I mean, we knew it enough to mock it. Twice. But the point is, we won’t be getting to know it any better, because it is shutting down a mere six months after launch. In a Medium post, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman said, “we feel that we’ve exhausted all our options. As a result …

What Quibi Shutting Down Means for Streaming Apps Read More »

We had an entirely different column written, but part two of our deep dive into broadband access can wait until next week. Because something bigger happened. WeChat and TikTok will be banned in U.S. app stores beginning Sunday, September 20. As of Sunday, distribution or maintenance of WeChat and TikTok on an app store will …

Ticking Down to Zero: TikTok and WeChat Banned in the U.S. Read More »

We’ve been talking about TikTok a lot lately, and not just as an excuse to post our favorite videos (though that is certainly a nice bonus). And in a bit of accidental prescience last week we compared them to the rapidly sinking Quibi, a company whose ambition exceeded its understanding of the mobile market. TikTok, …

TikTok, Vine, and the Monetization of Creativity Read More »

A few weeks ago we talked about the rapid advances in streaming and entertainment since the pandemic tightened its grip. And in that piece we spent a couple paragraphs dunking on the surreally bad non-starter of an idea that is Quibi. We have fun here. The thing is, we just couldn’t imagine a platform of …

Quibi and the Brave New World of Mobile Entertainment Read More »

TikTok, if you’re the average user, is probably nothing but a wonderland of silly videos and exceptional creativity. But it’s also a global platform with 500 million active monthly users that has risen out of nowhere to become an accidental, sociopolitical powerhouse in just three years. And it’s the center of some pretty high-test controversy. …

India’s Ban on TikTok and App Store Politics Read More »

During our BiTE team call last week we got all nostalgic for the days of real game shows. Joe went down the YouTube rabbit hole and spent his weekend watching old episodes; we mused on where those big winners are now. We talked about how much better they were Back When — not the new, …

Playing the Game  Read More »

Decade Dangers   Every now and then, the internet graces us with a new way to explore our own mortality. Take Facebook’s “10-Year Challenge,” for example. Doing a close-read of how much you’ve aged in the past decade doesn’t sound all that fun, but it’s all the rage right now, and Facebook, Instagram, and even …

Somebody’s Watching You Read More »