:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63698984/aereo_protesters.0.1537096007.0.jpg)
// HAPPENING TODAY
- Sony’s Walkman turns 35 years old.
- Netflix is yanking “Taxi Driver,” “Spaceballs” and 74 other great and not-so-great films from its streaming catalog.
- Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy is holding a field hearing on net neutrality.
Programming Note: I’m headed off on vacation, so Code/red will not publish for the remainder of this and next week. I’m back on July 15. Stay well.
Aereo Files Appeal With Court of Public Opinion
Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia wasn’t kidding. The company really doesn’t have a Plan B following its Supreme Court loss last week. Or if it does, it depends on motivating a legion of couch potatoes. This morning, Kanojia broadcast an email to Aereo subscribers urging them to fight for their right to watch TV without paying expensive cable bills. “Today, I’m asking you to raise your hands and make your voices heard,” Kanojia said. “Tell your lawmakers how disappointed you are that the nation’s highest court issued a decision that could deny you the right to use the antenna of your choice to access live over-the-air broadcast television.” Yeah, good luck with that. Anyway, if you’re interested, the company has established a new site around which the Aereo-faithful can rally: Protect My Antenna.
Point/Counterpoint: IAC Believes These Allegations Against Tinder’s Management Are Unfounded vs. “Here is a Text Depicting IAC Chairman Barry Diller as a Penis”
IAC spokesman: “Immediately upon receipt of the allegations contained in Ms. Wolfe’s complaint, Mr. Mateen was suspended pending an ongoing internal investigation. Through that process, it has become clear that Mr. Mateen sent private messages to Ms. Wolfe containing inappropriate content. We unequivocally condemn these messages, but believe that Ms. Wolfe’s allegations with respect to Tinder and its management are unfounded.”
Suit filed by Tinder’s former VP of marketing, Whitney Wolfe: “Mr. Mateen and Mr. Rad subjected Ms. Wolfe to a barrage of horrendously sexist, racist, and otherwise inappropriate comments, emails and text messages, including describing one person as a ‘liberal lying desperate slut’ and others as ‘middle age Muslim pigs’ and referring, for example, to ‘fucking’ the wife of a prominent blogger, and a text depicting IAC Chairman Barry Diller as a penis.”
Because Nothing Inspires Confidence Like a Goldman Sachs Banker
Maybe Anthony Noto, the former Goldman Sachs banker who took Twitter public last November, can help allay concerns about the company’s slowing user growth. This morning Twitter named him chief financial officer, replacing Mike Gupta, who will become SVP of investments within the next month. The move, part of an ongoing rejiggering of Twitter’s executive ranks, comes as the company struggles to bolster its fortunes and a share price that has been almost halved since its record close of $73.31 on Dec. 26.
And We Only Covered Yo Because There Was Nothing Stupider Available
Julia Powles, The Guardian: “Last week, nearly 3,500 people met in London to discuss management of the Internet. Yet judging from the media coverage, it was less newsworthy than the arrival of an app called Yo.”
Or at Least Some of the Facts
BlackBerry Fact Check Portal: “Sensationalized reports surrounding our viability and misperceptions about our product portfolio have crowded the airwaves. Given this environment, we must fight back. And BlackBerry’s best offense is to present the facts.”
Mark Zuckerberg, Envy of Dictators Everywhere
Laurie Penny, New Statesman: “No dictator in their wildest dreams has been able to subtly manipulate the daily emotions of more than a billion humans so effectively. There are no precedents for what Facebook is doing here. Facebook itself is the precedent. What the company does now will influence how the corporate powers of the future understand and monetize human emotion.”
Point/Counterpoint: Go Read the First Amendment vs. Go Read the Name of Our Site
Google engineer Osvaldo Doederlein: “Today you have f@cked up real hard. Go read the f@cking First Amendment again, OK?”
SCOTUSblog: “Lost our copy, apologies.”
Cable TV Business Model: Give Them More of What They Don’t Want
Venrock partner David Pakman: “As smartphones hit scale, we carry with us both a video creation and consumption device at all times. The real-time Web collides with the mobile video Web and a new genre of video programming emerges, somewhere between broadcast and messaging. These new personal video formats will steal even more video viewership away from TV, particularly among youth. So if younger kids grow up consuming video away from TV, and TV’s response is continued rising prices of bigger channel bundles, something has to break.”
Because Google Is Best Known for Its Altruism
Person familiar with the auto industry: “The auto companies are watching Google closely and trying to understand what its intentions and ambitions are. Automakers are not sure if Google is their friend or their enemy, but they have a sneaking suspicion that whatever Google’s going to do is going to cause upheaval in the industry.”
Yo, Hodor — More Fun Than an ICANN Meeting
Yo, Hodor developer Tyler Hedrick: “Yo, Hodor is a fun app for you to Hodor your friends! Simply add your friend’s username and tap it to send them a Hodor.”
Air Force Drone Officers Repurpose Old Bill Cosby Routine
Excerpt from an Air Force drone accident investigation report: “Stop saying ‘uh-oh’ while you’re flying. It’s never good. Like going to the dentist or a doctor. … ‘Oops? What the f— you mean ‘Oops?’”
Off Topic
Mick Jagger introduces the Monty Python Live (mostly) press conference.
Thanks for reading. Got a tip or a comment? Reach me at John@recode.net, @johnpaczkowski. Subscribe to the Code/red newsletter here.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
