Netflix & Kill (the Deal) 🎞️💰

👀 TLDR

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover that blockbuster Netflix deal to buy Warner Bros., or maybe not. Paramount Skydance has suddenly pounced with a bigger ‘hostile’ offer. Whoever wins could transform the streaming and media landscape dramatically. We also look at the AI bot that asks YOU questions, Claude Code coming to Slack, OpenAI’s Code Red, as well as all the latest from 3Advance.

🎬 Our Top Take

📱📵 Netflix – Deal with Warner Bros. Agreed Before Paramount Swoops In

If you spend a bit too much time on “Movie Twitter” or cinephile Reddit threads, as we do, you’ll know that there’s long been a sense among hardcore movie fans that streaming platforms represent a danger to cinema, mostly because movie runs in theaters are cut short. Thus, you could hear the howls when Netflix announced it was acquiring Warner Bros. and its assets for $82B. Despite Netflix’s promises to be a good custodian of ‘movie heritage,’ a lot of fans weren’t happy. But wait, there was another twist in the tale: Paramount Skydance then swooped in with a hostile takeover bid, going directly to the stockholders with a bigger offer worth $108B and change. This deal would also include assets excluded from the Netflix deal, such as CNN. Now, this is also political because President Trump already expressed coolness on the Netflix deal. And it just so happens that Jared Kushner, the President’s Son-in-Law, has a financing role with the Paramount bid. A report says that Paramount CEO David Ellison went to DC to promise President Trump that he would make changes to CNN, should his deal go through. We don’t think it's controversial to say Mr. Trump isn’t a fan of the channel. Anyway, it seems to be a case of watch this space, or watch what happens in Washington. #AreYouStillWatching Read more here. 

📲 App of the Week: Curious AI – Ask You Anything

We are accustomed to AI bots functioning as question-and-answer services: you ask the questions, and the bot provides the answers. Simple. But what if the script were flipped? Curious AI is programmed to fuel your creativity and sense of self-reflection by prompting you, not the other way around. Now, we should add some caveats here: It does not yet feel as competent or well-rounded as its mainstream competitors. But if you approach it as a prototype application, assuming it will iron out the creases eventually, you can appreciate that the idea is interesting. Curious AI – Ask You Anything is free (no ads), but you will be prompted for in-app purchases. Get it for Android here and iPhone here.

🧐 Stat of the Week: 25%

📈📉 Study – 1 in 4 UK Teens Have Turned to AI for Emotional Support

A study covering 11,000 minors across England and Wales has shown that one in four of those surveyed turn to chatbots for mental health support. It found, in particular, that victims of youth violence were more likely to reach out to a bot for help. While there are obvious drawbacks and criticisms of ChatGPT as your therapist, it’s important to note that the study suggests kids (ages 13-17) often choose a bot because there is no easy alternative. Mental health services are under serious strain across the UK. #AITherapy Read more here. 

🗞️ Other Stories

🤖🧑🏾‍💻 Claude – Claude Code Comes to Slack with Coding Support

In what TechCrunch calls a sign of a broader industry shift, Claude Code is the latest AI coding tool to be integrated into collaboration platforms, in this case, one of our favorite in-house tools, Slack. While a Claude application for Slack has been around for a while, the integration with Claude Code lets us tag @Claude to spin up coding sessions from our coding-related conversations on Slack, looking at our connected repos and coming back with suggested fixes or pull requests. Read about what this means for product development teams like ours here.

📍 Meanwhile at 3Advance

Want to do something good for the holidays? Well, here’s one for you. Our friends at the Freedom Forum (who we built Today’s Front Pages mobile apps for) are running a matching gift challenge! Celebrate this giving season with a contribution to help move us closer to an America where all people know, value and defend the five freedoms of the First Amendment. 🇺🇸