THE NEWS WRAP: Pirate Bay online after two-month hiatus

Popular torrenting website Pirate Bay is back online, two months after its servers were raided by police in Stockholm.

While the site looks similar to how it did in December, moderators will no longer be able to access the site in an attempt to minimise the risk of it being shut down again according to Torrent Freak.

Swedish authorities raided Pirate Bay’s servers in December, targeting computers and other equipment.

The website has been operating since 2003 and has survived a number of high-profile attempts to shut it down.

Snapchat launches weekly web series

Snapchat has made the leap into the media production space with the launch of its own weekly web series.

The show – called Literally Can’t Even – will be released in five-minute segments and will star Steven Spielberg’s daughter, according to Fairfax.

Last week, the social media platform announced it was introducing a news and entertainment service with partnered organisations such as Vice and CNN.

PayPal-backed marketing startup raises $1.2 million

A marketing startup based in Menlo Park has raised $1.2 million in funding led by PayPal and customer science company Dunnhumby.

Pulsate is a contextual marketing platform that delivers content for brands based on a user’s location and preferences.

Chief executive Patrick Leddy said in a statement the funds will be used to accelerate product development and ramp-up brand awareness.

“We are already attracting a lot of customers in this space and with this support we look forward to becoming the industry leader in context marketing,” Leddy said.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1.45%, falling 251.90 points to 17,164.95. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US77.77 cents.

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