the new photos, read on.

More about Entertainment, Television, Photos, Hbo, and Game Of Thrones

Get ready to step up your emoji game.

Unicode just made its new emoji list for 2019 official, and the update adds 230 new symbols, including a yawning face, white heart, and pinching hand symbol.

Though the list of new emoji has now been finalized, it will still be several months before the update hits your phone. Unicode will release the update in March, but it will take some time after that for apps and operating systems to roll out support for the new characters. Updates will start hitting in April and continue through the end of the year, according to Emojipedia.

More about Tech, Emoji, Tech, and Consumer Tech

Take a walk through most modern households and you’ll quickly find a number of devices connected to the internet. Prove us wrong, we’ll wait. 

With more and more online gadgets assisting us through the minutiae of our everyday lives (playing music, giving us directions, and even cleaning our houses), we’re constantly logged on. Yet, as we continue to connect, the importance and impact of online safety is becoming an increasingly hot topic — nowadays, Mashable writes about cybersecurity almost daily.

From passwords to privacy, the desire to protect our personal information and data is increasing around the globe — and for good reason. Take Australia, for instance. According to the latest figures from Australia’s Department of Home Affairs, cybercrime is currently estimated to be costing Australians more than $724 million (A$1 billion) each year. Read more…

More about Tech, Supported, Cyberbullying, Onlinesafety, and Onlinesecurity

A new year means new emoji… to make dick jokes with.

Unicode, the organisation responsible for approving emoji, has just released a list of 230 symbols which will make it to your devices in 2019. 

Among the pile includes a sloth, a yawning face, and a falafel, to name a few. But already receiving plenty of attention is the pinching hand emoji, because well, it totally symbolises a small penis.

More about Emoji, Culture, Culture, and Web Culture

A Chinese satellite swooped behind the moon and snapped a shot of two worlds: the heavily-cratered moon, and in the distance, the cloud-covered planet Earth. 

The image, captured on February 3, shows the far side of the moon that us Earthlings never see. The moon is locked in orbit to Earth, meaning that the same side of the moon is always facing us. But as the image shows, the moon’s far side is often illuminated by the sun, exposing the impact-blasted, grey lunar desert.

Meanwhile, some 239,000 miles away, clouds swirl over Earth’s lands and oceans, and life goes on.

More about Space, Science, Moon, Science, and Space

If you’re nostalgic for the Reddit of ten years ago, we have good news: you can now relive it. 

The new subreddit r/Stuck10YearsBehind imagines what the platform was like a decade ago. Unsurprisingly, it’s a warm, nostalgic place that reminds me of the days when the internet was fun.

Do you remember that time? I do. It was glorious time of memes, GIFs, and weird viral videos. Our president didn’t tweet out conspiracy theories on Twitter all day long. People talked about pop culture and the “weird internet.” We weren’t drowning in a sea of social media toxicity. We were dumb and happy (at least happier than we are now).  Read more…

More about Nostalgia, Culture, Subreddit, Culture, and Web Culture

Snap is finally starting to turn things around. 

Snapchat’s growth has finally stabilized after two straight quarters of losing users, following an unpopular redesign. What’s more, the company is making substantially more money off the users it does have, the company revealed in its fourth-quarter earnings report for 2018. 

Snap reported $390 million in revenue, an increase of 36 percent from last year, and $10 million above the high end of its own projections for the quarter.

Meanwhile, Snapchat’s user growth held steady at 186 million daily active users, the same as last quarter. That’s still down from the 191 million it counted this time last year, but this shows the app has been able to reverse what’s been its most worrying trend.  Read more…

More about Tech, Snapchat, Snap Inc, Tech, and Social Media Companies

Breanna J. McDaniel hopes black girls will recognize themselves in her debut picture book Hands Up!. Even before they flip to the first page, they’ll see a smiling black girl jumping on the cover. 

“Unfortunately, you still don’t see a ton of that. And not just black girls. Girls of color, period,” says McDaniel. 

McDaniel’s story is about Viv, a lively, responsible, and talented black girl. As readers flip through the vibrant illustrations, Viv grows older and raises her hands in different contexts. She plays peek-a-boo with her parents, participates in class, and practices fifth position, like her favorite ballerina Misty Copeland.  Read more…

More about Books, Black History Month, Race, Representation, and Black Authors

Tesla has done it again. 

The company that brought us insane mode and questionably sourced farting unicorns is back to remind the world that no one speaks to the soul of children trapped in adult bodies better than its childlike CEO. That’s right, Tesla just launched its own Amazon store, and you wouldn’t believe the goodies for sale.

In the mood for a $250 1:18-scale Tesla Model S toy car with “Steerable wheels”? Or maybe a $45 iPhone X case with the word “Tesla” subtly emblazoned across the side? The Tesla Amazon store has you covered.

According to Electrek, the store launched Feb. 5, and suggests a possible future where Tesla customers might order some vehicle accessories through the online retail giant. In the meantime, however, the page’s offerings are limited to model cars, hoodies, hats, phone cases, and coffee mugs.  Read more…

More about Amazon, Tesla, Elon Musk, Tech, and Big Tech Companies