Anticipating what one outlet calls “the likely imminent release of OpenAI’s Sora,” generative AI video competitors are compelled to step up their game. Luma AI has released a major upgrade to its Dream Machine, speeding its already quick video generation and enabling a chat function for natural language prompts, so you can talk to it as with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In addition to the new interface, Dream Machine is going mobile and adding a new foundation image model, Luma AI Photon, which “has been purpose built to advance the power and capabilities of Dream Machine,” according to the company. Continue reading Luma AI Upgrades Its Video Generator and Adds Image Model

Lightricks has released an AI model called LTX Video (LTXV) it says generates five seconds of 768 x 512 resolution video (121 frames) in just four seconds, outputting in less time than it takes to watch. The model can run on consumer-grade hardware and is open source, positioning Lightricks as a mass market challenger to firms like Adobe, OpenAI, Google and their proprietary systems. “It’s time for an open-sourced video model that the global academic and developer community can build on and help shape the future of AI video,” Lightricks co-founder and CEO Zeev Farbman said. Continue reading Lightricks LTX Video Model Impresses with Speed and Motion

Google has added a Gemini extension that lets users link their Spotify accounts and leverage the AI for music search and discovery. Currently only for Android in English, the app accepts spoken and text prompts to select music by song, album, artist or playlist using “Play & Search.” Only Spotify Premium subscribers will be able to request and play specific tunes on demand. And while users will be able to use Gemini to activate existing playlists or pipe music themed to an activity or mood (like workouts or romantic meals), it cannot create a Spotify playlist or radio. Continue reading Google Offers Spotify Extension for Gemini Mobile Ecosystem

Anthropic is releasing what it hopes will be a new standard in data integration for AI. Called the Model Context Protocol (MCP), its goal is to eliminate the need to customize each integration by having code written each time a company’s data is connected to a model. The open-source MCP tool could become a universal way to link data sources to AI. The aim is to have models querying databases directly. MCP is “a new standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data lives, including content repositories, business tools, and development environments,” according to Anthropic. Continue reading Anthropic Protocol Intends to Standardize AI Data Integration

Nvidia has unveiled an AI sound model research project called Fugatto that “can create any combination of music, voices and sounds” based on text and audio inputs. Described by Nvidia as “the world’s most flexible sound machine,” many appear to agree that the new model represents an audio breakthrough, with the potential to generate a wide array of sounds that have not previously existed. While popular sound models from companies including Suno and ElevenLabs “can compose a song or modify a voice, none have the dexterity of the new offering,” Nvidia claims. Continue reading Nvidia AI Model Fugatto a Breakthrough in Generative Sound

Microsoft is releasing a mini PC designed specifically to access the cloud version of Windows. The $349 Windows 365 Link is a compact, fanless system that will connect local monitors and peripherals to Windows in the cloud. Microsoft plans to bring it to market next year as a companion to the Windows 365 cloud suite, helping companies transition employees to virtual machines. The concept is described as the first move toward a new type of “boot to cloud PCs” that offer little in the way of versatility, but are cheap, easy to operate and secure. Continue reading Microsoft’s Windows 365 Link a Mini PC for Cloud Streaming

Subscription-free streaming platform Plex — which features more than 600 channels, movies and TV shows — has redesigned its user interface to emphasize discovery and personalization. The new look is available in preview on mobile, with a public rollout planned in the weeks to come. “For personal media pros, we’ve centralized media libraries into a dedicated tab,” explains Plex, noting it’s added an option to save favorite libraries and quickly access power-user features. The Watchlist now has a dedicated spot in the navigation bar. Customers are using Plex to “find any title, anytime,” then linking it across services or adding it to the Watchlist. Continue reading Free Streaming Video Platform Plex Redesigns User Interface

The GitHub Secure Open Source Fund will award financing to select applicants in a program designed to fuel security and sustainability for open-source projects. Applications are open now and close on January 7. During that time, 125 projects will be selected for a piece of the $1.25 million investment fund, made possible through the participation of American Express, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Chainguard, HeroDevs, Kraken, Mayfield Fund, Microsoft, Shopify, Stripe and others. In addition to monetary support, recipients will be invited to take part in a three-week educational program. Continue reading GitHub Promotes Open-Source Security with Funding Initiative

Google DeepMind has come up with an error correction technique it says will make quantum computers more reliable, particularly at scale. While quantum computing holds tremendous promise — potentially able to solve in just a few hours problems it would take a conventional computer “billions of years” to figure out, Google claims — the systems are notoriously unstable, due to the delicacy of the “quantum state.” AlphaQubit is an AI-based decoder that identifies quantum computing errors with accuracy. Combining DeepMind’s machine learning expertise with Google Quantum AI error correction, the technique advances efforts to create a reliable quantum computer. Continue reading Google DeepMind Touts AI-Powered Quantum Error Detection

DirecTV has abandoned its proposed merger with Dish Network after EchoStar bondholders with $10.7 billion of debt in Dish and its DBS subsidiary rejected an exchange provision, dooming a deal that would have created the largest pay-TV service in the U.S. EchoStar announced it respects the decision and will continue to operate its own pay-TV brands. While DirecTV still believes the merger “would have benefitted all stakeholders,” it deemed the exchange necessary to protect its balance sheet operational flexibility, DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow explained. Continue reading DirecTV Terminates Deal to Merge with Rival EchoStar’s Dish

Warner Bros. Discovery is putting artificial intelligence to work creating ads that showcase products people see on their favorite TV shows. One of two new ad-based services, Shop with Max, uses machine learning to fuel shoppable content, identifying items within films and TV shows and pairing them with advertiser catalogs. A QR code takes viewers to a second screen where they can learn more about products and even purchase them. Another solution, called Moments, aligns brands with thematic content in 40 identified areas, including cooking, real estate, gaming and science. Continue reading WBD Taps KERV AI to Integrate In-Stream Advertising on Max

Tubi has come up with a unique way to showcase its catalog of 250,000 movies and TV episodes: a feed of short-form videos similar to TikTok content. Called “Scenes,” the feature is available via Tubi’s mobile app for Android and iOS. Tubi, the Fox Corporation free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service, hopes Scenes will help Tubi viewers find what to watch as part of a “strategy to provide effortless entertainment on mobile.” Tubi already leverages machine learning and AI models to help personalize its recommendation experience and encourage discovery. Continue reading Tubi Introduces Short-Form Video Clips with Scenes Feature

Nvidia sales were up 94 percent to $35 billion in the most recent quarter when profits more than doubled, to $19.3 billion, telegraphing the strength of the artificial intelligence boom that took the company from the top supplier of graphics boards for gaming PCs to the world’s most valuable public company with a market cap of $3.59 trillion. Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang told analysts that demand for the company’s latest AI chip, Blackwell, has been “incredible,” driving projections of $3.59 trillion in revenue for the current quarter as customers begin to take shipments. Continue reading AI Boom Boosts Nvidia Sales by 94 Percent as Profits Double

Microsoft’s expansion of AI agents within the Copilot Studio ecosystem was a central focus of the company’s Ignite conference. Since the launch of Copilot Studio, more than 100,000 enterprise organizations have created or edited AI agents using the platform. Copilot Studio is getting new features to increase productivity, including multimodal capabilities that take agents beyond text and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) enhancements to enable agents with real-time knowledge from multiple third-party sources, such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk. Integration with Azure is expanded as 1,800 large language models in the Azure catalog are made available. Continue reading Microsoft Pushes Copilot Studio Agents, Adds Azure Models

Amazon has announced the launch of its largest-ever Echo smart display, the Echo Show 21. With a 21-inch screen it nearly doubles the viewing space of previous models, at 1080p resolution and better audio quality, Amazon says, adding that camera improvements and a built-in hub to manage your smart home hub with Alexa are included among the new features. The device will retail for $399.99. A next-generation of the Echo Show 15, first released in 2022, will also come to market for $299.99 with a 15-inch screen as well as audio, camera and smart home upgrades. Continue reading Amazon Debuts Its Largest Smart Display, the Echo Show 21