Fortnite is getting a Disney universe made by Epic Games | Digital Trends

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Epic Games is partnering with Disney to create “an all-new games and entertainment universe” that’s compatible with Fortnite.

Announced Wednesday afternoon — at the same time as it was announced that ESPN would be available as a standalone subscription in 2025 —  this partnership follows a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games by Disney. They companies now plan to work together over several years to create this experience connected to Fortnite, which Disney says will “offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more.”

This announcement comes in the wake of Lego Fortnite’s success last year, which proved that full-on games like it, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival could exist within what was once primarily a battle royale game. From what Epic Games and Disney are saying, it looks like this Disney game will be the most expansive project in this vein yet.

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11 Tips For Increasing Customer Engagement | The Startup Magazine

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Customer engagement strategies encourage businesses to provide a positive experience that will encourage buyers to return by focusing on how you interact with your customers online and offline. Building an effective customer engagement strategy can create a substantial impact on your business. While well-built strategies can help boost retention and customer experience, negative ones can become counterproductive. Here are some proven tips to increase your business customer engagement. Create an omnichannel experience

Omnichannel experiences require offering a seamless and consistent customer experience across all your platforms. It allows a user to start one interaction and easily switch to another without disruptions. Creating an omnichannel experience is a great way to enhance the customer customer journey, as personalizing your customer service and building good relationships becomes easy. Allowing buyers to engage with your company on multiple fronts can increase repeat transactions. Studies show businesses with this strategy are able to retain 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for brands that lack proper retention strategies.

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What is Wrongful Termination? The Basics You Need to Know | The Startup Magazine

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Wrongful termination, which you might also hear referred to as wrongful dismissal or unfair dismissal, is a relatively common workplace issue. It refers to when an employer terminates an employee’s contract without providing a fair or legal reason for their decision.

Every employee should understand wrongful termination to identify if and when they need to take action if their employee fires them. An employee may need professional help for wrongful termination issues if they are unable to resolve the issue with their employer directly.

In this article, we’re going to cover the basics of wrongful termination so you know how to identify it and what to do if you’re a victim of unfair dismissal.

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Snap to lay off ‘approximately’ 10% of its staff | BBC

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Social media giant Snap, which operates Snapchat, has announced plans to cut “approximately” 10% of its staff.

The firm said in November 2023 it had 5,000 employees, suggesting around 500 people are facing redundancy.

It comes a day before Snap reports its fourth-quarter results – having reported a net loss of $368m (£294m) in the previous quarter in October 2023.

Snapchat said the move would “reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration”.

“We are focused on supporting our departing team members and we are very grateful for their hard work and many contributions to Snap,” a spokesperson told the BBC.

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McDonald’s sales dented by Israel-Gaza boycotts | BBC

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McDonald’s has missed a key sales target, partly due to customers boycotting the firm for its perceived support of Israel.

The fast food chain reported its first quarterly sales miss in nearly four years due to weak growth in its international business division.

Its boss previously acknowledged the impact of the conflict, blaming “misinformation”.

Shares in McDonald’s fell about 4% after the announcement.

McDonalds is one of several Western corporations including Starbucks and Coca Cola that have seen boycotts and protests against them by anti-Israeli campaigners.

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Deal Dive: It’s time for VCs to break up with fast fashion | TechCrunch

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Fast fashion is an industry ensnared in labor issues and copyright problems, and it has an immense environmental impact due to its wastewater and carbon emissions. It also happens to have the potential to make a lot of money, fast.

But despite all these issues, VCs won’t stop loving the sector.

On Wednesday, my colleague Manish Singh wrote a scoop about a potential Accel investment into Newme, a fast-fashion startup based in India. Newme is an app-based retailer that produces 500 new items a week with an average price tag of $10. This news comes just a week after the company closed a seed round.

Accel and Newme did not respond to requests for comment.

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This Week in AI: Do shoppers actually want Amazon’s GenAI? | TechCrunch

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Keeping up with an industry as fast-moving as AI is a tall order. So until an AI can do it for you, here’s a handy roundup of recent stories in the world of machine learning, along with notable research and experiments we didn’t cover on their own.

This week, Amazon announced Rufus, an AI-powered shopping assistant trained on the e-commerce giant’s product catalog as well as information from around the web. Rufus lives inside Amazon’s mobile app, helping with finding products, performing product comparisons and getting recommendations on what to buy.

From broad research at the start of a shopping journey such as ‘what to consider when buying running shoes?’ to comparisons such as ‘what are the differences between trail and road running shoes?’ … Rufus meaningfully improves how easy it is for customers to find and discover the best products to meet their needs,” Amazon writes in a blog post.

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Developing Trust: Utilising Your Ultimate Business Asset | Getentrepreneurial.com

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In today’s blog post, we’re going to explore the ultimate business resource: trust. If I were to ask you what the most valuable asset in your business is, what would you say? Over the years, I’ve posed this question to numerous business professionals, and while the answers vary, the common thread that emerges is trust.

Consider this: if you responded with “my product or service,” what ultimately drives people to choose and consume it? No matter how impressive or innovative your offering may be, if customers don’t trust that it will deliver on its promises, its value diminishes significantly. Likewise, if your answer revolves around yourself, your skills, or your knowledge, trust plays a crucial role. Without trust in you as an individual, regardless of your capabilities, people will hesitate to engage with you.

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Sick of Google? 5 Search Engine Alternatives to Try in 2024 | Cool Business Ideas 

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Sick of Google? 5 Search Engine Alternatives to Try in 2024 While Google remains dominant in the search engine market, several alternative search engines offer unique features, privacy-focused options, and specialized search capabilities when researching questions like “Can bunion cause leg pain?” If you want to diversify your online search experience, here are some notable alternatives to Google.

1. DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo has gained popularity for its strong emphasis on user privacy. Unlike Google, DuckDuckGo does not track user data or personalize search results based on browsing history. This commitment to privacy makes it an excellent choice for users concerned about online tracking and data collection. DuckDuckGo also offers a clean interface and instant answers sourced from a variety of crowdsourced platforms.

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Universal Music is set to pull its songs from TikTok | Mashable

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The partnership between Universal Music Group (UMG) and TikTok has apparently soured, as the music company is set to pull its music catalog from the social media app.

The agreement between the two companies is set to expire today (Jan. 31), and negotiations appear to have come to a standstill. UMG published an impassioned open letter addressed to the artist and songwriter community, saying they must “call time on TikTok.” The letter explained that UMG has been pressing TikTok on three key issues: appropriate compensation for artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the dangers of AI, and online safety for TikTok users.

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