The New York Times
Community slams NYT for its latest ‘sympathy piece’ on FTX’s Bankman-Fried
The online community including some cryptocurrency figures has condemned the latest so-called “sympathy” article from The New York Times written about FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. In the Dec. 26 article published titled “In the Bahamas, a Lingering Sympathy for Sam Bankman-Fried,” New York Times journalist Rob Copeland quotes local Bahamians who appeared to have mostly positive things to say about the cryptocurrency exchange founder. One resident opined he had a “good heart,” with another local saying they “feel bad for him.” A resident interviewed for the article even said it “doesn’t make any sense” that Bankman-Fried’s alleged crimes landed him in prison. The article suggests that the glowing reviews of Bankman-Fried by locals stem from his millions of dollars i...
The New York Times Buys Wordle for $_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Wordle, the viral word game which offers players six chances to puzzle out a five-letter word, has been purchased by The New York Times to bolster their ever-expanding collection of brain-teasing games. The New York Times Company left a blank space in place of the actual price, though they did say the purchase involved a number “in the low seven figures.” The invention of Brooklyn engineer Josh Wardle, Wordle (yup, it’s a pun) rolled out last October. It had less than 100 users per day on November 1st, but by the middle of the month that number had ballooned to over 300,000. Advertisement Related Video Today it’s played by millions, with many choosing to post their results online using colored boxes to indicate the progression of their guesses — black or grey for misses, yel...
Huge web outage takes Reddit, Twitch, and other big sites offline
A huge global web outage swept across the internet this morning, taking out popular sites including Amazon, Twitch, and Reddit. The outages started at around 5:30AM ET, with a large number of sites affected. The Fastly content delivery network (CDN) was the source of the issues, which lasted for more than an hour. Major news sites like CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian, and the Financial Times were also affected. The issues also affected UK government websites, so British citizens were unable to renew passports, apply for tax allowances, or obtain driving licenses during the outage. Fastly hasn’t commented fully on the issues other than an outage message on the company’s status page. “The issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented,” said Fastly at 6:44AM ET. Get more stor...
Is the Media Still Cashing in on Britney Spears’ Trauma?
In the past month, the steadily growing #FreeBritney movement became a mainstream phenomenon following the release of The New York Times Presents documentary Framing Britney Spears. The documentary dissects the pop star’s controversial conservatorship, which placed her under the strict supervision, financially and personally, of conservators like her father, James “Jamie” Spears, among others since 2008. Acting as a thorough introduction for newcomers, Framing Britney Spears provides a heartbreaking portrait of both the rise of the wide-eyed teen singer from Louisiana and her fall from grace, including that infamous head-shaving, umbrella-wielding night anyone who lived through 2007 saw footage of at least a million times over. Framing Britney Spears casts a much kinder, more sympathetic l...
Holiday shopping moves online amid surging coronavirus, retailers face shaky prospects
File Photo Long lines and crowds at shopping centers have been as much a Thanksgiving tradition as the turkey dinner, but this year, things could look different. As COVID-19 numbers continue to surge, rushing to brick-and-mortar retail stores might seem not so appealing to many, and the holiday shopping season is moving online. “More and more shopping was already moving online, but COVID-19 concerns are definitely accelerating the shift to online buying,” David Reibstein, a marketing professor from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, told Xinhua. The trend is evident as shown by recent data. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, reported that its third-quarter e-commerce sales surged 79 percent from a year ago. Amazon, the largest e-commerce retailer, reported a 37 percent ...
Google reportedly rescinds 2,000 contract worker jobs
Google rescinded offers to more than 2,000 contract and temporary workers in an effort to curtail new spending as the pandemic continues to sink ad revenue, according to The New York Times. Ruth Porat, Google’s chief financial officer, said last month that the company would slow the pace of hiring this year “given that we are faced with a global crisis of uncertain depth and duration.” The 2,000 contract positions would have been located across the globe, according to the Times, and they represent a small fraction of Google’s workforce. The company reportedly has more than 130,000 contractors on top of 123,000 employees. Still, it speaks to the significant hiring slowdown that Porat telegraphed last month. The pandemic has caused a slowdown in the advertising market, which is where Google ...
