Month: January 2024
Web devs fear Apple’s iOS shakeup for Europe will be a nightmare for support
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Study: Closing toilet lid while flushing doesn’t stop spread of airborne bacteria
Pardon us while we go stock up on toilet tank disinfectant dispensers.
Enlarge / Whether the toilet lid is up or down doesn’t make much difference in the spread of airborne bacterial and viral particles. (credit: Peter Dazeley)
File this one under “Studies We Wish Had Let Us Remain Ignorant.” Scientists at the University of Arizona decided to investigate whether closing the toilet lid before flushing reduces cross-contamination of bathroom surfaces by airborne bacterial and viral particles via “toilet plumes.” The bad news is that putting a lid on it doesn’t result in any substantial reduction in contamination, according to their recent paper published in the American Journal of Infection Control. The good news: Adding a disinfectant to the toilet bowl before flushing and using disinfectant dispensers in the tank significantly reduce cross-contamination.
Regarding toilet plumes, we’re not just talking about large water droplets that splatter when a toilet is flushed. Even smaller droplets can form and be spread into the surrounding air, potentially carrying bacteria like E. coli or a virus (e.g., norovirus) if an infected person has previously used said toilet. Pathogens can linger in the bowl even after repeated flushes, just waiting for their chance to launch into the air and spread disease. That’s because larger droplets, in particular, can settle on surfaces before they dry, while smaller ones travel further on natural air currents.
The first experiments examining whether toilet plumes contained contaminated particles were done in the 1950s, and the notion that disease could be spread this way was popularized in a 1975 study. In 2022, physicists and engineers at the University of Colorado, Boulder, managed to visualize toilet plumes of tiny airborne particles ejected from toilets during a flush using a combination of green lasers and cameras. It made for some pretty vivid video footage:
Chinese malware removed from SOHO routers after FBI issues covert commands
Routers were being used to conceal attacks on critical infrastructure.
Enlarge / A Wi-Fi router. (credit: Getty Images | deepblue4you)
The US Justice Department said Wednesday that the FBI surreptitiously sent commands to hundreds of infected small office and home office routers to remove malware China state-sponsored hackers were using to wage attacks on critical infrastructure.
The routers—mainly Cisco and Netgear devices that had reached their end of life—were infected with what’s known as KV Botnet malware, Justice Department officials said. Chinese hackers from a group tracked as Volt Typhoon used the malware to wrangle the routers into a network they could control. Traffic passing between the hackers and the compromised devices was encrypted using a VPN module KV Botnet installed. From there, the campaign operators connected to the networks of US critical infrastructure organizations to establish posts that could be used in future cyberattacks. The arrangement caused traffic to appear as originating from US IP addresses with trustworthy reputations rather than suspicious regions in China.
Seizing infected devices
Before the takedown could be conducted legally, FBI agents had to receive authority—technically for what’s called a seizure of infected routers or “target devices”—from a federal judge. An initial affidavit seeking authority was filed in US federal court in Houston in December. Subsequent requests have been filed since then.
Dave the Diver is bringing Godzilla with him to PS5 this spring
Dave the Diver is coming to PS5 and PS4. The 2023 breakout hit won Indie Game of the Year at The Game Awards — stretching the definition of “indie” — and was included in Engadget’s Best Games of 2023. It arrives on Sony’s consoles in April, and a Godzilla crossover DLC (sure, why not!) follows it in May.
The game has you exploring a vast underwater world full of mysteries during the day, and helming a sushi restaurant at night. As Engadget’s Lawrence Bonk wrote, “The daytime adventures are sort of like an underwater Metroidvania while the nighttime restaurant management is a combination of a Kairosoft sim and the arcade classic Tapper.” It doesn’t sound like it would work, but it does.
Dave the Diver launched on PC in June and arrived on Switch in late October.
Sony touts the game’s DualSense support. “The controller’s haptics offer the realistic feeling of a hooked fish tugging the line,” the company wrote in an announcement blog post. “The adaptive triggers respond differently depending on which weapon you’re using, making the combat and fishing experience even more immersive.”
As for the Godzilla DLC, we don’t know much yet other than it will introduce “even more enormous threats lurking in the depths” as you “prepare to meet the King of the Monsters in the Blue Hole.”
You can watch the trailer for Dave the Diver on PlayStation below, including a peek at Godzilla near the end.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dave-the-diver-is-bringing-godzilla-with-him-to-ps5-this-spring-233136441.html?src=rss
Dave the Diver is coming to PS5 and PS4. The 2023 breakout hit won Indie Game of the Year at The Game Awards — stretching the definition of “indie” — and was included in Engadget’s Best Games of 2023. It arrives on Sony’s consoles in April, and a Godzilla crossover DLC (sure, why not!) follows it in May.
The game has you exploring a vast underwater world full of mysteries during the day, and helming a sushi restaurant at night. As Engadget’s Lawrence Bonk wrote, “The daytime adventures are sort of like an underwater Metroidvania while the nighttime restaurant management is a combination of a Kairosoft sim and the arcade classic Tapper.” It doesn’t sound like it would work, but it does.
Dave the Diver launched on PC in June and arrived on Switch in late October.
Sony touts the game’s DualSense support. “The controller’s haptics offer the realistic feeling of a hooked fish tugging the line,” the company wrote in an announcement blog post. “The adaptive triggers respond differently depending on which weapon you’re using, making the combat and fishing experience even more immersive.”
As for the Godzilla DLC, we don’t know much yet other than it will introduce “even more enormous threats lurking in the depths” as you “prepare to meet the King of the Monsters in the Blue Hole.”
You can watch the trailer for Dave the Diver on PlayStation below, including a peek at Godzilla near the end.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dave-the-diver-is-bringing-godzilla-with-him-to-ps5-this-spring-233136441.html?src=rss
FTX Scraps Plans To Revive Exchange, Will Repay Billions To Customers
A lawyer for FTX said the defunct crypto exchange has abandoned its plans to relaunch, instead opting to liquidate all assets and return funds to customers. The Guardian reports: The exchange, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, has been negotiating for months with potential bidders and investors, but none were willing to put in enough money to rebuild it, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich said at a bankruptcy court hearing in Delaware. The failed negotiations underscored the fact that FTX was never what it appeared to be, and that Bankman-Fried never built the underlying technology or administration necessary to run the company as a viable business, Dietderich said.
Bankman-Fried has been convicted on fraud charges related to his operation of FTX. He faces decades in prison. “FTX was an irresponsible sham created by a convicted felon,” Dietderich said. “The costs and risks of creating a viable exchange from what Mr Bankman-Fried left in a dumpster were simply too high.” The company will instead focus on liquidating its assets to repay customers whose cryptocurrency deposits were locked when the company filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. FTX has recovered over $7 billion in assets to repay customers, and it has reached agreements with government regulators who have agreed to wait until customers are fully repaid before attempting to collect on about $9 billion in claims, Dietderich said. While FTX plans to repay its customers, the exchange will calculate their repayment based on cryptocurrency prices from November 2022, when the crypto market was suffering a prolonged slump. “The price of bitcoin has risen to about $43,300 from its November 2022 price of $16,872,” notes the report.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A lawyer for FTX said the defunct crypto exchange has abandoned its plans to relaunch, instead opting to liquidate all assets and return funds to customers. The Guardian reports: The exchange, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, has been negotiating for months with potential bidders and investors, but none were willing to put in enough money to rebuild it, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich said at a bankruptcy court hearing in Delaware. The failed negotiations underscored the fact that FTX was never what it appeared to be, and that Bankman-Fried never built the underlying technology or administration necessary to run the company as a viable business, Dietderich said.
Bankman-Fried has been convicted on fraud charges related to his operation of FTX. He faces decades in prison. “FTX was an irresponsible sham created by a convicted felon,” Dietderich said. “The costs and risks of creating a viable exchange from what Mr Bankman-Fried left in a dumpster were simply too high.” The company will instead focus on liquidating its assets to repay customers whose cryptocurrency deposits were locked when the company filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. FTX has recovered over $7 billion in assets to repay customers, and it has reached agreements with government regulators who have agreed to wait until customers are fully repaid before attempting to collect on about $9 billion in claims, Dietderich said. While FTX plans to repay its customers, the exchange will calculate their repayment based on cryptocurrency prices from November 2022, when the crypto market was suffering a prolonged slump. “The price of bitcoin has risen to about $43,300 from its November 2022 price of $16,872,” notes the report.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Setting Up Internet in a New Place? Here’s All You Need to Know – CNET
There’s a lot that goes into moving, including setting up your internet connection. Here’s how to do it, whether transferring or switching providers.
There’s a lot that goes into moving, including setting up your internet connection. Here’s how to do it, whether transferring or switching providers.
The most exciting (and underwhelming) reveals from the PlayStation State of Play stream
Parts of Sony’s big gaming event were cool, and parts were less cool.
January 2024’s State of Play stream was, in the aggregate, totally fine. There were several cool-looking games, most of which are coming out in 2024. Some of them are out in the next few months, which is great. However, almost none of it was actually new. Just about everything that was shown had been previously announced.
Still, that doesn’t mean there weren’t moments of genuine excitement (and side-eyeing skepticism) to be found.
Exciting: Dave the Diver x Godzilla
Dave the Diver is a quirky little indie scuba simulator that stole hearts back in 2023, primarily on PC. As part of the State of Play stream, Sony announced that the game is coming to PS5 in April.
That’s all well and good, but the truly exciting part of the announcement was the reveal that Godzilla DLC is coming in May. It’s free and it features Godzilla. That’s all we need to know.
Exciting: Sonic X Shadow Generations
2011’s Sonic Generations is one of the startlingly few 3D Sonic games that are fun to play. It’s a charming adventure full of throwbacks to Sonic games good and bad, not to mention some kick-ass music to go along with it.
Sonic X Shadow Generations looks to mostly be a remaster of that game, but with a twist: There’s a new campaign starring Shadow the Hedgehog bundled in this new package. This is undoubtedly meant to piggyback off Shadow’s appearance in the upcoming third Sonic the Hedgehog movie, but hey, gamers of a certain age who grew up on Sonic Adventure 2 will appreciate this.
Exciting: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
I don’t even know where to begin with this one.
2019’s Death Stranding was, in our words, a masterpiece. It’s a uniquely lonely game about helping others and being helped, with the generous helping of the kind of weirdness creator Hideo Kojima usually injects into his games. The sequel got an extended look at the State of Play, and all you need to know is that it features a man in Joker makeup shooting electricity out of a guitar at cyber samurai dudes.
Just watch the trailer.
Exciting: Mystery Kojima game
Sony capped off the stream with a “surprise” appearance by Kojima himself. However, he wasn’t just there to talk Death Stranding. Instead, he announced that he is working on an entirely original “espionage action” game for PlayStation. It didn’t get a title or a trailer. Heck, it didn’t get any other real information at all.
But that doesn’t matter. “Espionage action” is famously part of the tagline for the original Metal Gear Solid. You can read this as Kojima making a new Metal Gear in spirit, if not in name. That’s about as exciting as it gets.
Underwhelming: Silent Hill 2 remake
Last and, unfortunately, least is the upcoming remake of Silent Hill 2. The seminal 2001 horror classic is widely considered one of the best video games ever made, and publisher Konami’s mismanagement of the series in the last 15 years or so has left a lot of fans wanting.
A remake of SH2 should be thrilling to fans, but the gameplay trailer shown during State of Play may have raised more questions than answers. Put simply, the trailer markets the game like it’s an action-packed third-person shooter. If you haven’t played the original Silent Hill 2, it’s…not that. It’s a creepy, psychological exploration of mental illness and abuse.
Maybe the remake has that stuff too. But we didn’t see it in this trailer, so all we can do is judge what we’ve been shown.
TikTok’s CEO can’t catch a break from xenophobia in Congress
Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
Today’s hearing on child safety was — mostly — an unusually focused affair. The Senate Judiciary Committee called up the CEOs of X, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Discord and grilled them for four hours on the potential dangers their services posed for children. Many of the lawmakers emphasized emotional impact, playing to an audience filled with families who’d had kids targeted by predators or otherwise harmed online.
But midway through the hearing, it was dragged off course by a predictable tangent: the fact that TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. And a meeting ostensibly about keeping kids safe dipped into a now-familiar attempt to make TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew answer questions utterly unrelated to the rest of the day.
Although attempts to ban TikTok last year mostly fizzled, there are real concerns about its data storage policies and Chinese government influence over its moderation. Some lawmakers touched on them, asking Chew to offer an update on Project Texas, its data security initiative. (TikTok is still working on it.) But the questions also strayed into attempts to simply highlight TikTok’s un-American origins, culminating in Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) pressing Chew aggressively and repetitively on his citizenship — which, it’s widely known, is Singaporean.
“You often say that you live in Singapore,” Cotton said before demanding to know where Chew’s passport was from (Singapore, obviously) and whether he’d applied for citizenship in China or the US (no, said Chew). “Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?” he then asked abruptly, as if hoping to catch Chew by surprise. Chew’s response wasn’t shocked so much as fed up. “Senator! I’m Singaporean!” he reiterated. “No.” (Singapore is not part of China.)
The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell described Cotton’s line of questioning as “McCarthy-esque.” Chew’s relationship to China was already discussed exhaustively when he appeared before Congress last year, and Cotton didn’t make clear what it had to do with child safety here. It’s not even necessary to make the case that China might have undue influence over TikTok. Apple, for instance, has weathered years of critiques about its relationship to the Chinese government; no reasonable person has ever suggested this hinges on Tim Cook being a secret communist. Instead, it’s a line of questioning that seems simply designed to play on Chew’s foreignness — even when it’s got nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
Today’s hearing on child safety was — mostly — an unusually focused affair. The Senate Judiciary Committee called up the CEOs of X, Meta, Snap, TikTok, and Discord and grilled them for four hours on the potential dangers their services posed for children. Many of the lawmakers emphasized emotional impact, playing to an audience filled with families who’d had kids targeted by predators or otherwise harmed online.
But midway through the hearing, it was dragged off course by a predictable tangent: the fact that TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. And a meeting ostensibly about keeping kids safe dipped into a now-familiar attempt to make TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew answer questions utterly unrelated to the rest of the day.
Although attempts to ban TikTok last year mostly fizzled, there are real concerns about its data storage policies and Chinese government influence over its moderation. Some lawmakers touched on them, asking Chew to offer an update on Project Texas, its data security initiative. (TikTok is still working on it.) But the questions also strayed into attempts to simply highlight TikTok’s un-American origins, culminating in Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) pressing Chew aggressively and repetitively on his citizenship — which, it’s widely known, is Singaporean.
“You often say that you live in Singapore,” Cotton said before demanding to know where Chew’s passport was from (Singapore, obviously) and whether he’d applied for citizenship in China or the US (no, said Chew). “Have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?” he then asked abruptly, as if hoping to catch Chew by surprise. Chew’s response wasn’t shocked so much as fed up. “Senator! I’m Singaporean!” he reiterated. “No.” (Singapore is not part of China.)
The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell described Cotton’s line of questioning as “McCarthy-esque.” Chew’s relationship to China was already discussed exhaustively when he appeared before Congress last year, and Cotton didn’t make clear what it had to do with child safety here. It’s not even necessary to make the case that China might have undue influence over TikTok. Apple, for instance, has weathered years of critiques about its relationship to the Chinese government; no reasonable person has ever suggested this hinges on Tim Cook being a secret communist. Instead, it’s a line of questioning that seems simply designed to play on Chew’s foreignness — even when it’s got nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Spotify’s exclusivity era nears its end
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.
I just got back from Puerto Rico and wow, there is a lot of podcast news! Let’s get into it.
Call Her Daddy is getting wide distribution
It’s very nearly the end of the exclusivity era for Spotify. The audio streamer announced today that Call Her Daddy, Spotify’s second-most-popular original podcast, is getting wide distribution across podcast platforms. Call Her Daddy was one of only two remaining Spotify exclusives, along with Rogan. The arrangement could be an indication of what is to come for Rogan as his contract is up for renewal.
There is a slight twist to the deal: Spotify is still hanging on to the video version of Call Her Daddy. For most podcasts, that’s not a make-or-break thing, but Call Her Daddy has been particularly successful at using video clips to make Alex Cooper’s interviews go viral. And notably, this does not hand over the show to Spotify’s current top competitor, YouTube.
According to Spotify spokesperson Amanda Long, the new distribution arrangement for Call Her Daddy “will help us build on the successful broad rollout of other originals and licensed titles like Armchair Expert, anything goes with emma chamberlain, and Science Vs which have seen strong boosts in audience reach and ad revenue. This shift will drive increased value for both creators and Spotify.”
The decision by Spotify comes after more than a year of unraveling its exclusivity model, which was faulted by the Gimlet and Parcast unions for preventing their shows from finding significant audiences. Notably, Spotify’s most stable podcasting vertical, The Ringer, had wide distribution from the beginning.
Call Her Daddy was an anomaly in that it did not suffer for reach under the exclusivity model (which, again, goes back to the video / TikTok factor). In November, Edison Research named it the eighth most popular podcast in the country. But as Spotify fights for higher margins, it seems it has more to gain from getting the ad dollars that come from wider distribution than whatever less tangible platform benefit comes from exclusivity.
Which brings us back to Rogan. When I spoke with industry insiders a few months ago about what they think is in store for him, theories coalesced around the idea that he will likely stay at Spotify but under a different kind of deal. Perhaps it could look more like Cooper’s: video still exclusive to Spotify but with wider distribution that opens up more opportunities for ad revenue.
If Rogan goes, it would really be the final death knell for Spotify’s exclusivity experiment. It did work for Spotify in some ways. By snatching up the top podcasts and studios at the time, it lured podcast listeners away from Apple and forged new ones. And even now that it has fallen behind YouTube, it is still a go-to destination for podcasting. But that is likely cold comfort for the laid-off staffers who worked on shows that were ill-suited to the model.
Pineapple Street lays off one-quarter of its staff
Staff at Pineapple Street Studios, which is owned by embattled radio giant Audacy, have been told that 12 employees are being cut, representing about a quarter of the staff. First reported by Bloomberg, the news is an indication that the industry is not yet done with layoffs.
“As part of our 2024 planning cycle, we are continuing to optimize our structure to align with the podcast market opportunity and set us up for continued growth. Unfortunately, that means reducing the size of some of our teams, and we have made the difficult decision to reduce a portion of our Pineapple staff. We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of the impacted individuals,” Audacy senior director of corporate communications David Heim told Hot Pod in a statement.
Heim confirmed that most of those laid off worked on Pineapple Street’s original shows. The studio made its name with well-regarded limited series like The Clearing and Missing Richard Simmons. But as money for limited narrative series has dried up, the studio has increasingly shifted to branded shows. The layoffs appear to be an indication that branded content will become an even bigger part of Pineapple Street’s business.
According to a person familiar with the matter, the 12 staffers who have been cut have been placed on leave while the union negotiates a severance package. Employees at Pineapple Street unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East in October 2022 and are still in the process of negotiating their first contract with Audacy management. (Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff are also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.) A representative for Pineapple Street’s union did not immediately return Hot Pod’s request for comment.
SmartLess leaves Wondery for SiriusXM
SiriusXM is doubling down on talent deals, while Wondery appears to be scaling back. Bloomberg reported on Monday that SmartLess, the chat show hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes, has been signed to SiriusXM for a multiyear deal that is worth more than $100 million. The new deal will commence when the show’s current contract with Wondery expires.
It is the latest show to join SiriusXM’s roster, which includes Crime Junkie, Pod Save America, and Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend. SiriusXM also cut a deal with James Corden in November.
“Over the past several years, we have doubled down on our commitment to podcasting, and with the addition of SmartLess, we are strengthening our leadership position in podcasting,” said Scott Greenstein, president and chief content officer of SiriusXM. “This groundbreaking new collaboration showcases our power to drive growth for an established podcast while bringing unique value back to our subscribers through exclusive content and events.”
Interestingly, this is the second big show to leave Wondery. Earlier this month, My Favorite Murder unexpectedly shared that its deal with the Amazon-owned podcast studio ended a year ahead of schedule. It could be a sign that Wondery is backing off the big deals, especially as Audible, Amazon’s other podcasting arm, snatches up more talent.
It is also worth noting that, aside from its satellite shows, SiriusXM goes for wide distribution of its podcasts. Wondery tried a modified version of the exclusivity model, giving Wondery Plus and Amazon Music subscribers early access to new episodes of most of its licensed shows (including SmartLess) before releasing them across platforms. But like with Call Her Daddy and Spotify, it seems that podcasters and audio giants are done tinkering with distribution (for now) and reverting back to the norm: getting shows to as many people as possible, while making as much ad revenue as possible.
That’s all for now! I will be back tomorrow with the latest audio news for Insiders. As for the rest of you, see you next week.
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more.
I just got back from Puerto Rico and wow, there is a lot of podcast news! Let’s get into it.
Call Her Daddy is getting wide distribution
It’s very nearly the end of the exclusivity era for Spotify. The audio streamer announced today that Call Her Daddy, Spotify’s second-most-popular original podcast, is getting wide distribution across podcast platforms. Call Her Daddy was one of only two remaining Spotify exclusives, along with Rogan. The arrangement could be an indication of what is to come for Rogan as his contract is up for renewal.
There is a slight twist to the deal: Spotify is still hanging on to the video version of Call Her Daddy. For most podcasts, that’s not a make-or-break thing, but Call Her Daddy has been particularly successful at using video clips to make Alex Cooper’s interviews go viral. And notably, this does not hand over the show to Spotify’s current top competitor, YouTube.
According to Spotify spokesperson Amanda Long, the new distribution arrangement for Call Her Daddy “will help us build on the successful broad rollout of other originals and licensed titles like Armchair Expert, anything goes with emma chamberlain, and Science Vs which have seen strong boosts in audience reach and ad revenue. This shift will drive increased value for both creators and Spotify.”
The decision by Spotify comes after more than a year of unraveling its exclusivity model, which was faulted by the Gimlet and Parcast unions for preventing their shows from finding significant audiences. Notably, Spotify’s most stable podcasting vertical, The Ringer, had wide distribution from the beginning.
Call Her Daddy was an anomaly in that it did not suffer for reach under the exclusivity model (which, again, goes back to the video / TikTok factor). In November, Edison Research named it the eighth most popular podcast in the country. But as Spotify fights for higher margins, it seems it has more to gain from getting the ad dollars that come from wider distribution than whatever less tangible platform benefit comes from exclusivity.
Which brings us back to Rogan. When I spoke with industry insiders a few months ago about what they think is in store for him, theories coalesced around the idea that he will likely stay at Spotify but under a different kind of deal. Perhaps it could look more like Cooper’s: video still exclusive to Spotify but with wider distribution that opens up more opportunities for ad revenue.
If Rogan goes, it would really be the final death knell for Spotify’s exclusivity experiment. It did work for Spotify in some ways. By snatching up the top podcasts and studios at the time, it lured podcast listeners away from Apple and forged new ones. And even now that it has fallen behind YouTube, it is still a go-to destination for podcasting. But that is likely cold comfort for the laid-off staffers who worked on shows that were ill-suited to the model.
Pineapple Street lays off one-quarter of its staff
Staff at Pineapple Street Studios, which is owned by embattled radio giant Audacy, have been told that 12 employees are being cut, representing about a quarter of the staff. First reported by Bloomberg, the news is an indication that the industry is not yet done with layoffs.
“As part of our 2024 planning cycle, we are continuing to optimize our structure to align with the podcast market opportunity and set us up for continued growth. Unfortunately, that means reducing the size of some of our teams, and we have made the difficult decision to reduce a portion of our Pineapple staff. We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of the impacted individuals,” Audacy senior director of corporate communications David Heim told Hot Pod in a statement.
Heim confirmed that most of those laid off worked on Pineapple Street’s original shows. The studio made its name with well-regarded limited series like The Clearing and Missing Richard Simmons. But as money for limited narrative series has dried up, the studio has increasingly shifted to branded shows. The layoffs appear to be an indication that branded content will become an even bigger part of Pineapple Street’s business.
According to a person familiar with the matter, the 12 staffers who have been cut have been placed on leave while the union negotiates a severance package. Employees at Pineapple Street unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East in October 2022 and are still in the process of negotiating their first contract with Audacy management. (Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff are also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.) A representative for Pineapple Street’s union did not immediately return Hot Pod’s request for comment.
SmartLess leaves Wondery for SiriusXM
SiriusXM is doubling down on talent deals, while Wondery appears to be scaling back. Bloomberg reported on Monday that SmartLess, the chat show hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes, has been signed to SiriusXM for a multiyear deal that is worth more than $100 million. The new deal will commence when the show’s current contract with Wondery expires.
It is the latest show to join SiriusXM’s roster, which includes Crime Junkie, Pod Save America, and Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend. SiriusXM also cut a deal with James Corden in November.
“Over the past several years, we have doubled down on our commitment to podcasting, and with the addition of SmartLess, we are strengthening our leadership position in podcasting,” said Scott Greenstein, president and chief content officer of SiriusXM. “This groundbreaking new collaboration showcases our power to drive growth for an established podcast while bringing unique value back to our subscribers through exclusive content and events.”
Interestingly, this is the second big show to leave Wondery. Earlier this month, My Favorite Murder unexpectedly shared that its deal with the Amazon-owned podcast studio ended a year ahead of schedule. It could be a sign that Wondery is backing off the big deals, especially as Audible, Amazon’s other podcasting arm, snatches up more talent.
It is also worth noting that, aside from its satellite shows, SiriusXM goes for wide distribution of its podcasts. Wondery tried a modified version of the exclusivity model, giving Wondery Plus and Amazon Music subscribers early access to new episodes of most of its licensed shows (including SmartLess) before releasing them across platforms. But like with Call Her Daddy and Spotify, it seems that podcasters and audio giants are done tinkering with distribution (for now) and reverting back to the norm: getting shows to as many people as possible, while making as much ad revenue as possible.
That’s all for now! I will be back tomorrow with the latest audio news for Insiders. As for the rest of you, see you next week.
Hideo Kojima teases a new action-espionage game for PlayStation
Hideo Kojima is a busy, busy man. Not only does he have Death Stranding 2, a movie based on the first game and Xbox horror title OD on his plate, he’s developing a brand new game for PlayStation. He’ll be going back to his roots, as it’s an action-espionage title codenamed PHYSINT.
Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst said during today’s State of Play stream that the project is in a genre he’s been encouraging Kojima to “reinvent for years.” Kojima, of course, found fame as the creator of the Metal Gear series. This upcoming endeavor won’t be a Metal Gear Solid game, however. Kojima says this will be a “brand new, original IP.”
According to Kojima Productions, the game will feature “cutting-edge technology and a stellar cast to deliver an experience like no other. Blurring the boundaries between film and games, offering near life-like graphics and a new take on interactive entertainment.”
Kojima Productions has started early work on the project, but it won’t go into full production until the team finishes Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which is set to arrive next year. Kojima noted that Sony makes music and movies, hinting that it could be a transmedia project. He added that he’s “confident that this title will be the culmination of my work” after four decades of working in games.
It’ll likely be a few years until we learn exactly what he means by that, but fans will likely have two more games from the auteur to enjoy/be perplexed by in the meantime. (Seriously, the latest Death Stranding 2 trailer is something else.)This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hideo-kojima-teases-a-new-action-espionage-game-for-playstation-230846022.html?src=rss
Hideo Kojima is a busy, busy man. Not only does he have Death Stranding 2, a movie based on the first game and Xbox horror title OD on his plate, he’s developing a brand new game for PlayStation. He’ll be going back to his roots, as it’s an action-espionage title codenamed PHYSINT.
Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst said during today’s State of Play stream that the project is in a genre he’s been encouraging Kojima to “reinvent for years.” Kojima, of course, found fame as the creator of the Metal Gear series. This upcoming endeavor won’t be a Metal Gear Solid game, however. Kojima says this will be a “brand new, original IP.”
According to Kojima Productions, the game will feature “cutting-edge technology and a stellar cast to deliver an experience like no other. Blurring the boundaries between film and games, offering near life-like graphics and a new take on interactive entertainment.”
Kojima Productions has started early work on the project, but it won’t go into full production until the team finishes Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which is set to arrive next year. Kojima noted that Sony makes music and movies, hinting that it could be a transmedia project. He added that he’s “confident that this title will be the culmination of my work” after four decades of working in games.
It’ll likely be a few years until we learn exactly what he means by that, but fans will likely have two more games from the auteur to enjoy/be perplexed by in the meantime. (Seriously, the latest Death Stranding 2 trailer is something else.)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hideo-kojima-teases-a-new-action-espionage-game-for-playstation-230846022.html?src=rss