As it prepares for a crackdown on password sharing next year, Netflix has introduced a feature that lets subscribers kick-off interlopers who are piggybacking onto their accounts without paying. Accessed from the account settings tab, the new “Managing Access and Devices” functionality lets subscribers see a list of recent devices that have streamed from their account, letting them log-off any unauthorized users with one click. Netflix calls this new option a “much-requested feature” and says it is now available to global subscribers through their web browser, or on iOS and Android. Continue reading Netflix Offers a Feature to Let Subs Boot Unauthorized Logins

Chatsworth, California-based toy company MGA Entertainment has launched MGA Studios to produce video games, online universes and other ancillary content. The privately held MGA is backing the new division with $500 million to drive production and acquisitions. MGA’s catalog of successful toys includes the L.O.L. Surprise!, Bratz, Little Tike and Rainbow High brands, some of which have spawned TV series and games. MGA Entertainment founder and CEO Isaac Larian’s son Jason Larian is president of the new unit, which has acquired Australia’s Pixel Zoo Animation and named Pixel Zoo founder and CEO Paul Gillett an MGA Studios partner. Continue reading MGA Acquires Pixel Zoo Animation for MGA Studios Initiative

Google is stepping up in-app shopping, adding it to YouTube Shorts. “Doom scrolling is about to become doom shopping,” heralds the official blog of Nasdaq, where Google parent Alphabet trades. Now those parsing the YouTube feed of videos 60-seconds or less will have the option to purchase items instantly rather than through redirection to a third-party site. The move comes as Google and others saw digital ad revenue contract this year as a result of economic headwinds and increased competition — notably from TikTok, which is tracking to double its advertising income in 2022. Continue reading YouTube Shorts Testing In-App Shopping, Affiliate Marketing

Senior media executive Sharon Tal Yguado has launched Astrid Entertainment. The new venture will initially focus on games, with plans to expand into multiplatform content. Yguado, who earlier held top positions at Fox Networks Group and Amazon Studios, says Astrid is developing “rich worlds” where millions of people worldwide can build communities. The company, which is currently staffing, is already underway on its first interactive environment for multiplayer stories. Astrid has raised pre-seed investment funding of more than seven figures from participants including NetEase Games, Stardom and Tower 26. Continue reading TV Exec Launches Astrid Entertainment for Games and More

TikTok is closing in on its downward revised 2022 ad revenue target of $10 billion, according to research firm Insider Intelligence. The ByteDance company had initially projected $12 billion but adjusted the forecast due to a digital advertising downturn that’s affected everyone from Alphabet to Meta Platforms. Despite the hedge, TikTok’s ad haul this year will nearly double that of 2021, and is expected to surpass the performance of Twitter and Snap. However, it still trails advertising on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, which generated more than $84 billion in the first nine months of 2022 (essentially flat). Continue reading After Doubling Ad Revenue, TikTok Turns to In-App Shopping

Cerebras Systems has unveiled its Andromeda AI supercomputer. With 13.5 million cores, it can calculate at the rate of 1 exaflop — roughly one quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeroes) operations — per second using a 16-bit floating point format. Andromeda’s brain is built of 16 linked Cerebras CS-2 systems, AI computers that use giant Wafer-Scale Engine 2 chips. Each chip has hundreds of thousands of cores, but is more compact and powerful than servers that use standard CPUs, according to Cerebras, which is making Andromeda available for commercial and academic research. Continue reading Cerebras Supercomputer Calculates at 1 Exaflop per Second

YouTube is adding a Live Q&A feature aimed at helping creators to interact with viewers during live streams. Now, when a Q&A starts a prompt will appear pinned to the top of the chat. As viewers begin chatting their questions, creators can select the ones they’re responding to and pin them at the top, too, so participants will know which query is being responded to. The new system brings some organization to what was a sometimes confusing Q&A format, with creators scrolling for questions and participants often clueless as to the context of the response. Continue reading YouTube’s Live Q&A Brings Order to Live-Stream Questioning

Information continues to trickle out regarding Apple’s new reality altering headset, expected to hit the market next year, possibly as soon as April. Bloomberg reports it will be powered by a Mac-level M2 chip, with more than 10 cameras facing both outward and inward and “the highest-resolution displays ever featured in a mass-market headset,” although the price tag, forecast as between $2,000 and $3,000, doesn’t sound mainstream. The first version of realityOS the company has developed is codenamed Oak. Apple is also reportedly developing 3D content for the new platform. Continue reading Apple Said to Be Developing 3D Content for realityOS Headset

Intel is taking on Nvidia and AMD with its Max Series for high performance computing and artificial intelligence. The company unveiled two products under the Max umbrella: the Intel Xeon Max CPU and the Intel Data Center Max Series GPU. The Max GPU is Intel’s highest density processor, packing over 100 billion transistors into a 47-tile package with up to 128GB of high-bandwidth memory. The oneAPI open software ecosystem provides a single programming environment for both new processors, with Intel’s 2023 oneAPI and AI tools enabling the Intel Max Series products’ advanced features. Continue reading Intel Targets Supercomputing with New Max Series CPU, GPU

The National Association of Broadcasters has renewed its call to have the Federal Communications Commission re-classify over-the-top video providers as multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), with the same fees and obligations levied at broadcast and cable networks. The FCC has been chewing over what to do about OTT and OVD (online video distributors) since 2014, when it “tentatively concluded” that an MVPD must control both the the transmission path and content to fall under FCC purview. Thus streamers have avoided rules and payments in the interest of promoting competition as former market leaders have fallen behind. Continue reading NAB Calls for FCC to Revisit Streaming Video Platform Rules

Cinedigm, a streaming firm that debuted its Cineverse platform this summer, is introducing the ability to rent fresh theatrical films via a partnership with ROW8, a subscription-free cinema OTT service launched in 2018. Cinedigm says the partnership allows it to market content on Cineverse that’s “still in theaters” via TVOD (transactional video on-demand). The agreement is reciprocal, with ROW8 able to offer Cinedigm’s own upcoming theatrical releases to Android and iOS, Apple TV, Google TV, Roku players, Vizio and other mobile devices. Cinedigm claims to be platform agnostic. Continue reading Cinedigm Teams with ROW8 to Bring ‘Still in Theaters’ to TV

LG Display has unveiled a stretchable display form factor it says surpasses existing foldable and rollable technology. Based on a highly resilient film-type substrate made of silicon used in contact lenses, LG’s 12-inch prototype stretches to up to 14 inches. The stretchable display uses a MicroLED light source with full-color RGB and resolution of 100ppi that LG says “competes with most existing monitors.” It’s spring-wired frame gives it the durability to withstand repetitive changes to form as well as significant external impact, LG adds, describing a consistency “similar to that of a rubber band.” Continue reading LG Display Reveals Stretchable Prototype That Folds, Twists

Elon Musk is seeking a payments system for Twitter as he pursues his plan to make it a “super app” along the lines of China’s WeChat. Musk outlined his vision in a live presentation on Twitter Spaces to more than 100,000 users and advertisers, including reps from Adidas, Kate Spade, Nissan and Walgreens. Musk has been brainstorming with confidants over ways to improve Twitter and make it profitable. Last week, Twitter filed registration paperwork with the Treasury Department for approval to add payments. Meanwhile, top privacy and security executives are leaving the company after Musk told employees “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question.” Continue reading Musk Takes to Twitter Spaces to Share Plans for the Platform

With research showing TVs are the biggest growth platform for YouTube Shorts, the streamer is rolling out its purpose-built player for HDTVs worldwide, starting this month. The YouTube Shorts on TV player will work with recent-model smart TVs, game consoles and streaming devices such as Roku and Google’s Chromecast. Users will now see a “Shorts shelf” on the homepage of their YouTube TV app, or the Shorts can be launched directly from a creator’s channel. YouTube Shorts are seen on about 1.5 billion mobile devices monthly, and this move is designed to increase views. Continue reading New YouTube Shorts Feature Is Optimized for HDTV Screens

IBM has achieved a new milestone in chips developed for quantum computing with the newly debuted 433-qubit Osprey chip. That’s more than three times the qubits of the 127-qubit Eagle chip IBM introduced last year. The company has its sights set on a more than 4,000-qubit system that it plans to unveil in 2025. Quantum computers solve problems faster and more accurately than classical computers and can find exact solutions to problems that today’s top computers can only guess at, known as the “quantum advantage.” Eventually, quantum computers are expected to contain millions of qubits. Continue reading IBM’s New Osprey Processor Advances Quantum Computing