Kinda Brief-er Mode

Yesterday I joined a group of Substack writers asking the company for answers and accountability around the platform’s Nazi problem. As of writing this, I am not aware of a meaningful reply from the company. Hopefully, Substack will decide to enforce its policies and remove hateful newsletters. However, I’ve already started exploring other newsletter publishing options because, frankly, I’m not expecting much out of Substack. 

It’s also the end of the year, and things are still oddly busy at my main job. So we’re going to stay in Kinda Brief-er mode, at least through the end of the year, with just a few content recommendations and news links. No new mini-essays until the new year, and either Substack cleans things up, or I’ve migrated to a new publishing tool. 

Thank you for your patience right now. And always, thank you for your support.

Good Holiday Episodes

I’ve been playing around with an app called Serialized for tracking the TV shows I watch. It’s basically like Letterboxed for TV (and if you use Letterboxed, you should add me). Like Letterboxed, Serialized will let you make and share lists. I thought I’d test it out by building a big list of holiday episodes of TV shows. So, if you are looking for some holiday entertainment but don’t want to put on a whole movie, I’ve got you covered. 

Platform Updates

Instagram & Threads

• Threads launches for nearly half a billion more users in Europe 

• Threads is officially starting to test ActivityPub integration

• Meta Expands Fact-Checking Program to Threads

• Instagram Adds Looping Video to Notes, New Note Reply Options

• Instagram introduces GenAI powered background editing tool

• Instagram is making it easier to remove spammy followers

TikTok

• TikTok Becomes the First Non-Game Mobile App to Generate $10 Billion in Consumer Spending

• TikTok Announces Live Concert Special on Disney+ and Hulu

YouTube

• YouTube Announces Third-Party Verification Partnerships for Shorts Ad Placements

• YouTube Will Enable Channels to Give Away 10 Free Subscriptions Per Month

Google 

• Epic win: Jury decides Google has illegal monopoly in app store fight  

Twitch 

• Twitch loosens its policy on sexual content 

Snap 

• Snapchat+ subscribers can now create and send AI-generated images

Twitter, Sorry X

The Dumpster Fire

• Elon Musk unbans conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and hosts interview with him on X

• Elon Musk’s Grok Twitter AI Is Actually ‘Woke,’ Hilarity Ensues

• The Year Twitter Died - this is a big package of stories from The Verge about Twitter demise over the past year 

Culture Movers 

Film & TV

• Golden Globes 2024: Full Nominations List

• After years of resisting, Netflix releases viewing statistics for nearly all titles

Creator Economy 

• Introducing ViewStats: A data platform for YouTube creators co-founded by MrBeast (my theory has always been that MrBeast content is so soulless because of his particular approach to data-driven optimization, so mixed feelings on this)  

AI 

• With AI Studio, Google launches an easy-to-use tool for developing apps and chatbots based on its Gemini model

• ChatGPT Creator OpenAI to Pay Politico Parent for Using Its Content

• Dropbox spooks users with new AI features that send data to OpenAI when used

Scams

• Grimes has a new line of AI plush toys, including one named Grok

PS

here’s a good Cybertruck meme