Pandora CEO Tim Westergren has stepped down from the music streaming company, the company announced on Tuesday. Westergren will also step down from the company’s board of directors, and letting go of any and all official positions within the company that he started 17 years ago.
In the meantime, Pandora CFO Naveen Chopra will act as the interim CEO while the board looks for a new chief executive officer. Pandora also announced that Pandora president Mike Herring and CMO Nick Bartle would also step down.
Tim Leiweke, a Pandora board member, explained that it was Westergren’s decision to leave the company. “We support Tim’s desire to identify a new CEO for Pandora’s next stage,” Leiweke said.
In a statement, Westergren explained how Pandora is ready to take the company to the next level. “I came back to the CEO role last year to drive transformation across the business. We accomplished far more than we anticipated. We rebuilt Pandora’s relationships with the music industry; launched a fantastic Premium on-demand service, and brought a host of tech innovations to our advertising business. With these in place, plus a strengthened balance sheet, I believe Pandora is perfectly poised for its next chapter.”
It is not the second time Westergren has stepped down as the CEO of Pandora. After an early role as the CEO first launched in the early 2000s, Tim Westergren stepped down. That said, the company has launched several new products including an on-demand streaming service, and investment by Sirius XM radio.
Three CNN employees have resigned over a retracted story linking President Trump to Russia.
CNN broke the news on Monday after CNN removed the article from CNN.com on Friday. The network commented that they could no longer support the story.
On Thursday, CNN investigative reporter Thomas Frank published a story centering around an investigation into a Russian investment fund with alleged ties to several of Donald Trump associates. According to CNN, an internal investigation found that some of the company’s employees did not follow CNN’s editorial processes after the journalism team published the report. CNN reportedly used an unnamed source and stated that Congress was reportedly investigating a “Russian investment fund with ties to Trump officials.”
CNN later released a statement.“Once it was determined that editorial processes were not followed, CNN deleted the story from CNN.com,” the network reported on their website on Friday. “Soon thereafter, the story was officially retracted and replaced with an editor’s note.”
November 9, 2016: CNN television screen shot of Donald Trump after he was elected the United States president. (Andy Dean Photography / Shutterstock.com)
Moreover, CNN commented that the news report “did not meet CNN’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled.”
CNN says the mistake was caused by a “breakdown in editorial workflow,” claiming that “these type of stories” do not go through the typical editorial processes, which include fact-checkers, journalism experts, and attorneys.
Ultimately, three people are out of a job including Frank, who wrote the story, Eric Lichtblau, an editor, and the person in charge of the group, Lex Haris.
Frank previously worked as a reporter for USA Today and Newsday before working with CNN. Lichtblau is a former New York Times Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter and Haris was a former executive editor of CNNMoney.
In a statement, Haris said, “On Friday, CNN retracted a story published by my team. As Executive Editor of that team, I have resigned. I’ve been with CNN since 2001, and am sure about one thing: This is a news organization that prizes accuracy and fairness above all else. I am leaving, but will carry those principles wherever I go.”
CNN’s journalism was caught under fire in the past. In 2014, CNN fired a news editor for repeated plagiarism offenses. An internal investigation found Marie-Louise Gumuchian had published nearly 50 stories containing plagiarized work. Then, in 2012, CNN Host Fareed Zakaria was suspended from both CNN and Time after admitting to plagiarizing parts of a story from the New Yorker.
According to Santa Fe County, New Mexico health officials, two new cases of the plague have been confirmed in the state.
The New Mexico Department of Health says a 62-year-old woman and a 52-year-old woman were diagnosed with he plague. The two confirmed infections are the third confirmed case this year. Earlier this month, a 63-year-old man contracted the disease. All patients infected with the illness live in Santa Fe County and were hospitalized. There have been no deaths.
Health officials are investigating the homes of the patients to make sure that there are no additional risks to those living nearby.
There are seven cases of the plague on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease can be deadly. However, it can be treated with antibiotics. That said, the earlier someone receives treatment, the better their chances.
The plague is typically transmitted to humans through bites of infected fleas. However, it can also be spread through contact with rodents or dead animals. The CDC says people can reduce their chances of contracting the disease by reducing the number of rodent animals around their homes, treating pets for fleas, and wearing bug spray in camping areas or around areas infested with fleas.
While the new Star War: Han Solo movie is moving forward under their new director Ron Howard, a new report suggest that Lucasfilm was not only upset with the recently fired filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but also by the performance of the movie’s leading actor, Alden Ehrenreich.
According to a story by The Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm hired an acting coach while the film had already started filming to help improve Ehrenreich’s acting skills.
[N]ot entirely satisfied with the performance that the directors were eliciting from Rules Don’t Apply star Alden Ehrenreich, Lucasfilm decided to bring in an acting coach. (Hiring a coach is not unusual; hiring one that late in production is.) Lord and Miller suggested writer-director Maggie Kiley, who worked with them on 21 Jump Street.
The late stage hire of an acting coach was part of an extensive list of replacements and additions made by Lucasfilm to improve production, including replacing the movie’s editor, Chris Dickens.
Despite the changes, the directors were still unable to fit their filmmaking style which they had previously used on other hit movies including 21 Jump Street, and match the style and demands of a Star Wars movie. Filmmaking troubles proved especially true when they reached a creative disagreement with the film’s writer Lawrence Kasdan, who demanded Lord and Miller stick to the script. When it was evident the two parties couldn’t reach a compromise, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kenned made a decision to let Phil Lord and Chris Miller go.
While production for Star War: Han Solo resumes on July 10th, it begs the question whether or not Ron Howard will replace Alden Ehrenreich or if the movie will continue with Ehrenreich playing Han Solo. It is important to note a significant casting change has happened in the past. Filmmakers decided to re-cast the lead role in Back To the Future. Four weeks into filming Back to the Future, Robert Zemeckis determined Eric Stoltz had been miscast and was replaced by Michael J. Fox.
Facebook is reportedly in talks with Hollywood studios to produce original scripted, TV-quality shows, with the mission of launching TV shows by the end of the summer
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the social network giant is committed to spending as much as $3 million per episode. Facebook reportedly had several meetings with Hollywood Talent agencies about the new and original programming.
Apparently, Facebook is hoping to target audiences between the ages of 13 to 34 years old with a focus on audiences between the ages of 17 to 30 years old. The company is already working on a series called Strangers, a drama, game show, and Late State Standing.
“We’re focused on episodic shows and helping all our partners understand what works across different verticals and topics,” said Nick Grudin, Facebook’s vice president for media partnerships.
MENLO PARK, CA – MARCH 18: A sign at the entrance to the Facebook World Headquarters located in Menlo Park, California on March 18, 2014. Facebook is a popular online social networking service. (Katherine Welles / Shutterstock.com)
The company is planning one releasing episodes in a traditional way, instead of dropping in a binge-watching format like Netflix and Amazon.com, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The company is also willing to share their data with Hollywood.
More and more companies are expanding their business models with original content. Apple recently hired co-presidents of Sony Pictures Television earlier this month to lead their video-programming efforts. Also, Apple released their original TV series last week, with a reality show called Planet of the Apps, an unscripted TV series about developers pitching their ideas in 60 seconds.
The company is also working with James Corden to create Carpool Karaoke TV series, which will begin airing in August.
Amazon is focusing their attention on expanding their Amazon Web Services platform with translation services. CNBC reports Amazon is working on a product that will allow developers to build apps and websites to use AWS to translate their content into multiple languages. The translation technology will be used to provide multiple language versions of products and will be based on technology Amazon currently uses across their products.
Translation services are big business as the company continues to expand around the world. Now, Amazon’s rivals Google and Microsoft have implemented their version of machine learning translation services to developers.
Amazon acquired machine translation startup Safaba two years ago, and the company has been performing translation to offer additional languages on websites including Amazon.com. Moreover, Amazon launched a competition partnership with Heidelberg University in Germany to encourage machine learning reading platforms that can adapt to user feedback regarding translation results.
Amazon Web Services is multi-billion dollar platform. AWS earned $3.66 billion in revenue in the company’s first quarter. With over 70 different services including email, video conferencing, content delivery networks and cloud hosting, companies are depending upon AWS for their business needs. As a result, more companies could see Amazon’s new multi-language service for their translation needs.
The world of machine translation is founded on deep learning found in artificial intelligence which involves software training systems also known as neural networks. Developers can harness data, and as a result, computers can make predictions about translations. In fact, Google moved from their phrase-based translation system to a neural machine translation system for Japanese several months ago. As a result, people immediately started getting higher quality translations.
This news comes after Amazon announced the acquisition of Whole Foods and ‘Prime Wardrobe.’ Ultimately, Amazon is not focusing on one particular market niche but expanding across fashion, retail, and business via their technological prowess.
Many cities around the U.S. are pushing for their minimum wages to nearly double, but what kind of impact will it have on the economy, jobs, and the public at large?
Seattle has the highest minimum wage in the country. Last January, Seattle’s minimum wage increased from $11 an hour to $13 for employers, the second biggest increase in less than a year.
Seattle Minimum Wage Hike Study
But, a new study released on Monday by a team of economists at the University of Washington suggests the way hike led toa major decline in employment for low-wage workers, and a drop in hours for those who kept their jobs.
Ultimately, the biggest finding in the study is the negative impact of jobs and hours offset the benefits of higher wages. For example, on average, the study found, low-wage workers earned $125 per month less because of the higher pay, a small but a significant decline for anyone working a minimum wage job.
Jacob Vigdor, one of the University of Washington economists involved in the study, explained the goal of the policy was to help people make more money but, had the opposite effect.
Woman protests for a higher minimum wage (On April 14, fast food workers around the USA walked out on strike. Protesters gathered outside the McDonald’s restaurant at Lake Street and 3rd Avenue in Minneapolis. They called for a $15 per hour minimum wage, paid sick days, and union rights. Within the last year, the cities of Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York have raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour.) Image Credit: Fibonacci Blue
“The goal of this policy was to deliver higher incomes to people who were struggling to make ends meet in the city. You’ve got to watch out because at some point you run the risk of harming the people you set out to help.”
The report’s finding is still early and has not been subjected to peer review. Moreover, the authors in the study said that if their results are correct, their research begs the question – how much of a minimum wage is beneficial to the economy?
The paper does not address whether displaced workers found other opportunities in other cities. Also, some companies such as Uber are not included in their data.
Federal Minimum Wage Hike Coming Soon?
Overall, the new research will have political ramifications at a time when the minimum wage is the center of many public policy arguments. For instance, Hillary Clinton called for the federal minimum wage to be raised to $12, and she was faced with pressure from Bernie Sanders’ supporters who argued for a $15 minimum wage increase. It is important to note that the federal minimum wage is now $7.25/hour.
Anonymous, the hacking group, claims that alien life exists and the hacking collective believes NASA is about to confirm.
The team made 12-and-a-half minute video published on an unofficial YouTube channel on Tuesday. The video focuses findings by the American space organization including the discovery of over 200 planets, 10 of which have similar conditions to Earth, by NASA’s Kepler space telescope team in June, as well as comments by a senior NASA official in a U.S. government hearing.
While Anonymous is probably correct in the belief that NASA is on the verge of discovering extraterrestrial life, it is a huge claim to say that there is actual evidence for it.
“There are many who claim that unofficially, mankind has already made contact with aliens and not just little micro organisms floating around inside a massive alien ocean, but advanced space-faring civilisations,” the video said.
NASA has made statements in the past that the discovery of aliens is a matter of when, rather than if.
“Taking into account all of the different activities and missions that are specifically searching for evidence of alien life, we are on the verge of making one of the most profound, unprecedented discoveries in history,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, before the House Committee on Science, Space in April.
While scientists may be excited about the possibility of finding aliens, NASA has never claimed any evidence to have done so.
The Kepler Space Telescope discussed by Anonymous in the video, which launched in 2009 has discovered over 4,000 possible planets, including 30 planets the same size to Earth and could host life, located within the same solar system of Earth.
MERRITT ISLAND, FL – FEB 12: NASA logo in Kennedy Space Center on February 12, 2012 in Merritt Island, Florida. It is the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. (Songquan Deng / Shutterstock, Inc.)
Earlier this year, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson during a Reddit AMA discussed the possibility of alien life.
“No. I think they (we) might all be too far away from one another in space and possibly time. By complex, I’m presuming you mean life other than single-celled organisms. Life with legs, arms, thoughts, etc. It’s all about our capacity to travel interstellar distances. And that’s surely not happening in the next 50 years. Not the rate things are going today.”
It is important to consider Fermi’s Paradox. There are currently around 100 billion planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone. If a small percentage of them are habitable, that would still provide the existence of alien life on millions of planets, and intelligent life on hundreds of thousands of those planets. Given these facts, the Fermi’s Paradox argues – why are we alone?
Moreover, research from the Australian National University in 2016 suggested the reason we may not have found alien life is because any life that may have existed on other planets has died out. Survival on Earth is largely in part due to chance. In fact, Cornell astronomers argue that due to the sheer amount of time it would take extraterrestrial life to receive our signals and respond, it could be around 1,500 years before we hear anything from any alien neighbors. Not to mention, Stephen Hawking argues any first contact with alien life as dangerous.
People are having a really hard time watching the new Broadway adaptation of 1984, with reports that theater goers are fainting, vomiting and getting in fights with each other as a result of the alarming scenes.
Similar to the book, the play is set in a dystopian future where critical thought is controlled by a tyrannical force known as Big Brother. The show is directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, the staging features strobe lights and sound effects, in addition to torture scenes from the book.
New York Times theater critic said the Broadway show is “graphic enough to verge on torture porn.”
Olivia Wilde, who was cast for the show, makes her Broadway debut with 1984. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Olivia Wilde broke her tailbone and split her lip during previews. Also, her co-star, Tom Sturridge broke his nose.
“I’m not surprised, since this experience is unique, bold and immersive,” Olivia Wilde, who broke her tailbone and dislocated her rib during previews, told The Hollywood Reporter after Thursday’s opening-night performance (during which one attendee passed out). “It allows you to empathize in a visceral way, and that means making the audience physically and emotionally uncomfortable.”
The show’s directors do not have a problem with turning down the intensity on the show:
“We’re not trying to be willfully assaultive or exploitatively shock people, but there’s nothing here or in the disturbing novel that isn’t happening right now, somewhere around the world: people are being detained without trial, tortured and executed,” explained Macmillan. “We can sanitize that and make people feel comforted, or we can simply present it without commentary and allow it to speak for itself.”
Added Icke, “You can stay and watch or you can leave — that’s a perfectly fine reaction to watching someone be tortured. But if this show is the most upsetting part of anyone’s day, they’re not reading the news headlines. Things are much worse than a piece of theater getting under your skin a little bit.”
Given the show’s intense and graphic scenes, kids under 13 are not allowed. Moreover, security guards are also positioned throughout the play’s theater in order to shut down any hostile responses from audience members.
Olivia Wilde last week discussed how “intense” the 1984 on the Today show. Wilde explains to Savannah Guthrie that the play is “immersive” like “a really scary ride.”
Netflix is following through on their commitment to cutting shows that the company does not believe they think is working, and Girlboss is one of the causalities of Netflix’s new promise.
Sophia Amoruso, the founder of Nasty Gal and the who the show is based on, commented on Instagram via a series of stories about the Netflix’s decision to cancel Girlboss:
“So that Netflix series about my life got canceled. While I’m proud of the work we did, I’m looking forward to controlling my narrative from here on out. It was a good show, and I was privileged to work with incredible talent, but living my life as a caricature was hard even if only for two months. Yes, I can be difficult. No, I’m not a dick. No, someone named Shane never cheated on me. It will be nice to someday tell the story of what’s happened in the last few years. Ppl read the headline, not the correction, I’ve learned.”
The show was based on Amoruso’s book based on the same name. It centers around a coming-of-age story with Amoruso selling clothes on eBay before turning her passion into a fashion empire.
The story had a great potential to become a hit TV series, but ultimately, Netflix decided to pull the plug because it failed to connect with viewers or critics. As Vulture puts it, “Sophia starts to gain some perspective on what it takes to be your own boss, and to be a decent human. But before she does, you may get so frustrated with her manic-pixie-jackass routine that you just give up and decide to invest your binge-watching business elsewhere.”
This news comes after Netflix canceled Baz Luhrman’s The Get Down, as well as the Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s sci-fi drama Sense8. Earlier this month, Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos explained why the company decided to pull the plug on The Get Down and Sense8. “We couldn’t support those economics. If you put all your money into something that a very few people are watching, eventually you’ll have nothing for people to watch.”
