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Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion, but tensions between Mark Zuckerberg and the apps founders persisted for years afterward. On Tuesday, Instagrams former CEO and cofounder Kevin Systrom took the stand in Metas antitrust trial in Washington D.C and offered a firsthand account of how Zuckerberg viewed the photo-sharing app as a threat to Facebook. Systrom, who ran Instagram until 2018, said that Zuckerberg slowed hiring and other investments into Instagram despite its success. Zuckerberg, Systrom testified, "believed we were a threat to their growth," and as a result "was not investing" in the photo-sharing app, according to testimony reported by The New York Times. As The Times notes, Instagram had only a fraction of the employees as Facebook even after reaching 1 billion users. "As the founder of Facebook, he felt a lot of emotion around which one was better, meaning Instagram or Facebook," Systrom reportedly said. Tensions between Instagrams founders and Zuckerberg over company resources have been previously reported, but Systroms testimony is the first time hes publicly spoken in detail about the issues that ultimately led him to resign from the company. On the stand Tuesday, Systrom said that Zuckerberg believed we were hurting Facebooks growth, according to Bloomberg. Facebooks acquisition of Instagram is central to the FTCs case against Meta. The government has argued that Metas purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram were anticompetitive and that the social media company should be forced to divest the businesses. Systroms testimony comes a week after Zuckerberg took the stand and defended Metas $1 billion Instagram acquisition. However, a 2018 email from Zuckerberg that surfaced earlier in the trial showed that the Facebook founder was aware as early as 2018 that he could be forced to spin off the services into independent entities.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagrams-former-ceo-testifies-zuckerberg-thought-the-app-was-a-threat-to-facebook-202112282.html?src=rss
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Max now requires a fee for extra members who join a plan outside of the household. Each person who joins a subscription plan will cost $8 a head, no matter which access tier the main account holder is on. This type of "extra member" charge is how several streaming services have tried to cut down on password sharing by users. Netflix introduced this approach in 2023 and Disney+ followed suit in 2024. The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned platform has at least temporarily allowed live sports and news content to be viewed for free, which is a nice perk for as long as it lasts. Max last raised its subscription prices in 2024, so hopefully viewers will get a reprieve on any more new costs for the rest of this year. These non-household members will be able to stream Max content from their own accounts on one device at a time, and they'll have access to the same plan benefits such as video quality and downloads. In addition, when an extra member joins a plan, they can import their existing watch list and preferences with Max's new profile transfer option.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/max-implements-8-extra-member-charges-on-all-subscription-plans-195228707.html?src=rss
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Wheel of Time is getting a new video game adaptation. The popular fantasy book series has already seen an imagining for the small screen with an Amazon Prime Video series that is currently airing its third season. Now iwot Studios, which has a hand in creating the Amazon show, is launching a new game studio to create a AAA open-world RPG set in the same fictional universe. iwot brought in Craig Alexander to helm its new video game studio. Alexander has held management and leadership roles at game operations including Warner Bros. Entertainment, Activision, EA and Sierra On-Line. According to Variety, the studio is projecting a three-year development for the game, which seems pretty ambitious considering the it's still hiring team leads. iwot is also behind a planned live action movie as well as an animated feature film set within the same world as Wheel of Time. According to iwot Studios CEO Rick Selvage, the company will have "a lot of continuity in regards to how we approach our transmedia strategy" across the different projects. This isn't the first time Robert Jordan's books have been source material for a game. Legend Entertainment released a first-person shooter based on Wheel of Time in 1999, and it's still available to play on modern hardware thanks to the preservation efforts at GOG.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/wheel-of-time-is-getting-a-new-aaa-open-world-rpg-adaptation-184741772.html?src=rss
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