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YouTube tests letting ad bans be appealed by filming a YouTube video

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YouTube is experimenting with a new program that will allow creators whose ad privileges have been revoked to appeal the company’s decision using “short videos.” A review team will allow creators with demonetized channels to send in a video that discusses their channel’s content and explains their “creative process,” according to an email posted on a popular subreddit. The review team will then make an assessment within seven days about whether monetization should be reinstated, the email states. A spokesperson for YouTube confirmed the pilot program to The Verge. Creators will be able to submit the video and appeal the decision immediately, instead of abiding by the current policy and having to wait 30 days. The goal for reviewers who watch the video is to make a more informed decision about whether the channel and content should be allowed to run ads.  As someone who suffered a great deal with demonetization months ago (is fixed now), this is huge,” one creator wrote on Reddit. “Ma
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Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell is leaving the company after seven years

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Nate Mitchell, one of the co-founders of Oculus VR and one of the last few remaining public faces of the company, is leaving after seven years of helping to build the virtual reality company. Mitchell made the announcement this morning on the Oculus subreddit, writing that he’s “taking time to travel, be with family, and recharge.” Mitchell’s last title at the company was head of VR product at Facebook, a change made in November of last year that was just the latest sign that Oculus was slowly but surely being more formally absorbed into its parent company. Prior to that, Mitchell was the head of Rift at Oculus, while other parts of the company focused on lower-end VR options like the standalone Go headset and the newly released Quest. His longest job at Oculus, however, was head of product, and Mitchell was instrumental in shaping the early years of the company’s road map toward the commercial launch of the first Rift headset in 2016.  Beyond his job as a product visionary, Mit
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CBS and Viacom are merging to become ViacomCBS

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CBS is merging with Viacom after months of negotiations, reuniting the two companies for the first time since they split in 2005. The deal will increase CBS’s content offering to customers — a growing importance as the streaming wars heat up. The company will be rebranded to ViacomCBS, according to a press release, with Bob Bakish, the current CEO of Viacom, becoming CEO of both companies under the merger. It will take months for the actual deal to close, with Joe Ianniello, acting CEO of CBS, set to report to Bakish into 2021, according to Bloomberg. The merger was approved in a unanimous vote by both boards. The move means the company is sitting at a value of roughly $30 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Today marks an important day for CBS and Viacom, as we unite our complementary assets and capabilities and become one of only a few companies with the breadth and depth of content and reach to shape the future of our industry,” Bakish said in a press release. “Our u
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Pete Buttigieg rolls out $80 billion plan to improve rural broadband

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On Tuesday, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released a new economic policy plan for rural America that includes a multibillion-dollar broadband initiative and a pledge to fight for public internet options. As part of the South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s $80 billion “Internet For All” initiative, he promises to expand internet access to unserved and underserved communities across the country within his first term in office. In areas where there is little to no competition among broadband providers, Buttigieg says that his administration would seek to create a public option for broadband, something he hopes would patch the huge service gaps and drive down prices across the country. “Where companies have not provided coverage or it is unaffordable,” the policy paper says, “his Administration will fight to create a public option to compete with these companies and make access affordable for communities being left behind.” Major broadband providers like Verizon and Co
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Apple and Spotify are reportedly in talks to let Siri play your Discover Weekly

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Apple and Spotify are in talks about potentially enabling Siri to play songs, albums, and playlists from the leading subscription music service. A new report from The Information confirms that Spotify would be taking advantage of new capabilities that Apple is introducing in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, which allow other apps to be on equal footing with Apple Music when making music requests through the company’s Siri voice assistant. If Spotify takes advantage of the new tools, you’ll be able to play music without having to open the app on your iPhone or iPad. The integration could be a sign of progress between two companies that have butted heads to a more heated degree than ever before over the last year. In March, Spotify filed an antitrust complaint with the EU that accused Apple of disadvantaging third-party services that compete with its own apps. Among other gripes (such as Apple’s subscription tax), Spotify pointed to hands-free Siri compatibility as one convenient feature that Apple
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Apple’s tap-to-use student IDs let pupils buy food and badge into their dorms

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Today’s college students rely on their ID cards for almost everything, including using them to get into the gym or to buy the cafeteria’s beloved turkey-avocado sandwich. That means losing their ID can make navigating campus difficult, and cards can be a pain to replace. Now, Apple has a way for students to integrate their ID cards into their iPhones and Apple Watches so they can buy a sandwich without the need for their physical card. Apple is expanding the program to 12 universities so more students can use the technology. The expansion comes as Apple builds more uses for Apple Pay and Wallet, including last week’s launch of the Apple Card and a test that lets commuters use Apple Pay at some bus and subway stations in New York City’s MTA. Apple wants to encourage users to adopt Apple’s payment services and, in doing so, have more difficulty leaving Apple’s walled garden. Apple said in July that iPhone sales are now less than half of Apple’s revenue, so the company needs its gro
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Electric moped startup Revel expands into Washington, DC

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Electric moped sharing startup Revel is expanding beyond New York City and into Washington, DC. Starting this weekend, Revel’s mopeds (which are more like speed-limited electric motor scooters, since they don’t have pedals) will be available to rent and ride in the capital city as part of a four-month pilot program. Revel says it will roll out 400 of its mopeds in DC, almost half as many as the 1,000 currently on the streets of Brooklyn and Queens. Pricing will be the same as it is in New York City. It costs $19 to sign up, the bulk of which Revel says goes to verifying each user’s driver’s license and history. Each ride costs $1 to start, and $0.25 per minute. Rides can be “paused” if the user wants to, say, run an errand and not have someone else nab the moped. That drops the price to $0.10 per minute.  Each of Revel’s mopeds (which are made by Chinese company NIU) comes with two helmets. Drivers have to be 21 to use the service, and up to two people can ride at a time. The mop
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