If you’ve always wanted a bobble head of yourself, it’s now really easy to get one. Amazon entered a new market today with the launch of a 3D-printing shop that lets buyers personalize items ranging from bobble heads to swords.
The British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) is trying to bring a model that has gained ground in the US and UK—paying for premium sports, drama and on-demand options—to the rest of Europe. BSkyB is acquiring Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, both leaders for pay TV in markets that have a low penetration compared to the rest of Western Europe.
There’s been a lot of talk about the upcoming fall TV season in the US being the most diverse one in terms of casting, from ABC’s new show Black-ish to Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine entering its second season. But behind the scenes, the writers’ room remains largely the domain of white men.
Netflix told shareholders (pdf) today that it will continue to ramp up its original programming. Here are all of its shows currently in development, according to the letter, and where they are filming:
Flying through the US just became a shade more expensive, as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security fees doubled today. What used to be a $2.50 charge for each flight is now $5.60, and there is no longer a cap on the total price flyers can be charged for a trip involving multiple flights. Each flight after a four-hour layover on a domestic trip, or a 12-hour layover on an international trip, will be charged another $5.60.
Sidewalk collisions involving pedestrians engrossed in their electronic devices have become an irritating (and sometimes dangerous) fact of city life. To prevent them, what about just creating a ”no cellphones” lane on the sidewalk? Would people follow the signs? That’s what a TV crew decided to find out on a Washington, D.C., street Thursday, as part of a behavioral science experiment for a new National Geographic TV series.
Cable companies really want to keep your business. And they should—the leading providers in the US lost close to 105,000 subscribers last year. Pay TV and internet providers have started approaching retention by trying to figure out exactly what each customer needs, and tailoring packages accordingly. So if you think you’re paying too much, there are steps you can take to lower that price, and you likely have the upper hand. Here are some tips on how to get what you want at the price you want:
The featured photo on the New York Times front page (paywall) today is of a child in the sand, “his curly head intact, his legs splayed at unnatural angles.” The boy is one of four Palestinian cousins who were playing at the beach when they were killed in an Israeli attack aimed at Hamas militants in Gaza. The attacks further increased tensions and made the possibility of a lasting cease-fire seem even more remote.
Weird Al Yankovic’s new album includes a song called “Mission Statement“ in which he rattles off a torrent of frequently used business jargon (in a parody of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young), highlighting the fact that none of it really means anything.
Watching huge blocks of a given TV show all at once is becoming the new normal, and that could be beneficial to advertisers. Binge viewers pay more attention to advertisers than people watching TV in smaller increments, according to a new study.
People might be using lots of devices at once, but around the world they’re staying loyal to their TV, checking in every day. That’s according to a report that consultancy TNS released last week. They surveyed more than 55,000 internet users in the 50 countries where TNS has a presence.
People in the US are the most valuable to advertisers, and Indians see barely any ads in comparison. That’s according to data from eMarketer, which today released projections of global ad spending and compared them with past years.
