Last year Sony entered into a joint venture with Singapore-based startup Startale Labs. Now the first fruits of that collaboration have come to light, with the launch of Soneium, an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain, from Startale and Sony Block Solutions Labs. The platform is first being made available to developers, with plans for an eventual public launch, the goal being “to create new services by leveraging the various businesses and IP within the Sony Group so that Soneium becomes an infrastructure that everyone can use on a daily basis,” according to Sony. Continue reading Sony and Startale Labs Launch Soneium Blockchain for Web3

Sahara AI, a company co-founded in 2023 by Sean Ren, an associate professor in computer science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, has raised $43 million to pursue its goal of widely implementing a platform to ensure IP-owners are compensated in the age of generative AI. Ren, who launched the company with former Binance Labs Investment Director Tyler Zhou, says the funding will be used to expand its team and further develop a decentralized AI blockchain platform that recognizes and tracks copyrighted assets, ultimately establishing a system of credit and compensation for work that contributes to model training. Continue reading AI Startup Co-Founded by USC Professor Raises New Funding

AI-centric crypto firms SingularityNET, Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol will merge their tokens under a single token known as the Artificial Superintelligence token, ASI, with a fully diluted value of $7.6 billion. Although the three companies will continue to operate separately, an Artificial Superintelligence Alliance comprised of members from each will guide the vision. The ASIA goal is to develop decentralized AI technology on blockchain as an alternative to the large corporations currently controlling AI. The end game, to create artificial general intelligence. The merger is contingent on approval from each community’s members. Continue reading AI Crypto Firms Will Merge Tokens in Bid to Take on Big Tech

Meta Platforms is showing off fediverse integration for Threads, the Instagram spinoff launched last summer to take on Twitter, now X. At this week’s FediForum virtual conference, Meta Platforms software engineer Peter Cottle demonstrated how users will be able to connect accounts to use the fediverse, simultaneously reaching multiple audiences. Currently, “a limited number of Threads profiles can share their posts to other fediverse platforms,” according to Instagram. In an alpha test, interactions, such as likes and replies, from other fediverse platforms “won’t be viewable on Threads.” Continue reading FediForum: Meta Demonstrates Threads Fediverse Integration

A government study finds that while IP theft is commonplace in the world of NFTs, existing laws can be applied to protect U.S. copyright, trademark and patent rights. Those are the findings of a study released this month by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in conjunction with the U.S. Copyright Office. The 112-page report concludes “existing statutory enforcement mechanisms are currently sufficient to address infringement concerns related to NFT applications, and that changes to intellectual property laws,” or to registration and recordation practices, “are not necessary or advisable at this time.” Continue reading IP Theft Common in NFT Markets, But No New Laws Required

Decentralized social platform Bluesky has open-sourced a tool called Ozone that facilitates custom moderation. Debuting this week, Ozone lets individuals or teams collaboratively review and label content on the platform. “We’re opening up the ability to run your own independent moderation services, seamlessly integrated into the Bluesky app,” the company says, explaining “you’ll be able to create and subscribe to additional moderation services” on top of that which is administered by Bluesky’s moderation team, “giving you unprecedented control over your social media experience.” Continue reading Ozone Helps Users Customize Content Moderation on Bluesky

Bluesky — Jack Dorsey’s alternative to X (formerly Twitter) — has been quietly ramping up, recently opening for general public sign-ups while adding hashtag support and the ability for users to host their own servers. The company last month appointed Aaron Rodericks to the newly created position of head of trust and safety, a title he held at Twitter before Elon Musk purchased it and decimated the division (which he now co-heads with X CEO Linda Yaccarino). The technical updates will make it easier for users to sort threads for topics of interest and takes a big step toward federation and allowing users to freely move their accounts. Continue reading Bluesky Opens to the Public Ahead of the Presidential Election

Bluesky, the decentralized social media app spun out by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that is poised to become a competitor to that platform’s successor, X, has passed the 2 million users milestone just 10 months after its launch. Although still in private beta, and accessible only through an invite code, Bluesky has been making headlines recently, first for what was criticized as lax content moderation, and also for announcing a public web interface that would allow anyone (and everyone) to view posts by the private network’s members, a policy decision that has reportedly been reversed. Continue reading Bluesky Adds Automated Moderation, Rethinks Web Visibility

Mozilla-backed Mammoth wants to lure social media users to the fediverse, presenting its latest iteration, Mammoth 2, as “the easiest way to quit Twitter/X for good and join Mastodon.” Having added a “For You” feed earlier this year, Mammoth 2 now debuts on the iPhone, iPad and Mac, delving deeper into news and curation. New “Smart Lists” are filled with recommended posts, suggested connections and accounts to follow. The future of social “is being built today on ActivityPub and Mastodon,” Mammoth’s creators claim, calling for “an open protocol anybody can build on,” as with “email or the open web.” Continue reading Intuitive Mammoth App Aims to Simplify Accessing Mastodon

Meta Platforms previewed its in-development Twitter rival, called Project 92, for staff last week. Chief product officer Chris Cox demoed the decentralized app, which the company plans to launch through Instagram. Meta received feedback from creators and high-profile figures indicating they want “a sanely run” platform. Project 92 — also referred to internally as “P92” or “Barcelona” — bears similarities to Twitter but unlike that closed system will interoperate with other decentralized social apps like Mastodon and Bluesky. Although a specific timeline wasn’t shared, Cox reportedly said Meta plans to launch P92 “as soon as we can.” Continue reading Meta Unveils Its Upcoming Twitter Competitor for Employees

Details are emerging about the text-based Twitter competitor being developed by Meta Platforms. What is being referred to internally as “Instagram’s new text-based app for conversations” will offer a feed with text posts of up to 500 characters that are capable of attaching links, photos, and videos. The move comes as alternatives including Bluesky, Cohost, Hive, Mastodon and Substack try to gain market share by luring disaffected Twitter users to their platforms. Instagram’s entry in progress — codenamed “P92,” and alternately referred to as “Barcelona” — may soon be interoperable with all of them. Continue reading Meta Testing Decentralized Instagram App as Rival to Twitter

Jack Dorsey’s alternative to Twitter called Bluesky is taking off. Last week, Bluesky had its biggest single-day jump in new sign-ups. Still in beta, the platform has only a few thousand users, but seems to have the right ones. High-profile socialistas including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) model Chrissy Teigen and influencer Dril (Paul Dochney) have joined, and thousands of others are waitlisted. Bluesky began rolling out to iOS devices in February and added Android last month. The app offers some of the same features as Twitter, including the ability to post short text and photo updates, replies and shares. Continue reading Dorsey’s Bluesky Heats Up with Well-Timed Influencer Invites

Today’s leading AI chatbots need tremendous computing resources to train, then function, but that isn’t stopping startups from trying to get into the game, some with open-source alternatives. Clearly disadvantaged compared to market leaders like OpenAI, Meta, DeepMind and Anthropic — deep-pocketed, all — a band of independent researchers has coalesced under the name Together. Their aim: to become the first open-source challenger to the likes of ChatGPT. The industry seems undecided as to whether open-source AI is a good thing. Many are worried at the thought of a universally available AI toolkit, and what troublemakers might do with it. Continue reading Researchers Developing Open-Source Challenger to ChatGPT

Meta Platforms is said to be considering the launch of a decentralized federated app powered by ActivityPub, the framework used by Twitter, Mastodon and others, according to a report originating in Mumbai-based Moneycontrol, which says the app, codenamed P92, will be “Instagram-branded,” allowing users to login using their Instagram credentials. A Meta spokesperson confirmed to Moneycontrol “we’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.” Continue reading Meta Is Developing a Social Network That Could Rival Twitter

Bluesky has made it into the Apple App Store, where its reportedly generated more than 2,000 downloads in the past two weeks in an invitation-only beta mode, prompting speculation that a public launch is coming soon. Backed by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky’s focus is a transfer protocol called AT (Authenticated Transfer) designed to facilitate an open, decentralized social network, not unlike the ActivityPub protocol that underpins Mastodon. The mobile app has been developed to showcase the protocol’s features. Incubated at Twitter starting in 2019, Bluesky is now a public benefit company. Continue reading Jack Dorsey-Led Bluesky Social Platform in Beta at App Store