• NBC To Binge Stream New Detective Series On Network Site, App
    NBCk will be streaming all 13 episodes of its new David Duchovny limited-series drama "Aquarius" on NBC.com, its NBC app and other VOD platforms, after the show's two-hour network premiere on May 28. All 13 episodes will remain available to stream for four weeks, while NBC will continue to air a new one-hour episode each Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.
  • Pandora Beats Analysts' Q1 Estimates
    Beating analyst’s expectations, Pandora reported first quarter revenue of $230.8 million, and a loss of 12 cents per share, on Thursday. Perhaps even more important, “its active listener count -- while up year over year -- fell quarter over quarter,” TechCrunch reports. “The company said users listened to 5.3 billion hours of music in the first quarter this year, with 79.2 million active listeners -- up from 75.3 million listeners in the same quarter last year.” 
  • Google Bows Content Recommendation Widget
    Google just launched Matched Content -- a new tool that gives AdSense publishers access to the content widgets that now appear at the bottom of so many articles. “Google’s version includes only internal links within a publisher’s site … for now at least,” Marketing Land reports. “Keeping visitors on the site, of course, increases ad views and the potential for ad clicks.” 
  • Google Makes Search Histories Downloadable
    For reasons we can’t quite grasp, Google is inviting users to download their entire cross-platform search histories. “The stated purpose of Google Takeout, a 4-year-old user data program to which this feature belongs, is to give people an easier way to transfer their data from Google to other services,” The Washington Post reports. Also, “by seeing what data Google has on you … you can also begin to understand the decisions it makes about what you do and do not see.”  
  • Microsoft Plans Sydney Outpost
    Expanding its retail business into new regions, Microsoft is preparing to launch an outpost in Sydney, Australia. “The Redmond-based tech giant already has a strong presence in North America with more than 110 physical stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, and maintains 17 store-in-store locations in China,” CNet reports. “However, the brand is yet to push out beyond these markets.”  
  • BuzzFeed Killing Content At Advertisers' Request
    Since Ben Smith was hired as editor-in-chief in 2012, Buzzfeed has removed content in response to advertiser complaints on at least three occasions, Gawker reports. “Smith’s admirable desire to preserve the Chinese wall between BuzzFeed’s editorial and advertising departments appears to have fallen short on more than one occasion,” it writes, citing an internal Buzzfeed memo.    
  • Report Shoots Down Yahoo-Foursquare Acquisition Talks
    Challenging a report in TechCrunch earlier this week, sources tell Re/Code that Yahoo has no intention of acquiring Foursquare. “Yahoo is not in talks to buy local recommendations service Foursquare,” Re/Code reports, citing multiple sources. Sources told TechCrunch that Yahoo is eyeing Foursquare for around $900 million. One TechCrunch source went so far as to say the “deal is done.” 
  • Rakuten Eyeing PopSugar For $580M
    Japanese holding company Rakuten is reportedly eying PopSugar. “Should the deal go through, we’re told it will happen in the next couple of weeks and that Rakuten will buy PopSugar for $580 million,” TechCrunch reports. “While that seems like a huge purchase price for an online celebrity news site, it follows on the heels of several other pricey content acquisitions for Rakuten in the last couple of years.” 
  • Cyber Security Firm Illumio Gets $100M
    Cyber-security firm Illumio has raised a $100 million in a Series C financing round. “Two-year-old startup Illumio, which counts Morgan Stanley and Plantronics as reference accounts, wants to help security teams concentrate more closely on activity within the data center,” Fortune reports. “The infusion will fund a sales team expansion, branding, and research and development.” 
  • When Will Print Newspapers Die?
    Clay Shirky, an author and NYU professor, thinks newspaper publishers like The New York Times are overly optimistic about the health of their print readership and ad dollars. “Print declines will become fast again by the end of the decade, bringing about the end of print (by which I mean a New York Times that does not produce a print product seven days a week),” Shirky writes in an email exchange with Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor at the Times.  
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