Tech rewind - Seinfeld, LinkedIn and Uber
LOS ANGELES - Jerry Seinfeld and Netflix had a huge week.
ICYMI, Seinfeld is moving his popular Comedians in Cars with Coffee series from the Crackle video service to Netflix, bringing along the previous 59 episodes of the show and 24 new ones. Forbes estimates that Seinfeld is picking up a cool $60 million from Netflix. Seinfeld is already is one of the richest folks in show business, thanks to lucrative syndication of his Seinfeld TV series.
Netflix said it added 7 million new subscribers in the recent quarter, more than double what was expected, bringing it’s worldwide total to nearly 90 million.
And Netflix is spending big-time to keep new subscribers coming in, with series like The Crown and House of Cards. The company said in its earnings this week that it would fork over $6 billion in programming for 2017.
In other tech news from the week:
--Ride-hailing service Uber settled for $20 million with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC had alleged that Uber had exaggerated how much its drivers could earn and encouraged them to lease cars through what was billed as a 'low-cost' program.
--The social business network LinkedIn redesigned its desktop site with updated search features and more an app-like look. If your LInkedIn looks the same as always, be patient. The company says the new version will be rolled out over the coming weeks. LinkedIn has nearly 470 million users.
--The app Meitu has been around for several years, but the Internet seemed to find it this week. The Chinese app turns your ordinary selfie into highly colored, anime like portraits. It zoomed from the low 900s to the top 25 on the iTunes chart this week. No good explanation for what happened, but guys, unless you like photos of yourself with heavy makeup and lipstick, you might want to leave this app for the ladies.
--Finally, the NAMM show opened in Anaheim, where music stores got sneak peeks at cool new music meets tech products for the spring. Our favorite--the Fusion iPhone guitar. Just slap an iPhone into the cradle of the guitar, turn on the speakers, connect to the app of your choice, and start rocking out. Some 100,000 people attended the show, and by the way, the guitar will only set you back $1,200. iPhone not included, of course.
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