Spotify is rolling out a new kind of advertising format during podcasts, call-to-action cards, that may give podcasters a break from having to spell out URLs and coupon codes letter by letter during their ad breaks whenever they want to relate specialized deals to listeners like you.  The ad cards, announced in a blog post Thursday, …

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri vowed Tuesday that the social app will “rethink what Instagram is” in 2022. In a video posted to Twitter, Mosseri said Instagram will focus on greater transparency in the New Year, among other goals. He didn’t directly address any of the past year’s scandals that rocked Instagram and parent company Meta (formerly known as Facebook).  “We’re …

Apple issued surprise stock bonuses to select engineers last week to stave off defections to rival companies in Silicon Valley, according to a Bloomberg report Tuesday.  Apple didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment, after it declined to comment to Bloomberg.  Some of the bonuses, which were restricted stock awards that vest over four years, ranged from $50,000 to $180,000 …

The Matrix may be resurrecting today, but the era of same-day streaming is dying out just a year after it was born.  On Wednesday, the Matrix franchise’s long-anticipated revival, The Matrix Resurrections, landed in theaters and on HBO Max. That caps a year of unprecedented availability for new movies, with Matrix’s maker, AT&T’s WarnerMedia, being the most aggressive. As the owner …

Roku and Google‘s YouTube have reached a multiyear distribution deal for Roku to offer both the main YouTube app and Google’s app for its live-channel streaming service, YouTube TV, Roku said Wednesday.  The agreement comes a day before Google’s deadline to either reach a deal or it would cut off the main YouTube app from new Roku devices. Wednesday’s new pact also means that the …

Paramount Plus launched in March as the replacement for CBS All Access, with a big library of shows and movies, plus exclusive originals and some sports — include a live stream of Machester United playing Villarreal in the Champions League Tuesday. But Paramount Plus doesn’t have the single show most associated with the Paramount name: Yellowstone. The first three seasons of the …

Spotify launched lyrics as a native feature of its service for all its users — free and paid — globally Thursday, widening a long-awaited product feature to its entire listener base after it was already native to its service in a few large corners of the world. Spotify teased the news on social media the previous day.  Hint: It’s what you’ve been …

Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is one of the biggest box office hits of the pandemic, sitting atop the rankings as the highest-grossing movie in the US so far this year. Its box office success was partially thanks to Shang-Chi’s streaming strategy — which was not to stream at all.  Eternals hit theaters last week and followed …

YouTube is removing public dislike counts, the visible tallies of how many people click on “thumbs down” for a video. Google’s video site, the largest source of online video on the planet with more than 2 billion monthly users, said the move is designed to impede “dislike attack” harassment campaigns.  The change “will start gradually rolling out” on Wednesday, YouTube said.  …

Disney Plus grew to 118.1 million subscribers as of Oct. 2, Disney said Wednesday. That’s a 60% jump from a year earlier, but it also means Disney Plus added only 2.1 million new members in the three-month fiscal quarter, a sharp slowdown. India appeared to be the culprit. Disney Plus Hotstar — the Indian version of the service — lost roughly 2 …