Google seems to be angling for a slice of Apple’s pie, unveiling a universe of interconnected Pixel-branded gadgets across an ecosystem of watches, earbuds, smartphones and tablets. The Google I/O developers conference previewed next-generation Pixel 7 and 7 Pro smartphones, a new tablet and the highly anticipated Pixel Watch smartwatch. The company also showcased Pixel Buds Pro with noise cancellation and the budget Pixel 6a smartphone, ending with a teaser for AR glasses that translate languages. Google CEO Sundar Pichai led the Wednesday event, talking up the new Immersive View, coming soon to Maps. Continue reading Google Reveals AR Glasses, Immersive View for Maps, More

Discovery+ has become the first ad-supported plan among Roku Channel premium subscription offerings. Announcing the deal, Roku and Warner Bros. Discovery said Discovery+ brings 70,000 episodes of network shows and more than 200 originals to become the largest vertical library on The Roku Channel. Discovery+ on Roku TV will cost $7 per month for the ad-free version and $5 per month with ads. Both options are available now, with a 7-day free trial. The deal marks Roku’s first premium subscription for a video-on-demand tier supported by ads. Continue reading Discovery+ Is First Roku Premium Sub with Ad-Supported Tier

In the run-up to SIGGRAPH 2022, August 8-11 at the Vancouver Convention Center, Nvidia is unveiling some splashy designs, including what is described as the world’s thinnest VR glasses (just 2.5mm). Developed in conjunction with Stanford University, the team says the new VR headset can easily be modified to achieve a 120-degree diagonal field-of-view (though the initial prototypes are much narrower in scope). The lightweight glasses provide a true holographic display but can also display flat images. Most current VR headsets achieve depth by converging flat images for a stereoscopic view. Continue reading Nvidia and Stanford Co-Develop World’s Thinnest VR Headset

After months of negotiations, Electronic Arts’s EA Sports and the FIFA World Cup governing body are parting ways after nearly three successful decades of game collaboration that generated tens of billions of dollars in revenue and helped popularize professional soccer around the world. Having decided not to renew the partnership with a new contract, the parties have agreed to extend the existing contract — which was to end in December after the World Cup in Qatar — through the summer of 2023 and the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Continue reading FIFA and EA Sports Go Separate Ways After Long Partnership

Facial recognition software company Clearview AI has agreed to limit U.S. sales of its identity database to businesses and other private actors as part of a lawsuit settlement. The case, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups, was filed in state court in Illinois, where the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is considered the nation’s strongest data privacy law. The lawsuit alleged that Clearview routinely scraped images of state residents from the Internet without obtaining their permission or making them aware of the practice. Continue reading Clearview to Limit Sales After Settling Illinois Privacy Lawsuit

A U.S. district judge in New York has established a new front in the anti-piracy war, ruling that a long list of domestic ISPs must block three Israeli websites found to be in violation of copyright law. Judge Katherine Polk Failla ordered the ISPs to block the sites Israeli-TV.com, Israel.tv and Sdarot.tv, and also any domains known to be “used in the future … by any technological means available.” Also affected are web hosting service providers, web designers, domain registrars and advertising companies, now banned from doing business with the sites. Continue reading Site Blocking Gaining Steam Globally as Anti-Piracy Measure

Facebook is ending its Nearby Friends feature and halting other location-tracking data collection. Location history, background location and Weather Alerts will be discontinued globally due to “low usage.” The change reflects consumers’ increased caution over personal data and movement tracking. The Meta Platforms unit says as of May 31 the features will stop collecting information, and by August 1 previously collected location history and background location data will be deleted. Users can log in to Facebook before August 1 to view or download their data. Continue reading Facebook Shutters Nearby Friends and Other Data Collection

Nvidia has begun previewing its latest H100 Tensor Core GPU, promising “an order-of-magnitude performance leap for large-scale AI and HPC” over previous iterations, according to the company. Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang announced the Hopper earlier this year, and IT professionals’ website ServeTheHome recently had a chance to see a H100 SXM5 module demonstrated. Consuming up to 700W in an effort to deliver 60 FP64 Tensor teraflops, the module — which features 80 billion transistors and has 8448/16896 FP64/FP32 cores in addition to 538 Tensor cores — is described as “monstrous” in the best way. Continue reading Nvidia Touts New H100 GPU and Grace CPU Superchip for AI

Pinterest has launched a new app that makes it easier for creators to live-stream content. Pinterest TV Studio for iOS and Android lets select creators stream live on Pinterest from multiple devices, in order to achieve different camera angles. Initially available in limited release, creators must obtain a special code from Pinterest in order to unlock the Studio functionality. As part of its latest quarterly earnings, announced April 27, Pinterest co-founder and CEO Ben Silverman said the company grew global revenue 18 percent year-over-year, “despite a challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.” Continue reading Pinterest Launches TV Studio App for Creator Live Streaming

The Biden Administration has secured private sector commitments designed to provide free or reduced-rate Internet to American families. As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) allows tens of millions of U.S. households to lower their monthly bills or sign-up for new service. Among the 20 leading Internet providers participating in the plan, which reaches more than 80 percent of the population, are AT&T (Spectrum), Comcast (Xfinity) and Verizon. The list also includes smaller rural providers such as Jackson Energy Authority in Tennessee and Comporium in North Carolina. Continue reading New Federal Program to Make Internet Access Available to All

In an effort to expand payment opportunities for creators of popular original video content, Meta Platforms is updating its Reels Play bonus program, adding Facebook Challenges and rolling out new insights for Reels Play creators. Successful Facebook Challenge videos will enable creators to earn “up to $4,000 in a given month,” according to Meta, which says it will “also explore the ability for eligible creators to earn a share of revenue on crossposted Reels via overlay ads” from videos that appear on both Facebook and Instagram. Continue reading Meta Adds Facebook Challenges and Expands Monetization

Elon Musk revealed on Thursday he has brought in investors willing to supply $7 billion toward his Twitter buyout. On Friday, he and Twitter were sued by a Florida pension fund seeking to prevent the Tesla CEO’s proposed $44 billion takeover. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has reportedly agreed to roll his existing $1.9 billion stake into a Musk-controlled Twitter. The fresh endorsement reverses the Saudi’s stance last month, when he tweeted “I don’t believe that the proposed offer by @ElonMusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects.” Continue reading Musk, Twitter Board Sued in Wake of $7 Billion Commitment

Apple, Google and Microsoft have joined forces in a rare intercorporate collaboration to create passwordless sign-in technology that relies on smartphones to sign-in. The tech giants announced last week that they are coordinating support for the passwordless sign-in standard, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance. As a result, by the end of the year users of any of the three operating systems should be able to sign-in to any app or website when using supporting browsers from their nearby device. Continue reading Microsoft, Google, Apple Unite Behind Passwordless Logins

Twitter has entered into a deal with FOX Sports, which will create and distribute exclusive content on the social platform for all upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 tournaments. Appearing at the IAB NewFronts this week, Twitter also talked-up new and expanded deals with media partners NBCUniversal, E! News, Condé Nast, Essence and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Revolt Media. The NewFronts announcements are important for Twitter, which accepted a buyout offer by Elon Musk that has some advertisers worried. Continue reading Twitter Announces Deals with FOX Sports and NBCUniversal

Social video platform TikTok has unveiled a new advertising solution that allows brands to place their messages next to the top content in TikTok’s For You feed. The contextual ad solution, TikTok Pulse, is the first to allow TikTok creators a chance to share ad revenue. The program initially makes publishers, public figures and creators with 100,000 or more followers whose videos are in the top 4 percent eligible for a 50/50 ad revenue split. Pulse launches in the U.S. in June, with plans to roll out to additional markets in the fall. Continue reading TikTok ‘Pulse’ Pairs Advertising with Top-Performing Videos