Mariah Carey returns to Apple TV+ with “Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues” – Apple and Mariah Carey today announced the Queen of Christmas’ return to Apple TV+ with an all-new holiday event, “Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues,” to sprinkle more magic around the world, and set to debut globally in December. “Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues” will bring multi-platinum, multi-Grammy Award-winning icon Carey together with Grammy-nominated worldwide artist Khalid and Grammy winning legend Kirk Franklin for the first and only performance of their new single, “Fall in Love at Christmas,” on Apple TV+.
Ozy CEO Carlos Watson updates – Watson reports from his studio and says he’ll be talking a lot over the next year about where Ozy is going. One of the hashtags used by the CEO is #NewBeginnings.
Chvrches Screen Violence Tour starts in one week – White Oak Music Hall in Houston, Texas is the first stop.
ESPN’s Monday Night Football Week 8 Delivers 14 Million Viewers, Up Year-Over-Year for Sixth Consecutive Week; Season-to-Date, MNF Up 17% From Both the 2020 and 2019 Seasons
Zillow plans to wind down Zillow Offers, the company’s iBuying service in which Zillow acts as the primary purchaser and seller of homes – “We’ve determined the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeds what we anticipated and continuing to scale Zillow Offers would result in too much earnings and balance-sheet volatility,” said Zillow Group co-founder and CEO Rich Barton. “While we built and learned a tremendous amount operating Zillow Offers, it served only a small portion of our customers. Our core business and brand are strong, and we remain committed to creating an integrated and digital real estate transaction that solves the pain points of buyers and sellers while serving a wider audience.”
The wind-down is expected to take several quarters and will include a reduction of Zillow’s workforce by approximately 25%. “The most difficult part of this decision is that it will impact many of our colleagues,” Barton said. “This is not something we take lightly. We are grateful for their efforts, and we are committed to providing a smooth transition.” [Zillow]
Netflix introduces games for members on mobile – The five mobile games include- Stranger Things: 1984 (BonusXP), Stranger Things 3: The Game (BonusXP), Shooting Hoops (Frosty Pop), Card Blast (Amuzo & Rogue Games), and Teeter Up (Frosty Pop) [Netflix]
U2 Joins TikTok – For the first time, TikTok creators will be able to use the band’s iconic tracks in their video creations. This includes new song ‘Your Song Saved My Life’, from the SING 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which will be previewed on TikTok two days before its official release on Wednesday, November. U2 singer Bono will make his animated screen debut as reclusive rockstar lion Clay Calloway in the much-anticipated sequel to the smash hit movie.
Three Washington Post reporters win Mayborn Awards – Congrats to Greg Jaffe, Hannah Dreier and John Woodrow Cox, whose work has been honored by the Best American Newspaper Narrative Writing Contest, sponsored by the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference.
Greg won first place for his story “A pandemic, a motel without power and a terrifying glimpse of Orlando’s future,” which revealed the heartbreaking lives being lived inside a low-budget motel and how they offered a glimpse of what a complete social and economic collapse might look like in America.
Hannah was awarded second place for “The worst-case scenario” which told the story of what happened when a White police officer fresh from de-escalation training confronted a troubled Black woman with a gun and a crowd with cellphones ready to record.
Meta is shutting down the Face Recognition system on Facebook. People who’ve opted in will no longer be automatically recognized in photos and videos and we will delete more than a billion people’s individual facial recognition templates.
This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology’s history. More than a third of Facebook’s daily active users have opted in to our Face Recognition setting and are able to be recognized, and its removal will result in the deletion of more than a billion people’s individual facial recognition templates. [Meta]
