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Vehicles drive past the New York Times headquarters in New York March 1, 2010. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Aug 4 (Reuters) – The New York Times Co (NYT.N) reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue on Wednesday, driven by strong advertising demand and a rise in digital subscriptions.
The Times has grown its digital business in recent years by offering a rich library of content that ranges from news and podcasts to crosswords and cooking recipes.
But the company’s subscriber growth has cooled this year as the news cycle slows after an action-packed 2020, while easing of COVID-19 curbs has prompted people to step out and spend less time on its entertainment products.
It added only 142,000 digital-only subscribers in the quarter, its lowest growth in at least seven quarters.
Total revenue in the second quarter rose 23.5% to $498.5 million, compared with the average analyst estimate of $487.7 million, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Net income attributable to common stockholders rose to $54.32 million, or 32 cents per share, in the second quarter, from $23.66 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier.
Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni
Lightly seared sashimi-grade salmon doused in citrus and mushroom, egg noodles with a chicken omelette, and braised summer veg in a dashi broth
Masaki Sugisaki
Sat 10 Jul 2021 02.00 EDT
Summer vegetable nibitashi
Prep 25 min Marinade 2 hr+ Cook 30 min Serves 4
For the broth 600ml dashi stock, ready-made or from powdered dashi (both are available in large supermarkets, though if you use powdered, follow the instructions on the packet) 75ml soy sauce
100ml mirin
1 tsp (5ml) fresh ginger juice – finely grate 20g ginger, then squeeze to extract the liquid
For the nibitashi 1 medium aubergine, cut in half lengthways and each half cut lengthways into four
15cherry tomatoes, heritage, ideally, for both taste and look 60g mangetout
1 medium courgette, cut into 2cm-wide discs
½ red pepper, stem, pith and seeds removed, flesh cut into 1cm-wide strips ½ orange pepper, stem, pith and seeds removed, flesh cut into 1cm-wide strips ¼ summer squash (about 200g), peeled, deseeded and cut into ½cm-wide strips
Olive oil, for frying
1 tsp (5ml) sesame oil, to serve 2spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced, to serve
Put all the ingredients for the broth in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, then take off the heat (do not let it bubble and reduce). Score the aubergine flesh all over in a criss-cross pattern, soak in cold water for 10 minutes, then drain.
Meanwhile, bring a small pan of water to a boil and fill a bowl with iced water. Lightly score a cross in the base of each tomato, blanch in the boiling water for five seconds, then transfer to the ice bath. Once chilled, peel and put in the broth pot.
Blanch the mangetout in the same boiling water for a minute, chill in the ice bath, drain and add to the broth. Pour enough olive oil into a large saute pan to come 1cm up the sides, then heat to about 170C (if you don’t have a probe, test by mixing a half-teaspoon of plain flour and a teaspoon of water in small bowl, then drop a little into the oil: if it sinks to the bottom, then floats up to surface after three seconds, the oil is ready).
Fry the aubergine, courgette, pepper and squash in turn, and without overloading the pan, for about two minutes each, until lightly coloured, then remove, drain on kitchen paper and add to the broth pot while they are still hot. Leave the vegetables to cool to room temperature, then put in the fridge and leave to marinate for two hours, or longer (nibitashi is traditionally served cold, but it can also be eaten hot or warm, in which case just heat it up gently after it has marinated).
Ladle the vegetables into deep bowls with a little broth, drizzle with sesame oil, scatter the chopped spring onions on top and serve.
Seared salmon sashimi with ponzu sauce and porcini salsa
Masaki Sugisaki’s seared salmon sashimi with ponzu sauce and porcini salsa.
Prep 10 min Cook 35 min Serves 4
For the ponzu sauce 15g dried porcini
130mlrice vinegar
65mlsoy sauce
45ml fresh lemon juice
10gmirin (or ⅓ tbsp sugar)
For the porcini salsa 2½ tbsp (10g) finely chopped white onion 1 tsp (5ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt andblack pepper
For the fish 280g sashimi-quality salmon – if you’re not using sashimi-grade fish, you’ll need to cure it for two hours in a brine of 1.2 litres cold water, 60g (or 5%) salt and 30g (2½%) sugar 1½ tbsp (5g) finely chopped chives
1 tsp (5ml)extra-virgin olive oil
Lightly wash the porcini under running water, then drain. Put all the ingredients for the ponzu sauce in a bowl and leave to infuse at room temperature for half an hour. Strain into a bowl though muslin or a very fine sieve, squeeze out the liquid from the drained porcini into the bowl, too, then set both aside.
Meanwhile, make the salsa. Finely chop the drained porcini. Put the onion in a small sieve, rinse under cold running water for five minutes, then drain and mix with the porcini, the other salsa ingredients and two teaspoons of the reserved ponzu sauce, and season to taste.
Next, sear the fish (if you’re using cured and brined fish, drain and dry it first). Have ready a large bowl filled with iced water. Pour a thin layer of olive oil into a hot frying pan and, once it starts to smoke, lightly season the fish with salt and sear all over for just three to five seconds a side. Transfer the salmon to the ice bath for a minute, then lift out and drain on kitchen paper.
Cut the seared salmon into very thin (½mm-thick, ideally) slices and arrange on a platter. Spoon a little salsa on to each slice, then spoon about 50ml of the reserved ponzu sauce all over the fish. Scatter the chives on top, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve at room temperature.
Cold egg noodles with chicken, omelette and summer vegetables
Prep 35 min
Cook 50 min Serves 4
For the sweet soy vinaigrette 120ml soy sauce
120ml rice vinegar
140ml cold water
55g caster sugar
2 tsp (10ml) sesame oil
2 tsp (10ml) gochujangpaste (optional)
For the steamed chicken 2 x 150g skinless chicken breasts
10g dried kombu
1 tbsp roughly chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp roughly chopped spring onion greens
50ml cooking-grade sake
1 tsp (5ml) soy sauce
Salt
For the omelettes 3 whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
⅓ tsp salt
To finish ½ cucumber
2 large tomatoes
4 large asparagus stalks
240g dried egg noodles
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 tbsp dijon mustard, to serve
Whisk all the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl, and set aside.
Butterfly the chicken breasts so they’re an even thickness all over. Put the kombu in the base of a deep tray or ceramic dish, and scatter over half the ginger and spring onion greens. Lay the chicken on top, and cover with the remaining ginger and spring onions. Drizzle the sake all over the contents of the dish, season with the soy and a little salt, and cover with clingfilm or reusable wrap.
Bring a pan of water to a gentle simmer on a medium-low heat, perch the chicken dish on top and leave to steam for 20 minutes. Take off the heat, set aside to cool, then lift out the chicken and strain the kombu, ginger and onion juices through a fine sieve into a medium bowl. Tear the chicken into thin strips, add to the juice bowl and set aside.
Whisk all the omelette ingredients until well combined and the sugar and salt have dissolved. Pour a thin layer of olive oil into a medium nonstick frying pan on a medium-low heat. Pour in a quarter of the egg mix, swirl it around to cover the base of the pan and leave for a minute or two, until set all the way through. Transfer to a board and repeat with the remaining omelette mix. Once all four omelettes are cooked, lay them on top of each other on the board, roll up into a cylinder and cut into thin julienne strips.
Now to finish the dish. Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, use a teaspoon to remove and discard the seeds, then cut the flesh into julienne strips. Blanch and peel the tomatoes as in the nibitashi recipe above, cut into quarters, remove and discard the seeds, then cut the flesh into julienne strips.
Bring a small pan of salted water to a boil, blanch the asparagus for two minutes, then chill in iced water, drain on kitchen paper and slice thinly on an angle.
Boil the noodles according to the packet instructions (timings vary depending on brand), adding a minute to the cooking time. Drain, refresh in iced water (this is what gets them to the right texture), drain again and put on a platter. Pour over half the vinaigrette, then top the noodles with the chicken, omelette strips and sliced vegetables. Pour over the rest of the dressing, scatter with sesame seeds and sesame oil, and serve with mustard on the side.
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From new spins on salads and a gourmet chard sandwich to the ultimate carrot cake, it’s time to make the most of the season’s vegetables
Wed 28 Jul 2021 10.40 EDT
Local shops and supermarket shelves are stacked with prime summer produce. Piles of fragrant, sun-ripened tomatoes, crisp sweetcorn, freshly picked French beans. It’s the perfect time for Nigel Slater’s burrata with peas and basil, Richard Olney’s bagna cauda, or Yasmin Khan’s moussaka. From eastern China to northern Spain, Australia to the US, we have scoured the world for vegetable recipes. We devoured the best books. Whether you make Simon Hopkinson’s classic lettuce, cress and egg salad or bake Claire Ptak’s definitive carrot cake, savour this collection. Literal summer on a plate.
The simplest of lunch or supper dishes, ready in a few minutes
Burrata and peas. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
A versatile Sicilian stew with many variations – and a handy way to use up leftover veg
Caponata. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
In the 1970s, soufflés were everywhere – now they are a rare beast. Time to celebrate them again
Sweetcorn, rosemary and smoked cheddar soufflé. Photograph: Andrew Montgomery
A celebration of two summer stars, given a north African twist
Courgette, sweetcorn and chermoula. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
Gather the ingredients, season, blitz and serve – couldn’t be simpler
Chilled summer garden soup with nasturtium pesto. Photograph: Anna Hedworth
A great party canapé, if a little messy, so best eaten outside
Bagna cauda – raw vegetables with hot anchovy dip. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
An elegant Aussie twist on the humble chip, baked to perfection
Oven chips with oregano and feta. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin
A Danish seasonal classic with the salad staple as star – just like grandmother used to make
Roast chicken with sweet-and-sour cucumber salad. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
Flavoursome home cooking, Chinese style – serve with or without meat
Hangzhou aubergines. Photograph: Chris Terry
A refreshing, crisp salad
Noodle salad with sprouted beans and peanuts by Nigel Slater Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
An Italian treat for a perfect seasonal lunch or dinner
Rotolo di spinaci. Photograph: Matthew Donaldson
A zingy way to cook and eat the humble bean – just don’t shrivel the skin too much
Dry-fried French beans with minced pork. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
Dressed green leaves and sunny egg yolks conjure up the lightest summer dish
Lettuce salad with eggs, mustard cress and a creamed dressing. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
Complementary ingredients swaddled in flaky pastry make for a heavenly seasonal tart
Beetroot and feta galette with za’atar and honey. Photograph: Jenny Zarins
A classic dish (minus the meat) that brings back memories of a holiday in Cyprus
Vegetable moussaka. Photograph: Matt Russell
A Greek-style seasonal salad – just like yiayia used to make
Broad bean, dill and tomato salad. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
Served whole, this fish dish makes an elegant centrepiece at dinner
Baked sea bass, courgette and spinach stuffing. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer
This works well for a picnic lunch or as a side with a main meal
Sweet or tangy potato salad. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
An old Spanish recipe takes the humble sandwich and makes it something really special
Swiss chard sandwich. Photograph: Kate Whitaker
A supercharged recipe for this sweet, ever-popular classic
Carrot cake. Photograph: Kristin Perers
The Guardian aims to publish recipes for sustainable fish. For ratings in your region, check: UK; Australia; US
• This article was amended on 28 July 2021 to replace one of the recipes which is no longer available
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Swiss alternative protein company Planted has raised its second round of the year, a CHF 19M (about $21M at present) “pre-B” fundraise that will help it continue its growth and debut new products. A U.S. launch is in the cards eventually but for now Planted’s exclusively European customers will be able to give its new veggie schnitzel a shot.
Planted appeared in 2019 as a spinoff from Swiss research university ETH Zurich, where the founders developed the original technique of extruding plant proteins and water into fibrous structures similar to real meat’s. Since then the company has diversified its protein sources, adding oat and sunflower to the mix, and developed pulled pork and kebab alternative products as well.
Over time the process has improved as well. “We added fermentation/biotech technologies to enhance taste and texture,” wrote CEO and co-founder Christoph Jenny in an email to TechCrunch. “Meaning 1) we can create structures without form limitation and 2) can add a broader taste profile.”
The latest advance is schnitzel, which is of course a breaded and fried piece of pounded-thin meat style popular around the world, but especially in the company’s core markets of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Jenny noted that Planted’s schnitzel is produced as one piece, not pressed together from smaller bits. “The taste and texture benefit from fermentation approach, that makes the flavor profile mouth watering and the texture super juicy,” he said, though of course we will have to test it to be sure. Expect schnitzel to debut in Q3.
It’s the first of several planned “whole” or “prime” cuts, larger pieces that can be prepared like any other piece of meat — the team says their products require no special preparation or additives and can be dropped in as 1:1 replacements in most recipes. Right now the big cuts are leaving the lab and entering consumer testing for taste tuning and eventually scaling.
The funding round came from “Vorwerk Ventures, Gullspång Re:food, Movendo Capital, Good Seed Ventures, Joyance, ACE & Company (SFG strategy) and Be8 Ventures,” and was described as a follow-on to March’s CHF 17M series A. No doubt the exploding demand for alternative proteins and growing competition in the space has spurred Planted’s investors to opt for more aggressive growth and development strategies.
The company plans to enter several new markets over Q3 and Q4, but the U.S. is still a question mark due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel. Jenny said they are preparing so that they can make that move whenever it becomes possible, but for now Planted is focused on the European market.
(Update: This article originally misstated the new round as also being CHF 17M – entirely my mistake. This has been corrected.)
The Delta Variant is spreading, Congress is investigating a coup attempt, and the west coast is on fire. But screw it, it’s summer! So let’s talk about gymnasts’ mental health, baby ducks, and what happens if you eat ten pounds of bananas.
This week in sports: Simone Biles bails on the Olympics
Twenty-four-year-old super-gymnast Simone Biles shook the world earlier this week when she bowed out of the Olympics’ individual and all-around competition. Biles was considered a shoo-in for the gold medal in just about every event, but it was all just a little too much.
“It’s been a long year, and I think we are too stressed out. We should be out here having fun,” Biles said. “I came in and felt like I was still doing it for other people. That just hurts my heart that doing what I love has been kind of taken away from me to please other people,” she added.
Predictably, the world’s terrible people had terrible reactions, including conservative activist and mouth-breather Charlie Kirk who called Biles “a shame to the country,” and said, “We are raising a generation of weak people like Simone Biles,” to his audience of washouts (all of whom would totally have the courage to compete if they were a world class gymnast instead of the assistant manager at a batting cage).
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Sorry, Charlie, but it’s actually the opposite. We are raising a generation strong enough to prioritize mental health over a stupid contest and wise enough to know when to call it quits. The days of calling someone like Kerri Strug a hero for competing even though her injuries could have permanently incapacitated her are mercifully over. Besides, Biles’ departure allowed her 18-year-old teammate Sunisa Lee to take home the gold in the all-around, so even with the second string, the USA was still number one, baby.
This week in labor relations: Kids do not want to work at terrible jobs anymore
Much like Simone Biles refusing to compete in the Olympics, young people all over are refusing low-paying summer jobs at retail chains and fast-food restaurants. This is an affront to all our pasts; without a soul-sucking summer spent locked into a Dairy Queen hotbox to prepare them, kids might expect basic decency in adult employment, too! The labor shortage in the hospitality industry is so severe, some stores and restaurants are cutting their hours, and some are actually considering raising the wages of employees.
Opinions are mixed as to why our nation’s Tylers and Olivias are making like Bartleby the Scrivener. Some blame the extension of unemployment benefits brought on by the COVID relief package, while other contend that those jobs suck and owners should just pay people more if they expect them to show up. Personally, I think the proliferation of enraged Karens attacking McDonald’s workers with ice tea dispensers is to blame.
This week in TikTok mini-trends: Abandoned duckies and frozen honey
“Steve, what’s happening on TikTok,” I hear you asking. Well, Dear Reader, this week is all about abandoned baby ducks and frozen honey.
The ducks come from influencers who have been adopting the little fowl to take adorable photographs. Awww! Soooocute! But it turns out taking care of a real-life duck is, like, hard, so TikTokers are dropping their new pets off at animal shelters after the photo session. A representative for the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told Washington Newsday, “We received 60 ducks this year from January 1 until today. We got six ducks last year.”
The honey-trend is less disturbing and more delicious. Many, many people on TikTok are freezing honey and eating it—videos under the hashtag #FrozenHoney have over 220 million views. Unlike the trend for pheasant in aspic popular at the palace of Versailles in the 1700s, it’s easy to make frozen honey. You just put some honey in a plastic water bottle and freeze it up. It doesn’t freeze solid, but provides a sweet, semi-mushy popsicle you can squeeze into your maw—just the thing for a global warming day at the park.
This week in music: The rise of NPR’s tiny desk concerts
The totebag totin’ liberals at National Public Radio are a lot of things—thoughtful, erudite, sonorous—but they were never “cool” until NPR’s music web series Tiny Desk Concerts took off. The web show has become the go-to place for non-wack musicians to perform on the internet.
The series started way back in 2008 with performances from alt-folk types and quirky weirdos like Dr. Dog, The Tallest Man on Earth, and my personal cult favorites, The Screaming Females, but the series grew in popularity, and the international lockdown led to the series featuring musicians at their homes. Eventually bands and singers that people actually cared about began perform on the show. Artists like Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Ty Dolla $ign , Justin Bieber, and even K-Pop superstars BTS have graced NPR’s website with low key performances. Check out the whole archive, but don’t blame me if you fall down a musical rabbit hole that you never climb out of.
Viral Video of the week: What happens if you eat 23 bananas after fasting?
Chubbyemu is a Doctor of Pharmacy who posts amazing true medical tales to his YouTube channel. In this week’s viral video, the good doctor details the case of a fitness enthusiast who broke a week-long fast by eating 10 pounds of bananas. You’d probably suspect this is a terrible idea, but the genius of the video is in the insanely detailed explanation of exactly why it’s a terrible idea and exactly how the subject’s body went haywire from excessive banana consumption. ChubbyEmu gets down to the molecular level with this shit. When you’ve finished shuddering over the danger of banana overdose, check out what happens if you drink a lava lamp (bad things), eat Tide pods (worse things), or eat 25 of those silica gel packets that say “Do Not Eat” on them (surprisingly not-super-bad things.)
Shower curtain liners are one of those things that may appear to be pointless, but actually serve an important function: In this case, it’s the interior piece of material that stays in the tub while you shower and helps prevent water from escaping and turning your bathroom into a soggy mess. If your bathroom is not properly ventilated, there’s a chance that your shower curtain liner can eventually get moldy. In that case, it’s best to get rid of it.
But in situations where you’ve decided to change the shower curtain liner and it is still relatively clean (or will be once you wash it), there are plenty of ways to reuse it around the house, instead of throwing it out (right away, at least). Evelyn (no last name provided) at The Krazy Coupon Lady offers some suggestions for ways to give your old shower curtain a second life. Here’s what to know.
Ways to reuse a shower curtain liner
And now, without further ado: Options for reusing a shower curtain liner, courtesy of Evelyn:
Use it as a drop cloth on the driveway or in the garage when making car repairs.
Put it under a child’s high chair (or any messy eater’s chair, really) to easily catch the falling food.
Give it to your kids to use as a play mat (including allowing them to color on it).
Place it under a picnic blanket if the ground is a little damp to keep you (and your food) nice and dry.
Turn it into an art smock for people of any age creating art.
Place it underneath your air mattress when camping to help keep it from getting wet.
Use it as a makeshift (indoor) mattress protector.
Create a massive tic-tac-toe board for your backyard, using duct tape to create the lines, and frisbees (or another flat object) in different colors as the markers.
WIRED’s Resilience Residency was announced earlier this year to provide non-journalists the opportunity to report on how technology and science are transforming their own industries. Over 200 people answered our call for proposals, representing 30 different states and dozens of fields.
Today we are pleased to introduce our five residents for 2021. Over the next six months, they will work with WIRED’s editorial team to tell powerful stories with an insider’s perspective and start new conversations about the future. Our aim is for everyone—residents, WIRED employees, and our audience—to benefit from the exchange of expertise, perspectives, and experiences.
Meet the Residents
Melanie Canales is a first-generation Peruvian American farmer and beekeeper based in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, on Monacan and Mannahoac lands. Her work focuses on creating healthy relationships between people and their surrounding ecosystem through soil regeneration and food sovereignty. As a resident, she’s interested in stories about land stewardship and the ways communities have started decolonizing agriculture to make it more accessible and sustainable.
Jake Galdo, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, BCGP, is a community pharmacist with a background in academia, health care quality, and technology. His residency is focused on the transformation of community pharmacy practice and patient empowerment. Galdo is an alumnus of the University of Georgia and Samford University and resides in Alabama with his family.
Harris Quinn is the founder of menswear brand H. Goose. His residency will focus on change in the apparel industry and the evolving nature of how we dress. Previously, he founded a digital marketing startup and spent six years on active duty as a cryptologic linguist for the United States Navy. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina.
Enrique Sanabria is a senior airport engineer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. His curiosity for technology turned into a passion for aviation, and he has spent much of his life in and around the Metro-NYC airports, both as a hobbyist and technical specialist. His residency will explore the airport of the future.
Suhita Shirodkar is an urban sketcher, illustrator, and educator based in San Jose, California. She has been the recipient of grants from the Knight Foundation and Belle Foundation. Suhita will use visual reportage to look at how grassroots arts communities are using technology to adapt, innovate, and reinvent themselves.
The WIRED Resilience Residency is made possible by Microsoft. WIRED content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists.Learn more about this program.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, Americans filled airports and highways nearly as much as on holidays before the pandemic. For many people, the busy travel weekend will be followed by a return to the office and other activities out of the house. This ongoing transition period raises many important questions, including: What will happen with all the pets?
The past 18 months have been filled with reports of surging adoption rates and lengthening breeder waiting lists as Americans sought out furry companions during lockdown. Business has also been booming for pet-oriented startups. Sales on Chewy, the Amazon of pet food and supplies, rose 51 percent in Q4, according to its most recent earnings report. Barkbox, which sells personalized boxes of dog toys and treats, reported 264,000 new monthly subscribers in Q4—a 72 percent increase year-over-year. Pawsh, an app that matches dog owners with groomers, saw a 125 percent growth in customers between March and June of last year; two-thirds of new users were first-time pet owners. “Adopting a dog became a trend during the pandemic,” says Pawsh cofounder Karthik Naralasetty.
“Our hypothesis is that the group that waited for a pandemic to adopt the pet may be more frequent travelers, or people who work longer hours, which might be why they didn’t have a pet prior,” says Aaron Easterly, the CEO of pet startup Rover. If those people start to take vacations again, or work longer hours back in an office, they may be entering a new chapter of their lives as pet owners, with new challenges—requiring new solutions, potentially offered by startups. Rover, an app for finding dog walkers and sitters, says it experienced its biggest month ever in May, booking more than $45 million in services. (While some have worried about unprepared pet owners giving their dogs away, animal welfare groups told The New York Times there hasn’t been such a spike.)
Pet care was already a $100 billion industry in the US before the pandemic. A recent report from Morgan Stanley estimates that number could triple in the next decade, marking a sharp uptick in growth. “We think the US pet industry has reached an inflection point,” one analyst wrote, and they’re not alone. Investors from venture capital and private equity are out sniffing for the next big thing, whether it’s luxury items like gourmet dog food or more basic necessities like grooming services. In 2020, VC interest in pet-focused startups grew 29.5 percent from the year before, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
“There are more pets than there are kids in places like San Francisco,” says David Cane, a VP at Wag, a dog-walking app. Those cities could be a breeding ground for other business opportunities, like employer-provided pet care. Wag is now in talks to offer dog-walking and dog-sitting as a corporate perk “with some organizations in the Bay Area that employ thousands of people,” says Cane, who declined to name specific companies because the deals are not finalized.
It’s not just the growing number of pet owners that’s attractive to investors; it’s also the relationship those owners have to their pets. For many people, pets have become another member of the family. “It’s evolved more to this parental relationship,” says Easterly. “Pet owners stress about finding the right training techniques, whether dog food with grain is good or bad. A lot of the stresses you see with parenting human children, you now see in the pet industry.” Especially for first-time pet-owners, those stresses can be soothed with new products and services. The amount households spend on pet care has been steadily rising since well before the pandemic, according to Morgan Stanley.
A few months back, we spoke with several independent authors to learn what they thought about a new service from Amazon called Kindle Vella. If this is the first time you’re hearing about Kindle Vella, or if you don’t remember what exactly it is, let me offer you a quick refresher.
Kindle Vella is a new way for Amazon customers to read bite-sized, serialized works of fiction on their mobile devices. The idea is that you read a chapter at a time — which Amazon refers to as “episodes” — and you are notified when new episodes become available. You can follow specific authors or stories, or you can search by genre or topic. The first few episodes of a new story are free, and then you can purchase tokens, which grant you the ability to unlock new episodes in that or other stories. These tokens are available in bundles for bulk purchasing (more on this below). In addition, you can “fave” episodes, which adds a social component, and there are ways to interact with authors and other fans alike.
Kindle Vella borrows features like in-app purchases (IAPs) as we see in the best Android mobile games, the concept of upvoting from sites like Reddit, and enthusiastic customer reviews from Amazon to deliver a more immersive reading experience to Kindle readers. It’s not the first example of serialized stories, but with the power of Amazon behind it, it might end up being the most successful.
Now that the service is finally available to consumers, we thought it the perfect time to try it out for ourselves and write an Amazon Kindle Vella review. Spoiler alert — it’s actually a pretty interesting service, though it likely won’t appeal to everyone at first.
Amazon Kindle Vella
Bottom line: Kindle Vella probably isn’t right for all readers, but that doesn’t mean that many won’t enjoy it. The app is easy to use, and it already has an impressive content library. However, it is a bummer that it isn’t yet available on Android.
The Good
Quick and easy to get started
Fluid, user-friendly interface
Lower barrier to entry; less commitment
The Bad
Not available yet on Android
Not all genres are a good fit or are offered
IAP model is open to abuse
Amazon Kindle Vella: Price and availability
Source: Amazon
Kindle Vella launched in mid-July 2021. To start, only U.S.-based authors writing in English are able to upload new content, but if the service succeeds, we expect that to expand to other countries and languages. The service is free to start — readers can access the first few episodes of a story for free before they are required to purchase tokens to unlock additional episodes. Token packs are available at launch, with prices ranging from $1.99 for 200 tokens up to $14.99 for 1700 tokens. Each episode requires a certain amount of tokens to be unlocked, and this may vary slightly between authors and stories based on episode length.
Amazon Kindle Vella: What’s good
Source: Jeramy Johnson / Android Central
I love to read. I’ve got shelves and shelves of physical books and hundreds of virtual books in my Kindle library. The problem is, life gets busy, and no matter how well-intentioned I am to sit down, relax, and read one of my novels or biographies, I can’t seem to carve out enough time to really get into a book these days. So, I spend much of my “reading” time on my phone, scrolling through Google News, Feedly, the Washington Post, and my respective reading lists from those apps. So as much as I hate to admit it, the snackable format of Kindle Vella stories really appeals to me.
In my opinion, Amazon’s Kindle app was already pretty good, if busy. But once you got into a book, the reading experience was pretty seamless. That is how I feel about the Kindle Vella experience. Perhaps I should back up a bit to clarify that Kindle Vella content lives in the existing Kindle app, not in a separate app. Currently, the easiest way to jump into the Kindle Vella content library is by tapping on the Discover tab at the bottom of the app and then tapping on Kindle Vella.
Once you find a story you like, the experience of scrolling through the text is quite pleasant. It’s smooth, there are no distractions, and if you ever lose your place, simply tapping on the screen will pull up a scrollable nav bar on the right side. In addition, when you get to the end of an episode, you have the ability to unlock more content by purchasing and cashing in your tokens.
As mentioned above, tokens can be purchased in bundles from 200 up to 1700, with prices ranging from $1.99 to $14.99. Episode prices depend on length, but generally speaking, you can get 4-6 or so episodes for every 200 tokens (the story that I’m currently reading is charging about 35 tokens per episode on average).
Source: Android Central
The content selection at launch appears to be fairly robust and compares favorably to that offered on competing services. Whether on the web or in the app, Amazon lets you search by title, author, genre, or tag.
Available genres include action and adventure, children’s stories, dystopian, fantasy, historical fiction (my personal favorite), humor, LGBT fiction, mystery, non-fiction, paranormal, romance, science fiction, teen and young adult, thriller, and erotica. You can also search Kindle Vella titles by audience tags, such as romance, fantasy, adventure, magic, horror, action, family, vampires, detective, and many, many more.
I’ll admit that I didn’t contribute much to the social aspects of the platform — other than giving the author whose story I read a thumbs up after each episode and lending my “fave” to them — but I do appreciate the crowdsourcing component to the service. I also like the idea of interacting directly with authors and creators on the platform and am curious to see how that plays out. In case you’re wondering, I started reading My Three-Year-Old is a Barbarian and Other Parenting Problems by Aaron Frale. It’s goofy and a lot of fun, and it’s made me want to explore even further down the Kindle Vella rabbit hole.
Finally, I do appreciate that the serialized, tokenized system of content consumption allows you to just stop paying if you’re not enjoying the content. Amazon has also always allowed you to return books (and even return Kindle books) if you didn’t like them. And just like other Kindle books, you can return Kindle Vella episodes for a refund if you want.
Amazon Kindle Vella: What’s not good
Source: Jeramy Johnson / Android CentralImage courtesy of Thai Tech/Thaivisa.com
Even though the concept behind it isn’t new, Kindle Vella is a new service for Amazon, and thus it still has some kinks to be worked out. For starters, the most glaring downside to the service is the fact that it is launching without an Android app. Yep, we Android lovers are once again the victim of iOS-first development. But it’s not just that Vella isn’t available on Android phones; it’s not available on Amazon’s first-party devices either! That’s right, no Kindle Vella on Kindle e-readers or Fire tablets, at least not for now. That’s a bummer. So, for now, if you’re an Android user, you’re stuck either using the web version or borrowing someone’s iPhone or iPad.
Reading Kindle Vella episodes in a web browser is definitely not a great experience.
Just a quick note on the web version — it’s not great. At least the Kindle web reader tried to reproduce the experience of reading an e-book in your browser. Technically, the web version of Kindle Vella does try to reproduce the experience of reading episodes on your phone, but that doesn’t translate well in this format. It looks and feels like a bad Android tablet app port rather than a native or natural experience. But at least it’s available, I guess.
Source: Android Central
While there is a large selection of fiction categories, not all literary genres are a good fit for this format. For example, history books, biographies, recipes — anything long-form, really. So if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll likely be disappointed here. That being said, there are are short-form non-fiction titles covering topics like social issues and observations, spirituality, and everyday life, but this is probably one of the smallest categories in the Vella content catalog, at least at launch.
If you tend to overspend on IAPs, you may want to proceed with caution here.
Much has already been said about the relative pros and cons of in-app purchases, both for creators and consumers. It is certainly easy to ring up the charges for additional tokens as you blaze your way through episodes and stories. If you’re someone who struggles with impulse control around spending, you might want to approach the Kindle Vella model with a degree of caution.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up the creator compensation angle. In my initial Kindle Vella explainer, I mentioned how some authors were initially a bit leery about whether or not the serialized format and token compensation were worth their time compared to more traditional publishing methods. But, of course, that calculation is up to each creator to figure out. Still, if you care about directly supporting creators, you should be aware there are other ways to do so that may be more advantageous to those creators, such as personal websites, Patreon, small book shops, etc.
Amazon Kindle Vella: Competition
Source: Wattpad
While there are many different platforms and services competing for your reading attention, including Amazon’s own Kindle store and Kindle Unlimited subscription services, there aren’t really that many competing serialized fiction sites or apps. The ones there are, though, have been around for a long time and have established fanbases and author ecosystems.
One of the most well-known services is the Canadian-based Wattpad. Wattpad has a huge catalog of fiction works, and its stories are available on the web and through its apps for Android, iOS, and even Huawei’s AppGallery. Plus, you can purchase physical books from Wattpad if that’s more your jam.
Radish is another service that features serialized, “bingeable” fiction stories to readers through its apps on iOS and Android. It’s been around for about six years now and has a large catalog of romance, mystery, thriller, and fantasy fiction stories.
Aside from these competitors, Kindle Vella will have to pry readers away from other short-form reading options like Apple News+, the WSJ, and its own Comixology, not to mention the ever-expanding libraries of podcasts and mobile gaming content.
Amazon Kindle Vella: Should you try it?
Source: Jeramy Johnson / Android Central
You should try it if …
You enjoy reading on your phone
You are a fan of short fiction
You don’t like reading traditional books
You shouldn’t try it if…
You prefer to read longer books on a tablet or in physical form
You don’t have an iOS device (for now)
You have impulse control when it comes to microtransactions and in-app purchases
3.5 out of 5
Amazon’s Kindle Vella platform is a new reading experience that offers bite-sized stories for busy people on the go or those with short attention spans. Of course, it’s not for everybody, but it’s an interesting idea that aims to compete with podcasts and mobile gaming for our precious and dwindling attention spans.
While it’s not yet available on Android, it’s certainly only a matter of time before it comes to our preferred platform. So if you’re someone who prefers experiencing your entertainment in shorter bursts, or if you just don’t have the time to sit down to read a more lengthy tome, then you just might enjoy Kindle Vella.
Amazon Kindle Vella
Bottom line: Amazon Kindle Vella is a convenient way to enjoy serialized content while at home or on the go. It delivers bite-sized books for the busiest of bodies.
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After months of teasers, Nothing’s ear (1) wireless earbuds are finally here, and they sound incredible. Combine that with a unique design and a host of useful features, and you get one of the best wireless earbuds for $100.
Samsung seems to have an A-series flavor for every day of the week, and the Galaxy A42 is absolutely the flavor for lazy Sundays of binging shows in bed, even though you forgot to charge last night.
With protests erupting around Cuba on Sunday over the country’s economic crisis, food shortages, and Covid-19 infection spike, the island nation’s ruling party responded by blocking access to Facebook, WhatsApp, and other popular communication and social media platforms. It’s a measure that authoritarian governments have deployed repeatedly in recent years, a go-to tool for repressive regimes looking to stifle unrest made possible by the increasing balkanization of the internet.
The Cuban government has done something like this before, disrupting access primarily to WhatsApp and Twitter during a surge of more localized protests in Havana last November. But it appears to have gone further this time. Reports indicate that Cuba suffered some short, widespread, general internet outages on Sunday; after connectivity returned, not only Facebook and WhatsApp but Instagram, Signal, and Telegram were difficult or impossible to access from the island. Most VPNs appeared blocked as well. The London-based internet monitoring firm Netblocks said on Tuesday that the platform blocking was ongoing.
“Reports of arrests, attacks on the press, and internet access cuts,” Pedro Vaca Villarreal, special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights wrote on Sunday. “The State must guarantee the rights of peaceful assembly and expression by refraining from repressing and stigmatizing the protest.”
Cuba’s national telecommunications company Etecsa, which offers both broadband and Cubacel mobile data, was founded in 1994. But the government historically has heavilyrestricted who could have an internet connection and only began slowly opening up access in 2016. In 2019 the regime first began allowing limited connections in private homes and businesses. The combination of total control and nascent user base makes it relatively easy for the government to carry out both widespread internet shutdowns and platform-specific blocking.
“Although for a few decades now the internet has grown in importance in Cuba, it is still limited and expensive, with the government being able to control local infrastructure through its state-owned telecommunication company,” says Juan Carlos Lara, director of public policy at the Latin American rights group Derechos Digitales. “But acts of blocking and censoring are hardly exclusive to the Cuban regime. Every time we see protests, not only in Latin America, we wait for reports of blocking and censorship.”
Unlike systems engineered for total government control, namely China’s Great Firewall, Cuba hasn’t blacklisted or blocked specific sites and services as a matter of course, largely because it hasn’t had to.
“The current situation is significant, because Cuba has had, you might say, accidentally free internet,” Toker says. “There was a lot of monitoring but not as much censorship, because access was just so limited.”
Etecsa has not made any public statements about the blocking and did not return a request for comment from WIRED.
“Beyond what is happening in the country, many of us have relatives who are sick with Covid in isolated areas and the only way we have is through the internet,” Twitter user Félix Ernesto wrote in an appeal to the telecom on Tuesday. “Please put mobile data or give an answer. Many of us need this service.”
Internet shutdowns, platform blocking, monitoring, and censorship are not just the domain of countries that have had to invest in major infrastructure projects to assert digital control, like Russia and Iran. Countries like Myanmar and Venezuela have also resorted to similar measures when faced with protests and unrest, and have been able to do so somewhat more easily because their digital infrastructure is more centralized. It’s also increasingly common for platform blocking or total internet shutdowns to drag on for days, weeks, and even months without reprieve, as in Kashmir during 2019 and 2020.
