DirecTV is launching a free ad-supported streaming TV platform, MyFree DirecTV, available November 15. At launch, the FAST service will provide viewers with curated content and what DirecTV promises will be “an extensive on-demand library.” Additional channels are slated to join the MyFree DirecTV platform starting in 2025. The service will be offered nationwide via online, mobile and on select smart TVs and streaming devices. The company cites FAST’s earning potential, “generating nearly $8 billion in the U.S. alone this year” as viewers enjoy a free ride amidst escalating subscription fees. Continue reading MyFree DirecTV: FAST Platform Slated to Launch Next Month

Generative video models seem to be debuting daily. Pyramid Flow, among the latest, aims for realism, producing dynamic video sequences that have temporal consistency and rich detail while being open source and free. The model can create clips of up to 10 seconds using both text and image prompts. It offers a cinematic look, supporting 1280×768 pixel resolution clips at 24 fps. Developed by a consortium of researchers from Peking University, Beijing University and Kuaishou Technology, Pyramid Flow harnesses a new technique that starts with low-resolution video, outputting at full-res only at the end of the process. Continue reading Pyramid Flow Introduces a New Approach to Generative Video

California-based Ticketmaster, part of Live Nation Entertainment, is the first company to enable new iOS 18 Apple Wallet event features that offer venue maps, parking details, recommended playlists from Apple Music, local weather and links to purchase merchandise, as well as location sharing to help find friends on arrival to live events. Venues and teams can also customize the Ticketmaster experience with links to their app or website so fans can get information about their events from Apple Wallet tickets. The app debuts with the Los Angeles Football Club home game at BMO Stadium on October 19. Continue reading Ticketmaster Debuts Apple Wallet iOS 18 Features for Events

Hailuo, the free text-to-video generator released last month by the Alibaba-backed company MiniMax, has delivered its promised image-to-video feature. Founded by AI researcher Yan Junjie, the Shanghai-based MiniMax also has backing from Tencent. The model earned high marks for what has been called “ultra realistic” video, and MiniMax says the new image-to-video feature will improve output across the board as a result of “text-and-image joint instruction following,” which means Hailuo now “seamlessly integrates both text and image command inputs, enhancing your visuals while precisely adhering to your prompts.” Continue reading MiniMax’s Hailuo AI Rolls Out New Image-to-Video Capability

Snapchat is now placing advertising on its main Chat tab, with Disney signing aboard as the lead partner with “Sponsored Snaps from Disney.” Taco Bell and McDonald’s are underwriting “Promoted Places.” Previously, Snapchat had kept the Chat tab ad-free. Users will now begin seeing “Sponsored Snaps” proffered by brands beside messages from their friends. “These new placements are a natural extension of the way people already engage with businesses on Snapchat and help advertisers expand their reach with the Snapchat community across two of the most widely and frequently used parts of our service,” explains Snap. Continue reading Snapchat Adds Advertising to Chat Tab with Disney a Sponsor

The theme of Zoomtopia 2024 was “an AI-first work platform for human connection,” with the release of the custom Zoom AI Companion 2.0 for Zoom Workplace, an AI assistant that costs $12 per month that starting next year will have the ability to create custom AI avatars. Initially available for short video presentations to share with internal teams, the eventual goal is to have a “digital twin” that can participate in meetings and calls. The avatars will “save time and production costs” with segments that work with Zoom Clips for internal circulation in brief messages to colleagues. Continue reading Zoom Updates Its AI Assistant and Previews Custom Avatars

OpenAI has added publishing powerhouse Hearst to its formidable list of media partners. The force behind outlets including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, Car & Driver, Popular Mechanics, San Francisco Chronicle and Houston Chronicle will allow more than 20 magazine brands and over 40 newspapers to provide “a vast array of lifestyle content” as well as local news and niche insights to ChatGPT’s professed 200 million weekly users as well as, presumably, on the prototype SearchGPT that launched in July (with a planned ChatGPT integration). Continue reading Hearst Agrees to Content Deal with OpenAI to Fuel ChatGPT

Adobe is introducing a free, web-based Content Authenticity app that lets creators “sign” their work with the aim of protecting rights and controlling attribution against unwanted AI attention. It allows creators to assign “do not train” tags to images, video or audio. Batch designation is another convenience those with voluminous output will appreciate as a time saver. Users can select the Generative AI Training and Usage Preference options in the Adobe Content Authenticity app to set preferences, whether or not the work was created using Adobe Creative Cloud apps. Continue reading Free Adobe Content Authenticity Web App Shields Against AI

Databricks Apps is a new platform designed to make building internal data and AI applications something that can be done in a few clicks. Available now in public preview on AWS and Azure, the template-based system lets users weave data and frameworks of choice into full-featured apps that can run in the Databricks environment. The company says the system can code and deploy a secure data app with AI integration in five minutes. “Ideal use cases include data visualization, AI applications, self-service analytics and data quality monitoring,” according to the San Francisco-based company. Continue reading Databricks Previews Toolkit for Internal Data, AI App Creation

Freely, the free UK streaming service broadcasters collectively launched in April, has gained a foothold on smart TVs that run Amazon’s Fire TV OS. Backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, Freely combines free live linear channels with on-demand content in an ad-supported streaming environment. Since those broadcasters must, by government charter, offer “programming beneficial to the public interest,” there has been concern around keeping them relevant and accessible in the streaming era. The deal between Freely and a tech giant with a popular OS is seen as a big win. Continue reading Amazon Fire TVs to Carry Freely Streaming in the UK This Fall

Samsung heralded the world of personalized AI at its 10th annual developer conference, where Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Device eXperience Jong-Hee Han said those who own the company’s top of the line TVs will soon have generative AI, ChatGPT and a more responsive relationship with Bixby, Samsung’s smart assistant. The company introduced AI Cast, making it simpler to get intelligence from Galaxy phones to Samsung TVs. The Galaxy S24 series, released early this year, has native AI that will soon generate content that can be beamed to a sprawling TV screen. Continue reading Samsung Developer Conference Emphasizes AI, One UI 7 UX

Although TikTok has been carrying ads since 2018, it hasn’t really caught on as an advertising vehicle. Now the company is trying to change that by launching Smart+, an AI-powered ad buying tool that is the ByteDance company’s version of Google Performance Max, Meta Advantage+ or Pinterest Performance+. The idea is that by automating campaign management, marketers may be inclined to spend more. Smart+, which launched last week, automates everything from creative development to bidding, targeting and measurement, making ad buying easier on the short-form video app. Continue reading TikTok Intros AI-Driven Ad Campaign Automation with Smart+

Meta Platforms has unveiled Movie Gen, a new family of AI models that generates video and audio content. Coming to Instagram next year, Movie Gen also allows a high degree of editing and effects customization using text prompts. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated its abilities last week in an example shared on his Instagram account, where he sends a leg press machine at the gym through transformations as a steam punk machine and one made of molten gold. The models have been trained on a combination of licensed and publicly available datasets. Continue reading Meta’s Movie Gen Model is a Powerful Content Creation Tool

On the heels of announcing a $6.6 billion funding round, OpenAI is getting busy with new products including the launch of the latest iteration of ChatGPT. The chatbot will now extend beyond simple questions and answers with Canvas, a new interface that opens in a separate window, allowing collaborative engagement with ChatGPT on writing and coding projects. Launching in beta, Canvas was built with GPT-4o and can be manually selected in the model picker. Canvas is being made available first to global ChatGPT Plus and Team users with Enterprise and Edu users next. The company says it will be available to all free ChatGPT users when it’s out of beta. Continue reading ChatGPT Enhances Collaborative Ability with Canvas Interface

Apple has released a new AI model called Depth Pro that can create a 3D depth map from a 2D image in under a second. The system is being hailed as a breakthrough that could potentially revolutionize how machines perceive depth, with transformative impact on industries from augmented reality to self-driving vehicles. “The predictions are metric, with absolute scale” without relying on the camera metadata typically required for such mapping, according to Apple. Using a consumer-grade GPU, the model can produce a 2.25-megapixel depth map using a single image in only 0.3 seconds. Continue reading Apple Advances Computer Vision with Its Depth Pro AI Model