I Was a Broke American Living in New Zealand. A Viral TikTok Turned My Taco Stand Into 3 Restaurants.
American expatriate Sean Yarbrough turned a TikTok‑fueled taco stand into three New Zealand restaurants within three years. After quitting a burger‑flipping job, he launched Broke Boy Taco with a three‑item menu and leveraged a revenue‑share kitchen partnership. A viral TikTok video generated thousands of followers, prompting a UFC fighter’s investment that funded a food truck and subsequent expansion. The story illustrates how low‑cost operations and social media can accelerate food‑service growth for immigrant entrepreneurs.
All Eligible Snap Creators Can Now Offer Subscriptions
Snapchat has rolled out its Creator Subscription product to every eligible creator globally, letting them set monthly fees for exclusive Snaps, Stories and ad‑free experiences. In the pilot, creators retained roughly 60% of subscription revenue and saw Spotlight posts boost...
TikTok Gamifies DMs With Emojis, Pixelated Alligators
TikTok has introduced a retro‑style mini‑game that lives inside its direct‑message interface, letting users send a single emoji to launch a pixelated alligator‑crossing challenge. The game mirrors recent chat‑based titles such as Threads' basketball and Instagram’s hidden emoji game, and...
LinkedIn Pulse Lost 89% of Its Google Traffic.
LinkedIn’s long‑form Pulse articles have seen a dramatic drop in Google visibility, falling from a peak of 33 million monthly visits in March 2024 to just 3.6 million in March 2026 – an 89 % decline. In contrast, the platform’s shorter Posts have surged, climbing...
New Movies and Shows Streaming in April: What to Watch on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, and More
April 2026 sees a packed slate of new streaming titles across the major platforms, with flagship premieres like "The Testaments" on Hulu, "The Boys" Season 5 on Prime Video, and "Euphoria" Season 3 on HBO Max. Apple TV+ bolsters its lineup with...
The Provincetown Independent’s Reporters Couldn’t Find Housing. So the Local Journalism Project Bought a Condo for Them to Rent.
The Local Journalism Project (LJP), the nonprofit arm of the Provincetown Independent, raised $500,000 in two months and bought a three‑bedroom, three‑bath condo for just under $1.5 million to house three early‑career reporters. The reporters now pay roughly 30% of their...
A Contributor to GameStop's Long-Forgotten Steam Competitor Explains Why He Thinks Valve Came Out on Top: 'What Steam Did Better...
Valve’s Steam platform outlasted early rivals like Impulse, GamersGate and console‑centric services by turning a simple matchmaking client into a full‑featured digital storefront. Larry Kuperman, former Impulse lead, credits Steam’s community tools—friends lists, messaging, play‑time stats—and its unrestricted redownload policy...
Everything We Know About the The Bonfire of the Vanities TV Series
Apple TV is developing a series adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s 1987 novel "The Bonfire of the Vanities," a satirical look at 1980s Wall Street and New York social hierarchies. Emmy‑winning writer‑producer David E. Kelley is penning the scripts, while Matt...
EverPass Media Expands Distribution Deal with Netflix
EverPass Media announced an expanded commercial distribution agreement with Netflix that will bring live sports events to U.S. bars, restaurants and other venues. The first title under the new deal is the Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov boxing match on April 11, 2026,...
Lisa Varner Rises to GM at Saga’s Ocala Cluster
Saga Communications has promoted Lisa Varner to vice‑president and general manager of its North Central Florida Media radio cluster, succeeding retiring GM Howard Tuuri. Varner previously served four years as director of sales for the three‑station Ocala group, which includes...
Climbing Magazine’s Editorial Standards
Climbing Magazine has published comprehensive editorial standards outlining strict journalistic ethics, fact‑checking protocols, and gear‑testing guidelines. The policy bans the use of artificial intelligence for writing or image creation, mandates source quote review without draft access, and requires unbiased product...
Flipboard’s New ‘Social Websites’ Help Publishers and Creators Tap Into the Open Social Web
Flipboard unveiled "social websites," a new product that lets publishers and individual creators bundle content from decentralized platforms such as Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, podcasts and newsletters into a single, controllable web destination. The service builds on Flipboard’s Surf reader,...
HipHopGamer Partners Exclusively with GamesBeat as GamesBeat Creators Redefines Community-First B2B Media
GamesBeat launched GamesBeat Creators, a B2B media initiative that links creator talent with industry‑focused audiences. HipHopGamer (Gerard Williams) became the first exclusive creator, releasing a video with comedian Rip Michaels that explores how gaming fuels new comedy formats. The partnership...
ElevenLabs Releases a New AI-Powered Music-Generation App
ElevenLabs has launched ElevenMusic, an iOS app that lets users generate AI‑crafted songs using natural‑language prompts. The free tier permits up to seven tracks per day, while a $9.99 monthly Pro plan expands limits to 500 songs and 500 GB of...
‘The Pitt’ Season 3 Is Losing A Popular Doctor
The Pitt will lose Supriya Ganesh, who portrays Dr. Mohan, for season 3 as the show follows a story‑driven rotation that mirrors real‑world residency cycles. In contrast, Ayesha Harris, playing night‑shift resident Dr. Parker Ellis, has been promoted to series regular....
FROM PLATFORM WARS TO INFRASTRUCTURE WARS: Hop-On's Digitalage Defines Stateful Media Infrastructure
Hop‑on’s Digitalage unveiled a patent‑pending Stateful Media Infrastructure that converts every livestream into a permanent, searchable asset at the moment of creation. The architecture eliminates post‑production processing, enabling creators to earn 70‑85% of revenue compared with the 45‑55% typical on...
CASTING | Home Cooks Wanted for New Aussie Food Series
Producer i8 Studio is casting everyday Australians for a new unscripted cooking series that will spotlight personal recipes and the stories behind them. No professional chef experience is required; participants simply need a dish that brings people together. Filming is...
An AI Company Set Out to Fix News Deserts. Instead, It Copied Local Journalists’ Work
Artificial‑intelligence firm Nota shut down its network of 11 hyper‑local news sites after Poynter and Axios uncovered more than 70 articles that copied reporting and photos from local journalists without attribution. The sites, launched in September to deliver bilingual coverage...
A Local TV Newsroom Disappeared Overnight. It’s a Warning Sign for What’s Next.
Circle City Broadcasting acquired Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV from Scripps for $83 million and dismissed the entire newsroom in a single night. The move reflects a broader wave of consolidation, highlighted by Nexstar’s pending merger with Tegna that would give the...
Seth MacFarlane to Adapt Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl for Peacock
Seth MacFarlane’s production company Fuzzy Door is moving forward with a live‑action adaptation of Matt Dinniman’s novel *Dungeon Crawler Carl* for Peacock. The series, based on the first book’s apocalyptic game‑show premise, entered development this week, with MacFarlane and Dinniman...
Queenslanders Mitch and Shaz Named First Team on MY RENO RULES
Seven Network has unveiled the first competing team for its upcoming renovation series *My Reno Rules*: Queensland newlyweds Mitch and Shaz. The show, hosted by Dr Chris Brown and judged by Neale Whitaker, Simon Cohen and Julia Green, will pit four teams against...
‘Euphoria’ Season 3 Premiere Will Screen at Coachella
HBO will screen the Season 3 premiere of Euphoria on the Coachella campgrounds on April 12, 2026, just after the festival’s final performance. The eight‑episode season arrives after a four‑year gap and features returning stars like Zendaya alongside newcomers Sharon Stone and Rosalía. Entry...
Nielsen, TelevisaUnivision Agree To New Measurement Pact
TelevisaUnivision and Nielsen have signed a new multi‑year measurement agreement covering all of the broadcaster’s U.S. television, radio and streaming assets. The pact resolves a recent data gap that left stations like Miami’s WAMR‑FM out of Nielsen Audio’s ratings. Both...
Meta Caves To The MPAA Over Instagram’s Use Of ‘PG-13,’ Ending A Dispute That Was Silly From The Start
Meta has reached a settlement with the Motion Picture Association, agreeing to stop calling its Instagram Teen Account moderation "PG-13" and to add a disclaimer clarifying the distinction from movie ratings. The company will continue using the same age‑appropriate filters,...
ENCO to Demo Remote Cloud Captioning at PREC
ENCO will showcase its enCaption platform at the Public Radio Engineering Conference, demonstrating a fully cloud‑based captioning workflow for live presentations. The system captures audio feeds remotely, processes them in ENCO’s secure cloud, and streams real‑time captions to on‑site displays...
Is Jury Duty Returning for Season 3?
The Amazon Prime Video comedy‑reality series *Jury Duty* has not received an official season‑3 renewal, leaving fans and cast to speculate about its future. The show’s latest installment, *Jury Duty: Company Retreat*, will conclude on April 3, and creators have hinted...
The WNET Group, JIB Launch NHK World-Japan in New York
The WNET Group and Japan International Broadcasting have launched the English‑language NHK World‑Japan channel on WLIW’s digital subchannel 21.3, effective April 1. The service is also being carried by major cable providers such as Optimum, Spectrum, Comcast, Verizon Fios and Astound/RCN...
Elite Media Technologies Selects Interra Systems’ BATON QC Solution
Interra Systems announced that Elite Media Technologies has chosen its BATON file‑based quality‑control platform for its master‑level audio, video and IMF/DCP workflows. Elite highlighted BATON’s automated audio‑video analysis, scalable architecture, and support for both SDR and HDR content as key...
Wyclef Jean and Jaeson Ma’s D2C Service OpenWav Launches Snafu-Backed Indie Artist Financing Platform
OpenWav, the direct‑to‑fan platform co‑founded by Wyclef Jean and Jaeson Ma, has unveiled OpenWav Artist Bank, a financing service that offers independent musicians cash advances ranging from low five figures to high seven figures. The program, built with AI‑driven catalog...
7 (Actually Good) Things to Watch on Netflix in April
Netflix's April lineup showcases a mix of high‑profile series, documentaries, and genre films aimed at retaining subscribers and attracting new viewers. The platform debuts "Beef" season two, an anthology shift starring Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, while adding the soccer...
Saga’s Gainesville-Ocala Duo Get A New GM
Saga Communications announced the appointment of a new general manager for its Gainesville‑Ocala radio cluster, replacing the outgoing executive after a three‑year tenure. The new GM, Lisa Varner, brings 15 years of market‑specific programming and sales experience, previously leading revenue...
Hisense’s Art-Inspired CanvasTV Has Hit a New Low Price
Hisense has slashed the price of its 55‑inch CanvasTV to $599.99, a $400 discount from the original $999.99 list price. The art‑inspired 4K QLED TV mimics a framed painting when idle, offering a cheaper alternative to Samsung’s premium Frame series....
Sam Altman Felt ‘Terrible’ Telling Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro About OpenAI’s Decision to Kill Off Sora, Says Companies Still Looking...
OpenAI announced the shutdown of its Sora video‑generation platform, a move that caught Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro off‑guard and halted Disney’s plan to let fans create AI‑generated versions of over 200 characters. The cancellation puts a $1 billion Disney investment on...
Semafor Accelerates Gulf Editorial and Commercial Presence
Semafor announced that its Gulf edition will publish five days a week starting this spring, expanding coverage of finance, business and geopolitics across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. The rollout includes a major hiring push that adds journalists from...
TV: ‘A Full-Funnel Driver Of Performance’
A new Comcast Advertising report finds that brand recall spikes dramatically when television is combined with other media channels. Recall is 8.7 times higher when TV is paired with search, 1.8 times higher with social media, and 1.6 times higher...
Google Now Lets You Direct Avatars Through Prompts in Its Vids App
Google has upgraded its Vids video‑editing app with AI‑driven avatar prompting, the Veo 3.1 video‑generation model, direct YouTube export, and a new Chrome screen‑recording extension. Users can now steer avatars using natural‑language prompts, customize appearance, and generate eight‑second clips, with ten...
‘The Testaments’ Review: Hulu’s Next-Gen ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Bears Witness… and Little Else
Hulu’s sequel series *The Testaments* launches on April 8, 2026, continuing the dystopian world of *The Handmaid’s Tale* through the eyes of two privileged young women, Agnes and Daisy. Critics argue the show recycles the original’s themes, offering little new insight...
HBO Max Might Be Out in the UK, but I'm Watching Its Shows a Different Way
HBO Max has finally launched in the UK after years of delay, primarily caused by Sky’s existing HBO agreements. The article’s author, a self‑identified prestige‑TV fan, continues to watch classic HBO series like *The Wire* on Blu‑ray rather than the...
Create, Edit and Share Videos at No Cost in Google Vids
Google Vids now offers free, high‑quality video generation using the Veo 3.1 model, granting every Google account ten video generations each month. Subscribers to Google AI Pro and Ultra gain access to custom music creation via Lyria 3 and Lyria 3 Pro, as well...
Google Vids Adds AI Avatars that You Can Customize & Direct, Free Veo Generation
Google has upgraded its Workspace video suite, Google Vids, with AI‑driven avatar customization, new music generation via Lyria 3, and expanded Veo clip limits. Free users can now create up to ten 8‑second clips each month, while AI Ultra subscribers receive...
What to Watch This Week
The Economist’s Culture roundup this week spotlights a series of wedding‑themed stories, from a Louisiana bride’s traditional ceremony to a secret, intimate nuptial of a famous couple. It also flags a new television series about a divorcee‑turned‑thief, calling it a...
Maria Laura Neves Appointed Editor in Chief of Vogue Brasil
Maria Laura Neves has been appointed the permanent editor‑in‑chief of Vogue Brasil, a role she has held on an interim basis since February following Paula Merlo’s departure. Neves joined Vogue Brasil in 2021 as deputy editor after a tenure as...
Elon Musk's X to Deploy Scam Kill Switch by Auto-Locking First-Time Crypto Mentioners
Elon Musk's platform X will automatically lock any account that mentions cryptocurrency for the first time, requiring extra verification before further posting. The feature targets a surge in phishing attacks that hijack accounts to promote scam tokens, which Musk’s product...
How Purchase Data Is Redefining TV Ad Performance and Driving Revenue
Purchase‑based segmentation is reshaping TV advertising, letting brands move beyond reach metrics to drive sales. Circana’s data shows that targeting 126 million U.S. households with past‑purchase signals can boost incremental sales, as demonstrated by Roku’s 35 % lift with half the impressions....
Where Should Retail Media Networks Make Their Pitch for Ad Dollars?
Retail media is transitioning from a lower‑funnel, conversion‑only model to a full‑funnel, brand‑building channel, prompting networks to showcase broader capabilities. Major players such as Albertsons Media Collective and Walmart‑Vizio used this year’s IAB NewFronts to demonstrate scale, data assets, and...
BBC Boss Tim Davie Says It Was 'Very Clear' Scott Mills Had to Go
BBC Director‑General Tim Davie said new information confirming the alleged victim was under 16 made Scott Mills’ dismissal inevitable. The former Radio 2 breakfast host was sacked last Friday after the corporation learned the victim’s age. Davie described the decision as a...
YouTube Bringing AI Feature to Connected TV App
YouTube is extending its AI‑driven Ask feature from the mobile app to the connected TV app, with a rollout slated for the coming months. The new Ask button lets viewers pose questions about the video they’re watching using their remote’s...
Danish Shows to Watch While We’re Still at Peace
The new Danish drama “Generations,” debuting on MHz Choice, showcases Denmark’s outsized influence in high‑quality television despite its small population. Produced by the publicly funded broadcaster DR, the series blends family melodrama with ecological and supernatural elements, set against the...
RAIN Notes: April 2
iHeartMedia announced the hiring of former NBCUniversal executive Jamie Cutburth as vice president of marketing and promoted Andrew Festo to vice president of events and experiences. Cutburth will drive tent‑pole storytelling and cross‑platform packaging, while Festo will oversee live and...
Journalist Sues FAA Over Drone No Fly Zone Designed to Prevent Filming ICE
Minnesota photojournalist Rob Levine and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press have filed a lawsuit against the FAA over a temporary flight restriction that bars drones within 3,000 feet of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facilities and mobile...