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Tech Competition is Helping Americans. Here's How.
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Friday • November 1, 2024
Apple is acquiring the popular image editing app Pixelmator
Pixelmator Says There Will Be ‘No Material Changes’ to its Mac and iOS Apps at This Time
Apple has agreed to acquire Pixelmator, a popular image editing app available on Mac and iOS. Pixelmator announced the news in a post on its blog, saying it will now “have the ability to reach an even wider audience and make an even bigger impact on the lives of creative people around the world.”
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Sunday • October 27, 2024
Meta releases an ‘open’ version of Google’s podcast generator
It Can Generate Back-and-Forth, Podcast-Style Digests of Text Files Uploaded to It
Meta has released an “open” implementation of the viral generate-a-podcast feature in Google’s NotebookLM.
Called NotebookLlama, the project uses Meta’s own Llama models for much of the processing, unsurprisingly. Like NotebookLM, it can generate back-and-forth, podcast-style digests of text files uploaded to it.
NotebookLlama first creates a transcript from a file — for example, a PDF of a news article or blog post. Then it adds “more dramatization” and interruptions before feeding the transcript to open text-to-speech models.
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Tuesday • August 27, 2024
X Tests Video-Conferencing Tool To Compete With LinkedIn, Microsoft Teams
X is Taking its “Video-First” Strategy Even Further
To compete in the business-to-business market and take on other video-conferencing platforms, the social platform formerly known as Twitter is testing a video conferencing tool, which would allow users to start conferences directly from the app.
The tool was first shared by X employee Chris Park on the platform late last week. In his post, Park said that the tool received minimal feedback from his team, and that it would provide a “strong alternative” to Google Hangouts, Zoom, AWS Chime, and Microsoft Teams.
The feedback Park did receive includes developing better notification to indicate people joining or leaving conversations, as well as the ability to pin main speakers or participants.
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Friday • July 19, 2024
Snapchat Launches ‘Unconventional’ AR Sports Series With Creators, Brands
Each Episode Will Feature Popular Snap Creators and Brand Sponsors
Snapchat’s new “Snap Sports Network” is an immersive in-app viewing experience devoted to highlighting “unconventional” sports including dog surfing, hobby horsing, professional pillow-fighting, gurning (a British sport based on making the ugliest facial expression) and more.
According to Snap, 180 million Snapchatters watch sports coverage every month on average, and 67% of users report that Snap filters and Lenses offer a unique sports content experience, while 55% say the platform is their favorite for staying connected with sports-related content.
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Thursday • May 30, 2024
OpenAI Partners With Vox Media And The Atlantic To Bridge ChatGPT With Journalism
This Collaboration Will Integrate Vox Media’s Portfolio and The Atlantic’s Articles Into ChatGPT and Other OpenAI Products
The partnership aims to enrich ChatGPT’s 100 million users with trusted journalism from Vox Media’s properties, including Vox, The Verge, Eater, New York Magazine, The Cut, Vulture, and SB Nation. The Atlantic’s articles will also be accessible within OpenAI’s platforms.
Vox Media will leverage OpenAI’s technology for both audience-facing and internal applications, enhancing tools like The Strategist Gift Scout. Additionally, the partnership will bolster Forte, Vox Media’s first-party data platform, by improving creative optimization and audience targeting for advertisers.
The Atlantic will collaborate with OpenAI to shape future news experiences in ChatGPT and other products. This includes developing an experimental microsite, Atlantic Labs, to explore AI’s role in journalism. Queries surfacing The Atlantic will feature attribution and links to the full articles on their website, enhancing visibility and audience engagement.
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Wednesday • May 22, 2024
OpenAI, WSJ Owner News Corp Strike Content Deal Valued at Over $250 Million
‘The Pact Acknowledges that there is a Premium for Premium Journalism,’ News Corp CEO Robert Thomson Tells Employees
Wall Street Journal owner News Corp NWSA -0.07%decrease; red down pointing triangle struck a major content-licensing pact with the generative artificial-intelligence company OpenAI, aiming to cash in on a technology that promises to have a profound impact on the news-publishing industry.
The deal could be worth more than $250 million over five years, including compensation in the form of cash and credits for use of OpenAI technology, according to people familiar with the situation. OpenAI would use content from News Corp’s consumer-facing news publications, including archives, to answer users’ queries and train its technology.
Terms of content-licensing agreements between publishers and OpenAI aren’t public, but the News Corp deal is among the biggest, if not the biggest, reached to date.