The Texas-based company said hackers accessed applicants’ SSNs and financial information
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Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has closed its inaugural European fund at €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion), through which it plans to take equity stakes in mid-sized software companies across the continent. Europe has no shortage of homegrown venture capital (VC) funds — the likes of Atomico and Cherry Ventures have closed early and growth-stage funds […]
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Microsoft has started testing a free version of Office for Windows that includes ads. Right now, you have to pay for a monthly Microsoft 365 subscription to get access to the full desktop version of Office, but Microsoft has been quietly testing an ad-supported version in certain countries.
Beebom first noticed that the ad-supported version of Office for Windows appeared in India recently, allowing Windows users to access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office apps without the Microsoft 365 subscription fee.
“Microsoft has been conducting some limited testing. Currently, there are no plans to launch a free, ad-supported version of Microsoft Office desktop apps,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to PCWorld. While Microsoft claims this is limited testing, the company has specifically engineered its Office apps to now work on Windows with ads, so we may well see this version appear in more markets eventually.
The ad-supported version of Office includes banners that are permanently visible at the side, as well as 15-second video ads that play every few hours, according to Beebom. Microsoft also forces users of this free version of Office to store documents in OneDrive, with support for local file storage disabled.
Microsoft currently only offers free versions of Office on the web, so you have to use a browser to access far more limited versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This test version of Office for Windows doesn’t include the full features of the apps, either. Word is missing drawing and design tools, line spacing, and more. The free version of Excel doesn’t support add-ins, pivot tables, or macros. PowerPoint is also missing support for dictation, custom slide shows, and other features.
Microsoft first started testing bundling AI-powered Office features into its Microsoft 365 subscriptions in a small number of countries before rolling out the changes worldwide with price increases.
I’ve never reviewed a perfect product, but Logitech’s Powerplay Wireless Charging System comes close. For over three years and counting, I’ve never even had to think about charging my wireless mouse. It’s so dead simple, it feels like magic, and it’s a shame that most people probably can’t afford it at $120.
The good news: Logitech is releasing a new $100 version in March, called the Powerplay 2, and it’s just as easy to set up. Plug in mousepad, snap a magnetic “Charging Coin” into the base of your mouse, then put mouse on mousepad to continuously charge.
The bad news: It’s only $20 cheaper, yet it feels like Logitech made its mousepad more than $20 cheaper to hit that goal.
The mousepad does come with improvements. Logitech boasts it has a 15 percent wider charging area and is thinner at just 3.5mm, and that’s what I see with my review unit. Now, as long as the entirety of my G502 Lightspeed mouse is resting within any corner of the mousepad, the charging indicator lights up, which wasn’t quite true of the original. My calipers do read 3.5mm when I’m measuring the charging base and its thin fabric mousing surface together.
But my calipers also show the charging base is exactly the same 2.7mm thickness as before, and the old mousepad wasn’t all that much thicker: just 4.3mm in total before vs. 3.5mm in total now, a difference I do not feel. And do you leave your mouse all the way at the corners of your mousepad? Again, I’ve spent over three years charging this mouse on the old mousepad without even thinking about it. I never bother to reposition my mouse on my old Powerplay to make sure it’s charging; I just drop it when I’m done using it, and I’ve never once run out of charge.
What do we lose with the Powerplay 2? First, while Logitech has ditched the old micro-USB cable, we’re not getting USB-C. Instead, Logitech’s opted for a fixed cable, so I can’t as easily take the mousepad off my desk on days I need more space there.
The big one: there’s no more wireless mouse receiver built into the Powerplay 2, a feature I found handy with the original. Now, my mouse requires two full-size USB ports instead of one because I still have to leave the mouse’s dongle plugged into my PC, too. I can’t leave the dongle stowed in the mouse for grab-and-go travel, and I can’t leave it in my laptop and switch between laptop and desktop anymore by turning the mouse on and off and yanking the Powerplay’s plug.
There’s also no more programmable RGB light inside the Logitech G logo. I don’t terribly miss that, since I don’t sync up gamer lights. But the dull black Logitech G feels cheaper; before, the RGB was at least a nice reassuring reminder that my mousepad was properly receiving USB power and ready for action.
And, while I do like the new thinner mousepad that comes with the Powerplay 2, which looks like it might not delaminate from its backing as easily as the original (it’s the one piece of my Powerplay that has deteriorated over the past three years), the original Powerplay came with two mousepads (one hard, one cloth) in the box. Now, you get the one.
(Also, just as FYI, the new Powerplay 2 charging coin doesn’t seem to work with the original pad and vice versa. You can’t mix and match those parts.)
I tried hard to get Logitech to show me more benefits, because the original’s one of my favorite products. Perhaps this one’s so much easier for Logitech to produce that it’ll offer some great discounts, or sell amazing bundles after launch? Or perhaps that 15 percent larger charging area will come in handy for possible additional supercapacitor mice that’d react worse than battery mice if they aren’t getting reliably fed, though the current supercap G309 seems to work fine with the original Powerplay in my early tests.
Logitech wouldn’t comment on future supercap products, wouldn’t hint at sales, and wouldn’t promise its own bundles — though Logitech does “anticipate retailers will be offering bundles shortly after launch,” according to Logitech senior global marketing manager Andrew Siminoff.
The original Powerplay is no longer in stock at major retailers, so I expect it will soon fetch a premium price on eBay. But the Powerplay 2 still seems like a good product that achieves the core goal. Fingers crossed that come Black Friday, we’ll be able to buy a combo pack with it and Logitech’s cheapest compatible mouse — that G309 — for under $100 in total.
The Powerplay 2 should be available on Amazon and Logitech’s site on March 11th.
Disney has had a tumultuous run since Bob Iger’s return as the company’s CEO, which came just two years after he handed the reins over to Bob Chapek. Iger has since worked to undo some of Chapek’s changes as the company contends with a streaming-focused future.
Iger has big plans for the future of Disney and has already combined the Disney Plus and Hulu apps for bundle subscribers in the US. Disney is also gearing up to launch a streaming-only version of ESPN that will exist in addition to a new live sports streaming partnership with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Outside of streaming, Iger is hoping to boost Disney’s slate of films and reinvigorate interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But with Iger’s contract set to expire in 2026, a lot remains unclear about what’s next for the future of Disney. Here are all the major changes Iger has made so far.
In the midst of the retail media network boom over the past two years, retailers including Walmart, Amazon and Target, have increasingly started trying to monetize their creator networks and affiliate programs, according to six agency retail media executives Digiday spoke with for this piece. RMN execs see those monetization efforts as a play to take in more ad revenue, especially the brand marketing dollars retailers have spent the last year vying for.
These tactics are formalizing their respective influencer programs as the demand for influencer marketing grows — even as RMNs still face challenges in incremental measurement. Notably, influencer marketing has become a vital part of the media mix with marketing spend in the U.S. influencer marketing ecosystem expected to reach $9.29 billion this year, per eMarketer.
“The impact creators and influencers are having on marketing strategies can’t be ignored, and retail media networks are well aware of the potential,” David MacDonald, evp and head of retail and commerce experience at marketing agency Razorfish, said in an emailed statement to Digiday.
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Despite all the fragmentation in the space, despite the political uncertainty, despite the inconsistent and ever-changing algorithms, social media remains an irreplaceable piece of brands’ and retailers’ marketing strategies. And within those strategies, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms remain the examples of social marketing success.
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Two years after YouTube launched the YouTube Shorts revenue share program in February 2023, creators are finding that their payouts for short-form content are still dwarfed by the ad revenue they can glean from long-form videos.
Six creators who have traditionally focused on long-form content told Digiday that their RPMs (revenue earned per 1,000 views) for YouTube Shorts were consistently beneath $0.20, compared to average RPMs of between $3 and $6 for their long-form content. It’s worth noting that long-form YouTube videos can carry multiple ads, which would help to boost a video’s RPM, whereas YouTube Shorts revenue is shared among creators based on viewership.
“This month, I had an idea for a long-form video, worked on it all night, and after being live for one week, it had made more money than an entire months’ worth of shorts,” said the “Magic: The Gathering” video creator Maldhound, who asked to keep his real name private to protect his personal information. He told Digiday that his average RPM for 20-to-30-minute long-form videos was roughly $5.50, compared to an average RPM of $0.18 for Shorts.
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In January, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission finalized an updated version of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. And for as much attention as the update may have received, it probably merits more.
“It is a big deal. And I think because there’s been so much other activity in the news, people haven’t really paid attention to it,” Debbie Reynolds, a privacy expert and founder, CEO and chief data privacy officer at Debbie Reynolds Consulting, said on the latest Digiday Podcast episode.
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Marketers have begun to turn back toward brand-building strategies in recent months. But that doesn’t mean they’re totally abandoning the ideas underpinning performance marketing.
One sign that’s the case is the rise of alt-measurement companies like System1, iSpot and EDO, each of which offers solutions that promise to help marketers track the impact of brand creative. Their testing solutions are used to optimize — and ultimately justify — the media and creative budgets put aside by advertisers for TV tentpole events like the Super Bowl.
Despite the turn back toward “market-leading creative” by brands such as Kimberly-Clark and Nike, marketing budgets across the industry have shrunk in recent years. Gartner’s 2024 CMO survey found that on average, marketing budgets represented 7.7% of overall company revenue, down from 10.5% in 2019. In short, marketers are pursuing brand-building strategies with weaker hands than they’ve had in previous years.
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Today (Feb. 25) marks the half-way point of the 75-day extension TikTok was afforded by President Trump.
While a lot’s happened over the past month, the entertainment platform still doesn’t seem any closer to knowing its fate in the U.S.
Which is why Digiday has checked in on the platform to see exactly where it’s at right now, with just 37 days left to go until the deadline.
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The marketing playbook continues to be rewritten. In an increasingly fragmented cultural landscape, that reevaluation is coming to celebrity partnerships which has marketers rethinking who they partner with and how.
Take Nike’s new partnership with Kim Kardashian, on a new women’s activewear brand called NikeSkims. The New York Times’ likened it to that of Michael Jordan and Nike, which long has been seen as the creme de la creme of brand partnerships and celebrity endorsements as it allowed Nike to not only enter a new market (basketball) but to cement its brand within culture. Could Kardashian’s shape wear brand be the next?
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