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Apple News+ includes 'LA Times' and 'Wall Street Journal' subscriptions
At its streaming service event in Cupertino on Monday, Apple announced that in addition to more than 300 magazine titles (including TechCrunch's ExtraCrunch) on its newly revealed News+ app, the company will also include subscriptions to the LA Times and Wall Street Journal. What's more, users will get access to the entire digital newsstand for $9.99 a year. Given that users would have to shell out more than $8,000 annually to acquire these magazines individually, that's a pretty good deal.
Malware stalls delivery of LA Times and other major US newspapers
If you still look forward to reading a physical newspaper now and then, you might have been in for a rude surprise this weekend. An unspecified malware strain has attacked Tribune Publishing's network, delaying the release of Saturday editions of at least some of its papers (including the LA Times, San Diego Union Tribune and South Florida Sun Sentinel) as well as West Coast versions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, both of which are printed at the LA Times' Los Angeles plant. It was particularly severe for San Diego residents -- between 85 to 90 percent of Saturday papers didn't reach customers.
Hackers hit The Wall Street Journal in support of PewDiePie
Hackers targeted The Wall Street Journal earlier today, posting a fake apology in support of PewDiePie. In a sponsored post, the hackers published a note that said the publication wanted to apologize to the YouTuber and "due to misrepresentation" by its journalists The Wall Street Journal would be sponsoring PewDiePie. The Wall Street Journal took down the page and a spokesperson told The Verge that the company would be investigating the incident. "The page was owned by WSJ. Custom Solutions, a unit of the advertising arm, which is not affiliated with The Wall Street Journal newsroom," said the representative.
Apple may relaunch its Netflix for magazines service in the spring
Apple may launch a new version of Texture, a magazine subscription app it bought in March, in the spring. However, publishing executives are reportedly wary of including their products in the service and potentially losing revenue to Apple's all-in-one model.
Apple seeks major newspaper allies for its subscription bundle
While rumors indicate Apple has bigger plans for its subscription bundle than just news, it has to start somewhere. In order to get that rolling, Recode reports it has opened discussions with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post about signing on with its recently-purchased "Netflix of magazines" app, Texture. All three have business models offering subscriptions to their news as premium pay content so it's obvious why Apple would want to include them, but less clear about whether they're inclined to join. According to Recode, Texture pays out to publishers based on how much its customers use a particular title, while the subscriptions each paper has bring money in regardless of whether a customer reads any or all of their content. Apple may have relationships with publishers via their apps and selling subscriptions in its Apple News outlet, but figuring out a way to get content aligned with a new business model could be the first hurdle to becoming an even bigger player in all forms of media.
Facebook will allow news subscriptions on Instant Articles
In the face of mounting pressure from publishers, Facebook is launching a news subscription service. The new feature will essentially allow news outlets to erect a paywall on top of Instant Articles. That way Facebook keeps readers locked to its site, while media companies earn a bit more cash from their content. The social network will begin testing the service in October, according to its head of news partnerships Campbell Brown.
Scribd's all-you-can read service adds major newspaper articles
Scribd's transformation into an all-you-can-read subscription-based service hasn't always been smooth-sailing, but it's truly moving farther away from its PDF roots. The company has just announced that it's teaming up with its first newspaper partners and a few popular news brands, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Financial Times, NPR and ProPublica.
WSJ: Facebook rejects female-authored code more often than male
Facebook has been accused of issues with bias before, but that was about suppressing conservative political views. Today's allegations run into sexism territory. But rather than being something surface-level seen explicitly by its users, the Wall Street Journal reports that back-end code written by female engineers is rejected more often than work by males by 35 percent.
All opinions are equal in BuzzFeed's new comment system
President Donald Trump's election win was shocking to many, which seems to say that Americans understand each other less than ever. Part of this disconnect may be a lack of exposure to opposing viewpoints. That's what Buzzfeed seems to think, and it's addressing this problem with something called Outside Your Bubble.
Amazon Echo and Google Home want to be your new house phone
Right now, you can order a pizza, manage your to-do list and call an Uber on Amazon Echo and Google Home. The latest development from the smart speakers would give us yet another reason to leave our phones in our pocket. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon and Google are considering adding telephone functionality to their devices, but it won't be easy.
Government watchdog says SpaceX Falcon 9s are prone to cracks
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets apparently have a serious issue that could delay the company's manned missions. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Government Accountability Office investigated both Boeing and SpaceX -- the corporations that won NASA's space taxi contracts -- and found that Falcon 9's turbine blades suffer from persistent cracks. GAO's preliminary report says these turboblades' tendency to crack is a "major threat to rocket safety," since they pump fuel into Falcon 9's rocket engines.
The Wall Street Journal's customer database was hacked
If you're a Wall Street Journal subscriber, you might be getting an unpleasant letter in the mail. William Lewis, CEO of WSJ parent company Dow Jones, just released a statement in which he reveals the company's subscriber database was compromised by a hack. It sounds like the intrusion isn't nearly as widespread or damaging as other recent hacks have been, at least. While Lewis admits that the company found evidence of unauthorized access to its systems, the company "has not uncovered any direct evidence that information was stolen."
WSJ: Sprint's cutting budgets by $2.5 billion, layoffs inbound
Plenty of digital ink's been spilled over Sprint's financial woes of late, and sadly here's some more. The Wall Street Journal's reporting that the Now Network is prepping to cut some $2.5 billion in costs that will "inevitably result in job reductions." However, Reuters says that its a bit early to start talking numbers regarding the latter bit. The company's also stopped outside hiring and apparently any money spent has to go through the carrier's finance department for approval from here on out. Maybe don't expect to see more $1 iPhones or free DirecTV service anytime soon, then.
WSJ: Facebook to start hosting other sites' content this May
Facebook might start natively hosting full Buzzfeed, National Geographic and The New York Times articles and videos as soon as this month, according to The Wall Street Journal. This new feature is called "Instant Articles," and the social network has been working on it since March, at the very least. Facebook is reportedly offering news organizations special ad models that maximize their earning potential to entice them to sign up. One of the models it's proposing will even allow publishers to keep 100 percent of what they earn from ads they themselves sell, as well as 70 percent of the revenues from ads Facebook sells for them.
WSJ: YouTube isn't making money, even with a billion viewers
Despite "Gangnam Style" having over two billion views, hosting countless other viral clips and netting over a billion users per-month, YouTube can't seem to turn a profit. How's that? Well, after paying for the infrastructure that makes Google's video empire possible (and its content partners), The Wall Street Journal says that YouTube didn't contribute to Mountain View's earnings. The culprit, apparently, is that most users arrive at videos via links, rather than daily visits to the YouTube homepage where Google could charge a premium for ads. WSJ also reports that the site's reach isn't very wide either, with one source's estimate that nine percent of viewers account for a whopping 85 percent of online-video views. That makes it a much less appealing audience for advertisers than traditional TV programming, despite the outfit's increasing investment in original content.
WSJ writer gives Twitter password to the internet and the obvious happens
We put a ton of trust in technology everyday, but are you confident enough in two-factor authentication to give out any of your passwords? Christopher Mims of The Wall Street Journal is. In a post on the site proclaiming that passwords are "finally dying," Mims extolls the virtues of the secure login method immediately after giving out his Twitter password. He says that he's confident he won't be hacked because, among other reasons, the second authentication step (a text message containing a numerical code that's sent to the user's cellphone, or an app that generates a code should you be outside of cellular data range) is apparently difficult to intrude upon. As Forbes has spotted though, Mims' Twitter account has since been slammed with people trying to login to it, his phone blew up with authentication codes as a result, forcing him to associate a different phone number with the microblogging service.
Apple's manufacturing partner Pegatron under fire for working conditions
Last year, Apple's primary Chinese manufacturing partner Foxconn came under intense scrutiny for complaints about how factory workers were being treated. Now another partner, Pegatron, is facing similar charges of poor treatment of workers. An upcoming report from China Labor Watch outlined in the Wall Street Journal notes a number of claims against Pegatron: Pegatron allegedly withholds worker IDs so that Pegatron employees cannot choose to work elsewhere because they lack proper ID. Living conditions are supposedly poor, with "30-minute waits to enter their production facility, tight living quarters, and packed cafeterias." Workers are allegedly working over 60 hours per week, which is Apple's limit. Apple's June Supplier Responsibility report shows an average 46-hour work week for Pegatron employees. At one Pegatron subsidiary, employees are complaining that they're provided gloves that are insufficient for protection from the materials used to make metal iPad backplates. Apple has already responded to the newly reported issues, according to the WSJ: Apple, in a statement, said it is "committed to providing safe and fair working conditions throughout our supply chain." It said that it has conducted 15 comprehensive audits at Pegatron facilities since 2007, including surprise audits within the past 18 months. Apple said it confirmed that some labor brokers were withholding worker ID cards and demanded Pegatron "put a stop" to it. The U.S. company said it will investigate claims in the China Labor Watch report and take corrective action where needed. Pegatron has taken on an increasing role in the manufacturing of products as Apple attempts to diversify its supply chain.
WSJ: Apple courting smaller labels for iTunes Radio (Updated)
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is looking to bring smaller music labels on board with iTunes Radio. Apple has reportedly offered deals to several labels, some of which are more generous than what competitor-to-be Pandora is offering. The Journal says that Apple's payout to artists will be a combination of how often their songs are played (.13 cents per play) as well as 15 percent advertising revenue generated by Apple. In the second year, those numbers will jump to .14 cents and 19 percent respectively. According to the Journal, Pandora pays out .12 cents per play. Update: The correct amount as reported by the WSJ was .13 cents, not .13 dollars. We apologize for the error. Apple, of course, had no comment. The forthcoming iTunes Radio was announced during WWDC 2013, and will offer customized, streaming radio stations to users for free. Apple plans to launch it this fall.
FAA planning to let you use your gadgets in flight
I know those flight attendants are just doing their job, but I've always resented being made to "turn off" my iPhone and iPad during pre-flight announcements. Ever since Mythbusters disproved it, I've never believed that there was a problem between my iPad's wireless connection and the airplane's signaling (especially in Airplane Mode, which is what it's for, right?), and I've always secretly suspected that turning things off was just a ploy to make me rewatch those safety instructions yet again. Now, finally, it looks like the FAA is ready to relax those rules, after another report saying that there are no issues between consumer wireless devices, and airplane tools. The regulations themselves date back to the 1960s, when wireless devices were indeed very different, and it's about time these rules were laid to rest. Note, however, that the report doesn't mention actual phone calls -- this change, if made, would only be about turning devices on and off, not full wireless interaction. Certainly, there are good reasons to keep flight passengers quiet and paying attention during pre-flight announcements, and if that's what this is all about, then they should say that. But the "wireless interference" story has always been bunk, and hopefully, if this report is finalized, we should see the FAA turn the rule around officially in a few months. [via @martinvars]
The Wall Street Journal to launch LinkedIn-style social network
The Wall Street Journal will soon launch a business-minded social network along the lines of LinkedIn, according to a report from The Times of London. The news comes amid reports of restructuring and new financial offerings from the media giant, including a personal messaging system for investors and a newswire service called Dow Jones X. Of course, this isn't News Corp's first social network rodeo, as it had a dubious fling with Myspace that ended rather badly. Though there's no word on an exact date, The Times said it should be arriving in several months -- but we're not sure if corporate types will be high on trusting the Rupert Murdoch-helmed outfit with their personal info.
