CATEGORIES

BUZZFEED TO BECOME A PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY

Digital media company BuzzFeed is setting its sights on growth. It plans to become a publicly-traded company with an implied value of $1.5 billion through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

FLORIDA BEACH TOWN WRITES AMAZON TV SERIES TO LURE TOURISTS

Remember that longing you felt after an episode of “Sex and the City” to shop at the characters’ favorite New York haunts and drink cosmopolitans at the same bars? Or that sense of wanderlust for the seaside cliffs of Ireland after watching “Game of Thrones?”

LUCID AIR: THE FIRST TRUE TESLA COMPETITOR

Tesla might be the first company that springs to mind when you’re in the market for a new electric vehicle, but California-based startup Lucid should not be underestimated.

MORE THAN SHOES: NIKE NAVIGATES COMPLICATED TWISTS IN TRACK

Ever since a track coach named Bill Bowerman tinkered with the idea of pouring rubber into his waffle iron to concoct a better shoe sole for running, Nike and the sport of track and field have become inseparably intertwined.

SPIELBERG'S AMBLIN TO MAKE SEVERAL FILMS A YEAR FOR NETFLIX

Steven Spielberg, a filmmaker synonymous with big-screen enchantment, has set a new deal with Netflix in which his production company, Amblin Partners, will make multiple feature films per year for the streaming giant.

US HITS ENCOURAGING MILESTONES ON VIRUS DEATHS AND SHOTS

COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have dipped below 300 a day for the first time since the early days of the disaster in March 2020, while the drive to put shots in arms hit another encouraging milestone this week: 150 million Americans fully vaccinated.

HOTTEST SELLER AT GAMESTOP IS ITS OWN STOCK, $1B RAISED

GameStop raised more than $1 billion in its latest stock sale, capitalizing on a newly arrived and fervent army of online investors.

FACEBOOK LAUNCHES PODCASTS, LIVE AUDIO SERVICE

Facebook is launching podcasts and live audio streams in the U.S. this week to keep users engaged on its platform and to compete with emerging rivals.

HOUSE PANEL PUSHES LEGISLATION TARGETING BIG TECH'S POWER

A House panel pushed ahead Wednesday with ambitious legislation that could curb the market power of tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple and force them to sever their dominant platforms from their other lines of business.

DIRTY LAUNDRY IN SPACE? NASA, TIDE TACKLE CLEANING CHALLENGE

How do astronauts do laundry in space? They don’t.

CAN ET SEE US? STUDY FINDS MANY STARS WITH PRIME EARTH VIEW

Feeling like you are being watched? It could be from a lot farther away than you think.

LAST STOP

London calling, with sex cults and bickering teenagers

FIGHT NIGHT

The MORTAL KOMBAT film wants to be taken seriously, but all you’ll really care about is Scorpion vs Sub-Zero.

EXPEDITIONS: ROME

Swords, sandals, and a serious RPG under the toga

PATHFINDER: WRATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS

A fantasy RPG split between two worlds

RIDE OR DIE

DARKEST DUNGEON II CHARTS A NEW PATH THROUGH TERROR IN A ROGUELIKE ROAD TRIP TO SAVE HUMANITY. JUST MIND THE ‘NEXT EXIT: MADNESS’ SIGNS.

PAT METHENY

FROM HIS PLACE

Vincent Audio SV-737

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

REVINYLIZATION

Blood, Sweat & Tears began as Al Kooper’s dream of a rock band with horns. By the time he realized the concept—on the band’s 1968 debut, Child Is Father to the Man—it had become much more: an engaging hybrid of New York soul, Greenwich Village folk, and innovative jazz arrangements. With producer John Simon at the helm, Child was a virtual definition of the possibilities inherent in the heady musical experimentation of the late 1960s. Kooper’s writing and arranging for that record (including the monumental “I’ll Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know,” later a hit for Donny Hathaway) is one of the high points of his storied career. The record was justifiably praised as the conceptual breakthrough it was, and work had already begun on a follow-up when the band decided it needed a lead singer with more polish. Kooper left the group along with a couple of other key members.

Michi by Rotel M8

MONOBLOCK AMPLIFIER

Magico A5

It’s rare for a Stereophile reviewer to review two loud-speakers in a row from the same manufacturer, but then these are unusual times. Because of the pandemic, Magico’s M2s got stuck here for a year (I know: poor me). By the time they were packed up and shipped out, it was time for a long-scheduled review of the less-expensive, more-massive Magico A5 ($24,800/pair).

Line Magnetic LM-845IA

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER

FOLLOW-UP

The greater my own longevity, the more I admire that very quality—longevity, that is. An “upgrade path” is similarly appealing—if, regrettably, rarely available to humans, who are stuck with the equipment we were born with, give or take a prosthesis or two.

Esoteric Grandioso C1X

LINE PREAMPLIFIER

AIRBUS-BOEING DEAL EASES US EU TENSIONS BUT CONFLICTS REMAIN

The deal the United States and the European Union reached this week to end their long-running rift over subsidies to Boeing and Airbus will suspend billions in punitive tariffs. It will ease trans-Atlantic tensions. And it will let the two sides focus on a common economic threat: China.

AMAZON ALLOTS $300 MILLION FOR HOUSING NEAR MASS TRANSIT

Amazon is providing $300 million in low-interest loans to support housing located near mass transit in the Washington, D.C., area and the Seattle and Nashville, Tennessee, regions.

CAN YOU MIX AND MATCH COVID-19 VACCINES?

Can you mix and match two-dose COVID-19 vaccines?

INTERNET OUTAGES BRIEFLY DISRUPT ACCESS TO WEBSITES, APPS

A wave of brief internet outages hit the websites and apps of dozens of financial institutions, airlines and other companies across the globe Thursday and Friday.

CASSILL TO BE PAID IN CRYPTOCURRENCY IN DEAL WITH VOYAGER

Landon Cassill will be the first NASCAR driver paid entirely in cryptocurrency in a sponsorship deal with Voyager that begins at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHINA'S NEW SPACE STATION

Adding a crew to China’s new orbiting space station is another major advance for the burgeoning space power.