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One of Hollywoods crown jewels is on the block: WarnerBros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO, CNN, and major movie franchises like Harry Potter and the D.C. universe, officially confirmed this week that it is open to a sale. The company has already received multiple offers, but wouldnt disclose any of the parties bidding for its assets; potential acquirers reportedly include Paramount Skydance, Netflix, Comcast, Amazon and Apple a who’s who of the modern streaming landscape. The disclosure followed public overtures from Paramount, which reportedly was willing to pay as much as $24 per share, or around $60 billion total, for the publicly traded media company. WarnerBros. Discovery rejected that offer as too low, and hopes to drum up additional interest by publicly putting itself up for sale. Any potential deal, regardless of the ultimate identity of the winning bidder, will almost inevitably reshape the streaming landscape, which in turn could have major consequences for consumers. The proposed sale is also a testament to how much the media landscape has changed since the pandemic, when consumers flocked in droves to streaming, abandoning traditional pay TV in the process. 83% of consumers now watch streaming TV, according to a recent Pew survey. Within just a few years, streaming has become ubiquitous and at the same time a victim of its own success, with little room to grow any further. A lot of the major streaming services are looking at slowing subscriber growth, says Omdia media & entertainment analyst Paul Erickson. If you really are looking to substantially grow your presence, youll have to make a big move. Like buying a $60 billion entertainment giant, for instance. This wont stop the decline of traditional TV Not all potential bidders are willing to pay as much as Paramount, or take over all of Warner Bros. Discovery, for that matter. We have no interest in owning legacy media networks, said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos during his companys earnings call this week. Sarandos didnt directly comment on his companys talks with WarnerBros. Discovery, but the streamer is said to be interested in getting its hands on big HBO shows and movies and the studio that produces them, not the companys TV networks. The same is likely true for potential big tech buyers like Apple and Amazon, and for good reason. Traditional TV networks have been shedding viewers for years, and are increasingly losing advertisers to streaming as well. Thats why WarnerBros. Discovery had planned to spin off its own TV networks into a separate company next year, something that Comcast subsidiary NBCUniversal is also doing. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has expressed more confidence in the future of traditional TV. Ellison has said that he wants to revitalize the linear side of the business at Paramount, says Erickson. But even that likely wouldnt change the broader shifts in the entertainment industry. Media companies have already begun to consolidate and shutter a number of traditional TV networks — WarnerBros. Discovery closed four networks this summer alone. UniversalKids, a network run by Comcast subsidiary NBCUNiversal, shut down earlier this year, and Paramount will shutter five MTV channels in the UK by the end of the year. Additional closures are likely as eyeballs and investments continue to move to streaming. Apps may also start to disappear But consumers shouldnt just get ready for TV networks to disappear from their program guide. Any acquisition of WarnerBros. Discovery will likely also lead to some streaming services consolidation, with fewer app icons vying for our attention when we turn on the TV. All of the reported bidders already operate their own streaming services. The company theyre looking to buy, WarnerBros. Discovery, not only runs HBO Max, but also Discovery+, with both services already sharing overlapping catalogs. Its unlikely that any buyer would want to operate three or more paid services that all compete with each other. Financially, it makes sense to not maintain development staff for separate apps, says Erickson. It would be better, long-term, to merge them together. If not merging the brand, at least functionally merging [the services] within a single experience, a single app. Instead of having a separate HBO Max app on their TV, consumers may in the future find all of HBOs content within a dedicated section of another streaming service. However, getting such integrations right can be challenging as well.Easy to say, hard to do, , Erickson concedes. A merger could make TV viewing more confusing WarnerBros. Discovery is itself no stranger to those challenges. Back in 2020, when the company was still known as WarnerMedia, it launched the HBO Max streaming service as a way to more directly compete with Netflix. The thinking at the time was to position HBOs brand, and hugely successful shows like Game of Thrones, as the services crown jewels, while also adding a bunch of other stuff from the companys other TV networks and massive back catalog shows like Friends, South Park and Rick & Morty. HBO, and then some: Thats what the Max part of the branding was supposed to stand for. Following the merger with Discovery in 2022, HBO Maxs value proposition got even more muddled, as the service also started to stream reality TV fare from HGTV and TLC, documentaries from the Discovery Channel and cooking competitions from the Food Network all formats that had little in common with HBOs trademark high-profile dramas. The company tried to reflect that change by dropping HBO from the services name, rebranding it as just Max. WarnerBros. Discovery tried to unite too many worlds, says Tracy Swedlow, co-producer of The TV of Tomorrow Show (TVOT). Stretched thin and without a clear vision, it became a patchwork of brands with no identity. Consumers were extremely confused by the name change, with some wondering whether they had lost access to HBO altogether. WarnerBros. Discovery also realized that most subscribers just didnt care all that much about the non-HBO content hosted on the service. This May, WarnerBros. Discovery backpedaled and renamed the service HBO Max again, with executives committing to refocus on HBO as its core strength. An acquirer will have to walk a fine line between maximizing the value of the HBO brand while keeping things simple for consumers. There is considerable brand equity in the HBO brand, says Erickson. It culd be that the HBO Max service goes away, but the HBO brand lives on. I am hopeful well see a reinvention of this legendary brands remaining extraordinary assets, Swedlow adds. Streaming is bound to get more expensive Any potential buyer will have to put up a lot of money for WarnerBros. Discovery money that shareholders will ultimately want to see recouped. That will almost inevitably lead to further price increases for streaming services. There’s a lot of upward pressure on pricing in streaming, Erickson says. Consumers have already faced multiple price increases in recent months. HBO Max announced just a few days ago that it is raising the cost of its streaming plans by $1-$2 per month. Prices for Disney+ went up by $2-$3 per month this week; Apple and Netflix also increased prices for their services this year. A lot of those price increases are due to increased investments in live sports, which tends to be one of the most expensive content segments for streamers and TV networks alike. However, with streaming services reaching a point of market saturation, and consumers still feeling the pinch from inflation, theres a limit to what any acquirer will be able to pay for a future streaming service that includes HBOs shows. Price rises will have to stop someplace, before they alienate consumers, Erickson says.
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This week, news reports revealed that Meta would be cutting hundreds of jobs in its AI division. The layoffs will impact employees who work on AI products, research, and infrastructure. They come after Meta went on a hiring spree to shore up its AI efforts. But despite the job cuts, Meta’s chief AI officer told the Wall Street Journal that the company would, however, continue hiring “AI native” talenta term that seems to have quietly slipped into the corporate lexicon amid the AI arms race. For the last decade, the term “digital native” has been circulating to describe Gen Z, as many of them don’t know life without the internet. The cohort following them, Generation Alpha, is already being called “generation AI.” But surely that’s not what Meta means by “AI native,” given the oldest in that group is only around 15 years old. (Meta did not respond to a request for comment.) So what exactly does “AI native” mean? “I’ve noticed that popping up more and more,” says JR Keller, a professor of human resource studies at Cornell University’s ILR School. “My sense is what these companies mean when they talk about this are workers who integrate AI into every facet of their lives,” Keller says. “It’s almost like each one of these workers has a little invisible AI companion with them at all times.” Even in a tough job market, many companies are willing to pay top dollar for young workers who are deeply familiar with AIunlike senior employees who may need to be cajoled into adopting it. According to Keller, these workers practically speak a different language when it comes to their relationship with AI. “The way that I think of AI is: When are particular times when it would be useful?” he says. “When should I use ChatGPT? When should I allow Copilot to look at my emails? Or when should I turn Grammarly on? But it is always on with AI native people.” Jeffrey Bussgang, a general partner at the venture capital firm Flybridge, has said he frequently uses the term AI native to describe people who are “wildly adept at using a wide range of modern AI tools,” which in term enables to be far more productive than their peers. “AI-native companies are made up of a collection of AI-native employees who infuse AI into everything they doevery function, every process, and every role,” he wrote on LinkedIn. So if you’re seeing the term “AI native” circulate more and more in the discourse, it’s likely just referring to workers who look at everything through an AI lens first and foremost. And it’s not just AI startups or big tech companies like Meta who are seeking out “AI native” talent. For traditional employers who are struggling to adopt AI or use it effectively, bringing on workers with AI experience can be invaluable. And while they’re not as young as Gen Alpha, of course, they do tend to be the younger people in the workforce. Pew data released in June found that 58% of people ages 18 to 29 have used ChatGPT, the highest share of any age group. “The concept of the ‘AI native’ is increasingly real,” former Deloitte Consulting CEO Dan Helfrich said recently. “Leading organizations are empowering and unleashing AI nativesemployees who, by definition, are adept with AI but are typically among companies less experienced and less tenured employees.” Keller says it’s just a matter of time before more workers embrace the term to better position themselves while job hunting. “As you see companies use this, many people are going to start including that terminology in their LinkedIn profile, [like] ‘I’m an AI native programmer,'” he says. ‘Because they know then they’re going to pop up to the top of the search results.”
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This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.Not everything creative needs a prompt. The Web is increasingly flooded with AI-generated images and videos, much of it aimed at kids. Sometimes its nice to break free of that synthetic media. As a dad of 10 and 12-year-old daughters, I appreciate resources for kids and families that celebrate human imagination, curiosity, and hands-on exploration. I had a fruitful recent conversation about resources for kids with a fellow dad, Kevin Maguire, who writes the great newsletter The New Fatherhood. If youre a dad looking for great reads and a sense of community, check out Kevins newsletter. (Also read Recalculating, by Ignacio Pereyra). Kevin wrote the section below about simplifying screens and shared the tip about muted.io. The rest of the apps and resources below are ones Ive enjoyed in recent years with my wife and daughters. From coding with visual blocks to identifying plants on nature walks, these are some of our favorite tools for sparking creativity. Building brains without bots Scratch, developed at the MIT Media Lab, is a superb program for learning to code. Its fun and free for kids and adults. My daughters like assembling Scratchs visual blocks on screen to create interactive stories, games and animations. Its designed for kids 8 to 16. ScratchJr is a great alternative for kids 5 to 7. Free Dash Robot lets kids program it to move, light up, and make sounds. It teaches block coding, like Scratch, and our daughters enjoy making up their own instructions to send Dash on creative adventures. For kids 5 to 14. $180. Seek is one of our favorite family apps. Point the app at any plant, flower, animal, or bug you see on a walk to learn more about it. Its given us insight into much of the greenery (& critters) around us. iOS & Android. Free Sponsored message Guidde | Create how-to guides with AI Tired of explaining the same thing over and over again to your colleagues? Guidde is an AI-powered tool that helps you explain the most complex tasks in seconds with AI-generated documentation. Turn boring documentation into stunning visual guides Save valuable time by creating video documentation 11x faster Share or embed your guide anywhere Just click capture on the browser extension. The app automatically generates step-by-step video guides with visuals, voiceover, and a call to action. The best part? The extension is 100% free. Try it free Words that work wonders Libby lets you access thousands of free ebook or audiobooks with a free library card. It works for more than 90% of public libraries in North America, and Libby can be found in 78 countries worldwide. Free Khan Academy is the most robust online spot for helping kids with learning almost any school subject. Its completely free. No ads. Khan Academy Kids has great learning activities and games for kids 2-8. Its also free and ad-free, and its fun for both math and reading. Free Family screen time that actually works Common Sense Media | Wondering if a show, movie or video game is age appropriate? Get a quick sense of whether its a good fit for your family. Free Kanopy is a terrific free resource for educational videos, documentaries and classic films. Access it with your library card. A unique feature: watch Oscar-winning short films you wont find on other streaming platforms. Kanopy Kids is a curated collection for learning, less commercial than the kids section on Netflix. Free JustWatch | See which platform hosts a particular movie or show. Free Nex | Like a Nintendo Wii made for 2025, this video game systm gets our bodies moving with fun, non-violent, family-friendly games. It was easy to set up, pluging right into an HDMI port on our TV. Its a little bigger than a Rubiks Cube. We love playing with the Nex Playground Four of us can play together. We like the sports, dancing and trivia games. Some titles are just for little kids (e.g. Elmo, Peppa Pig), but most are engaging for older kids and adults. The device costs $249 with five included games. An $89 annual subscription gets you 40+ more games. Read my Fast Company interview [gift link] with Nexs founding CEO about how his game system has spread. Making music Chrome Music Lab Compose little tunes, even if you have no musical experience. Explore digital instruments and sound games. Save your favorite clips to share. Googles MusicFX is a fun alternative for generating music with a prompt. Free Metronaut This sheet music app lets kids play along with an accompaniment from an phone or iPad. It supports 20+ instruments ranging from strings and woodwinds to piano, guitar, and brass. $27/year on iOS. Metronaut lets you play with digital sheet music and an accompaniment Tomplay is another great sheet music app that works well on Android and iOS and includes a wider range of chamber music. I pay $82/year for it. muted.io has a vibrant collection of interactive tools and visual references to help kids or their parents absorb music theory. Free [by Kevin Maguire] Art adventures & creative experiments Tate Kids An Arty Playground. Play art games, watch cute videos, try out little projects, and stretch your artistic mind with this well-designed resource from one of the UKs great art museums. Free Make an animated drawing. Turn a sketch into a playful moving image. This service from Meta lets you turn coloring into animation. Free Draw A Fish. This simple, low-fidelity game lets you draw a little fish with your computer mouse, then see it swim on screen. Free Googles Arts & Culture Experiments include dozens of playful free apps for learning about the worlds of painting, sculpture, music, and more. Free Spark curiosity How to Raise a Reader by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo is a wonderful guide to fabulous books for kids. It grew out of this free NYTimes guide (gift link). As of this writing, its $9.51 on Amazon. The Week Junior is a terrific print magazine. Its aimed at kids 8 to 14, but my wife and I also enjoy reading it. The 32 colorful pages feature short curated stories about the news of the week. It also includes puzzles, a weekly debate, and photography pages. Cost: 25 issues/year for $49, or $59 for print + digital access. (See the magazine layout design) Simplifying screens, from Kevin Maguire Consider a Light Phone. Experiment with freeing yourself (and your kids) from smartphone addiction with a full-on dumbphone. Reviews for the 3rd edition have been glowing Wired gave it 8/10. $699 for version 3 or $299 for version 2. Try the Dumb Phone app. Simulate a simple device with an app that strips away everything but simple links to the core phone functions: camera, maps, calendar, and photos. Imitate a simple device without dropping $500 on the love child of a Nokia and a Kindle. Free or $10/annual; $30/lifetime. The Dumbest Phone Is Parenting Genius. A landline for kids? If its not too late, consider a tactic from Rheana Murrays Atlantic article: install a landline. Buy that hamburger phone you always dreamed of as a kid; go with a landline as a service company like Tin Can and their gorgeous house phones; or if youre more technically inclined roll your own VoIP line for a fraction of the cost. The bottom line: delay the start of smartphone life.
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