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Category: Media & Entertainment

Gaming, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment

What’s behind ballooning video game budgets?

Why does it cost some companies hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a popular video game? A couple weeks ago, The New York Times blamed the never-ending quest to deliver more photo-realistic graphics— and it suggested the industry is beginning to see diminishing returns, leading to layoffs and studio closures. However, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier…

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Apps, Automattic, Enterprise, Global IT News, Global Security News, matt mullenweg, Media & Entertainment, wordpress

Matt Mullenweg deactivates WordPress accounts of contributors planning a fork

Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg has deactivated the accounts of several WordPress.org community members, some of whom have been spearheading a push to create a new fork of the open source WordPress project. While community criticism of WordPress’s governance isn’t new, the latest brouhaha kicked off back in September when Mullenweg publicly chastised WP…

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advertising, Comcast, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, social video, streamers, streaming services, tv, YouTube

Comcast and other TV streamers are now chasing YouTube’s ad dollars instead of the other way around

TV providers and streamers’ real competition isn’t each other, it’s social video. Or at least that’s what the president of Comcast Advertising, James Rooke, said during an interview on Wednesday at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. The ad exec was speaking about the company’s Monday launch of “universal ads,” a solution that lets marketers buy…

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Apps, Facebook, fact checking, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google Search, google trends, Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, Media & Entertainment, Meta, meta content moderation, Social, social media, Threads, trends

Google searches for deleting Facebook, Instagram explode after Meta ends fact-checking

Google searches for how to cancel and delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads accounts have seen explosive rises in the U.S. since Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will end its third-party fact-checking system, loosen content moderation policies, and roll back previous limits to the amount of political content in user feeds.  Experts see…

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ces 2025, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, Videolan, VLC

VLC tops 6 billion downloads, previews AI-generated subtitles

VLC media player, the popular open-source software developed by nonprofit VideoLAN, has topped 6 billion downloads worldwide and teased an AI-powered subtitle system. The new feature automatically generates real-time subtitles — which can then also be translated in many languages — for any video using open-source AI models that run locally on users’ devices, eliminating…

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Apps, Creators, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, Social, TikTok, TikTok Ban, Triller

Triller launches a tool to back up users’ TikToks ahead of the U.S. ban deadline

Triller, a would-be competitor to TikTok, is hoping to capitalize on the potential for a TikTok ban in the U.S. by pitching to creators to move their content from the popular short-form video app to its own. The company has now launched a website, SaveMyTikToks.com, which promises to back up all your TikTok videos by…

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AI, AI model, Apps, Bing, bing image creator, DALL-E 3, Global IT News, Global Security News, image generator, Media & Entertainment, Microsoft, model, pr16

Microsoft rolls back its Bing Image Creator model after users complain of degraded quality

Ahead of the holidays, Microsoft said it was upgrading the AI model behind Bing Image Creator, the AI-powered image editing tool built into the company’s Bing search engine. Microsoft promised that the new model — the latest version of OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 model, code-named “PR16” — would allow users to create images “twice as fast…

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Global IT News, Global Security News, lawsuit, Media & Entertainment, moviepass, movies, Startups, subscription service

Former CEO of MoviePass’ parent company pleads guilty to fraud over ‘unlimited’ plan

The former chief executive of the parent company of MoviePass, Theodore Farnsworth, pleaded guilty to charges of securities fraud and conspiracy after being accused of misleading investors over the service’s “unlimited plan.” Farnsworth also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud as the chief executive of Vinco Ventures, a publicly traded company. Helios &…

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Apps, CES, Gaming, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, peacock, streaming

Peacock is experimenting with mini-games and short videos

As Peacock continues to trail behind major players in the entertainment industry like Netflix, TikTok, and YouTube, the streaming service is adopting strategies similar to its rivals with two new initiatives: mini-games and a short-form vertical video feed. The company previewed these experiments at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday. Starting this…

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getty images, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, shutterstock, Stock Photo

Getty Images and Shutterstock to merge to form $3.7 billion stock photo giant

Getty Images has announced plans to merge with its rival Shutterstock in a cash-and-stock deal. The combined entity is expected to be valued at $3.7 billion based on yesterday’s closing share prices. This announcement confirms earlier reporting from Bloomberg. Both companies offer stock photos and video footage that can be licensed and reused. This content…

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AI, AI news, AI summaries, CES, Global IT News, Global Security News, google gemini, google tv, Media & Entertainment

Google unveils an AI-powered TV that summarizes the news for you at CES 2025

Long gone are the days of simply watching the news. Google unveiled the latest version of its TV operating system at CES 2025 on Monday. It uses the company’s Gemini AI assistant to summarize the biggest news of the day for you. By asking Gemini to play your “News Brief,” the AI assistant will scrape…

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AI, Apps, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, google deepmind, Media & Entertainment, tim brooks, world models

Google is forming a new team to build AI that can simulate the physical world

Google is forming a new team to work on AI models that can simulate the physical world. Tim Brooks, one of the co-leads on OpenAI’s video generator, Sora, who left for Google’s AI research lab, Google DeepMind, last October, will lead the new team, he announced in a post on X. It’ll be a part of…

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CES, Gadgets, Global IT News, Global Security News, Hardware, LG, Media & Entertainment, speakers

Will.i.am is flogging electronics again

Will.i.am’s history with consumer tech has been — let’s just say “spotty.” The musician/entrepreneur loves gadgets, this much we can say for certain. For his latest trick, the Black Eyed Pea is returning at LG’s “Experiential Architect” in conjunction with CES 2025. What does such a role entail? Suggesting ideas for Bluetooth speakers and headphones,…

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Disney, Fubo, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, Mergers and Acquisitions, Startups, streaming service

Disney to merge Hulu Live TV with Fubo in groundbreaking deal

In a surprising deal announced on Monday, Disney is set to combine its Hulu Live TV business with Fubo, the live TV streaming service known for its extensive sports coverage. Under the terms of the deal, Disney will own about 70% of Fubo, which will continue to be available to viewers as a separate offering.   …

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Apple, Apple tv+, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment

Apple TV+ is free to stream this weekend

Apple is allowing anyone to access its Apple TV+ streaming service for free from Friday through Sunday. The company announced the weekend of free streaming earlier this week alongside a short video featuring its most popular TV shows, including “Severance,” “Slow Horses,” “Shrinking,” and more. It’s worth noting that this is the first time that…

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Apps, creator economy, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, music streaming, Podcasts, Spotify

Spotify’s partner program for podcast hosts is now available

Spotify announced Thursday the launch of its new “Partner Program” that lets popular podcast hosts monetize their video content. Spotify’s new program gives qualifying creators on its platform opportunities for extra income beyond just advertising revenue, such as video payouts. The program was initially announced back in November and is officially available in the U.S.,…

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AI, AI training, content creators, copyright, Exclusive, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, ip, Media & Entertainment, media manager, openai, opt-out

OpenAI failed to deliver the opt-out tool it promised by 2025

Back in May, OpenAI said it was developing a tool to let creators specify how they want their works to be included in — or excluded from — its AI training data. But 7 months later, this feature has yet to see the light of day. Called Media Manager, the tool would “identify copyrighted text,…

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Apple, Apple tv+, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment

Apple TV+ will be free to stream this weekend

Apple is allowing anyone to access its Apple TV+ streaming service for free this weekend, January 4 and 5. The company made the announcement on Monday alongside a short video featuring its most popular TV shows, including “Severance,” “Slow Horses,” “Shrinking,” and more. It’s worth noting that this is the first time that Apple has…

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AI, Asia Pacific, createai, Gaming, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, Transportation, TuSimple

TuSimple pivot from self-driving to AI animation is complete with CreateAI rebrand

TuSimple has completed its pivot away from autonomous trucking to AI animation and gaming with a rebrand. The company shall henceforth be known as CreateAI.  The rebrand comes as TuSimple is embroiled in controversy over the company’s plans to move its remaining U.S. assets to China to fund the new business, which it initially announced…

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accessibility, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV, Global IT News, Global Security News, Hardware, Media & Entertainment

Amazon Fire TV introduces ‘Dual Audio’ feature for simultaneous listening via hearing aids and TV speakers

Amazon announced on Wednesday new accessibility features for Fire TV, including a notable “Dual Audio” capability for the newly launched Fire TV Omni Mini-LED Series, which was unveiled in November. The new feature allows one user to listen through a hearing aid while others in the same room can enjoy audio through the TV’s built-in…

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AI, animation, Creative, Explorer, film, Funding, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, odyssey, Pixar, TC, tool, world models

AI startup Oddysee’s new tool can generate photorealistic 3D worlds

Odyssey, a startup founded by self-driving pioneers Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawke, is developing an AI-powered tool that can transform text or an image into a 3D rendering. The tool, dubbed Explorer, is similar in some ways to the so-called world models recently demoed by DeepMind, World Labs, and Israeli upstart Decart. Given a caption like “A…

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clickbait, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, India, Media & Entertainment, YouTube

YouTube says it will start cracking down on videos with clickbait titles in India

A lot of YouTube videos have flashy, misleading titles and thumbnails, such as “BREAKING NEWS” or “The president steps down,” to bait the user into watching the video, which has non-related content. YouTube said Wednesday that it is now cracking down on such videos — especially if videos with topics breaking news or current events…

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Europe, Global Security News, In Brief, Media & Entertainment, netflix gdpr, noyb netflix, privacy

Five years later… Netflix hit with Dutch data access fine

Five years later sounds like a half-baked sequel to a well-known zombie flick franchise. But it’s a reference to how long it’s taken a data access complaint against Netflix to deliver a penalty decision in the European Union. The fine that’s — finally — been issued under the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is…

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AI, api, Dev, Developer, generative ai, generative media, generative video, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, openai, sora

OpenAI says it has no plans for a Sora API — yet

OpenAI says it has no plans to release an API for Sora, its AI model that can generate reasonably realistic videos when provided with a text description or reference image. During an AMA with members of OpenAI’s dev team, Romain Huet, head of developer experience at OpenAI, said that a Sora API isn’t in the…

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Creators, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, YouTube

YouTube will now let creators opt out of third-party AI training

YouTube on Monday announced it will give creators more choice over how third parties can use their content to train their AI models. Starting today, creators and rights holders will be able to flag for YouTube if they’re permitting specific third-party AI companies to train models on the creator’s content. From a new setting within…

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Creators, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, YouTube

YouTube will now let creators opt into third-party AI training

YouTube on Monday announced it will give creators more choice over how third parties can use their content to train their AI models. Starting today, creators and rights holders will be able to flag for YouTube if they’re permitting specific third-party AI companies to train models on the creator’s content. From a new setting within…

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AI, generative ai, generative media, generative video, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, google deepmind, image generator, imagefx, Imagen, imagen 3, Media & Entertainment, Veo, veo 2, video generator, videofx

Google DeepMind unveils a new video model to rival Sora

Google DeepMind, Google’s flagship AI research lab, wants to beat OpenAI at the video generation game — and it might just, at least for a little while. On Monday, DeepMind announced Veo 2, a next-gen video-generating AI and the successor to Veo, which powers a growing number of products across Google’s portfolio. Veo 2 can…

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Apps, Creators, Global IT News, Global Security News, Media & Entertainment, YouTube, YouTube comments

YouTube’s latest test lets creators post voice notes as comments

YouTube is experimenting with a new way to engage fans by giving creators the ability to post voice notes and reply to comments on their videos, the company announced on Monday. The ability to post voice notes is limited to certain creators in the U.S. for the time being. YouTube says they’ll only be able…

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