The new Netflix Bites restaurant in the Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel & Casino offers dishes inspired by popular original streaming movies and TV series. As part of the company’s push into more in-person experiences and new marketing opportunities, Netflix Bites Vegas is scheduled to operate for a year, a residency that follows the popular Netflix Bites pop-up restaurant that was open for six weeks in 2023 in Los Angeles. The Las Vegas eatery kicked off with an exclusive preview event featuring stars from some of the company’s shows alongside executives from Netflix and MGM. Continue reading Netflix Opens a New Themed Restaurant in Las Vegas Casino

“AI won’t exist as an app, or a button… it’ll be an entirely new environment built on top of a web browser.” That is the pitch from The Browser Company, the New York-based firm behind the Arc browser that is now developing an AI-first web interface called Dia, expected to debut early next year. Dia aims to leverage AI tools to simplify common Internet tasks. The repertoire is now a familiar one, with things like writing assists and inspirational prompts becoming AI givens in a competitive field where Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini are already established. The Browser Company is trying to distinguish Dia with a simple, user-friendly interface. Continue reading The Browser Company is Building Dia, an AI-First Web Browser

Amazon Web Services has opened AWS Data Transfer Terminals in Los Angeles and New York. These secure physical locations allow customers to bring their storage devices for fast uploads to the AWS Cloud. The enterprise service can significantly reduce data ingestion time for use cases including uploads of “large datasets from fleets of vehicles collecting data in metro areas for training machine learning models” as well as “digital audio and video files from content creators for media processing workloads” and local government organizations compiling geographical and other smart city data. Continue reading AWS Opens Physical Locations for Fast, Secure Data Uploads

Runway is launching Act-One motion capture system that uses video and voice recordings to map human facial expressions onto characters using the company’s latest model, Gen-3 Alpha. Runway calls it “a significant step forward in using generative models for expressive live action and animated content.” Compared to past facial capture techniques — which typically require complex rigging — Act-One is driven directly and only by the performance of an actor, requiring “no extra equipment,” making it more likely to capture and preserve an authentic, nuanced performance, according to the company. Continue reading Runway’s Act-One Facial Capture Could Be a ‘Game Changer’

In an effort to create a safer environment for teens, social platform Snapchat is providing educators with resources to familiarize them with the app and help them understand how students use it. The company has launched a website called “An Educator’s Guide to Snapchat.” The announcement, timed to the start of the new school year, comes as lawmakers have been pressuring social networks to do more to protect children, with Florida and Indiana going so far as to enact school cell phone bans. Legislators in California and New York have been exploring similar prohibitions. Continue reading Snapchat Puts Focus on Teen Safety Resources for Teachers

New York-based speech synthesis software startup ElevenLabs has launched its latest AI development — Voice Isolator and an API to go with it. Voice Isolator is designed to extract background noise, leaving clear dialogue for film, podcast, and interview post-production. The Voice Isolator API lets developers integrate the new product into third-party applications. To use the technology, content is uploaded and processed by the Voice Isolator model, resulting in what the company claims is speech comparable in quality to that obtained in a recording studio. The app is described as “free, with some limitations.” Continue reading ElevenLabs Voice Isolator Audio Post Tool Released with API

Generative video creation and editing platform Captions has raised $60 million in Series C funding. Founded in 2021 by former Microsoft engineer Gaurav Misra and Goldman Sachs alum Dwight Churchill, the company’s technologies — Lipdub, AI Edit and the 3D avatar app AI Creator — have amassed more than 10 million downloads for mobile, the firm says. The C round brings its total raise to $100 million for a stated market valuation of $500 million. With the new funding, Captions plans to expand its presence in New York City, which is “emerging as the epicenter for AI research,” according to Misra. Continue reading Captions: Generative Video Startup Raises $60 Million in NYC

New York-based AI startup Runway has made its latest frontier model — which creates realistic AI videos from text, image or video prompts — generally available to users willing to upgrade to a paid plan starting at $12 per month for each editor. Introduced several weeks go, Gen-3 Alpha reportedly offers significant improvements over Gen-1 and Gen-2 in areas such as speed, motion, fidelity and consistency. Runway explains it worked with a “team of research scientists, engineers and artists” to develop the upgrades but did not specify where it collected its training data. As the AI video field ramps up, current rivals include Stability AI, OpenAI, Pika and Luma Labs. Continue reading Runway Making Gen-3 Alpha AI Video Model Available to All

United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has renewed his push for Congress to enact social media warning label advising of potential mental health damage to adolescents. Murthy also called on tech companies to be more transparent with internal data on the impact of their products on American youth, requesting independent safety audits and restrictions on features that may be addictive, including autoplay, push notifications and infinite scroll, which he suggests “prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use.” His federal campaign joins a groundswell of local laws restricting minors’ access to social media. Continue reading U.S. Surgeon General Calls for Social Media Warning Labels

The New York legislature passed a bill prohibiting social media companies from providing children with so-called “addictive feeds” without parental consent. The Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act specifies addictive feeds as those that prioritize exposure to content (using a recommendation engine, or other means) based on information collected about the user or device. “Non-addictive feeds,” in which the algorithm serves content in chronological order, are still permitted under the bill, which New York Governor Kathy Hochul has vowed to sign into law. Continue reading New York Lawmakers Aim to Make Social Feeds Safe for Kids

Micron Technology has been selected to receive up to $6.14 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding from the federal government. The Boise, Idaho-based tech firm says it will use the funds to construct four new fabrication plants — two in its hometown and two in New York State. Micron has committed an investment of up to $125 billion across both states over the next two decades as it endeavors to build a leading-edge memory manufacturing ecosystem. President Biden announced the preliminary funding agreement during a trip to the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology in Syracuse, New York. Continue reading Micron Awarded CHIPS Funds for Fabs in Idaho and New York

NBCUniversal is hoping to kickstart NextGen TV by rolling out a more personalized, hyperlocal viewing experience using ATSC 3.0 in four owned and operated stations in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami. The new service features extra video content and, for advertisers, hyper-targeted buy-in opportunities, dynamic ad-insertions and improved “real-time” audience measurement, the company said at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. NBCU says there are plans to expand NextGen outreach to additional NBC and Telemundo stations in the months ahead, and it will likely feature in NBC’s Paris Olympics summer telecast. Continue reading NBCUniversal Rolls Out NextGen ATSC 3.0 TV in Four Markets

Oregon has signed into law one of the strongest right to repair bills in the United States. With the new law, it will become the first state to ban “parts pairing,” which is when replacement parts are prevented from working unless the manufacturer’s software approves them. The pairing protections also forbid companies from limiting functionality for off-brand parts. Apple — which endorsed California’s right to repair law, passed in October — pushed back against the pairing provision. Only devices made after January 1, 2025, when the Oregon law goes into effect, are prevented from parts pairing. Continue reading Oregon’s Right to Repair Law Is the First to Ban Parts Pairing

Authentic Brands Group, which owns the rights to Sports Illustrated, has selected the London-based Minute Media to continue publishing the storied magazine in print and digital editions in a deal that runs for 10 years, with an option to extend for up to 20 more years. The Minute partnership will “usher in the future of the SI brand,” announced Authentic, whose portfolio includes fashion and sports, as well as IP rights to celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, who it is leveraging into a chatbot. Minute owns sports and culture resources including athlete-driven The Players’ Tribune, the FanSided network of websites and newsletters, and sports highlights platform STN Video. Continue reading Minute Media Secures a 10-Year Future for Sports Illustrated

Soul Machines debuted a synthetic Marilyn Monroe last week at SXSW. The New Zealand-based company teamed on the Digital Marilyn project with Authentic Brands Group, a New York management firm that represents a host of fashion labels as well as personalities such as Elvis Presley, David Beckham and Muhammad Ali. The result is a sophisticated chatbot that Soul Machines describes as an “interactive experience.” Drawing on biological AI, Soul Machines is packaging a “personalized engagement opportunity” for fans and brands, which could lead to new approaches in advertising and promotions. Continue reading Soul Machines Aims for Photorealistic Marilyn Monroe Chatbot