Prince Harry is setting new records with the release of his memoir. The English language version of Spare sold more than 1.4 million copies in its first day. Those sales account for book formats, including audio, paper, and electronic options. In comparison, President Barack Obama's A Promised Land sold 887,000 copies in its first day. More than two million copies were initially printed for circulation in the U.S. but more are set to be printed as demand increases.
HBO Max Price Hike
HBO Max subscribers will have to dig a little bit deeper into their wallets after the company announced a price hike. For users that are subscribed to the platform's ad-free tier, the monthly charge will go from $14.99 to $15.99. It marks the first price increase since HBO Max was launched in May 2020 but comes as Warner Bros. Discovery looks for ways to cut costs by eliminating staff across various departments and increasing prices for customers.
Dr. Dre Cashes Out
Dr. Dre is the latest musician who is gearing up to sell off his catalog in exchange for a pretty penny. While he isn't giving up his entire catalog, a collection of music income streams along with other assets for at least $200 million. Shamrock Holdings are set to acquire the goods, which reportedly earn up to $10 million every year. Dre joins a long list of creatives that have sold their catalogs or portions of it, including Neil Young, Whitney Houston, Lil Wayne, and David Bowie amongst a host of others.
The chief suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway has admitted he beat the young Alabama woman to death on a beach in Aruba after she refused his advances. New details in the killing emerged Wednesday as Joran Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to extorting Holloway's mother, resolving a case that has captivated the public’s attention for nearly 20 years.
The trial of a Fugees rapper, who was convicted this year in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies, stretched across the worlds of politics and entertainment — and now the case is touching on the tech world with arguments that his defense attorney bungled the case, in part, by using an artificial intelligence program to write his closing arguments.
Israel said Wednesday that it will allow Egypt to deliver limited quantities of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the first crack in a 10-day siege on the territory. Palestinians reeled from a massive blast at a Gaza City hospital that killed hundreds the day before and grew increasingly desperate as food and water supplies ran out.
A 4000-year-old slab of rock is being dubbed a treasure map for archaeologists. The rock was found in 1900 at the site of an ancient tomb in northwestern France and it was declared Europe's oldest known map in 2021.