DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ A Minute With: R&B singer H.E.R. inspired to see women grab guitars
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

attends a premiere event for Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 13, 2022. already has five Grammy Awards, a best song Oscar, and nearly two decades of experience performing - despite being only 25. : "I think a lot of women, especially young Black women, young Filipino women, don't really think that these kinds of things are possible and I barely thought it was possible. It's crazy how music can do that, but it's also crazy that I can do that and I feel really grateful." : "I'm so grateful that that was technically like my first debut, officially working with Oprah and Spielberg is involved.

☆ Australian Elvis festival still 'fantastic' after 30 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Cordelia Hsu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Winner of Parkes Elvis Festival Miss Priscilla 2023, Nickyra Burley, sits on top a car during the festival parade in Parkes, Australia, January 7, 2023. "It's fantastic," said Bob Steele, who founded the festival with his wife Anne after a dinner party where the guests ended up singing Elvis songs long into the night. "Fancy getting to 30 years with a festival, we're just so pleased with it." In addition to Elvis tribute acts, the extravaganza, timed to coincide with the birthday of 'The King', includes Elvis art and photo exhibitions, rock and roll dance lessons, and Elvis trivia nights. While Parkes is now known as the Elvis capital of Australia, Steele said some locals were initially sceptical of the event.

☆ Meet the 43-year-old 'Vibe Manager' of New York City's Hard Rock Hotel in charge of throwing rooftop parties and curating playlists
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

43-year-old Michael Tello is a "Vibe Manager" at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York City. The "rockstar suite" at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York City. Courtesy of Hard Rock Hotel New YorkBut being able to provide those special touches is also one of the most rewarding parts of the job, he said. Ciara and Didi Richards dance onstage during the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2022 Issue launch party at Hard Rock Hotel New York on May 19, 2022. The vibe manager works a Tuesday through Saturday schedule.

☆ Ukraine's young circus artists wow Budapest after training in bomb shelters at home
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Krisztina Fenyo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Ukrainian Mariia Kravchenko, a participant of the Yaskrava Arena Dnipro International Children's Circus Festival practices before the competition in Budapest, Hungary, January 1, 2023. Circus artist Mariia Kravchenko, aged 13, from the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, had trained for the circus festival in unheated shelters amid the Russian attacks. The Yaskrava Arena Dnipra international children's circus festival was launched in 2010 by an NGO called Bright Country (Ukraine). Before the war, it was held every year in December at the Dnipro State Circus. Since it began, more than 1,000 young artists from all over Ukraine, as well as Lithuania, Hungary, Germany, Moldova and Poland, have participated in the festival.

☆ Britain's charity stores are going upmarket
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Britain's charity shops are transforming as they try to appeal to Gen Z customers. The managers told Insider their retro and vintage stores were largely in urban areas with large student populations. Grace Dean/InsiderE-commerce for charity shops is completely different than e-commerce for retailers that sell large batches of new products. Nonessential retail stores had to shut their doors for months during the pandemic, which the Charity Retail Association estimated cost UK charity shops about £28 million, or $32 million, a month. But, as the aisles of charity shops across the UK show, a lot of people do choose to donate them.

Elon Musk's biggest fans: tech foundersLisa Blue/Philip Pacheco/Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/InsiderFrom the moment Elon Musk took control of Twitter, he has been moving fast, breaking things, and sparking outcry. This past week, he said he'd step down as CEO after a Twitter poll found most respondents wanted him to. For many Silicon Valley founders, Musk's approach to his Twitter takeover makes him a visionary. About 400 Pollen employees were camped out for five days to celebrate the UK-based events and travel company. But according to 31 former Pollen employees, the implosion was years in the making.

☆ Nonstop partying, lavish spending, and sexual-harassment accusations: Inside the self-destruction of Pollen, the music startup once worth $800 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Melkorka Licea | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

About 400 Pollen employees were camped out in Mendocino County, California, for five straight days of partying. Two former Pollen employees told Insider that they recalled the assistant telling them about Callum's inappropriate comments at the time. (The Pollen representative said Callum and Bedi didn't date at Pollen or at any other company connected to Pollen. Out of 360 events Pollen announced over the past 12 months, 39 were canceled, the Pollen representative said. (The Pollen representative said that "out of hundreds of thousands of customers, fewer than 100 people were moderated" online.)

On the evening of Sunday, Dec. 18, Jews across the globe will mark Hanukkah by lighting candles. triumph of a ragtag group of Judean rebels known as the Maccabees over the Syrian-Greek army of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. To mark the restoration of their nation’s independence, the Maccabees rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem, using a small jug of sacred oil to light the seven-branched candelabrum known as the menorah. Miraculously, the oil kept burning for eight days. For American Jews, the holiday and the candle-lighting ritual also serve to illuminate their role in the nation’s history.

☆ Inside Sergey Brin's Busy Social Schedule: Parties, Festivals, Burning Man
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Rob Price | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In late August this year, Sergey Brin headed to Burning Man. The 49-year-old tech titan traveled to the festival in style, island-hopping across the Pacific Ocean in a modified seaplane. Brin has been spotted more than once at house parties at NeoGenesis, a coliving space for entrepreneurs in the Bay Area. As for the bigger psychedelic party, when Burning Man reopened in August after its pandemic hiatus, Brin stayed at First Camp, a VIP community frequented by festival organizers and their friends. Rob Price is a correspondent at Insider, writing features and investigations about the technology industry.

☆ UBS expects this global tech stock to see a 60% upside despite headwinds and reopening challenges
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

UBS is bullish on GoTo Group , and changed its 12-month rating for Indonesian e-commerce and ride-hailing giant from "sell" to "buy." GoTo shares surged as much as 33% during Tuesday trading after the Swiss investment bank did a double upgrade of the stock. Despite subsidy reductions and tough macro conditions, GoTo has been growing quarter-on-quarter in key segments, UBS said in its report. UBS Still, UBS lowered its 12-month price target for GoTo by 33% to 160 rupiah, from a previous target of 240 rupiah. "The expiry of lock-up and steady progress towards profitability in end-2023 should help the stock re-rate, in our view," said the UBS report.

☆ 'It's A Wonderful Life': See the classic Christmas film on the big screen this month
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jeanne Bonner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Karolyn Grimes and James Stewart in "It's A Wonderful Life." Fathom has long wanted to revive showings of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” Carey said, noting that fans have been asking for it. No film is a failure if it has fansWhat’s long delighted film historians is the fact that when “It’s a Wonderful Life” debuted, it was largely deemed a wash. As film historian Jeanine Basinger writes in her compendium, “The It’s A Wonderful Life Book,” the original idea for the film languished for years before the studio RKO sold it to Capra in 1945 for a mere $10,000. William Edmunds and James Stewart in 1946's "It's A Wonderful Life."

☆ 'The Whale' review: Brendan Fraser's standout performance can't keep Darren Aronofsky's film afloat
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The love showered on Brendan Fraser out of film festivals inflates expectations for “The Whale” wildly out of proportion, in a movie based on a play that occurs almost entirely within a lone apartment. Weighted down not by its morbidly obese protagonist but rather its stick-thin supporting players, Fraser deserves praise for his buried-under-makeup performance, but that’s not enough to keep the movie afloat. Adapted by Samuel D. Hunter from his play, “The Whale” actually derives its title from the book “Moby Dick,” although the convincing enormity of Charlie’s physique obviously provides another meaning. As poignant and heartbreaking as Charlie’s plight is, “The Whale” can’t transcend the line between theater and film. While it’s easy to root for Fraser to earn accolades, in the annual hunt for award-worthy movies, consider this another one that got away.

☆ Check out the 12-page pitch deck that raised $5 million for a live events startup backed by Mark Cuban
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Recess, an experiential marketing platform, just raised $5 million in Series A funding. It matches marketers like DoorDash and Milk Bar with events and venues such as WeWork, SoulCycle, and concerts. Backed by Mark Cuban, Recess is trying to grow the market by automating what's traditionally been a manual process. Events and venues can list themselves on its platform for free, and marketers enter parameters like date, event type, and reach. Recess grew out of a media and events company, The Recess Music & Ideas Festival, started by Indiana University alums Jack Shannon and Deuce Thevenow.

The Mexican grupera (a form of regional music) band Los Bukis become the first Latin music band to sell out two shows at the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium. The magnitude of generational diversity could be seen when the Grammy award-winning Mexican band Los Tigres del Norte were on stage. Hernán Hernández and Jorge Hernández of the band Los Tigres del Norte perform Saturday. Scott Dudelson / Getty Images"Before, we really were invisible,” said Leila Cobo, a renowned Latin music expert and Billboard’s vice president of Latin content. "Now I think the kids go to see their parents’ music and Bad Bunny."

“Spoiler Alert” opened in U.S. theaters Dec. 2. “Women Talking” opened in select U.S. theaters Dec. 2. “The Whale” opens in U.S. theaters Dec. 9. “Babylon” opens in U.S. theaters Dec. 23. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” opens in U.S. theaters Dec. 23.

☆ Why Saudi Arabia is hosting one of the world's biggest raves
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The kingdom’s Soundstorm music festival, which began in 2019, is back again for its fourth year and will start on Thursday. “(It) is a particularly powerful example because it seeks to bring together young people and women from across Saudi Arabia and the world,” she said. By contrast, Las Vegas’ Electric Daisy Carnival, considered North America’s biggest dance music festival, had an attendance of over 400,000 this year. Last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that performers should either “speak up” about Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations or not attend the festival at all. Some however argue that opening up countries to international norms and values can allow for better discussion on human rights shortcomings.

☆ Read the pitch deck for a startup that's aiming to disrupt film production in Hollywood with an app that's 'like fantasy football for film buffs'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Startup production company Legion M is crowdsourcing funds and promising to give movie fans greenlight power. Legion M, founded by Paul Scanlan and Jeff Annison, lets investors buy shares for as little as $40. Legion M now has four films in post-production slated to be released in 2023, the cofounders added. Legion MLegion MLegion MLegion MLegion M'A company with a built-in audience for everything it creates'One slide spells out the potential power of one million fan-investors — as consumers, promoters, and predictors of successful projects. Legion MThe Nicolas Cage film 'Mandy' was an early success for Legion MLegion MLegion MLegion MLegion MLegion M says its annual revenue has surpassed $1 millionLegion MLegion MLegion M

☆ 'Glass Onion' could have made $200 million, but Netflix only let it play in theaters for a week
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Netflix probably left hundreds of millions of dollars on the table by not keeping Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion" in theaters. "Glass Onion" leaves theaters Tuesday. The truncated run for "Glass Onion" also prompted industry insiders to again question the streamer's theatrical release strategy. The first film's performance at the box office has provoked questions about why Netflix has limited the release of "Glass Onion" to just one week in a limited number of theaters. "Glass Onion" earned a 93% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 238 reviews and an audience score of 92%, suggesting that it too could have generated the same kind of word of mouth.

The U.S. Justice Department, in a report this September, said many crypto exchanges still "make little or no effort to comply" with know-your-customer requirements. These sites often included links for users to pay via crypto exchanges, the IWF told Reuters, declining to name companies. While banks and payment platforms demanded more details from online merchants, many crypto exchanges for years requested little or no information from clients. Asked at his trial for his opinion of crypto, Mohammad noted, "Privacy is something that a lot of users value." The IWF received more reports last year of websites selling child abuse imagery for crypto than any year prior.

☆ Crypto exchanges enabled online child sex-abuse profiteer
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +22 min

These sites often included links for users to pay via crypto exchanges, the IWF told Reuters, declining to name companies. “For those people looking to make money from child sexual abuse, crypto has lowered the barrier,” said Dan Sexton, the IWF’s chief technology officer. The Dark Scandals website, owned by Michael Mohammad, instructs users to send tokens to a Dark Scandals digital wallet to purchase content. While banks and payment platforms demanded more details from online merchants, many crypto exchanges for years requested little or no information from clients. The IWF received more reports last year of websites selling child abuse imagery for crypto than any year prior.

☆ These 4 business leaders survived the 2008 financial crisis. Be flexible and 'cut deep' is their advice for getting through the looming recession.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Businesses are preparing for a likely recession in 2023.Insider spoke to four business leaders who went through the last big recession between 2007 and 2009. When the economic downturn hit her business in 2008, she said she was still very new to the business and was "often worried" about overcoming the challenges. "It was really difficult to get our wholesale and corporate customers to pay us in good time," Croman told Insider. Daniel WhebleDaniel Wheble chose to start a new business in the Great Recession. "You question if it's the right or wrong time to be starting a business," Wheble told Insider.

Your credit card could get you access to high-demand events like Taylor Swift's latest concert. Jun Sato/TAS18/Getty ImagesMany credit card issuers offer access to presale, preferred seating, and VIP ticket offers. Read our review Read Our Review A looong arrow, pointing rightIf you have a Citi credit card or debit card, you can access exclusive ticket offers through the Citi Entertainment program. Note that credit card lenders may use many different variations of credit score models when considering your application. Don't wait until a day or two before presale to open a credit card that'll give you this access, as you won't receive it in time.

☆ China revises COVID guidelines for entertainment venues
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the revised guidelines to travel agencies, entertainment and performance venues. A government statement said local administrators should improve the accuracy of their prevention and control measures and should not shut down entertainment venues down at will. The specific measures are mostly in line with China's latest easing of COVID rules, but could be a bright spot for entertainment and tourism firms that have been hammered by a near three-year strict zero-COVID policy. Places such as KTVs, internet cafes and offline board game venues are allowed to operate under normalised COVID prevention rules in low risk regions, which means as long as they apply certain COVID prevention rules, they can open their business as usual, according to the government. Reporting by Albee Zhang, Bernard Orr; Editing by Shri Navaratnam & Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards card review: $100 welcome bonus, 3% back for everyday spending, and a free Uber One membership
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( David Mcmillin | Joseph Hostetler | Read More | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +34 min

That's what makes the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card one of the most compelling credit card offers for college students. Find the right student credit card for you Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit CardChase Freedom® Student credit cardDiscover it® Student Cash BackCapital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit CardDiscover it® Student chromeDeserve® EDU Mastercard for StudentsJourney Student Rewards from Capital OnePetal® 2 "Cash Back, No Fees" Visa® Credit Card Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card cardholders can access the platform and use rewards (or their card) to book flights, hotels, and rental cars. Capital One says that you need at least "fair" credit to qualify for the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card. If you're not yet 18 but want a credit card, another option is to become an authorized user on a family member's or trusted friend's credit card.

☆ Check out the 15-page pitch deck that Legion M, a Hollywood production startup, is using to recruit movie fans as investors for as little as $40
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Search resuls for: "Festivals"

25 mentions found