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

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

San Francisco-based optics company Solos has debuted its latest smart glasses, the Solos AirGo Vision, which offer a camera that takes photos and provides computer vision, and integrates OpenAI’s GPT-4o. The AirGo Vision can provide real-time information using visual input, recognizing people, objects and places, and providing information such as directions or instructions. Both the camera and AI functionality are hands-free, making the AirGo Vision “especially convenient for visual progress and next steps on activities like cooking, home improvement projects, education and studies, and even shopping,” the company explains. Continue reading Solos AirGo Vision Smart Glasses Tout a Camera and GTP-4o

Nuconomi CTO Greg Carron, tech and business journalist Molly Wood, and CBS Sports Radio host JR Jackson spoke with Consumer Technology Association Senior VP of Government Affairs Michael Petricone about how they’ve integrated artificial intelligence into their artistic expression. “The synergy of technology and creativity is creating a profound transformation,” explained Petricone. Reporter and climate change investor Wood noted that synergy led to the launch of Molly Wood Media where she uses AI to streamline her process. “I used AI to make myself a cyborg and do everything I want to do as a human being,” she said. “Turns out I don’t need a producer.” Continue reading CES: Creators Talk About Integrating AI into Their Media Work

CTA Senior Manager of Government Affairs John Mitchell led a discussion at CES on the use of blockchain as the basis of a new economic ecosystem. Coinbase Head of U.S. Policy Kara Calvert, FinClusive CEO Amit Sharma, and Paradigm Policy Director Justin Slaughter expressed enthusiasm about the potential for financial inclusion and digital identity as well as frustration over U.S. legislators’ approach to regulation. “Here, blockchain is positioned as a problem to address, not an opportunity to be seized,” suggested Slaughter. Meanwhile, they note, Switzerland, China and other countries are taking the lead. Continue reading CES: Leaders Urge Regulation to Unleash Blockchain’s Power

The entrepreneurs behind the Myspace social network and gaming company Jam City have shifted their focus to generative AI and web3 with a new venture, Plai Labs, a social platform that provides AI tools for collaboration and connectivity. Plai Labs has released a free text-to-video generator, PlaiDay, which will compete with other GenAI video tools from the likes of OpenAI (DALL-E 2), Google (Imagen), Meta Platforms (Make-A-Video) and Stable Diffusion. But PlaiDay hopes to set itself apart by offering the ability to personalize videos with selfie likenesses. Continue reading Social Startup Plai Labs Debuts Free Text-to-Video Generator

Watch brand Diesel continues its exploration of Web3 and the metaverse with its new Vert line, a collaboration with Fossil dropping November 2. The “narrative-driven brand experience” for Vert centers on a game-like digital adventure called “the Vert Metamorph Experience” that that can be explored online and instore through November 17. The Metamorph virtual world is inspired by Vert design details resulting in an environment both organic and futuristic. There, visitors will try to advance through challenges as an NFT-minted “A:VERT:AR” trying to reactivate time in land where it has stopped. Continue reading Diesel Vert Watch Debut Powered by Web3 Promo with NFTs

Films shot using the 3D world-building tool Mona will compete in what is being billed as “the world’s first metaverse short film festival.” Running September 26-29, the Mona Shorts Fest will take place in the immersive environment app that CEO Justin Melillo has coined “the Monaverse.” “With an entire film studio at your fingertips through Mona’s SDK and in-world experience, imagine what story you could tell,” the festival’s website suggests. Last summer, the company announced more than $14 million in Series A funds after “thousands of creators” used the platform to build experiences for Web3. Continue reading Films Shot ‘In-World’ at Mona Get Their Own Shorts Festival

Blockchain startup Aptos Labs will use the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to “explore innovative solutions” in blockchain and Web3 for technologies involving artificial intelligence, tokenization and payments. As part of the deal Aptos describes as a “partnership,” the company is launching Aptos Assistant, which will enable natural language prompts, making Web3 applications like smart contracts and decentralized apps more “user-friendly and secure” for “everyday Internet users and organizations” as well as developers. Aptos offers what is known as Layer 1 blockchain, technology designed to facilitate transactions at scale. Continue reading Aptos Teams with Microsoft Azure OpenAI on Web3 Solutions

PayPal has become the first major U.S. fintech firm to launch its own cryptocurrency with a stablecoin called PayPal USD. Issued by Paxos Trust Company, PayPal USD is 100 percent backed by dollar deposits, U.S. treasuries and cash equivalents, and will maintain a value of exactly $1, according to the company. Initially available only to U.S. customers, CEO Dan Schulman says PayPal intends to make cryptocurrency a part of its overall payments infrastructure and will soon integrate it with its Venmo mobile payment app. PayPal shares, in a slump since last year, were up 3 percent on the news. Continue reading PayPal Is First Major U.S. Fintech to Launch Own Stablecoin

As a next step in its advances in ethical AI, Adobe has announced its Firefly generative AI platform now supports text prompts in more than 100 international languages. The company says its Firefly AI app has generated over one billion images in Firefly and Photoshop since implementation in March. Adobe has also deployed artificial intelligence in Express, Illustrator and the Creative Cloud. Positioning its latest news as an expansion of global proportions, Adobe’s generative AI products will now support text prompts in native dialects in the standalone Firefly web service, with localization coming to more than 20 additional languages. Continue reading Adobe Pursues Ethical, Responsible AI in the Creative Space

Google has updated transaction policies to allow for blockchain-based digital content, such as NFTs, to be placed within content distributed through its mobile software marketplace Google Play. Google has been slow to warm to blockchain integration, and the new approach comes with strict transparency requirements. If tokenized digital assets are part of an app or game “developers must declare this clearly,” Google explains, adding that “developers may not promote or glamorize any potential earning from playing or trading activities.” These stipulations intend to prevent the hype that has attached itself to so much blockchain activity from infiltrating Google Play. Continue reading Google Updates Policies Regarding Blockchain in Play Store

Deezer, the global music streaming platform based in France, claims to have developed a technique for flagging — and potentially deleting — songs that use artificial intelligence to simulate the performance of popular singers. “We need to take a stand now,” Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira said in an interview. “We are at a pivotal moment in music.” His company plans to “weed out illegal and fraudulent content” in an effort to protect artists. Deezer’s detection technology is still under development. It relies on AI, which Folgueira said he is not against if it is used ethically. Continue reading Deezer Says Its Tech Can Flag and Delete Deepfake AI Tunes

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has teamed with blockchain content developer Eluvio for the “Superman Web3 Movie Experience,” designed to give action film lovers a collectible experience while offering new life to the 45-year-old feature “Superman: The Movie” starring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. Described as “a multimedia NFT for fans to own and to engage with the 1978 Richard Donner film in an exciting way,” the limited release is available June 9-16 at $30 for the Standard edition or $100 for a Premium edition that will be available for 24 hours June 9-10. Continue reading Warner ‘Superman’ NFT Streams in 4K UHD from Blockchain

While there are a fair share of cynics ready to write-off the metaverse before it has a chance to crawl out of its crib, many marketers remain believers. Forty-six percent of consumer branding professionals tell Forrester Research they will be upping their metaverse budgets in 2023, while only 12 percent plan to spend less. But generative AI seems to have stolen some of its thunder, with FactSet reporting AI was mentioned on 163 March earnings calls, up from seven in March 2022. The metaverse got 35 mentions, down from 112 the previous year. Continue reading Metaverse Still Shows Potential for Brand Building, Marketing