Media

Over $500 million worth of real estate was sold on the top four metaverse platforms in 2021, data shows. Traditional real estate companies are amongst the many investors flocking to stake their claim on plots of land in virtual worlds like Decentraland and Sandbox. Although important questions rema

The recent death of an online content auditor in China has brought attention to the toil of the occupation that has emerged in the internet age. A 25-year-old man who monitored content at Chinese video streaming site Bilibili suddenly passed away on February 5 during Chinese New Year, allegedly aft

The widespread success of platforms ranging from Second Life to Roblox shows that people are open to virtual worlds where they can socialize, play games, exchange information, and share some laughs. More recently, the rise of virtual HQs, Meta’s investment in interactive social software, and

Microsoft is working to warm lawmakers up to its plans to bring a collection of the world’s most popular video games under its wing. The company announced its intention to buy Activision Blizzard last month in a deal that would be worth $68.7 billion — the largest gaming acquisition of all

After unveiling its Clubhouse clone last April, Reddit is adding new features to Reddit Talk that are intended to boost engagement. Among these additions are web compatibility, recordings of past sessions, live commenting during talks and a live bar at the top of the home feed (similar to Twitter&#

As our Equity podcast recently asked, “How many times must Spotify step on a rake?” The streaming service is learning the hard way that it’s counterintuitive to act as both a platform and a publisher — now, in trying to reassert its status as a platform, it’s acting ev

Tumblr is launching its second attempt at a monetization feature today. Rolling out in the U.S. now and soon globally, Tumblr Tips will let bloggers receive one-te payments from their supporters. Tumblr will not take a cut from these payments, though standard credit card fees (2.9% + $0.30) will ap

Digital creation platform Picsart has launched a new API program called Picsart for Developers, the company announced on Wednesday. Picsart offers a range of digital creation and editing tools aimed at both consumers and professionals alike that make photo and video editing more fun and approachabl

Instagram is introducing a “Your activity” tab that allows users to see and manage their activity on the app. The company started testing the feature late last year and is now rolling it out to all users worldwide. The new tab allows users to bulk delete their content and interactions.

The Note is dead. After more than a decade, Samsung has officially closed the book on the transformative phablet. The brand will still exist, but only in a kind of liminal marketing capacity. “We're thinking more and more of the Note as the experience,” a rep told me on a recent briefing ca

More venture capital is flowing into meal delivery service companies as consumers seek out better-for-you food choices. The online meal kit delivery market is poised to be a $7 billion industry by the end of this year, and then triple in the next five years. That has attracted venture capitalists&#

TikTok may be the most successful app that has emerged from China and is making impressive international inroads, but there is a host of smaller entertainment apps built in China that are also replicating their models overseas. Tiya is one of them. Born out of Chinese podcasting platform Lizhi, it

The MENA region has about 400 million people with $500 billion in annual savings. But as a relatively young population, most of them have minimal equity market and investment exposure. Replicating the success of Robinhood in the U.S., some platforms are looking to create investors out of the region

Xpressbees, an Indian logistics startup that works with several e-commerce firms in the country, has more than tripled its valuation to $1.2 billion in a new financing round. The Pune-headquartered startup said on Wednesday it has raised $300 million — $100 million in primary and $200 million