- Yahoo’s Joshua John: Advertisers Must Demand Better Transparency in CTV BuysConnected TV advertising suffers from a fundamental lack of transparency that’s leading to misplaced ads and questionable attribution, according to a senior Yahoo executive. The problem is particularly evident when CTV ads, designed for large-screen ... read more
- Microsoft expands AI features across Intel and AMD-powered Copilot Plus PCsMicrosoft is making its AI features widely available on Copilot Plus PCs equipped with Intel and AMD chips. One of the most notable of these features will be Live Captions, which ... read more
- Beyond Stereotypes: Seedtag Sees CTV Opportunity in Holistic, Omnichannel ApproachSAN JUAN, PR – The migration of content consumption from the open web to connected TV is opening up what one ad-tech executive calls “white space” for advertising strategies. By understanding consumers’ interests across platforms, ... read more
- SwitchBot’s smart button pusher is 30 percent off for Amazon’s Big Spring SaleThe simple contraption quickly attaches to both buttons and rocker switches. Smart plugs are great, but unfortunately, they can’t automate everything. Thankfully, there is a cheap cube-like contraption called the SwitchBot Bot ... read more
- TikTok To Be Sold By April 5, Trump SaysTrump told Reuters the White House will strike a deal with ByteDance by Saturday to sell TikTok, adding: "We have a lot of potential buyers." The public has received little information about the logistics of ... read more
- iOS 18.4 is out now with Apple Intelligence-powered priority notificationsApple has released iOS 18.4, and one of the biggest features is priority notifications, which use Apple Intelligence to highlight “important notifications that may require your immediate attention,” according to Apple’s ... read more
- Plex is rolling out its big app redesignFollowing months of testing, Plex has started to roll out its redesigned mobile app to Android and iOS devices, and it will arrive to everyone within the next week. The new ... read more
- Amazon’s new AI agent can do your shoppingAmazon has launched a new AI model, Nova Act, which is designed to perform tasks — like online shopping — in your browser. For now it’s only available to developers in ... read more
- Alexa Plus just launched in early access, but it’s missing some featuresThe Echo Show 8 is one of the devices Alexa Plus is currently available on. Amazon has officially launched its AI-powered Alexa Plus – but it’s only available to a “small number” ... read more
- Max’s rebranded logo and colors look very HBOThe bright blue is now gone, replaced with a black-and-white palette. | Image: Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery introduced new branding for its Max streaming service yesterday, alongside announcing availability in ... read more
- CEO Matt Bromberg on ending Unity’s ‘war’ against its customersToday, I’m talking with Matt Bromberg, who is the CEO of Unity, one of the leading video game development platforms. He’s been in the job for less than a year, and ... read more
- Coyote vs. Acme is getting its day in theatersDeadline reports that Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to sell Coyote vs. Acme’s global distribution rights to Ketchup Entertainment, the same production studio that bought The Day The Earth Blew Up: ... read more
- YouTube 12-Month Ad Spend Soars 20%, Could Go HigherYouTube had a leading 21% share of streaming minutes in 2024. Compared to just FAST platforms, YouTube is far ahead in streaming minutes, followed by Tubi with a 4% share and Roku with 3%. ... read more
- The 1TB Xbox Series X expansion card is back down to its lowest price everIt’s World Backup Day, which to the makers of storage devices means driving home the urgency of protecting the files you hold dear. So obviously, there are deals on all sorts ... read more
- Apple fined $162 million for hurting app developers with ‘excessively complex’ privacy optionsFrance’s competition watchdog (Autorité de la concurrence) ordered Apple to pay €150 million (~$162.4 million) after finding that its App Tracking Transparency system allows the company to abuse its dominance in ... read more
- Similarweb Acquires The Search MonitorThe companies have independently supported data, optimization and advertising. Together they have the ability to protect brand assets, optimize digital marketing strategies, and strengthen the ability for brands, retailers, and agencies to maximize return on ... read more
- Everything you could want to know about AI, martech stacks, and the 2025 marketing technology landscapeSorry I’ve been a bit quiet this past month. I’ve been heads down on research for our State of Martech 2025 report that we’ll be releasing on #MartechDay — May 6 — along with the ... read more
- Reddit Follows Google, Updates Ads Manager For SMBsReddit released several Ads Manager features Monday morning aimed at making it easier for small to medium-sized businesses get started running campaigns on the platform. The company turns 20 years old in June. ... read more
- TikTok, tariffs, and trials: everything happening in tech’s chaotic AprilAs TikTokâs April 5th sell-by date approaches, Americans are back to where they stood before the original January deadline: watching anxiously to see if a major social media app gets banned. ... read more
- Tariffs Are Coming – Is TV's Upfront Heading South?Tariffs are threatening to hit in April. Guess what that might mean for the TV upfront market, which is set to start in a couple of weeks? ... read more
- The 50 best things Microsoft has ever madeThis week, on April 4th, Microsoft turns 50 years old. The company has gone through sweeping changes over that time â from two guys in New Mexico to more than a quarter-million ... read more
- Inside Jellyfish's AI Agents For Media BuyingJellyfish recently announced the use of AI agents across Google, Meta and Amazon to buy media and adjust budgets to avoid under- or overspending, organize campaign data and set up reporting dashboards. ... read more
- The Verge’s favorite stuff with styleSometimes we treasure our devices and tools not just because they’re practical, but because we like their style — the way they look, the way they make our surroundings look, or ... read more
- Elon Musk and Taylor Swift can now hide details of their private jetsThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has created a system for private aircraft owners to request that their registration information — including their name and address — be kept private. That may ... read more
- When will physical video games go away?One of Sonyâs best-ever PlayStation ads is a 21-second video titled, âOfficial PlayStation Used Game Instructional Video.â Itâs a âstep-by-stepâ guide about how to lend your PS4 games to your friends. ... read more
- Microsoft is redesigning the Windows BSOD and it might change to blackThe existing Blue Screen of Death error. | Image: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg via Getty Images Microsoft has announced that it’s overhauling its Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error message in Windows ... read more
- Movie studios are being financially rewarded for AI slop on YouTubeSome Hollywood studios are reportedly earning money from fake AI-generated movie trailers on YouTube, against the wishes of the union representing actors. According to a report from Deadline, Warner Bros. Discovery, ... read more
- Nintendo has moved beyond specsThe official unveiling of the Switch 2 was an incredibly confident moment for Nintendo. It was brief and lacking almost entirely in details. There was no price, no release date, and ... read more
- Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE looks just like last year’s flagshipThe Z Flip 7 FE’s cover screen looks identical to the Flip 5 and Flip 6’s. The big difference between Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 7 and the cheaper Z Flip 7 FE ... read more
- The semantic slide of programmatic’s power word: ‘curation’Curation’s biggest problem might be its name. Everyone has a different version of it. Ask an ad tech vendor, and curation is about packaging high-quality inventory for better performance. Ask a data broker, and it’s ... read more
- How smaller retail media networks are stepping out from the shadow of Amazon and WalmartDespite there being a sea of more than 250 retail media networks, the reality is that it works out to be Amazon, Walmart and everybody else. Everybody else — in other words, the smaller players ... read more
- TV upfronts-style Spotter Showcase pitches creators as the future of entertainmentThe creator platform Spotter last Friday hosted the Spotter Showcase, an upfront-style event featuring top YouTube creators. Both the event’s organizers and participants took to the stage to broadcast a clear message: that YouTube is ... read more
- Episode 4 Mom’s at Work: Ticker Tape Minds — How moms make it all work and why we need to talk about itSubscribe: Apple Podcasts • Spotify Working moms constantly juggle two nonstop ticker tapes — one filled with work deadlines, the other carrying the endless mental load of motherhood. It’s a daily reality that rarely ... read more
- Media Buying Briefing: Auto marketers aren’t slowing ad spend in face of tariff tensionPresident Trump’s latest tariff proposal is creating headaches for automotive marketers and media buyers, but they’re not slamming the brakes on media spend just yet. The uncertainty created by the mere threat of tariffs can ... read more
- Publishers grapple with Q1 ad revenue challenges in a “buyer’s market”It’s been a tough three months for publishers, according to executives who spoke during a closed-door town hall session at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Vail, Colorado, last week. “Not a great quarter. Traffic’s down. ... read more
- Ad-free platform Substack isn’t ruling out ads after allDespite previously stating it’s an ad-free zone, Substack — like many other platforms before it — is no longer ruling out advertising. “For us, advertising is an interesting business,” Hamish McKenzie, Substack’s co-founder and chief ... read more
- To MCP Or Not To MCP, That Is The Question Google Is Crowdsourcing About AIIn the comments section of the Google CEO's X thread, many shared opinions on the open standard developed by Anthropic in 2024, which allows AI models to connect to a variety of data sources and ... read more
- The 50 best Amazon Big Spring Sale deals under $100The see-through Beats Studio Buds Plus are an even better buy at $99.95. From the Apple Watch Series 10 and Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 to the top-of-the-line Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, Amazon’s Big ... read more
- Will Yaccarino's Future Be Brighter At xAI? Here's What Grok Thinks"She's no Satya Nadella transforming Microsoft, but she's not a total flop either -- more like a steady hand in a storm. X hasn't collapsed, it's growing, and it's profitable again (barely, with $500 million ... read more
- How Marketers Can Balance Brand Building and Commerce: Mindshare’s Ritu TrivediSAN JUAN, PR -The most effective marketing strategies begin with brand-building rather than channel selection, according to Ritu Trivedi, client president at WPP Group’s Mindshare. It makes sense that brands’ natural “channel-agnosticism” is even more ... read more
- Biddable Transactions Set to Reshape Connected TV’s Future: OpenX’s Erika LobergSAN JUAN, PR – By 2026, nine different streaming platforms are expected to generate over a billion dollars each in ad revenue—a dramatic increase from just two platforms achieving this milestone in 2020. At the ... read more
- Ghosts in the KinectBilly Tolley swings a Microsoft Kinect around an abandoned room in sudden, jittery movements. âWhoa!â he says. âDude, it was so creepy.â On the display, we see an anomaly of arrows, ... read more
- The UprisingIs this the beginning of the AI revolt or a preview of what we'll see happening as the "emergent agency" of AIs comes into conflict with the marketing goals of parent companies. ... read more
- Apple TV Plus is on a hot streakHi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 77, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If youâre new here, welcome, donât forget to make your Venmo private, and ... read more
- We went to 10 anti-Tesla protests — and a couple counter protests, tooA Tesla Cybertruck drives past protestors during a Tesla Takedown, a nationwide peaceful protest movement, at a Tesla Showroom in the Coral Gables neighborhood on Saturday, March 29, 2025 in Miami. | Photo ... read more
- Samsung’s latest stick vac can alert you to calls and text messagesSamaung’s new Bespoke AI Jet Ultra cordless stick vacuum has an AI cleaning mode that senses floor types and automatically adjusts suction power and brush speed. In our notification-heavy world, there is ... read more
- Assassin’s Creed Shadows lives up to the series’ nameI realized quite late in Assassinâs Creed Shadows that being this version of a shinobi is hard â but it was precisely the precision the game demanded that made it all ... read more
- I’m still testing the new Razer Blade 16 and I have mixed feelingsThe Blade 16 is as sharp looking as ever. The Razer Blade 16 is designed to be the gaming-focused alternative to the MacBook Pro, and Iâm always here for that. I love ... read more
- BougeRV’s telescopic lantern is ridiculously versatileItâs sold as an outdoor camplight, but BougeRVâs very bright LED lantern is really a multifunctional work lamp for any place that needs an extra dose of lighting. Itâs rechargeable and compact enough ... read more
- Musk Sells X To xAI For $45BElon Musk announced Friday on his X platform that the social media site has been acquired by xAI in an all-stock transaction for $45 billion, including $12 billion debt. ... read more
- Judge saves the CFPB, for nowA court took action on Friday to keep the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from shutting down a consumer watchdog agency while its court case plays out. ... read more
- Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft accountMicrosoft is no longer playing around when it comes to requiring every Windows 11 device be set up with an internet-connected account. In its latest Windows 11 Insider Preview, the company ... read more
- WPP's Read: GroupM Key To Closing 'Growth Gap'Read took a nearly 15% pay cut last year for failing to achieve financial targets, according to the holding company's annual report which was released this week. ... read more
- Elon Musk’s xAI buys Elon Musk’s X for $33 billion on paperA couple of years after buying Twitter, Elon Musk announced that his AI business xAI has acquired the social media platform that’s now known as X. In a tweet, he described ... read more
- Microsoft tests Quick Machine Recovery feature to restore PCs that can’t bootMicrosoft is starting to test Quick Machine Recovery, a feature designed to prevent incidents like last year’s Crowdstrike catastrophe. It’s rolling out in its latest Windows Insider Preview build (6120.3653) and ... read more
- The Fitbit-to-Google account migration deadline moves to 2026After Google completed its acquisition of Fitbit in early 2021, the company integrated Fitbit’s services with its own and required users to migrate existing Fitbit accounts to a Google account by ... read more
- Google Settles With Pay-Per-Click Advertisers For $100 MillionGoogle has agreed to pay $100 million to settle class-action claims that it failed to honor advertisers' requests to limit ads geographically, and reneged on a promise to discount some ads. ... read more
- The Trump administration could green-light deep-sea mining for the first timeGerard Barron, Chairman and CEO of The Metals Company in San Diego, California on June 8, 2021. | Photo: Getty Images The company that has pushed to open up the deep sea ... read more
- MrBeast co-wrote a book with James PattersonMrBeast teamed up with Alex Cross author James Patterson to co-write a thriller novel with Squid Game-like elements, according to a report from Deadline. The upcoming book, which doesn’t have a ... read more
- Lenovo’s upcoming SteamOS handheld will cost $50 more than expectedThe SteamOS-powered version of Lenovoâs Legion Go S handheld gaming PC debuted at CES 2025 with a somewhat attractive $499.99 price tag. At that price, The Vergeâs Sean Hollister considered it ... read more
- Side Quest’s creators wanted to tell stories about why people love gamesHalfway through its first season, Appleâs Mythic Quest threw a wild curveball with âA Dark Quiet Deathâ â an unexpectedly dramatic episode that chronicled the rise and fall of another video ... read more
- Movie Theaters Not Covered By Reagan-Era Privacy Law, Court SaysThe Video Privacy Protection Act, passed in 1988, doesn't apply to movie theaters, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. ... read more
- Reddit Expands Conversation AdsReddit is continuing to build out its most fruitful ad format, Conversation Ads, by inviting all advertisers to serve ads between comments on conversation pages. ... read more
- ChatGPT’s Ghibli filter is political now — but it always wasWhen I saw my colleague Kylie Robison’s story about OpenAI’s new image generator on Tuesday, I thought this week might be fun. Generative AI images raise all kinds of ethical issues, ... read more
- YouTube tests turning off notifications for channels you don’t watch
- Normalizing Principal Media Buying Is Not NormalPrincipal buying is a betrayal. It moves the agency-client relationship from a trusted partnership into a minefield full of conflicts of interest. ... read more
- Google to pay $100 million to settle 14-year-old advertising lawsuitGoogle will pay $100 million to settle a class action lawsuit accusing the company of charging for clicks on ads placed outside the geographic locations selected by advertisers, as reported earlier ... read more
- Musk threatens to sic the government on people ‘pushing’ Tesla ‘propaganda’As protests against Tesla continue to grow, Elon Musk is threatening to âgo afterâ the people who say or post anything negative about the company â which he labels âpropaganda.â  That ... read more
- Media Stocks Outperforming Broader Market IndicesThe Dow Jones U.S. Media Index is down 8% to a 786 index with the Dow Jones U.S. Broadcasting & Entertainment Index losing 3% (to 1,136) since Jan. 21. The Dow Jones Industrials has declined ... read more
- Emojis, Cellphones, And The Emerging Teenaged BrainThe proposed ban on cell phones in schools reflects concern about the damaging effects of teenagers' addiction to social media -- and their phones. ... read more
- A beginner’s guide to using SignalKeep your private messages private. If you hadnât heard of Signal before this week, chances are youâre well aware of it now. The messaging app was thrust into the news on Monday ... read more
- Here’s what military planning usually looks like — and why it doesn’t include SignalThe Trump administration planned a military strike in Yemen the way normal people plan a surprise birthday party: in a group chat. As detailed by The Atlantic earlier this week, Secretary ... read more
- Lawmaker Seeks Probe Of Ad-Fraud Verification FirmsSenator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) is urging the FTC and DOJ to investigate whether DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, Human Security and others misrepresented their ability to detect traffic from bots. ... read more
- King Arthur wants to automate your sourdough starterThe Sourdough Sidekick will work with other flour brands, but the King Arthur logo isn’t going anywhere. Baking sourdough bread may seem pointedly old-fashioned, but that doesn’t mean it’s immune to the ... read more
- Trump pardons ex-Nikola CEO Trevor MiltonTrevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corp., exits court in New York, US, on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola Motors who was convicted of defrauding investors in his ... read more
- We Are Witnessing The Next Phase Of Digital AdvertisingAlphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are projected to spend over $250 billion on capital expenditures needed to support generative AI services in 2025 on public cloud servers. Morningstar analysts believe the trend is like witnessing the ... read more
- Google’s Pixel 9A will launch on April 10thGoogle has announced that it will release the Pixel 9A in the US, Canada, and the UK on April 10th. The budget-friendly device was initially expected to launch shortly after its ... read more
- NASA and Boeing investigate Starliner’s ‘anomalies’ before its next crewed flightNASA and Boeing are preparing the Starliner for its next flight after technical issues left the spacecraft unable to ferry its astronauts back to Earth for months. On Thursday, NASA announced ... read more
- Helldivers 2 is locking out players who use older CPUsSome Helldivers 2 players are reporting that they can no longer play the game on their computers equipped with older CPUs. The issue stems from the developer Arrowhead Game Studios’ and ... read more
- First Alert’s new smart smoke alarm is meant to be a Google Nest Protect replacementThe First Alert Smart Smoke & Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarm will work with Google Home and offer some of the same features as the Nest Protect it’s replacing. Life safety manufacturer First ... read more
- Yale’s new smart lock can match your Google Nest doorbellThe new Yale Smart Lock with Matter works with any Matter smart home platform but is designed to pair with Google’s Nest video doorbell. Following the news that Google is discontinuing its ... read more
- Google discontinues Nest Protect smoke alarm and Nest x Yale door lockThe Nest Protect smart smoke alarm has been discontined. In this week’s least surprising news, Google has announced it’s discontinuing the Nest Protect Smart Smoke and CO alarm and the Nest x ... read more
- In Baby Steps, I stumbled through a refreshing kind of open worldâIs the rage boiling over?â Bennett Foddy asks me as I fall down a wooden plank for the dozenth time. The creator of QWOP and Getting Over It is known for ... read more
- 'Yellowstone': Fewer High-Rated TV Shows Mean Amped-Up Media BattlesIn the media battle for "Yellowstone" between Paramount and NBCU, Paramount has exclusive rights to stream the blockbuster Western hit on Peacock through 2029, according to 'The Wall Street Journal.' ... read more
- Madison Square Garden’s surveillance system banned this fan over his T-shirt designA concert on Monday night at New York’s Radio City Music Hall was a special occasion for Frank Miller: his parents’ wedding anniversary. He didn’t end up seeing the show — ... read more
- Judge dismisses Samsung’s smart ring lawsuit against Oura
- Nvidia RTX 5090 mobile GPU: more efficient and a little fasterNvidiaâs 50-series desktop GPUs have been off to a slightly rocky start, with quality control issues, underwhelming performance gains over last generation, and the occasional melting cable. Its new laptop GPUs, ... read more
- LinkedIn Campaign Manager Gets Performance ImprovementsMeasurement and optimization to track performance across multiple campaigns and ad accounts can become overwhelming. This is why LinkedIn updated its platform to support advertising and marketing and especially small businesses. ... read more
- Common Side Effects is coming back for a second seasonThough the first chapter of Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects animated series is about to wrap up this Sunday, the story isn’t over yet. Today, Adult Swim announced that Common Side ... read more
- Amazon MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke steps downJennifer Salke joined Amazon in 2018. | Photo by Kevin Winter/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images<br> Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon MGM Studios, is stepping down from her role and will ... read more
- Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda movie hits theaters in March 2027
- WhatsApp users can now add music to their statusWhatsApp is reviving some old school internet nostalgia with a new feature that allows users to add temporary music clips to their profile updates. Snippets from popular songs can now be ... read more
- OpenAI has a Studio Ghibli problemWhen you can create art just by asking for it, what might you create? If youâre anything like the internet these last few days, youâd create some lovely things â stylized ... read more
- Burrell Communications Names Rivera Chief Strategy OfficerIndustry veteran God-is Rivera previously held roles at Twitter, VMLY&R, Disney, iCrossing and T3. ... read more
- Android Auto’s latest beta brings full Android game supportGoogle is adding gaming support to Android Auto, with titles including Candy Crush Soda Saga and Angry Birds 2 playable from compatible cars’ touchscreens. The new feature is included in the ... read more
- Agencies call foul as Google reps play hardball with AI pitches to clientsAd agencies have long fielded relentless pitches from Google Ads reps pushing new products in search of more money. But now, agencies of all sizes say the pressure is intensifying, with reps pushing harder to ... read more
- ‘They’re like Switzerland’: Brands walk tightrope between authenticity and political backlashThe so-called culture wars have reached a fever pitch as of late as the polarization of the country continues. And as the lines between politics and pop culture continue to blur, brand marketers are tasked ... read more
- Ad Tech Briefing: The futility of a Google breakup?Ad tech’s recurring question in 2025 so far has been, “What’s delaying the Google verdict?” The honest answer? Well, nobody really knows… resulting in speculation, deferred decision-making, and overall prolonged anguish. This ... read more
- The Economist is looking beyond traffic to measure the success of its brand marketing pushA year into its first brand marketing campaign in over a decade, The Economist’s traffic numbers have seen high highs and low lows. To measure the success of the campaign, the company is prioritizing other ... read more
- How Time evaluates and vets AI toolsTime has evaluated “dozens and dozens” of AI tools to determine what could be a good fit for the company, both as enterprise tools to help employees work more efficiently, and to help build products ... read more