According to Bloomberg, Netflix's pre-recorded call to shareholders announcing its third-quarter results gives us another glimpse at how successful Squid Game was. Around 142 million households worldwide watched the Korean-language show about debt—ridden individuals playing a deadly game for a cash prize worth tens of millions of dollars. That makes it the most-viewed new show in Netflix history, the publication said. 

Squid Game captured the "cultural zeitgeist" and claimed the number 1 spot in the streaming giant's rankings in 94 countries, including the US, Netflix has revealed. Since there's a huge demand for all things Squid Game, Netflix has also announced that consumer products based on the show are now on their way to retail. 

A few days ago, Bloombergobtained documents detailing the company's scores for "impact value" and "efficiency." Netflix has been pretty secretive on the metrics that make a title successful or not, and the documents showed how it measures series' and movies' success. Squid Game was a standout, generating $891.1 million in impact value, which is around 41.7 times — that's its efficiency score — its budget of $21.4 million.

Thanks in part to Squid Game's massive viewership, Netflix said it posted its best subscriber growth of the year. "As the quarter continued, we saw an acceleration in our growth," Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann said on the call. It welcomed 4.38 million subscribers in the third quarter, mostly from Asia and Europe, and it expects to get 8.5 million more customers in the final quarter of 2021.

Facebook is rebranding and changing its company name as soon as next week, according to The Verge. Apparently, the social media giant will have a new name that will reflect its focus on creating a metaverse. It's also possibly connected to its unreleased social virtual reality world called Horizon Worlds. The social network itself will likely retain the Facebook branding and will be under a new parent company, along with Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus. That would be similar to what Google did in 2015 when it put its various projects and divisions, along with itself, under its parent company Alphabet.

The Verge says the name change is a closely guarded secret at the moment and not even all senior leaders have knowledge about it. Mark Zuckerberg has long talked about wanting to make Facebook a metaverse company and has been taking steps towards that goal. Earlier this year, Facebook formed a team dedicated to building a metaverse, and just a few days ago, it talked about adding 10,000 "high-skilled" jobs across the European Union over the next five years to build its virtual and augmented reality experiences. It also released the Ray-Ban Stories augmented reality smart glasses in September.

We reached out to Facebook for a statement, and company spokesperson Joe Osborne said: "We don’t comment on rumor or speculation."

It's unclear how long Facebook been has planning on changing its name, but it's certainly a good distraction for the investigations it's facing and the bad press it's currently getting. Former executive-turned-whisleblower Frances Haugen provided the Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission with a treasure trove of internal documents, dropped several revelations about the company and accused it of choosing "profit over safety" — something Zuckerberg adamantly denied. 

In early October, she testified at a Senate hearing about research she says proves that the social network repeatedly lied about its platform, including the "efficacy of its artificial intelligence systems, and its role in spreading divisive and extreme messages." Haugen has several ideas on what Facebook should change, but none of them has anything to do with changing its name. They include going back to chronological feeds from algorithmic ranking, adding some features that would prevent the spread of misinformation and opening Facebook research to people outside the company. 

It took years, but Instagram will finally let you create posts from the desktop web. The social network is issuing a flurry of updates that will culminate on October 21st, when users worldwide will have the option of posting photos and short videos (under one minute) from their computer browser. That's helpful if you'd rather not reach for your phone, of course, but it could be particularly useful for businesses and enthusiasts that want to make better use of their expensive cameras.

There are plenty of updates for mobile users, too. A Collabs test feature available today (October 19th) lets two people co-author posts and Reels. You just have to invite someone else from the tagging screen to get them involved. Followers for both users will see the post, and it'll even share views, likes and comments. It's safe to say this could be valuable for everything from superstar team-ups to sponsored posts.

Another test coming on October 20th will let you start nonprofit fundraisers right from the new post button, simplifying charity efforts. Everyone will see new music-driven Reels effects on October 21st, including Superbeat (special effects in sync with the beat) and Dynamic Lyrics (3D lyrics that flow with the track). They're not as flashy as the other additions, but they may help you focus on sharing content rather than editing it.

When Artiphon launched its $99 Orba musical instrument, we found it to be an "idiotproof" device that lets creative in your spare time, while offering more depth for those willing to explore. The main thing missing was social and sharing functions, that has now been rectified with the Orbacam iOS app that "expands the Orba instrument into a creative multimedia studio," the company said. 

The idea is that you can use the app to lay down multilayer loops, then create a music video around the track with "musically reactive" visual effects. Those include color augmentation, pixelation, pulsing effects and more. You can add those effects to images or video, with the result being shareable musical "selfies" or videos that sync with whatever loops or music you're playing on Orba. 

You can jump between Drum, Bass, Chord and Lead Modes, and the sounds and visual effects are built into the video export, "no audio routing or post-production required." You can also sing or rap into your phone's microphone, shoot video while you play live, or important camera roll videos or photos. 

The company notes that the app makes it possible to marry sound and video, but rather than just "pasting someone else's song on your video... people can create musical videos that are entirely their own." The app is now available as a free download for Orba users.

A part of Donald Trump's campaign website looked different than usual until Monday morning. Its "action" subdomain, which usually houses his calls to action, contained a Turkish message instead. "Do not be like those who forgot Allah, so Ally made them forget themselves. Here they really went astray," the message in Turkish said, according to Newsweek. The page also contained a video embed of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as well as a link to the hacker's Instagram and Facebook pages.

A hacker calling themselves RootAyyildiz has claimed responsibility for the defacement — and for many others in the past. The National Intelligence Council released a report earlier this year linking them to the defacement of Biden-Harris' presidential campaign website, as well. Back then, Biden's website showed a message in Turkish, the country's flag and a photo of the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid II. 

RootAyyildiz told Motherboard that they used a technique called Server Side Template Injection (SSTI) to inject their own code into the site's template and that they had control of the site for three months. According to Forbes, references to RootAyyildiz first appeared on the website on October 9th, at the latest. The hacker added in a statement to Motherboard: "There are many areas of hacking attacks, for example, hacking social media accounts or websites, I am a hacktivist and I have been working on websites for a long time and I choose this management to have my voice heard." 

Before the US Presidential Elections last year, hackers were also able to gain control of Trump's website. They replaced its About page with a message threatening to discredit the then-POTUS by sharing incriminating data. 

Disney has shaken up its movie release calendar, with several Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks being delayed. The revamped schedule, which Variety reports is due to a production-related snowball effect, affects the slate for 2022 and beyond, and it will have a knock-on effect on Disney+.

All of the MCU films Disney had on the docket for 2022 have been pushed to a later slot. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was penciled in for March 25th, but now it's taking Thor: Love and Thunder's old date of May 6th. The next Thor movie will arrive on July 8th, in turn pushing back Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to November 11th.

The schedule shifts mean there will only be three Marvel movies next year instead of the planned four, as Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels now has a release date of February 17th, 2023. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has moved from that date to July 28th, 2023. On the flip side, Disney brought one mystery Marvel movie (hopefully Guardians of the Galaxy 3) forward by a week from November 10th, 2023.

Elsewhere, the next Indiana Jones movie has been delayed by 11 months. You'll need to wait until June 30th, 2023 for Harrison Ford's fifth stint as the iconic archeologist. Ford sustained an injury while filming this summer, though he's now back in action. A live-action Disney movie, a 20th Century film and two Marvel flicks (all untitled) have been removed from the 2023 schedule. 

Remarkably, given how many times the film has been delayed over the years, Disney hasn't shifted Avatar 2's release date. It's still on the schedule for December 16th, 2022.

It remains to be seen what impact these changes will have on Disney+. For the rest of 2021, Disney has committed to an exclusive theatrical window for its films before they're available to stream, but it hasn't divulged how things will work in 2022 and beyond.

The company adopted a simultaneous release strategy for some of its movies over the last year or so amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Mulan, Raya and the Last Dragon, Cruella and Black Widow requiring a $30 Premier Access pass for early access on Disney+. Disney's decision to let viewers stream Black Widow at home on the same day it hit theaters prompted a now-settled lawsuit from star Scarlett Johansson. Pixar movies Soul and Luca went straight to streaming as part of regular Disney+ subscriptions in some countries.

Elsewhere, some MCU shows on Disney+, such as Loki and Hawkeye, tie into the theatrical movies. As such, the scheduling of future series might be impacted by the overhauled theatrical slate.

Netflix has always closely guarded the exact streaming metrics that may reveal why programs are considered a success... or cancelled. That black box cracked open a bit with documents obtained by Bloomberg detailing the company's scores for "impact value" and "efficiency." An example of that is Squid Game, which generated $891.1 million in impact value on a budget of just $21.4 million for an efficiency of 41.7X, according to Bloomberg's latest report. 

The documents first came to light with Dave Chappelle's controversial special after the company fired an employee for supposedly leaking confidential information about the show's viewing data. (That employee reportedly spoke out against leaks to colleagues, according to The Verge.) Those metrics revealed that Chapelle's previous special, Sticks & Stones, generated slightly less impact value than it cost to make, according to Bloomberg.

Other figures showed that around 132 million people watched at least two minutes of Squid Game in the first 23 days, beating a record set by Bridgerton. Netflix occasionally releases similar information for certain shows, but it doesn't disclose how many people stuck with or finished shows — which can often inflate figures compared to typical TV ratings. 

According to Bloomberg, however, Netflix estimated that 89 percent of people who started Squid Game watched at least 75 minutes, or more than one episode, and 87 million people finished it in the first 23 days (66 percent). Viewers watched 1.4 billion hours of the show in total. 

An attorney representing Netflix told Bloomberg that it would not be appropriate to disclose confidential data contained in documents it reviewed. "Netflix does not discuss these metrics outside the company and takes significant steps to protect them from disclosure," the attorney said. 

If Facebook is going to become a "metaverse company," it's going to need talent — and more of that talent is on the horizon. The social network has unveiled plans to add 10,000 "high-skilled" jobs across the European Union over five years to build its virtual and augmented reality experiences. The recruiting drive will hire workers in countries including France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

Facebook characterized the move as a "vote of confidence" in the European tech sector. It has a large customer base, of course, but the social media company also pointed to bleeding-edge teams in multiple fields as well as "first class" university education. Facebook even touted the EU's "leading" policies on issues like freedom of speech, privacy and transparency despite the firm's run-ins with regulators.

The tech giant already has a Reality Labs office in Cork, Ireland, and has opened an AI research lab in France. In 2019, Facebook partnered with the Technical University of Munich to create an AI ethics research center.

As with many jobs announcements, this is as much a public relations move as it is a practical investment. It may 'remind' the EU of Facebook's economic contribution and influence relevant policies. Nonetheless, the move hints at the long-term scale of the metaverse transition — Facebook is changing its overall direction, not just shuffling a few resources.

Shooting for the first feature-length movie in space has wrapped. Space.comreports Russian actress Yulia Pereslid, producer Klim Shipenko and cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy have returned to Earth after the first two spent 12 days filming their movie The Challenge aboard the International Space Station. The three left the ISS in a Soyuz spacecraft at 9:14PM Eastern on October 16th and landed in Kazakhstan just a few hours later, at 12:35AM.

Pereslid and Shipenko arrived on October 5th through an agreement between the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the TV network Channel One and the production studio Yellow, Black and White. Novitskiy had been there since April 9th as part of his regular duties, although he also played a key role — the movie has Pereslid play a surgeon who makes an emergency visit to the ISS to operate on the cosmonaut.

The filming required significant sacrifices for some of the ISS crew. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov were originally slated to return aboard the Soyuz capsule, but both have had their stays extended by six months to accommodate the film producers. Vande Hei will set a record for the longest spaceflight by a US astronaut as a result, spending exactly one year in orbit. Pereslid also broke ground as the first professional actor to visit space, beating William Shatner by roughly a week.

It will be a while before The Challenge is ready to watch, and it's safe to say the production is aimed primarily at a Russian audience. It's a major milestone for private uses of space, though, and hints at a future when Tom Cruise and other stars are frequently blasting off to produce shows in orbit.

Netflix has fired an employee, alleging they shared confidential, commercially sensitive information about Dave Chappelle's new standup special, The Closer, with media outlets, Variety reported. 

The employee is accused of leaking data that appeared in Bloomberg about how much Netflix paid for a handful of shows and standup specials, including The Closer and previous Chappelle contracts. According to Bloomberg, Netflix spent $24.1 million on The Closer, compared with $23.6 million for his 2019 show, and just $3.9 million for Bo Burnham's Emmy-winning special Inside. Squid Game, the biggest series debut in Netflix history, cost the company $21.4 million, the report said.

“We understand this employee may have been motivated by disappointment and hurt with Netflix, but maintaining a culture of trust and transparency is core to our company," the company said in a statement to Variety.

Netflix employees and external equality groups — including GLADD and the National Black Justice Coalition — have called for The Closer to be removed from the streaming service, arguing it contains hateful transphobic and homophobic rhetoric. In the special, Chappelle doubles down on his previous transphobic comments and defends the bigotry of anti-trans feminist JK Rowling. As of now, the special is still available on Netflix.

"With 2021 on track to be the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States — the majority of whom are Black transgender people — Netflix should know better," David Johns, executive director of the NBJC, said to CNN. "Perpetuating transphobia perpetuates violence. Netflix should immediately pull The Closer from its platform and directly apologize to the transgender community."

Netflix executives have said little publicly about the controversy, though CEO Ted Sarandos reportedly said in an internal memo that The Closer was too popular to remove.

The fired employee was a leader of the company's internal trans resource group, and was helping to organize a walkout in protest of Netflix's handling of the Chappelle special, The Verge reported. The walkout is planned for October 20th. The former employee is Black and pregnant, and actually spoke out against leaks with colleagues, arguing that they could hurt the walkout, according to The Verge.

Earlier this month, Netflix suspended a trans software engineer who tweeted her disapproval of the Chappelle special. The employee was reinstated a day later and Netflix said the suspension was due to an unrelated matter.