Tootfinder

News flash: There’s lots of really good new music out there! Here’s some of it: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/10/15/Current-Music
Featuring: Kwashibu Area Band (Ghana), New Eves (UK), The Good Ones (Rwanda), Alfa Mist (UK), Sona Jobarteh (UK/Gambia)…

What better promotion could the new CEO of Mastodon @… get, than x.com and so many other sites and social networks being down due to all relying on CloudFlare, which is down.

New book on the history of McGill University - written and edited by historians, not the university's comms department. I wrote a chapter on how Indigenous dispossession and colonial politicians saved McGill when it was in danger of going broke. Others cover McGill's ties to chattel slavery, Japanese exclusion, research of various sorts, student lives, queer experiences, and more.
Check it out:

Meta launches a tool called content protection to let creators detect when their reels are reposted on Facebook or Instagram and take action (Karissa Bell/Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/social-media/face

Facebook rolls out new tools for creators to track accounts stealing their content
Meta is rolling out a new tool that allows Facebook creators to more easily track when their videos have been reposted by others.

This is long, but hits on something that has been bothering me about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, too.
https://reactormag.com/bioessentialism-in-star-trek-strange-new-worlds/

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Is Biology Destiny? - Reactor
Vulcans are logic machines, Gorn are monsters... or so Strange New Worlds might have us believe.

#ShamelesslyStolenFromTumblr

Our tree topper broke, but now I can print a new one!
Honestly really amazing what you can do with 3D printing.
My former hometown of Vienna has had a lot of influence on it early in 3D printing history…

From Translink
New bus stop lights roll out to improve safety and visibility
TransLink testing solar-powered lights at 14 bus stops
TransLink is improving safety and comfort with new solar-powered lights at bus stops.

The project will test lights at 14 locations where customers or staff have identified a need for improved lighting. The initiative will improve visibility for both Bus Operators and waiting passengers.

Time For Christmas o'clock #HashtagGames hosted by @….
#PetsHolidaySongs

This week, GÉANT held its first multistakeholder policy event in Brussels—opening a new chapter in how the GÉANT community and European policy makers can work together to shape the #DigitalTransformation of #Europe.
This event laid the groundwork for an ongoing dialogue between GÉANT, …

"New window-mounted heat pumps make ditching fossil fuels easier"
#HeatPumps #Energy
h…

New window-mounted heat pumps make ditching fossil fuels easier
They plug into a standard outlet, hang on the sill, and slash climate-warming pollution.

new_zealand_collab: New Zealand scientific collaborations (2015)
A network of scientific collaborations among institutions in New Zealand. Nodes are institutions (universities, organizations, etc.), and two nodes i,j are connected if Scopus lists at least one publication with authors at institutions i and j, in the period 2010-2015. Edges are weighted by the number of such collaborations. Nodes are annotated with the categorical type of institution.
This network has 1511 nodes an…

"Every time we open a new direction, we are transformed by the partners that enter this project of theological education with us."
—Serene Jones '85 M.Div. '91 Ph.D. reflecting on her long tenure as President of Union Theological Seminary, which ends this coming spring as she enters retirement

Oh sweet. New album "Borderlands" by "The Milk" is out. Me like

This is a great milestone to see for Mastodon, in evolving towards its new community-focused governance structure. I’m optimistic about what this portends for the platform and how its features & future evolve. (And it’s fun that I was there for the photo being taken!) https://

Mastodon CEO steps down as the social network restructures | TechCrunch
Eugen Rochko is stepping down as CEO of decentralized social network Mastodon. Felix Hlatky will now become the executive director as the company becomes structured as a nonprofit government by a board.

Time to decorate the tree. Most of the ornaments are on their 73rd season, but the kids might have snuck in something new...

Mamdani's new appointments chief resigns over anti-Jewish posts (Joe Anuta/Politico)
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-york-playbook-pm/2025/12/18/mamdanis-new-appointments-chief-resigns-over-anti-jewish-posts-00698145
http://www.memeorandum.com/251218/p121#a251218p121

Great insights and many new contacts at the #matrixconf2025 . The @… team will present tomorrow Sat Oct 18th at 10 am CEST SchulchatRLP, a #matrix service for half a mill…

PVS-Studio blog writer Georgii Tormozov summarizes a long list of improvements made to Microsoft's next LTS (and anniversary release) .NET 10. This overview highlights support for C# 14, performance enhancements, new libraries (including post-quantum crypto.), runtime and SDK. A good read to keep up with the latest and greatest in .NET.
"What's new in .NET 10"

So how long until the Firefox logo becomes another AI company logo that looks like a butthole?
:firefox: https://www.theverge.com/tech/845216/mozilla-ceo-anthony-enzor-demeo

Human-centered identity systems were never designed for the coming wave of autonomous AI agents. With identity failures the leading cause of most major cyber incidents, CISOs must quickly rethink how to account for the identities of new AI agents.
Check out my latest CSO piece.
Many thanks to Jim Alkove of Oleria, Ric Smith of Okta, Steve Stone of SentinelOne, Pete Clay of Aireon, Vijay Gajjala of Oleria, Carey Frey of TELUS, and Ely Kahn of SentinelOne.
Rethinking identit…

Rethinking identity for the AI era: CISOs must build trust at machine speed
Human-centered identity systems were never designed for the coming wave of autonomous AI agents. CISOs face a reckoning over how to rebuild identity systems to counter the risks.

ooh there’s a new kensington expert mouse TB800
i used to use an expert mouse; more recently i’ve been using the slimblade instead
this new expert mouse has a lower profile like the slimblade, and apparently a much smoother scroll wheel
(with the slimblade you twist the ball to scroll which is a neat trick but a scroll wheel has better ergonomics)
the new one has more buttons and side scroll things too
weirdly i can’t find it on kensington’s webshite

Oh great, new issue spam attack on @…. People really have too much time on their hands. This time posting random images from 4chan, etc., as well as AI-generated bogus issues.
Sorry you guys have to deal with such crap.

XL-Calibur Polarimetry of Cyg X-1 Further Constrains the Origin of Its Hard-state X-Ray Emission: #BlackHole secrets: https://source.washu.edu/2025/11/a-new-angle-of-study-for-unveiling-black-hole-secrets/

"What goes with [GDP growth] is ... ignored; growth depends on increased production and distribution, which always increase waste."
Jon Cloke in our new #ProspectsForDegrowth piece.
The Macavity of Degrowth – Waste, the Empire that isn’t there… – degrowthUK

The Macavity of Degrowth – Waste, the Empire that isn’t there…
Jon Cloke* “You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not there!” Growth, Degrowth, Post-Growth There are so many accepted definiti…

So the Chinese have got a new type of battery that works at - 40ºC !
This will be game-changing in the arctic and antarctica, hopefully making diesel generators obsolete. Charge the batteries during the endless sun of the summer, use the energy during the endless night of the winter...

CATL says next-gen sodium-ion battery supports 500 km range, readies for 2026 mass production
CATL announced its sodium-ion battery achieves 175 Wh/kg and 500 km range, with certified safety and 2026 mass supply.

😎 Social media research tool can lower political temperature—it could also lead to more user control over algorithms
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-social-media-tool-political-temperature.html

Social media research tool can lower political temperature—it could also lead to more user control over algorithms
A new tool shows it is possible to turn down the partisan rancor in an X feed—without removing political posts and without the direct cooperation of the platform.

Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @…
#BooksOrShowsAboutFeet

The Year in Review I didn't know existed is in!
The #NYTGames Review 2025

Room temperature superconductivity.
MATTG is Magic Angle Twisted Tri-layer Graphene.
This stuff actually exists, and is measured and explained in scientific papers.
Fortunately, MIT published an explainer that doesn't hurt your head so much. (It can't yet support a faster-than-sound passenger train...)
The cool picture explainer is in the description.

PEN America elects novelist Dinaw Mengestu as president, as the organization navigates free speech challenges across the US and criticism of its Gaza response (Jennifer Schuessler/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/arts/dinaw-mengestu-pen…

Dinaw Mengestu Will Be New President of PEN America
The novelist Dinaw Mengestu will lead the literary group at a time of escalating threats to free expression at home and abroad.

This graph says it all: instead of starting to go down, the *annual increase* of atmospheric CO2 is setting new records. We're making climate change worse at a record rate.
Turning this around should be our top priority, and it's not.
From: https://www.

Met Office: Atmospheric CO2 rise now exceeding IPCC 1.5C pathways - Carbon Brief
The rate at which atmospheric CO2 is increasing is now outpacing the pathways set out...

What could go wrong?
Trump Media to Merge With TAE Technologies, a Nuclear Fusion Firm, in a $6 Billion Deal - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/business/trump-media-tae-technologies-fusion-power-deal.html

Living a charmed life. I just installed a new video card and it took like 5 minutes, worked first try. (My old 1080 Ti with 8GB served me well. Just got a new 5060 with 16GB. For all my AI projects, of course.)

"It is a sin to interfere with another community’s ability to fulfill its covenant with God. Hills cannot shout for joy if their tops have been sheared off by strip-mining. Fish cannot swarm seas boiled by an ozone-depleted atmosphere."
—Professor Gregory Mobley writing in the new issue of Reflections, in a piece titled "God’s Eco-Network of Covenants."

OH MY GOD DOES PHILLY HAVE PHYSICAL TRANSIT CARDS??
bc I collect them
I don't have my transit card wallet on me but I also have the new Lisbon one
still mad my Istanbulkart disappeared 💔🥀
#lore

The Guardian: Millions march against Trump in nationwide day of protest
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/oct/18/anti-trump-no-kings-protests-updates

I spend a lot of my teaching life helping students learn to use Git, and I cannot emphasize enough how hostile the user experience of a merge conflict is for a new user. It looks like everything is broken. The terminology is crap. The verbiage is bamboozling. The default actions are all booby traps. The most important information is buried. The UI is terrible (both CLI and most GUIs). It’s incredibly easy to accidentally commit the conflict markers. It’s a nightmare.
2/

50 years ago tonight in concord, the 2nd not-#GratefulDead summit featuring the jerry garcia band, kingfish, & the keith & donna band (featuring b. kreutzmann), all getting ready to hit the road. no circulating tapes of kingfish nor keith’s solo debut in his hometown. 1st big show for the new jerry garcia band, playing in the middle slot. soundboard:

In May, I'll be giving what will probably be the first ever PHP 8.6 talk: Piping Hot PHP.
8.5 isn't even cool yet, but 8.6 already has some hot new features. Combining 8.5's pipe operator with the new partial function application capabilities in 8.6 should give us a whole new way to think about structuring code!
Want to be the first to see the future? Get your tickets to #phptek

PHP Tek 2026 - The Premier PHP Conference
Join us at PHP Tek 2026, the premier PHP conference featuring expert speakers, hands-on workshops, and networking opportunities.

A new round of EU transport infrastructure funding has been allocated. I have compiled an overview of the recipients for #EV charging infrastructure. Rotterdam 🇳🇱 leads.
Most 🔌 funded: Rotterdam-based VARO Energy 🇳🇱🇩🇪 for 548 🚛 chargers
Biggest site funded: Watthub's Maasvlakte hub (Port of Rotterdam): 50 🔌 350 kW⚡🚛

New dictionary dropped https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/11/18/merriam-webster-new-collegiate-dictionary

Today at VU Amsterdam for the PhD defense of Shuai Wang. I really liked the traditional and formal procedure in the Netherlands how they conduct a PhD defense and the subsequent investiture of the new PhD.
#PhD #academiclife

Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @…
#MickeyMouseTipsOrThoughts

Tried to make a square shape New York Cheesecake for the first time yesterday. It was meant to be shared at a party and I thought it would be easier to share in smaller pieces. It came out good I think. The base was solid enough to get the out of the pan. I also properly caramelized the top of the base so it doesn't soak as quickly
#NewYorkCheesecake

Sources: Netflix, Comcast, and Paramount are preparing bids to buy all or part of WBD; any deal would require President Trump's and US regulators' approval (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/business/media/warner-disc…

Paramount, Comcast and Netflix Prepare Bids for Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount, Comcast and Netflix are preparing bids to buy all or part of Warner Bros. Discovery, a crown jewel of the industry.

"Spiritual humility and ecological wisdom alike teach us that it’s time to let go of anthropocentrism—the idea that human beings are the center of the universe. Instead, we can rejoice that all creatures belong to Jesus … "
—Professor and alum Carolyn Sharp ’94 M.A.R., ’00 Ph.D. writing in the new issue of Reflections, in her piece "Let There Be Life! A Sermonic Call to Ecological Witness"

"Why Amazon trees are growing bigger — and what it means for the planet"
#AmazonRainforest #Trees #Environment8

Why Amazon trees are growing bigger — and what it means for the planet | The Optimist Daily
A new study reveals Amazon trees are growing larger due to rising CO2. Learn what this surprising trend means for climate resilience.

New York Times cuts ties with Larry Summers over Epstein emails (Emine Sinmaz/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/18/new-york-times-larry-summers-epstein-email
http://www.memeorandum.com/251119/p23#a251119p23

foursquare_friendships: Foursquare global friendships (2013)
A network of user friendships on Foursquare, from April 2012 to September 2013. The 'old' and 'new' dataset correspond to two snapshots taken before and after the check-in data collection period.
This network has 114324 nodes and 607333 edges.
Tags: Social, Online, Unweighted

“Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why…

Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @… Let's play!
#KitchenApplianceAShowOrMovie

Launch of #NewShepard 37 "is no earlier than Saturday, December 20. Our window opens at 8:00 AM CST / 14:00 UTC. The live webcast will begin 20 minutes prior to launch": https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-shepard-ns-37-mission

"Taking small steps is crucial. You might start by just learning about your immediate neighborhood, how things actually work, finding ways to intervene in things that are not working well. Understand the water supply and how to keep it clean. ... Share. Share what you have."
—YDS professor Willie James Jennings in this interview in the new issue of Reflections, focused on building hope for a living planet

New law by Wilhoit Pith:
U.S. Republicans are racketeers. Large corporations pay this protection racket to gather power, impoverish then enslave everybody else.
New Mark System:
War against opiates is religion for the masses.
#Economics #Politics

Was looking for a new series to start, and knowing nothing about the show - but knowing that there's a character named "Phil McGangus" - well I might could maybe have to look at this
#Deadloch

LinkedIn notifications.
(I’d rather my air carrier not be using AI but here we are.)

TransLink offering free transit on New Year’s Eve
Customers ride for free starting at 5 p.m. on December 31
https://link.etranslink.ca/v/443/61496305bc86358cd7f7e586cd78942324b98893a48c639a23f1f694ea285081
TransLink is …

Assassination plots, sabotage, cyber-attacks and the manipulation of information by Russia and other hostile states mean that “the frontline is everywhere”, the new head of MI6 will warn on Monday.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec…

‘The frontline is everywhere’: new MI6 head to warn of growing Russian threat
Blaise Metreweli expected to say UK faces new ‘age of uncertainty’ in speech identifying Kremlin as key threat

Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @… Let's play!
#HouseGuestASongOrPoem

Le Monde joins more than 20 publishers in offering NYT subscriptions to some subscribers at no extra cost, exposing NYT to new audiences (Mark Stenberg/Adweek)
https://www.adweek.com/media/new-york-times-le-monde-bundle-ai-translation-onbackground/

Can The New York Times Be the ‘Essential’ Newspaper for the Entire World?
A new subscription bundle with Le Monde, coupled with the promise of AI translation, underscore its untapped international audience

ICE voodoo doll discovered in New Orleans as immigration crackdown continues (WVUE-TV)
https://www.fox8live.com/2025/12/17/ice-voodoo-doll-discovered-new-orleans-immigration-crackdown-continues/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251218/p2#a251218p2

“A lot of times when we hear information about U.S. religious life, so much of it is based on polls, which do a particular kind of work,” YDS professor and ethnographer Todne Thomas says, noting that polls lack nuance and often focus on political dimensions of faith. “Religious life is important, whether we’re in an election year or not.”
Hear more from Prof. Thomas in the new episode of the YDS podcast series, which you can listen to here:

"AI boom has caused same CO2 emissions in 2025 as New York City, report claims"
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology

And the next space launch webcast is on: #NewShepard 37 - see https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-shepard-ns-37-mission and https://abcnews.go.com/US/1st-time-person-wheelchair-fly-space/story?id=128483608 and https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/18/science/blue-origin-launch-benthaus-koenigsmann for more.

NYT says it will not renew Larry Summers' contract as a contributing writer for its Opinion section, after the publication of his emails with Jeffrey Epstein (Emine Sinmaz/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/18/new-york-ti…

Morning Digest: Court blocks new Texas map, dealing surprise blow to Republicans (The Downballot)
https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-court-blocks-new-texas
http://www.memeorandum.com/251119/p29#a251119p29

Before you head out for the weekend, don't miss today's Metacurity for the critical infosec developments you should know, including
--Com members doxx DHS and ICE employees,
--DPRK hackers use EtherHiding malware to turn blockchain into C2 server,
--Trump buys Dominion Voting Systems to be "America-owned,"
--Trump's DoJ sues voting tech company Smartmatic amid defamation suit,
--MI5 points to new Chinese threat disruption,
--Hackers st…

The Com members doxxed DHS and ICE workers
DPRK hackers use EtherHiding malware to turn blockchain into C2 server, Trump buys Dominion Voting Systems to be "America-owned," Trump's DoJ sues voting tech company Smartmatic amid defamation suit, MI5 points to new Chinese threat disruption, much more

TikTok is rolling out new digital well-being features like an affirmation journal and says it will also give users badges for limiting their daily screen time (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/18/tiktok-will-now-give-you…

TikTok will now give you badges for limiting your doomscrolling | TechCrunch
TikTok is adding new digital wellbeing tools like an affirmation journal, a background sound generator, and badges for using the app within limits

A glitch in the millisecond pulsar J0900-3144: #MillisecondPulsar population, detected across multiple pulsar timing array observations: https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/new-glitch-millisecond-pulsar

Trump's 2024 gains in New Jersey hang over November's race for governor (Steve Kornacki/NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/steve-kornacki-trump-2024-gains-new-jersey-governor-race-rcna238100
http://www.memeorandum.com/251019/p10#a251019p10

"New uses for everyday spaces: South Korea turns parking lots into solar power hubs"
#SouthKorea #SolarPower #Energy

New uses for everyday spaces: South Korea turns parking lots into solar power hubs | The Optimist Daily
South Korea will require large parking lots to install solar canopies, expanding renewable energy while offering everyday benefits to drivers.

How the outrage over Jimmy Kimmel's remarks on Charlie Kirk ballooned, starting with one X user, who monitors late night shows for liberal bias, posting a clip (Stuart A. Thompson/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/technology/kimmel-carr-outr…

How Outrage at Kimmel Grew to a Shout From a Whisper
Right-wing users on social media on Tuesday were frustrated but not yet apoplectic about Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue. Things changed.

Trump trolls Biden, Obama in new plaques on 'Presidential Walk of Fame' (Matt Viser/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/17/trump-trolls-biden-obama-new-plaques-presidential-walk-fame/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251217/p108#a251217p108

Time For Christmas o'clock #HashtagGames hosted by @….
#GiftsForNarcissists

Worries grow about Black, Hispanic voter turnout for Sherrill in New Jersey governor's race (Caroline Vakil/The Hill)
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5561741-new-jersey-minority-voters-sherrill-outreach/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251018/p49#a251018p49

New episode of the YDS 'Quadcast'! Hear host Emily Judd '19 M.A.R. interview Yale professor Carlos Eire about evolving Protestant and Catholic views on miracles, the history of near-death experiences, and ‘hot-button issues’ including the celibacy rule for Catholic priests. https://

An interview with Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince on the company's new Content Signals Policy, which lets sites fine tune how their data can be used by crawlers (Samuel Axon/Ars Technica)
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/inside-the-web-i…

Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince is making sweeping changes to force Google’s hand.

Today is our third anniversary on Mastodon and the Fediverse for our daily 9PM #HashTagGames.
This past year, #Fediverse players have played over 100,000 game plays.
Including the special games that popup, we have shared over 1100 unique hashtag games since November 16, 2022.

China Declares Missouri an Economic and Reputational Menace in New Legal Action (AG Hanaway/Attorney General Office of Missouri)
https://ago.mo.gov/china-declares-missouri-an-economic-and-reputational-menace-in-new-legal-action/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251217/p136#a251217p136

Analysis: music copyright's global value rose 5.2% YoY to a record $47.2B in 2024; the revenue split favored labels and artists at 62%, above songwriters' 38% (Will Page/Pivotal Economics)
https://pivotaleconomics.com/undercurrents/music-copyright-2025

Global Value of Music Copyright Hits New All-Time High, Nearly Doubling in a Decade to $47.2bn in 2024 — Pivotal Economics
The global value of music copyright reached $47.2bn in 2024. That's up just $2.3bn (5.2%) on the prior year; growth is slowing largely because this is the first year where the pandemic effects have vanished.

Time For 9 o'clock #HashTagGames hosted by @… Let's play!
#BookOrPlayAboutBosses

Experts say FCC chair Brendan Carr's threats to broadcasters violate the First Amendment and are an abuse of the FCC's power (Greg Sargent/New Republic)
https://newrepublic.com/article/200649/trump-ouster-kimmel-anna-gomez

Trump’s Ouster of Jimmy Kimmel Is Much Worse Than You Think It Is
Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, tells TNR that chairman Brendan Carr’s move violates both the First Amendment and the Communications Act. Democrats must extract consequences.

Universal Music Group partners with music creation platform Splice to build "advanced commercial AI tools" for musical artists (Ethan Millman/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/mu

Universal Music Group and Splice Ink AI Partnership
The new pact is the latest AI music development for the world's largest music company after settling a lawsuit with Udio in October.

John Catsimatidis on Donald Trump, Immigration, and New York Republicans (The New York Editorial Board)
https://nyeditorialboard.substack.com/p/john-catsimatidis-on-donald-trump
http://www.memeorandum.com/251217/p87#a251217p87

Disney and CJ ENM's Tving partner to offer bundles that combine access to Disney , Tving, and South Korean streamer Wavve at discounted rates in South Korea (Patrick Brzeski/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business…

Disney+ and CJ ENM’s TVING Launch Landmark Streaming Partnership in Korea
The new collaboration — Disney’s first with a local OTT service in Korea — follows the company’s recent deal bringing TVING dramas to Disney+ in Japan.

Live Updates: Suspect in Brown University Shooting Is Found Dead in New Hampshire (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/12/18/us/brown-shooting-suspect?unlocked_article_code=1.908.MMfX.fVTrogr3Nd-_&smid=nytcore-ios-share
http://www.memeorandum.com/251218/p134#a251218p134

A look at Track Star, a YouTube music quiz show that has become a stop on the celebrity promo trail and has started creating documentary-style music features (Jessica M. Goldstein/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/arts/music/track-star-youtub…

How Track Star Became a YouTube and TikTok Music Phenomenon
“Track Star” is the YouTube series that brings out the music lover in celebrities and civilians alike.

TikTok will let users choose how much AI-generated content appears in their For You feed and plans to add more advanced labeling tech for AI-content (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/18/tiktok-now-lets-you-choo…

TikTok now lets you choose how much AI-generated content you want to see | TechCrunch
With the new AI-generated content control, users who want to see less of this sort of content can dial things down, while those who enjoy it can choose to see more of it.

Exclusive: AOC says Jeffries primary challenge not a "good idea" (Andrew Solender/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2025/11/18/aoc-jeffries-chi-osse-new-york-democrats
http://www.memeorandum.com/251117/p169#a251117p169

NBCU plans to add Arrival Ads, live ads that play when users turn on Peacock, and use AI to search live sports events for the optimal moment to place ads (Cynthia Littleton/Variety)
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/nbcuniversal-arrival-ads-peacock-1236610766/

NBCUniversal Unveils 'Arrival Ads' for Peacock
NBCUniversal will incorporate 'Arrival Ads' for those who sign on to Peacock, among a host of other new ad-tech elements unveiled by the company.

Sources: Paramount Skydance plans to begin mass layoffs the week of October 27, cutting around 2,000 US jobs as part of its $2B cost-cutting initiative (Todd Spangler/Variety)
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/paramount-skydance-mass-layoffs-date-oct-2…

Paramount Skydance Mass Layoffs to Start Week of Oct. 27
Paramount Skydance will lay off about 2,000 U.S. employees under David Ellison's new management regime starting the week of Oct. 27.

YouTube's head of products for podcasts Steve McLendon says viewers streamed 700M hours of podcasts on TV in October, up from 400M hours in October 2024 (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

People Watched 700 Million Hours of YouTube Podcasts on TV in October
That’s up from 400 million hours a year ago as podcasts become the new late-night TV.

A US federal judge denied Sarah Palin's bid for a new libel trial against the NYT and rejected her motion for his recusal, after a jury found no libel in April (Associated Press)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/15/j<…

Doc: 15 people signed the Pentagon's press rules, including from The Federalist, The Epoch Times, OANN, and overseas media, plus freelancers and independents (Scott Nover/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/20

Hundreds of people cover the Pentagon. These are the 15 who signed its new press policy.
The Federalist, the Epoch Times, and One America News signed the Defense Department’s press rules. The rest are freelancers, independent or work for media outfits based overseas.

Source: Paramount has no immediate plans to sweeten its $30/share, all-cash bid for WBD (Charles Gasparino/New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/16/media/why-warner-bros-discovery-shareholders-shouldnt-count-on-a-holiday…

Exclusive | Why Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders shouldn't count on a holiday bidding war
Bidding war talk heated up Tuesday now that WBD is on the verge of formally calling on investors to reject Paramount Skydance’s hostile bid for the entire company.

Vox launches its subscriber-only program on Patreon, offering access to Vox.com, ad-free content, livestream events, two new exclusive video series, and more (Max Tani/Semafor)
https://www.semafor.com/article/11/16/2025/vox-to-partner-with…

Exclusive: Vox to partner with Patreon for new paywalled shows
Vox said it hopes to supplement its shows with live newsroom conversations and community features such as chats.

Netflix announces a partnership with iHeartMedia to exclusively publish at least 15 video podcasts beginning in early 2026, including The Breakfast Club (Jessica Testa/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/business/media/netflix-iheartme…

Netflix Adds Podcasts in Deal With iHeartMedia
The streaming service now has about 30 video podcasts lined up for 2026, including the influential radio show “The Breakfast Club.”

WBD says the Ellisons have "consistently misled" shareholders, including claiming Paramount's proposal had a "full backstop" but it "does not, and never has" (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/busines

Warner Bros. Urges Shareholders to Reject Paramount Takeover Bid, Saying Ellisons ‘Misled’ Them
The claim was made as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s dismissal of Paramount’s hostile takeover offer.

Amazon's Twitch begins testing livestream shopping ads allowing users to buy products "in real time", starting with e.l.f. Cosmetics (Peter Adams/Marketing Dive)
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/elf-cosmetics-first-test-twitc…

E.l.f. Cosmetics first to test Twitch’s new livestream shopping ads
A new integration powered by Amazon Ads’ retail media data is meant to drive “more measurable business outcomes” for E.l.f. on the platform.