Business

The Digital Bits reports: The Digital Bits has learned from industry sources—and we’ve confirmed it with multiple sources now—that Best Buy plans to exit the physical media business for good next year, possibly as soon as the end of Q1 2024. This includes not just their in-store Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD sales, which the retailer has been gradually …

Bloomberg News reports: Netflix Inc. plans to open new destinations where fans can immerse themselves in the worlds of their favorite TV shows, shop for clothing, eat themed food and maybe even try a Squid Game obstacle course. Dubbed Netflix House, the venues will feature a mix of retail, dining and live experiences, according to Josh Simon, the company’s vice …

The Daily Beast reports: The once-ubiquitous MyPillow commercials that flooded the airwaves of Fox News and other cable television stations have all but disappeared over the past few weeks amid owner Mike Lindell’s ongoing financial problems, the linen company founder confirmed on Wednesday. The MAGA pillow magnate, who said earlier this month that he has “no money” due to his …

Wired reports: On Monday night, what is left of the trust and safety team at X (formerly Twitter) announced the measures it was taking to try and put the genie back in the bottle and curb the virulent spread of disinformation around the Israel-Hamas war on its platform. The statement, issued three days after the conflict began, reads: “As the …

Mashable reports: X, the Elon Musk-owned platform formerly known as Twitter, has begun serving its users with a weird new ad format and it’s one of the company’s least transparent products yet. The rollout of these ads also provides the public with a hint regarding just how much the company is struggling to attract advertisers. These new X ads don’t …

Reuters reports: Billionaire Elon Musk is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over his 2022 purchase of social media giant Twitter, according to a Thursday court filing in which the agency sought to compel Musk to provide testimony. The investigation concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws in connection with his 2022 purchases of stock in Twitter, …

Reuters reports: X is still worth something, but not for the people running it. Boss Linda Yaccarino is set to present her plans for the social network formerly known as Twitter to bankers holding nearly $13 billion of its debt, the Financial Times reported. Looming over talks is the likelihood that X’s value is substantially less than even that figure. …

The Insider reports: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said that his company has been crippled by American Express’s decision to slash its credit line. “Steve, we really need everybody’s help right now. We have things going on I’m going to let you all know this week,” Lindell told fellow Trump ally Steve Bannon on the latter’s “War Room” podcast. “Out of …

The Associated Press reports: Facing a backlash, Walt Disney World’s governing district will pay a stipend to employees whose free passes and discounts to the theme park resort were eliminated under a policy made by a new district administrator and board members who are allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The stipend will be $3,000 a year, which is around …

The Times Of London reports: The “free speech” website that hosts Russell Brand could be forced out of the UK under new online safety laws, experts have said. Rumble, a video-sharing platform based in North America, has become home to Brand and other figures with extreme views, including Andrew Tate and Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist. It also hosts extreme …

Axios reports: Target announced Tuesday that it is shuttering nine stores on Oct. 21 because “theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests.” Organized retail crime accounted for $112.1 billion in losses in 2022, a National Retail Federation report released Tuesday found. Organized retail crime — where gangs of thieves swarm stores for products …

The Washington Post reports: The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Amazon Tuesday, a long-awaited move that seeks to bar the company from allegedly abusing its powers to raise prices for shoppers and levy high fees against businesses that sell on its platform. The FTC alleges that Amazon engages in illegal behavior …

The BBC reports: The boss of Iceland [supermarket chain] has been forced to apologise and retract a claim that three staff contracted HIV as a result of needle attacks. Richard Walker said he made comments in “error” in a “draft article” about threats of violence against store workers by shoplifters for Mail Online. Politicians and charities had called for him …

Click Orlando reports: Travelers can officially ride a high-speed train from Orlando to Miami. After years in the making, Brightline on Friday launched its first trains from Orlando and Miami on the grand opening of its new connecting service. The rail system provides service between Miami and Orlando International Airport, with stops throughout South Florida. The high-speed train travels up …

Engadget reports: Since 2012, Yelp has caught nearly 5,000 businesses engaging in shady tactics, like paying customers for favorable ratings or hiring people to write phony reviews. Now, the company has a new tool to help people — and maybe the feds — track businesses that have tried to manipulate their standing on the review platform. Yelp is releasing a …

The Guardian reports: A number of large companies have pulled their advertisements from the video platform Rumble, where Russell Brand broadcasts his weekly show, in the week since allegations of rape and sexual assault against the comedian came to light. The News Movement reported on Friday that Burger King, Asos, the Barbican and HelloFresh, the recipe box delivery service, had …

The Associated Press reports: The president of the United Auto Workers said Friday the union will expand its strike against major automakers by walking out of 38 General Motors and Stellantis plants in 20 states. Ford was spared additional strikes because the company has met some of the union’s demands during negotiations over the past week, said UAW President Shawn …

The Associate Press reports: MGM Resorts brought to an end a 10-day computer shutdown prompted by efforts to shield from a cyberattack data including hotel reservations and credit card processing, the casino giant said Wednesday, as analysts and academics measured the effects of the event. “We are pleased that all of our hotels and casinos are operating normally,” the Las …

Ars Technica reports: After years of delays, regulatory rejections, and allegations of animal abuse, Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, is now recruiting its first human volunteers to have an experimental robot implant an experimental device directly into their brains. In a blog post Tuesday, the company announced that an independent institutional review board and an unnamed hospital site granted …

Mediaite reports: Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter/X, is floating an idea that he’s had before, but never mentioned publicly, to remedy the problem of social media bots: charging people to use social media. It’s not the first time Musk has proposed making people pay to use X, which has, according to multiple reports, descended into a chaotic haven for …