Rivalry between World Network, also known as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s “other company,” and Elon Musk’s X is heating up in an escalating race to be first out with an “everything app.” World Network is trying to accelerate adoption of a log-in system that relies on “ocular verification” — mapping the unique pattern of the iris — for “anonymous proof-of-human” validation. World already has a free app for iOS and Android, and recently launched a “mini app store” within it, including functions such as chat, transferring cryptocurrency and shopping for microloans. Continue reading Altman’s World Takes on Musk’s X in Race to Everything App

Alibaba is making AI news again, releasing another Qwen reasoning model, QwQ-32B, which was trained and scaled using reinforcement learning (RL). The Qwen team says it “has the potential to enhance model performance beyond conventional pretraining and post-training methods.” QwQ-32B, a 32 billion parameter model, “achieves performance comparable to DeepSeek-R1, which boasts 671 billion parameters (with 37 billion activated),” Alibaba claims. While parameters refer to the total set of adjustable weights and biases in the model’s neural network, “activated” parameters are a subset used for a specific inference task, like generating a response. Continue reading Alibaba Says Qwen Reasoning Model on Par with DeepSeek

Samsung shook things up at Mobile World Congress 2025 with a display of its Project Moohan XR headset, which CNBC confirms will be released this year. While the MWC display was just a teaser, and Samsung remained tight-lipped about its specs, the mirrored goggles generated a lot of coverage, including speculation that Samsung may deploy Sony’s 4K Micro OLEDs in the new device, increasing Mohan’s resolution over the Apple Vision Pro by nearly 2 million pixels per eye and offering superior color, too. Samsung worked with Qualcomm and Google to develop Moohan, which will use the new Android XR operating system. Continue reading New Samsung XR Headset Could Use Sony 4K Micro OLEDs

Amazon is ramping up its AI activity, reportedly planning to release its own advanced reasoning model as part of the company’s Nova family. The Nova line was introduced in December at re:Invent and the new addition could debut as early as June. Its reasoning prowess is being compared to the abilities of OpenAI’s o3-mini and DeepSeek-R1. But reports say Amazon is taking the hybrid reasoning approach embraced by Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet (Amazon has a 10 percent stake in Anthropic). The e-retail giant is also preparing for an agentic AI push, having established a dedicated unit, reports say. Continue reading Amazon Plans an AI Push with Nova Reasoning Model, Agents

Alphabet asked a question: “Could we harness the speed of light to deliver data without the need for cables?” The answer, compiled over 7 years, is that it can deliver fast, affordable Internet connectivity by transmitting high-speed data using beams of light through the air using the company’s new Taara chip. Whereas the first-generation technology, the Taara Lightbridge, relied on a system of mirrors, sensors and hardware to steer light physically, the Taara chip uses software to steer, track, and correct the beam of light without bulky moving parts — or a fiber optic wire. Continue reading New Alphabet Chip Delivers Internet Through Air Using Light

Over a year after teasing a next-gen Alexa virtual assistant, Amazon is releasing an AI-powered version called Alexa+. The new personal assistant can do things like order groceries for the household, facilitate event planning, manage smart home utilities and security, and, of course, shop online. “She’s smarter, more conversational, more capable,” according to Amazon SVP of Devices & Services Panos Panay. Strategically priced to entice the AI-curious into Amazon membership, Alexa+ costs $20 per month as a standalone service or comes free with Amazon Prime ($15 per month or $139 per year). Continue reading Amazon’s AI-Powered Alexa+ is Agentic with Computer Vision

Anthropic has released a new frontier model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, described as the industry’s first “hybrid AI reasoning model.” The new Claude is different in that it can both respond to questions in real time or, alternatively, “think” about a problem for a prolonged period of time — basically as long as a user would like. Users can choose between “near-instant responses or extended, step-by-step thinking that is made visible to the user” by selecting the appropriate “reasoning” capability for Claude, Anthropic says. Along with the new model, Anthropic is also debuting a command line tool for agentic coding, Claude Code. Continue reading Anthropic Introduces a New Claude Hybrid Reasoning Model

Comcast Technology Solutions is launching MediaExpress, which aims to make it easier for content owners to get distribution on premium VOD tiers. MediaExpress offers program suppliers a pipeline to leading broadcast, streaming, social and digital platforms. It provides “a single ingest point for videos, metadata and supporting files, facilitating title management and distribution for both long form and short form video with CTS handling certified delivery,” according to Comcast. It also allows library holders to streamline “VOD distribution and monetization efforts across subscription VOD (SVOD), advertising VOD (AVOD), transactional VOD (TVOD) or FAST partners.” Continue reading Comcast MediaExpress Will Distribute Premium VOD Content

Substack has enabled video publishing directly from within the Substack app. The move is designed to increase user engagement while helping its authors monetize, including with smartphones. Each video post can be formatted to reach subscribers instantly through email, app notifications, or both. “With millions of weekly active users and 1 million posts discovered daily, the Substack app has become the leading driver of subscriber and revenue growth for publishers building sustainable, independent businesses,” the company claims. The Substack network has also become a discovery ecosystem, helping creators find potential subscribers. Continue reading Substack Now Lets Creators Monetize with Video Publishing

A year after the commercial release of the Vision Pro mixed reality headset, Apple is making progress adding Apple Intelligence, with visionOS 2.4, available now in developer beta in English with consumer release scheduled for April. The AI boost adds Writing Tools, which allows text composition “from scratch using ChatGPT,” as well as Image Playground and the custom emoji app Genmoji. It also integrates Spatial Gallery, a new Vision Pro app for the iPhone that includes a discovery mechanism for curated 3D movies and a remote-viewable Guest Mode for mobile. Additional features and languages will be added throughout the year. Continue reading Apple Intelligence, Guest Mode Coming to Vision Pro in April

ThinkAnalytics has launched an AI-powered platform designed for video service providers. Called ThinkMediaAI, it is said to unify content monetization — including contextual advertising, content curation and content bundling — across a variety of services, from live to CTV, FAST, VOD and more. Headquartered in the UK, with offices in Los Angeles, Singapore and India, ThinkAnalytics leverages a recommendation engine, claiming to track more than 475 million real-time data records and 8 billion recommendations per day. The company plans to showcase the new tech at NAB 2025, April 5-9 in Las Vegas. Continue reading ThinkAnalytics Bows Advertising, Curation Tool ThinkMediaAI

Microsoft has unveiled a new AI model called Muse that can generate game visuals and controller actions and understands 3D space. The new model can create complex gameplay sequences with accurate physics and character behaviors. Classified by Microsoft as the first World and Human Action Model (WHAM), Muse was trained from over seven years’ worth of human gameplay data from the Xbox game “Bleeding Edge,” published by UK-based Microsoft Games subsidiary Ninja Theory. Muse can, in addition to game goals, provide research insights to support all sorts of creative use of generative AI, Microsoft says. Continue reading Muse Could Be a Gamechanger for Xbox Players, Developers

Google announced last week that its Gemini AI chatbot now offers the ability to provide responses based on earlier conversations. It can also summarize a previous chat and recall information the user has shared in other threads. “Whether you’re asking a question about something you’ve already discussed, or asking Gemini to summarize a previous conversation, Gemini now uses information from relevant chats to craft a response,” according to Google. The new feature is rolling out via Google’s $20-per-month One AI Premium Plan to start and will be available to Google Workspace Business and Enterprise customers in the coming weeks. Continue reading Gemini Recalls Previous Chats to Provide Helpful Responses

Thomson Reuters scored a victory defending its intellectual property in the first AI model training case to produce a substantive legal judgment. U.S. District Court of Delaware Judge Stephanos Bibas on Tuesday issued a partial summary judgment for Westlaw parent Thomson Reuters in its copyright infringement case against Ross Intelligence. The court found that after Thomson Reuters refused Ross’ offer to license Westlaw material the startup hired a third-party to procedurally reconstitute the material, resulting in infringement. Ross defenses, including fair use, “all fail,” says the court. Continue reading Round One in Thomson Reuters AI Lawsuit Is a Victory for IP

Samsung is showing off what it calls the “next generation of commercial displays” at the Integrated Systems Europe 2025 show in Barcelona. Included are a 115-inch, 4K Smart Signage screen designed to deliver “a new level of immersive visuals” and the Samsung Color E-Paper EMDX that goes up to 75 inches at 5K, uses digital ink and operates at 0.00W power when displaying static images. Both devices consume significantly less energy at their height of workload compared to traditional digital displays, a high priority for business customers. Continue reading Samsung Demos 75-Inch E-Paper Display and AI Smart Signs