Graphic design company Canva announced it is acquiring fellow Australian startup Leonardo AI with plans to have Leonardo’s 120 employees, including executives, join the Canva AI team. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sydney-based Leonardo has been gaining attention for its advanced generative AI platform that helps users create images and art based on the open-source Stable Diffusion model developed by Stability AI. The Leonardo team claims its offering is different than other AI art platforms since it provides users with more control. Users can experiment with text prompts and quick sketches as Leonardo.ai creates photorealistic images in real time. Continue reading Canva Aims to Boost Its GenAI Efforts with Leonardo Purchase

Two landmark bills designed to bolster online safety for children — the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) — were overwhelmingly approved by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday in bipartisan 91-3 votes. If approved by the House, the legislation would introduce new rules regarding what tech companies can offer to minors and how those firms use and share children’s data. The three senators who voted against the bills cited concerns that the regulations could stifle free speech, open the door to government censorship, and fail to adequately address the greatest threats to children online. Continue reading Senate Passes Two Bills to Strengthen Children’s Online Safety

After 50 years of SIGGRAPH, the conference has come full circle, from high-tech for PhDs to AI for everyone. That was Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s message in back-to-back keynote sessions, including a Q&A with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Huang touted Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD), discussing developments aiming to speed adoption of the universal 3D data interchange framework for use in everything from robotics to the creation of “highly accurate virtual worlds for the next evolution of AI.” As Zuckerberg’s interlocutor, he prompted the Facebook founder to share a vision of AI’s personalization of social media. Continue reading Nvidia Debuts New Products to Accelerate Adoption of GenAI

An alternative app store called AltStore PAL recently launched in response to the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and is now offering third-party iOS apps. The move comes several months after the company implemented an updated version of its open-source app marketplace in the EU. The DMA was enacted to foster competition, regulating Apple into opening up to rivals. Among AltStore PAL’s new offerings is iTorrent, which lets users download peer-to-peer files, and qBitControl, a remote client for iOS devices. Another app, PeopleDrop, automatically helps users connect to those nearby. Epic Games revealed it plans to offer “Fortnite” on AltStore PAL. Continue reading App Merchant AltStore PAL Bows in EU with a Focus on iOS

Stability AI has unveiled an experimental new model, Stable Video 4D, which generates photorealistic 3D video. Building on what it created with Stable Video Diffusion, released in November, this latest model can take moving image data of an object and iterate it from multiple angles — generating up to eight different perspectives. Stable Video 4D can generate five frames across eight views in about 40 seconds using a single inference, according to the company, which says the model has “future applications in game development, video editing, and virtual reality.” Users begin by uploading a single video and specifying desired 3D camera poses. Continue reading Stable Video 4D Adds Time Dimension to Generative Imagery

With 950 million active users, messaging app Telegram is planning to launch an in-app browser that supports Web3 along with an app store, according to founder Pavel Durov. Telegram, which launched in 2013, is expected to surpass 1 billion users this year and may hit profitability in 2025, Durov has said. Though the global platform is known for encrypted private communications, it has recently seen a surge of growth among mini-apps and games and has a thriving community built around crypto rewards. Now, Binance Labs has led an investment in Pluto Studio, developer of the Telegram-based game “Catizen.” Continue reading Messaging App Telegram Planning App Store, Pushes Web3

Apple has approved the Epic Games Store app for iOS and the App Store in the EU. But the battle apparently continues, with Apple couching the move as “temporary,” and Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney vowing to fight any reversals. Sweeney says Apple is “demanding we change the buttons in the next version — which would make our store less standard and harder to use. We’ll fight this.” Even a temporary toehold moves Sweeney — whose Maryland-based Epic Games is home to the popular “Fortnite” — closer to its goal of an alt game store on the insular Apple platform at home and abroad. Continue reading Apple Issues ‘Temporary’ Epic Game Store Approval for iOS

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that the company will test a feature to create AI characters through the AI Studio on Instagram that can engage with fans and respond to messages. “Rolling out an early test in the U.S. of our AI Studio so you might start seeing AIs from your favorite creators and interest-based AIs in the coming weeks on Instagram,” he wrote. “These will primarily show up in messaging for now, and will be clearly labeled as AI.” Zuckerberg noted the beta test will help the company improve AI characters and will be made “available to more people soon.” Meta launched AI Studio last year to help businesses build custom chatbots. Continue reading Meta Testing AI Chatbots for Instagram Created by Its Users

Netflix has selected Dallas, Texas and Pennsylvania’s King of Prussia as the first two cities for its massive location-based entertainment venues, set to open in 2025. Specifying “they’re not exactly theme parks,” the Netflix House destinations will feature shopping, eateries and “regularly updated” experiential activities that tie-in with major franchises like “Bridgerton,” “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.” Netflix CMO Marian Lee says the company has already launched more than 50 experiences in 25 cities, with Netflix House representing “the next generation” venue for the streaming giant. Continue reading Netflix Plans to Open Two Entertainment Complexes in 2025

IKEA is opening a virtual Roblox store and inviting gamers to apply to work there for a real paycheck. “The Co-Worker Game,” set in the Swedish firm’s virtual universe, invites Roblox fans to “live their home furnishing dreams.” Ten participants will be hired at the rate of about $17 per hour to roleplay as retail staff in the Roblox world. In addition to allowing IKEA to explore gaming and IP, the company is hoping to create a bit of hiring cachet and groom future employees. Those who don’t make the cut as hires can participate for fun — and the opportunity to learn some potentially marketable skills. Continue reading IKEA Accepting Applications for Hires at Roblox Virtual Store

Microsoft has three new Xbox consoles slated for the holiday shopping season, including an all-digital Xbox Series X model in Robot White. This $450 discless iteration has up to 4K resolution, 1TB of SDDS storage and the same performance as the Carbon Black Series X introduced last year. A white Xbox Series S with disc drive is also coming, for $350, “for players who wanted more storage without the full power of Series X.” For power users, a 2TB Galaxy Black Xbox Series X Special Edition that offers “the same speed, performance and features of Xbox Series X” is priced at $600. Continue reading Microsoft Unveils 3 New Xbox Consoles for Holiday Shoppers

Twitch is rolling out its licensed DJ Program to allow music live streamers to pursue their craft without having to deal with takedown notices. The popular gaming platform, owned by Amazon, has been dealing with copyright infringement complaints, and now offers what it calls a “first-of-its-kind” compliance solution that provides creators who opt-in with “millions of tracks” that will be legally safe to use. Participating DJs will be required to pay copyright holders a percentage of their earnings from the stream in which the music is used. Twitch did not disclose the percentage but said it would split the cost 50/50 with creators. Continue reading Twitch DJ Program Forges New Path for Live Streaming Music

Nvidia President and CEO Jensen Huang said the company will be upgrading its AI accelerators annually, with the Blackwell Ultra processor coming in 2025 and a next-generation platform called Rubin that is still in development planned for 2026. Rubin AI will utilize a type of high-bandwidth memory called HBM4 that addresses a bottleneck that has stifled the production of AI accelerators. Huang shared the news from Taiwan, where he delivered a keynote at the Computex trade show. Nvidia Inference Microservices were another focus, allowing AI applications to be deployed in minutes instead of weeks, Huang said. Continue reading Nvidia Teases Next-Gen AI Platform Rubin at Computex 2024

After a limited introduction in select markets and to Premium subscribers, YouTube’s Playables free gaming catalog is rolling out to all users. More than 75 games are currently accessible on desktop, Android and iOS by visiting the main YouTube home page and selecting Playables in the Explore menu. Games can be shared by tapping the three-dot “more” menu. The lightweight offerings include popular titles like “Angry Birds Showdown,” “Words of Wonders,” “Cut the Rope” and “Trivia Crack,” among others. Availability will ramp up gradually over the coming months. Continue reading YouTube Adding ‘Playables’ Free Game Catalog for All Users

Not to be outdone by Windows Copilot+ PCs, Google is also bringing AI to the Chromebook, which will be infused with Gemini’s generative smarts via companies including Acer, HP and Asus. “New Google AI and gaming features are available on Chromebook Plus,” says the Alphabet company, noting “you can now write like a pro with Help Me Write, supercharge your ideas with Gemini, edit photos in a snap with Magic Editor, and more — all on Chromebook Plus laptops starting at $350.” Google, which partially integrated Gemini with the Chrome browser, teased AI for ChromeOS last fall. Continue reading Acer, Asus, HP First to Offer Chromebook Plus with Google AI