Apple is bringing back parts of its long-dead 'Ping' social network for its new streaming service (AAPL) | ||
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Apple is going to include features salvaged from its dead social network Ping in its new streaming service, 9to5Mac reports. The new beta version of iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, accidentally included an option in settings that refers to "Artist Activity" in the music app. 9to5Mac says that the setting is a clue to social network features in Apple's streaming service. Apple's streaming service, which is reportedly named "Apple Music," will let musicians communicate with their fans by posting samples of tracks, photo, videos and also tour dates. Fans will be able to like and comment on posts, but won't be able to create their own profiles. That's a big difference from Apple's previous attempt to build a social network. Apple launched a social network called Ping in 2010, and Steve Jobs called it "sort of like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes." But Ping never took off, and Apple shut it down in 2012.
Ping was a rare failure for Apple. It prides itself on building features that users flock to, but people simply didn't care about Ping. Apple is having another go at building a social network for musicians, but there's no telling whether it's going to fare any better this time around. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 cool tricks your iPhone can do with the latest iOS update  | ||
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The 10 things in advertising you need to know today | ||
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Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. Yahoo's head of sales is out. Kevin Gentzel has left barely seven months after signing on with the company. 2. The final ever trailer for "Mad Men" has been released. It's quite a nostalgic, weepy affair. 3. Mobile ads are sucking up 10-50% of consumers' data plans, according to a startup called Shine. It has developed a mobile ad blocker — and claims to have the support of major carriers, which means the software could become hugely popular. 4. Google has lost its PR boss to Uber. It comes at a time when the two companies are increasingly becoming rivals. 5. Netflix says live sports and award shows are going to be the "saving grace" of TV. Ted Sandaros, Netflix's chief content officer says linear TV is going to become "even more linear." 6. Wal-Mart is launching a subscription shopping service to take on Amazon. It will cost $50 a year, less than Amazon Prime. 7. Ad tech company Rocket Fuel has rejected a $350 million takeover bid from rival firm Gravity4. Rocket Fuel said the offer was not "credible." 8. Twitter just made it harder to figure out how many inactive users it has. The company has stopped disclosing the percentage of its users who take "no discernible user action" on the app, making it harder for observers to figure out whether its core user base is growing or dying. 9. There's a new ad out for the new McDonald's Hamburglar. It's kind of weird. 10. A stay-at-home mom who makes t-shirts in her garage has accused Target of stealing one of her designs. It's for her most popular shirt, a black tank top with an American flag and the hashtag #merica on the front. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Sallie Krawcheck: Here's What Companies Must Do To Shatter A 'Mad Men' Office Culture  | ||
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ITV staff are protesting for more money as the broadcaster reports its losing viewers | ||
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The revolt comes as ITV reported a 14% rise in revenue in the first quarter Thursday morning. The results this morning also reveal that the broadcaster is losing audience share. Viewers fell from 15.6% this time last year to 14.7%. This could put a squeeze on advertising revenues. ITV shares are down 1.5% this morning. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Stunning video captures Vietnam like you never seen it before  | ||
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ITV staff are staging a 24-hour strike over pay Apple is bringing back parts of its long-dead 'Ping' social network for its new streaming service (AAPL) | ||
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Apple is going to include features salvaged from its dead social network Ping in its new streaming service, 9to5Mac reports. The new beta version of iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, accidentally included an option in settings that refers to "Artist Activity" in the music app. 9to5Mac says that the setting is a clue to social network features in Apple's streaming service. Apple's streaming service, which is reportedly named "Apple Music," will let musicians communicate with their fans by posting samples of tracks, photo, videos and also tour dates. Fans will be able to like and comment on posts, but won't be able to create their own profiles. That's a big difference from Apple's previous attempt to build a social network. Apple launched a social network called Ping in 2010, and Steve Jobs called it "sort of like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes." But Ping never took off, and Apple shut it down in 2012.
Ping was a rare failure for Apple. It prides itself on building features that users flock to, but people simply didn't care about Ping. Apple is having another go at building a social network for musicians, but there's no telling whether it's going to fare any better this time around. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 cool tricks your iPhone can do with the latest iOS update  | ||
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The voice actor behind Ned Flanders, Mr Burns, Skinner, and many more characters just quit 'The Simpsons' | ||
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The voice actor behind some of the most popular and iconic characters in "The Simpsons" has quit, The Verge reports. Harry Shearer, who is responsible for voicing Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Mr Burns, and numerous more characters on the popular cartoon has left the show, a message posted on his Twitter profile confirms. "Show will go on, Harry will not be part of it, wish him the best," says another statement on Shearer's Twitter profile, apparently written by Simpsons producer James L. Brooks. Shearer says: "This because I wanted what we've always had: the freedom to do other work." Hollywood Reporter has additional details on the contract dispute, saying that Shearer was "the lone cast holdout in the latest round of negotiations."
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The final trailer for 'Mad Men' is quite a nostalgic, weepy affair | ||
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| "Mad Men" finally comes to an end this weekend, with the seventh and final season's finale airing on Sunday May 17 at 10pm on AMC. To celebrate/commemorate AMC has put out one final ad building up to the finale, which looks back at all the memorable moments from the show. We first spotted it on Vulture. The trailer is set to Paul Anka's "Times of Your Life," which The Wall Street Journal points out is "fitting," considering it was also made famous by the 1970s Kodak ad campaign (and who can forget Don Draper's memorable Kodak "Carousel" pitch in the very first season of the show?) And it also turns the spot into a bit of a tear-jerker, as it chronicles Sterling Cooper and the Draper family's best — and most emotional — bits. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' have changed over the years  | ||
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Anger as Philippine factory fire kills 72 | ||
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Manila (AFP) - Seventy-two people died in a huge blaze at a footwear factory in the Philippine capital, authorities said on Thursday, as angry relatives and workers described sweatshop conditions including dismal fire safety standards. Firefighters and police pulled dozens of corpses out of the ruins of the two-storey building on Thursday, a day after the blaze trapped the terrified workers with apparently few exits and no fire safety training. "Many of those retrieved were reduced to skulls and bones," national police chief Leonardo Espina said during an emotional press conference, as local authorities confirmed 72 people had died. "Someone will definitely be charged because of the deaths. It doesn't matter if it's an accident, people died. Right now, we are investigating to clearly define what happened. For sure, someone will be charged." Sparks from welding equipment used to repair a broken gate are believed to have caused the fire when they ignited flammable chemicals stored nearby. By early afternoon on Thursday, 72 bodies had been pulled from the gutted building, Valenzuela mayor Rex Gatchalian told AFP. He said he believed this would be close to the final death toll, as the figure matched the number of people missing. The building, among a long row of factories in the rundown district of Valenzuela on the northern edge of the Philippine capital, made cheap slippers and sandals for the local market. The footwear had names such as "Havana" that sound like well-known global brands, company employees said.
- No safety standards -
The factory workers toiled for below minimum wage while surrounded by foul-smelling chemicals and were not aware of fire safety standards, survivors and relatives said. "The families can't help but be angry about what happened. We will never forget this," Rodrigo Nabor, whose two sisters were inside the factory and remain unaccounted for, told AFP. Nabor was among relatives of factory workers waiting for body bags at a village hall that had been converted into a makeshift morgue. "I've lost hope that they survived," said Nabor, 31, who works at a nearby plywood factory. "I can't explain how I'm feeling. I didn't sleep at all last night. I just kept walking around the factory hoping for news." Nabor said his sisters, Bernardita Logronio, 32, and Jennylyn Nabor, 26, often complained of foul-smelling chemicals in their workplace. "They said they keep an electric fan on to drive some of the smell away," he said. Nabor said their pay depended on how many sandals they finished, which could be as little as 300 pesos ($6.70) a day. Nabor's sisters each had a young child. One survivor, 23-year-old Lisandro Mendoza, said he escaped by running out the back door, but that the company had not conducted any fire safety education or drills during his five months working there. "We were running not knowing exactly where to go," said Mendoza. "I was having lunch when I saw smoke coming from the front, then I just ran and kept running." Mendoza said he worked 12-hour days, seven days a week, for 3,500 pesos ($79), mixing chemicals. "It's a very foul smell. I can still smell it even if I have one face mask on top of the another," he said. Another survivor, Janet Victoriano, also described lax fire safety standards. "I had never been involved in a fire drill ever," Victoriano, who had worked at the factory for five years, told DZMM radio. Victoriano said she was able to escape because she was near the front door when the blaze started. Deadly fires regularly rip through the poor areas of the Philippine capital, but mostly in shanty homes where there are virtually no fire safety standards. In the deadliest fire in Manila in recent times, 162 people were killed in a huge blaze that gutted a Manila disco in 1996. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Greece and Germany may have found a way out of the bailout crisis | ||
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Greece is hurtling toward a default if it can't get its hands on some bailout cash soon. The major sticking points that are preventing a deal are things like pensions and labour market reforms, where the Syriza-led government's priorities are most at odds with the rest of Europe. But if it could be conducted before the country runs out of money entirely, one answer to that might be a referendum on any bailout deal. There's a big contradiction in Greek public opinion that a referendum would address: The country is strongly anti-austerity and strongly pro-euro. Despite the incredible economic pain Greece has taken in recent years — on a scale similar to the Great Depression — support for leaving the euro is still low. Polling suggests something like two thirds of Greeks want to stay in the euro. But something like four fifths of Greeks also want to reject the Memorandum of Understanding (the austerity deal and structural reforms Greece agreed to access bailout funds). It's quite clear now that these two views are basically incompatible. Syriza was elected on a platform advertising the end of austerity while Greece remained in the euro, suggesting this would be possible to negotiate. In terms of its views on Greece's eye-watering debt burden, Syriza is correct. But four months after they were elected, it's clear that no other finance minister in Europe agrees with that (publicly, anyway). A referendum might be a good way to get Greece to weigh up those options, both of which are pretty horrible. Does the country want a bailout deal, and to remain in the euro even if that means further austerity? Or does it want to reject the deal, invite default and go its own way? Polling so far indicates that the majority of Greeks would take the latter option and accept another austerity package, rather than risk their euro membership. But the same poll suggests that Syriza voters would tip the other way, favouring Grexit if no better deal can be reached. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble now supports a referendum on Greece's bailout. There's a clear upside for the rest of the Eurogroup — whether Greece chooses the bailout or not, Schaeuble and others can wash their hands and say that they didn't force the country to do anything. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has already promised to hold a vote if he can't negotiate a deal that's consistent with his election pledges. This is a strange way in which for once, Greece's frustrated European creditors and the government can both win, in a way. The creditors get some closure one way or another, and the Syriza government gets to pass the difficult decision on whether to accept another painful bailout deal to the Greek electorate. HSBC European economist Fabio Balboni says that it could be a "face-saving strategy to embark on the required U-turn from its pre-electoral pledges." The vote would take time to organise and could spark major outflows from Greek banks — it's not clear whether it could be done before Greece misses a debt repayment and goes into technical default. But it could give the Greek people a sense of ownership — however brutal — over the decision. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what 'Game of Thrones' stars look like in real life  | ||
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