Author: Geek Planet

For better or worse, Snap had a rough ride during its second quarter earnings last month. But creators seem to be where the platform still sees a glimmer of hope.“We are seeing that more and more Snap Stars are active than ever before,” said Snap’s head of global creator partnerships Quincy Kevan, though she didn’t share specific figures. “And it’s not just mainstream, professional creators. We’re also seeing traditional celebrities like Justin Bieber, Lizzo, Ashley Benson, Lady Gaga coming back to the platform and reactivating their presences on the platform. But also homegrown creators are really starting to thrive on…

Samsung is preparing to go head-to-head with Apple in the foldable race with a new wide-format foldable that is designed to mirror what many expect from the first foldable iPhone. According to ET News, Samsung is planning a much bigger production run than usual, signaling real confidence in this form factor and a clear intent to compete head-on. The device, internally referred to as the “Wide Fold,” is expected to debut alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 at Samsung’s Q3 Unpacked event in July. That timing matters because Apple is widely expected to unveil its own foldable…

On Wednesday, September 10, Digiday, Glossy and Modern Retail will be hosting Retail Media Advertising Strategies, a one-day event focused on all things retail media. Stay tuned for coverage from the event. Back in 2018, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon felt that Walmart’s ad business was “tiny.”  “Our data has never been monetized,” McMillon told analysts at the time. “[The ad business] could be bigger.” Fast forward to 2025, and Walmart’s advertising business has now become a multi-billion-dollar behemoth. In 2024, Walmart’s advertising business brought in $4.4 billion in advertising revenue, up 27% year-over-year. While it still pales in comparison to…

The job market is competitive right now, at least according to the World Economic Forum. The sobering news was released in September, revealing that new entry-level job listings declined by almost 30% since 2024. Fortunately, there’s a way to gain an advantage, especially for job seekers who are stuck only using Indeed and similar job boards. Chatbots like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, and Grok are arguably better at helping you uncover job postings. Since they are interactive and can scour the web in seconds, you can use them as a career coach as well. The main advantage, though, is in helping…

There’s rarely a dull moment in platform land but even by those standards, this year has been unusually turbulent. A new administration in Washington, rising competition, regulatory pressure and economic uncertainty have all collided to reshape the platform landscape. The result is a new, more fragile equilibrium for the companies that once seemed untouchable. Here’s what’s been going on in the land of platforms over the last year. In: Meta’s focus on SuperintelligenceOut:Meta’s focus on the metaverse In:YouTube as TV’s heir apparentOut:YouTube as Gen Z’s distraction machine In:Snap’s mixed reality makeoverOut:Snap’s AR tunnel vision In:X as a video-first platformOut:X as…

What’s happened? The supply crunch in DRAM and NAND flash, originally driven by surging demand from AI datacentres, has finally hit consumer hardware hard. According to recent industry reports via TrendForce, major brands are reacting: Dell and Lenovo are reportedly preparing significant price increases across their PC and server lines to absorb soaring component costs. This comes after HP already warned of price hikes across its PC and laptop lineup, while AMD also warned about an increase in its GPU prices. Dell is reportedly planning a 15–20% price increase on many of its server and PC offerings as soon as…

The Trade Desk’s move to lump all supply-side platforms (SSPs) under the “reseller” label is landing exactly as expected — with resistance. Index Exchange, one of the largest SSPs, called the reclassification “ignorant”, rejecting what it sees as an oversimplification of its role in the ecosystem. CEO and president Andrew Casale made the remarks on stage at the ExchangeWire’s ATS conference in London on Tuesday (Sept. 9), marking one of the more direct rebukes of The Trade Desk’s positioning from a major SSP.  “I think they’re willing to look at SSPs this way is, quite frankly, ignorant,” said Casale.  Wondering why…

The FIFA World Cup is nine full months away. With teams still competing to qualify and an entire domestic season still to play out, the tournament’s cast of characters remains up in the air.But marketers aren’t waiting around to receive a cross. They’re in the middle of planning activity and paid media commitments to ensure they get their share of the enormous audiences (1.42 billion worldwide watched the 2022 final) expected to broadcast, stream, follow and listen in to the second-largest sporting event on the planet. Great expectations Tickets are already up for grabs for some games, and brand partnerships…

One of the biggest updates that landed with macOS Tahoe was a turbocharged Spotlight. Apple fixed a bunch of papercuts and added new perks that will appeal to power users. Of course, the usual “sherlocking” happened. But not all the changes were well-received.  For instance, the death of the classic LaunchPad drew a fair bit of criticism, and spawned a whole bunch of apps that bring back the experience. Likewise, the Spotlight upgrades also borrowed heavily from productivity tools such as Raycast, and they were not as universally praised as third-party alternatives.  Personally, I find the new Spotlight experience a…

The streaming wars may be far from over but Netflix and Amazon are already finding common ground in advertising.Starting in Q4, Netflix will make its ad inventory available to buy through Amazon’s programmatic buying platform the Amazon DSP in 12 markets including the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Japan. With that, Netflix checks the final box on its programmatic integration tour, now live across all the major buying platforms — Google DV360, The Trade Desk, Yahoo and Microsoft. Related Insights But not all DSPs are built the same. Unlike the others, Amazon brings a layer the rest can’t match: commerce…