Google's Arts and Culture app is the most-downloaded free app for both iOS and Android, meaning it's surpassed heavy hitters like Messenger and YouTube in just the past few days. . Arts and Culture has been around since 2016. Until last week, though, not many people used it. The recent surge in popularity comes from the addition of a facial recognition feature. The feature allows users to upload a selfie to find museum paintings that look like them.
Net neutrality may live to see another day. Attorneys General from 22 states--including California, Illinois and Mississippi-- are filing a lawsuit to block the FCC's recent vote to repeal Obama-era regulations.
New York State AG Schneiderman calls the rollback a "disaster for New York consumers and businesses, and for everyone who cares about a free and open internet."
YouTube is setting new rules for its content in an effort to regain advertisers' trust. For starters, employees will watch the platform's most popular videos to ensure paid ads are running alongside content that is not offensive or controversial.
Also, in addition to 10,000 views, channels will need one thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours of view time. YouTube hopes to have the review finished by the end of march
What you Need to Know on Thursday, March 17. Updates from Ukraine, President Biden refers to Putin as a ‘war criminal’ for the first time, Walmart has ambitious hiring targets for Q1, and Netflix takes steps to crack down on password sharing.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined Cheddar's Michelle Castillo from South By Southwest to boost President Biden's bipartisan infrastructure legislation and talk about the big transportation issues of the day, including electric vehicle charging infrastructure and the future of public transit. "It means we have a huge wind at our back delivering on the kinds of transportation solutions that are going to define the 2020's 2030s, 2040s even," he said. "And that's what makes it exciting to come to South by Southwest and talk with some of the people who are following these technologies and ideas the most closely and talk about where we're headed." Buttigieg also touched on the "Don't Say Gay" legislation in Florida, noting that such legislative pushes were likely coming from politicians deflecting from lacking answers to pressing economic concerns, in his opinion.
Social audio app Clubhouse reached $1 billion valuation milestone this January, and Fadia Kader, head of strategic media partnerships at Clubhouse, joined Cheddar News to talk about what its been doing to keep the drive going. "We are the category first leaders. We are 100 percent focused on social audio. It's not just a feature that we've just like bottled up and put on there. We are a medium that is 100 percent focused on community and social audio," she said.
Last year, CD sales grew for the first time since 2004, according to a new Recording Industry Association of America report. CDs were a leading format in the music industry in the 1990s when Spice Girls and TLC had us groovin'. If it feels like you've been hearing more golden oldies lately, you aren't alone. Classic music is having a serious moment, and it isn't likely to change any time soon. Baker Machado takes a closer look at what's driving this shift in the industry.