🌮 TLDR

Amazon has clicked its ruby slippers together and got its wish, completing the $8.5 billion acquisition of Hollywood icon, MGM. It’s a big deal in the Streaming Wars and a huge boost for Prime Video. Slack has delivered some improvements to its iPad app, and we are happy to report they’re great. DraftKings has some new NFTs lined up for March Madness basketball. What’s dAppening looks at how the NFT space is starting to consolidate with a big acquisition. And, one of our latest client’s has opened their app launch waitlist – check it out!

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🎬 Takes

🦁 🛒 Amazon — $8.5 Billion Acquisition of MGM Has Been Completed

Hey, wanna know how to make a statement in the increasingly competitive Streaming Wars? How about buying up the intellectual property of an iconic studio holding over 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV shows? Amazon Prime Video has just added a huge weapon to its armory. Yes, MGM is not the powerhouse that it was during Hollywood’s Golden Era (it’s actually been stuck with bankruptcy and creditor issues since 2010) but it still holds some of the valuable movie IP from its near-century in the business. James Bond, Rocky/Creed, Fargo, Robocop, The Silence of the Lambs, err… Legally Blonde – have all been mentioned – but MGM’s catalog stretches back through every stratum of American entertainment history. Don’t expect this to be just about getting classic movies as exclusive on Prime, although that will surely help it catch up with the market leader, Netflix. The consensus is that this could be huge long-term for Amazon Studios, which can reach back to MGM’s iconic IP and reboot it for modern audiences. A James Bond TV series, anyone? The deal was announced last May, but Amazon had to wait for approval from the EU, which it received last week, and the expiration date for the FTC to challenge, which also passed last week. Oh, and one last thing: This deal is of particular interest to us at 3Advance. We can’t say much more right now, but we hope to report on a very big and very exciting related project soon. #AmazonBuysMGM Read more here.

📱 🆕 Slack — iPad App Gets a Much-Needed Upgrade

We love Slack – it’s the internal tool we probably use the most at 3Advance. It makes us tick, connecting our teams regardless if they are in the office at 3Advance HQ in DC or working remotely. Everything, from the search features, integrations, notifications to the way the company conducts itself on social media (one of the best, in our book), gets a big green checkmark from us. But, boy, the iPad app could be a bit of a nightmare. So, thankfully, it’s getting a long-overdue upgrade. The changes are simple, we wouldn’t call them revolutionary, but very much needed: An upgraded sidebar with collapsible sections, allowing you to hide groups of channels; usernames will now have avatars in DMs, meaning you can identify them at a glance; there’s also more synchronization with the desktop app, keeping things a bit neater. Slack is also adding better accessibility, including support for Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader and Dynamic Type font-scaling (making stuff easier to read). The new iPad version of the Slack app is available for download now, and Slack has suggested that further improvements will be arriving this year 🙌. #SlackIPadUpgrade Read more here.

🏀 👑 Draft Kings — DFS & Sports Betting Brand Releases March Madness NFTs

DraftKings, the Boston-based online sports betting brand, knows a thing or two about how to gamify a sporting experience. After all, it made its name thanks to the daily fantasy sports boom. However, it now has a new angle for the March Madness basketball tournament – NFTs. DraftKings has announced its first in-house NFTs, the first of which were released for sale last Wednesday. Eight different batches of its College Hoops Collection will be released during the tournament, with varying price points (some as low as $10 per NFT) ensuring that they will be accessible to everyone. DraftKings will be hoping the NFTs, which also give holders “DK Dollars” to spend on the DraftKings platform, give it extra exposure during the tournament – one of the biggest betting events in the world. “A new opportunity to gamify the fan experience” is what they call the NFT release, and it joins a long list of sports organizations that are using NFTs to add an extra dimension to fandom. Last week, the Miami Heat also announced its own new NFT collection (its second major NFT release). The Miami Mashup collection was released exclusively on the FTX Marketplace (one of the NBA team’s sponsors). #NFTMarchMadness Read more here.

🧐 Stat of the Week — Over 61,000 Airbnbs Booked

Over the past few weeks, you’ve probably come across Ukraine donation appeals through many different mediums – checking out with PayPal, at a grocery store, and through crypto. But what about booking a night in an Airbnb that you don’t intend to stay in? Or by buying downloadable Etsy art? It might seem unconventional, but it’s proving popular. There’s a sense that booking Airbnbs is a means of direct giving, as the rentals company has waived fees and usually pays within 24 hours. However, some have been wondering whether this helps the right people. Experts say “there’s seemingly no completely ineffective way to help someone who is running from these issues”. Social media has made this war play out in real-time and many have been moved to donate and help in any way we can. #AirbnbUkraine Read more here.

🕸️ What’s dAppening?

⛵ 💰 Yuga Labs — Bored Ape Yacht Club Creator Acquires CryptoPunks, Meebits

“The first sign of the NFT space professionalizing and consolidating” is how The Verge reported on this acquisition, which sees Yuga Labs acquire CryptoPunks and Meebits NFTs from Larva Labs for an undisclosed fee. We couldn’t agree more: As with the exception of NBA’s Top Shot, the space has always seemed eccentric, even if that is by design. Nonetheless, we now have a situation where the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club now owns the most valuable NFT collection, CryptoPunks. So what does it intend to do with its newfound treasure? A lot, seemingly. Yuga Labs wants to use its IP to move into gaming, streetwear, events – and they are also teasing a Bored Ape metaverse. In short, it’s consolidating its presence in a growing market, which sounds like the grownup thing to do. While the cost of the acquisition was undisclosed, it still represents a big bet for Yuga Labs, particularly as the NFT market has been on a cooldown period for several months. Still, Yuga Labs is rumored to see some new investment, giving it an expected valuation of $5 billion. Not bad, given it was only founded in February 2021. #NFTsGrowUp Read more here.

Meanwhile at 3Advance…

We’ve been working hard on a new project that we are really excited about. There’s about to be a new app on the block 👀! TriAxle is a revolutionary platform for connecting contractors all over the country. Launching this year, TriAxle aims to provide the construction industry with a powerful tool to maximize efficiency and help users build a network that fosters future business opportunities. Our team has been busy writing user stories, doing research, designing TriAxle’s branding and starting to build the native mobile apps. 📱 If you or someone you know will dig ⛏️ this app, check out TriAxle’s website and get on the waiting list so you’re in the loop on updates and app launch timelines. 🏗️