Spotify will allow parents to check their kids' listening history, block content

Spotify Kids gives parents more control over what their children listen to on the app. Parents can view their kids' listening history and block content. 

The feature is accessible through the "Grown Ups" section of the app. From there, you can select which child's account history to view. It will show every track your kid is listening to for the past three months. 

Click to read more ...

'Percy Jackson' book series is being developed into a TV series for Disney+

Logan Lerman plays Percy in 'Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters' (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox)

Fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will have new content to watch for and be excited over. The book series' author Rick Riordan, together with his wife Becky, announced on Twitter that a new series based on the books is in the early stages of development for Disney+. He said in a follow-up statement, "We can't say much more at this stage but we are very excited about the idea of a live-action series of the highest quality, following the storyline of the original Percy Jackson five-book series, starting with The Lightning Thief in season one. Rest assured that Becky & I will be involved in person in every aspect of the show."

Percy Jackson books follow Percy's adventures, who is a demigod that discovers he's the son of a human mother and the Greek god Poseidon. The books The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters were turned into feature films by 20th Century Fox, which was acquired by Disney last year. But so far, there's no indication that those involved in the movies are part of the series.

Source: Variety

Ridley Scott signs multi-year TV deal with Apple

Prolific producer Ridley Scott and his Scott Free Productions company signed a multi-year, first-look TV deal with Apple. They will be developing new projects for Apple TV+. This partnership won't be Scott's first time working with the tech giant. He once directed the famed "1984" commercial for the company's first Macintosh computer. This new Apple deal ends his years-long overall deal with CBS TV Studios. According to The Hollywood Reporter's sources, the Apple deal is valued in the high-seven-figure range.

Scott Free has developed a lot of renowned TV shows, including CBS' The Good Wife, CBS All Access spinoff The Good Fight, Amazon's The Man in the High Castle, and AMC's The Terror. They've also done films like Top Gun, Gladiator, and The Martian.

Facebook acquires Giphy, reportedly for US$400 million

Facebook has acquired GIF-sharing service Giphy and plans to make it part of the Instagram team. Facebook didn't reveal how much it paid for to buy Giphy, but Axios reports that it's priced at around US$400 million. Giphy is expected to keep its branding, but it'll be primarily integrated into Instagram. GIFs are prevalent and used heavily in Instagram Stories, so having more access to a GIF-sharing service could work in Facebook's favour. We might expect to see it more integrated into other Facebook services as well.

Source: Engadget