Journals

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: Sensor Tower: Netflix Games downloads rose 180% YoY to 81.2M globally across the App Store and Google Play in 2023, with Q4 accounting for 53% of downloads  —  Just over two years ago, Netflix announced it… Read More »Sensor Tower: Netflix Games downloads rose 180% YoY to 81.2M globally across the App Store and Google Play in 2023, with Q4 accounting for 53% of downloads (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

Maria Sherman / Associated Press: Luminate’s 2023 report: the global music industry passed 4T streams in 2023, a new record and up 34% from 2022; Taylor Swift had one in every 78 US streams  —  Listened to more music last… Read More »Luminate’s 2023 report: the global music industry passed 4T streams in 2023, a new record and up 34% from 2022; Taylor Swift had one in every 78 US streams (Maria Sherman/Associated Press)

The Verge: Twitch CEO Dan Clancy confirms plans to cut 500+ jobs, or 35% of its staff, and says the workforce was oversized for its current position, after March 2023 cuts  —  Twitch is laying off more than 500 employees,… Read More »Twitch CEO Dan Clancy confirms plans to cut 500+ jobs, or 35% of its staff, and says the workforce was oversized for its current position, after March 2023 cuts (The Verge)

Nick Carey / Reuters: E-scooter rental startups Tier and Dott plan to merge, with their investors Mubadala, Sofina, and others putting in €60M, forming Europe’s largest operator  —  E-scooter rental firms Tier Mobility and Dott said on Wednesday that they… Read More »E-scooter rental startups Tier and Dott plan to merge, with their investors Mubadala, Sofina, and others putting in €60M, forming Europe’s largest operator (Nick Carey/Reuters)

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter: Internal memo: Amazon Studios SVP Mike Hopkins says “several hundred roles” are being cut in its Prime Video and MGM Studios units; both had cuts in early 2023  —  Division leader Mike Hopkins said… Read More »Internal memo: Amazon Studios SVP Mike Hopkins says “several hundred roles” are being cut in its Prime Video and MGM Studios units; both had cuts in early 2023 (Alex Weprin/The Hollywood Reporter)

New York Times: How RISC-V, the US-developed, open-source chip instruction set architecture, became a central tool for Chinese companies and governments, leading to US concerns  —  A U.S.-born chip technology called RISC-V has become critical to China’s ambitions.  Washington is… Read More »How RISC-V, the US-developed, open-source chip instruction set architecture, became a central tool for Chinese companies and governments, leading to US concerns (New York Times)

Financial Times: How UK online clothes shoppers shifting back to physical stores post-pandemic exacerbated online retailers’ challenges, including logistics and new upstarts  —  The pandemic turbocharged internet clothing sales, but a return to stores has left the UK’s ecommerce pioneers… Read More »How UK online clothes shoppers shifting back to physical stores post-pandemic exacerbated online retailers’ challenges, including logistics and new upstarts (Financial Times)

Iain Martin / Forbes: Documents: sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich quietly invested $63M+ in European startups via London VC firm Target Global between 2015 and 2021  —  Venture capital fund Target Global managed tens of millions of dollars for Roman… Read More »Documents: sanctioned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich quietly invested $63M+ in European startups via London VC firm Target Global between 2015 and 2021 (Iain Martin/Forbes)

Karen Gilchrist / CNBC: With half of the world’s adults set to vote in 2024, the WEF’s Global Risks Report 2024 ranks AI mis- and disinformation ahead of war, climate change, and more  —  – Concern over the impact of… Read More »With half of the world’s adults set to vote in 2024, the WEF’s Global Risks Report 2024 ranks AI mis- and disinformation ahead of war, climate change, and more (Karen Gilchrist/CNBC)

Andre Gee / Rolling Stone: Legendary mixtape platform DatPiff uploads its 50TB cache of 366,420 mixtapes and free albums to the Internet Archive, after a server crash in March 2023  —  DatPiff uploaded its extensive free mixtape catalog to the… Read More »Legendary mixtape platform DatPiff uploads its 50TB cache of 366,420 mixtapes and free albums to the Internet Archive, after a server crash in March 2023 (Andre Gee/Rolling Stone)