advertisement advertisement advertisement With last week’s launch of iOS 14.5, iPhone and iPad users now have a say in whether their apps can track them. And so far, the results are sobering for the companies doing the tracking. advertisement advertisement Flurry Analytics, a Verizon-owned measurement firm, estimates that just 11% of users worldwide are opting into tracking in iOS 14.5, based on measurements of 5.3 million users. Opt-in rates are even lower in the United States, where just 4% of users are allowing themselves to be tracked. Not all estimates are quite so dire. The marketing analytics firm AppsFlyer found that users have opted into tracking 37% of the time globally in the first week after iOS 14.5’s public launch, and 29% of the time in the United States. (AppsFlyer declined to comment on the difference in results, and Verizon did not return a request for comment, but the companies may be using different … [Read more...] about Most people are embracing iOS 14.5’s new anti-tracking features
Open Mike Eagle is capturing the stories of hip-hop legends—and forging his own
advertisement advertisement advertisement Although a lot of hip-hop artists are technically more verbose than Shakespeare, that doesn’t mean they always get the chance to tell their stories. advertisement advertisement As legends like MF DOOM , DMX , and Shock G die prematurely, they leave behind a grim reminder that fans often have no idea what rap’s elder statesmen—and women—are going through now, or what wisdom and context lurks behind the cobwebbed corners of their pasts. Open Mike Eagle is doing his part to flip the script, however, by bringing both hip-hop history and future legends to the podcast space with his Stony Island Audio network. “Music videos and PR are typical ways to give fans access to your personality as an artist, but I think podcasting is a really great way to do that, too,” the rapper, comedian, and now podcast magnate says. “It’s how you connect with people and resonate with them in ways … [Read more...] about Open Mike Eagle is capturing the stories of hip-hop legends—and forging his own
David Oyelowo’s directorial debut, ‘The Water Man,’ is a love letter to the ’80s . . . and love itself
advertisement advertisement advertisement David Oyelowo’s pedigree of being a classically trained stage actor has largely translated into his career in film with weighty roles in Selma , The Butler , Nightingale , and so forth. So when the opportunity to make his directorial debut with the kid-centric fantasy The Water Man came about, his fear was double-fold: stepping behind the camera and going left of what people have come to expect from him as an actor. advertisement advertisement “I tend to gravitate towards roles and projects that are terrifying to me,” Oyelowo says in an upcoming episode of Fast Company’ s podcast Creative Conversation . “This is a story that I knew, and it’s been confirmed, that people will be like, ‘But you do those important movies? You do those historical movies. Why have you gone off and done this family-adventure movie?'” Directed by and starring Oyelowo, The Water Man follows Gunner … [Read more...] about David Oyelowo’s directorial debut, ‘The Water Man,’ is a love letter to the ’80s . . . and love itself
Food52’s secret recipe for building a $100 million media empire
advertisement advertisement advertisement There are no shortage of recipe sites on the internet—from Martha Stewart’s pastel-hued empire to curated recipes on Bon Appétit to home-grown blogs. But no food site has managed to blend e-commerce with content as successfully as Food52. advertisement advertisement New York Times food editors Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs founded Food52 in 2009 as a website that bridged the gap between gourmet cooking and crowdsourced recipes. Over the past 12 years, it has evolved to include an online marketplace of home goods and a line of kitchen products. This week, it announced that it had acquired Dansk, a 67-year-old Scandinavian-inspired home brand with a cult following. flailing , Food52 is a rare success story. Right before the pandemic, VC firm The Chernin Group (TCG) bought a majority stake in the company for $83 million, bringing Food52’s total funding to $96.6 million and … [Read more...] about Food52’s secret recipe for building a $100 million media empire
Unpacking the CIA’s cringey recruiting strategy
advertisement advertisement advertisement A young LatinX woman wearing a casual blazer and T-shirt stands outside an office building looking proud and confident. As she walks the halls, she talks about her immigrant upbringing and her ability to straddle different worlds, while maintaining her sense of self. “I am a woman of color. I am a mom. I am a cisgender millennial, who has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder,” she says. “I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise.” advertisement advertisement Inclusive. Empowering. The vibe is similar to what you’d find in many corporate recruitment or employee-training videos from major American companies like HP and Unilever. Except this one was from the Central Intelligence Agency. The video was posted in March, but it went viral this week as both the right and the left cried woke-washing, thanks to the laundry list of progressive buzzwords … [Read more...] about Unpacking the CIA’s cringey recruiting strategy