The Brief Nonsense - 002
Lists, lists, and more lists. Rihanna a national hero, Square Inc out, Block Inc in.
Good afternoon,
It's that time of the year again when every major platform, software and media house releases a list of "Top 10 X" and "Best 100 Y" of 2021. I mean, who doesn't love a good list? In case you missed it, here's yesterday's brief.
Entertainment
Netflix released its top stream figures for the first time, and as expected, people watch movies more on Netflix than on Apple TV+, Hulu, HBO Max, and cinemas. TikTok beats YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat to be AppStore's most downloaded app in 2021. Also on the list, Minecraft is the most downloaded paid video game. And there’s the mixed feelings about Spotify Wrapped 2021.
Nigeria, China, Barbados
MTN Group wants to sell 14% of its shares in MTN Nigeria to institutional and local investors, SEC approves. China on the other hand is looking at preventing local companies from IPO outside of its borders.
Rihanna over Queen Elizabeth as Barbados becomes the world's newest republican country, names the Fenty owner national hero.
Tech
Barely 24 hours after stepping down as CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey's Square is changing the fintech's name to Block to reflect a crypto future. Uber is testing a feature that allows users to hail a ride from WhatsApp. And to end this brief, Tesla says it is working on an electric quad bike for kids.
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I'm the learner that needs to up my game. I'm barely on these things - TikTok and Netflix.
Maybe I won't learn.
It is not even the shift of films from art to “content” in this Netflix era that irks me, it is how a shift like this is diluting the said content and a younger generation that's too young to know better is consuming this low-quality high-promotion flicks with passion.
Tesla can build an electric toilet for all I care, but I'm gonna need a minute to process the mediocrity that is being paraded as content in the film industry right now.