TikTok has partnered with global concert ticketing agency AXS to help music lovers discover and buy tickets to live events in-app. The new feature, which is going live in the U.S., UK, Sweden and Australia, with more markets to follow, allows any TikTok “Certified Artist” to promote and sell tickets on the platform through AXS. The enhancement is designed to help TikTok artists “expand their audiences globally and build their careers, simply by allowing them to add their AXS event links to their videos before publishing,” according to TikTok. Since 2022, the short-form video platform has been in a venture with Ticketmaster. Continue reading TikTok Expands Its Ticketing Features in Global Deal with AXS

Amazon has added interactive shopping from Amazon Live to Prime Video and the Amazon-owned FAST platform Freevee. Previously available only via web browser on computers, mobile and Fire TV, Amazon Live now debuts as a “Live TV” tab on Prime Video and Freevee while continuing to be available at Amazon.com/live. With the TV launch of Amazon Live, customers in the U.S. will “have more ways to shop with creators, brands, and celebrities” and will also be offered “shop the show” technology enabling what the company says will be “seamless” browsing, shopping and engagement with content using their mobile device. Continue reading Amazon Live FAST Shopping Added to Prime Video, Freevee

Sony Electronics is previewing a new flagship 4K 60p pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera model, the BRC-AM7, which has an integrated lens that uses artificial intelligence for PTZ Auto Framing technology to control advanced tracking and focus. The camera provides “accurate and natural automatic tracking of moving subjects,” making it ideal for live events and sports productions at broadcast quality. Set for release in 2025, Sony says the BRC-AM7 is the world’s “smallest and lightest” integrated lens PTZ camera, weighing in at just over 8 pounds. The camera is among the numerous Sony products featured at NAB 2024 in Las Vegas. Continue reading Sony 4K 60p PTZ Broadcast Camera Boasts AI Auto Framing

Blackmagic Design has unveiled the new DaVinci Resolve 19, with multi-source editing, neural engine AI tools, Resolve FX and Fairlight AI audio panning among the highlight features. With more than 100 feature upgrades in all, Resolve 19 boasts IntelliTrack AI, Ultra NR noise reduction, ColorSlice six vector grading palettes and Film Look Creator FX. The company also announced the DaVinci Resolve Micro Color Panel, a more affordable color panel for DaVinci Resolve software that Blackmagic says was designed in collaboration with the world’s leading colorists. These tools are featured at the Blackmagic booth at NAB 2024. Continue reading DaVinci Resolve 19 Has AI Motion Tracking and Color Grading

Apple Vision Pro users disappointed by the Netflix webOS experience on the spatial computing wearable can now take advantage of the independently developed Supercut app, designed to enhance the streaming platform on Apple’s new headset, as well as to make Amazon Prime Video work better through a dedicated iPad app port. Created by Christian Privitelli, Supercut delivers the correct aspect ratio for each app, as well as eliminating black bars, and more. It also enables 4K streaming with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Privitelli is working on a version for streaming platform Plex. Continue reading Supercut Improves Streaming of Netflix, Amazon on Vision Pro

Google is moving its most powerful artificial intelligence model, Gemini 1.5 Pro, into public preview for developers and Google Cloud customers. Gemini 1.5 Pro includes what Google claims is a breakthrough in long context understanding, with the ability to run 1 million tokens of information “opening up new possibilities for enterprises to create, discover and build using AI.” Gemini’s multimodal capabilities allow it to process audio, video, text, code and more, which when combined with long context, “enables enterprises to do things that just weren’t possible with AI before,” according to Google. Continue reading Google Offers Public Preview of Gemini Pro for Cloud Clients

Google Vids is a new AI-powered video creation app for Google Workspace. The aim is to integrate a simple AI video editor with the real-time collaboration capabilities of cloud-based text editors Docs, Sheets and Slides, “allowing people everywhere to tap into immersive storytelling at work.” Vids will be released to Workspace Labs in June. Vids will be able to generate an easy-to-edit storyboard and piece together a first draft, with suggestions from stock footage and stills, as well as background music. “It can also help you land your message with the right voiceover,” according to Google. Continue reading AI-Powered Video Generator Available for Google Workspace

In 2023, viewers watched more than 30 billion hours of shopping-related videos on YouTube, according to the platform, which reports “a 25 percent increase in watch time” for videos that help people shop. The uptick coincided with the introduction of tagging features for creators, and now YouTube is expanding its retail involvement even further by allowing creators to set up storefronts and sell products in-app, as yet another way to monetize the service. The move comes as TikTok seeks to grow TikTok Shop as high as $17.5 billion in the U.S., a tenfold increase. Continue reading YouTube Adds Shopping Features for Products, Virtual Stores

Roku has applied for a patent on technology that is said to be able to display ads over any device plugged into your television. According to reports, the patent application describes a system that interacts with devices connected to TVs via HDMI, which could include everything from cable boxes, DVD or Blu-ray players, game consoles, PCs or other video-streaming devices. The patent, filed by Roku in August 2023, was published three months later, but still hasn’t been granted. The idea is to have even more ways to display ads when consumers aren’t actively streaming content. Roku already does so on its screensaver and home screen. Continue reading Roku Unveils Tech to Show Ads on All TV Connected Devices

Mobile entertainment platform Storiaverse is connecting writers and animators around the world to create content for what it claims is a unique “read-watch” format. Available on iOS and Android, Storiaverse combines animated video, audio and text into a narrative that “enhances the reading experience for digital native adults.” Created by Agnes Kozera and David Kierzkowski, co-founders of the Podcorn podcast sponsorship marketplace, Storiaverse caters to graphic novel fans interested in discovering original, short-form animated stories that range from 5-10 minutes in length. At launch there will be 25 original titles. Continue reading Short-Form Video App Storiaverse Touts ‘Read-Write’ Format

Artificial Intelligence is not angling to steal jobs, according to Big Tech, which is galvanizing its forces to push back against that perception by forming a new consortium that addresses the effect of AI on the workforce. Called the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, it will “assess AI’s impact on technology jobs and identify skills development pathways for the roles most likely to be affected by artificial intelligence,” according to Cisco, which leads the initiative. Accenture, Eightfold, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft and SAP are also participating. Continue reading Big Tech Launches Consortium to Address AI Impact on Jobs

OpenAI has updated the editor for DALL-E, the artificial intelligence image generator that is part of the ChatGPT premium tiers. The update, based on the DALL-E 3 model, makes it easier for users to adjust their generated images. Shortly after DALL-E 3’s September debut, OpenAI integrated it into ChatGPT, enabling paid subscribers to generate images from text or image prompts. The new DALL-E editor interface lets users edit images “by selecting an area of the image to edit and describing your changes in chat” without using the selection tool. Desired changes can also be prompted “in the conversation panel,” according to OpenAI. Continue reading OpenAI Integrates New Image Editor for DALL-E into ChatGPT

Amazon Web Services has launched a new cloud computing service called AWS Deadline Cloud that allows customers to set up, deploy, and scale rendering projects in what the company says is mere “minutes,” improving efficiency by facilitating parallel rendering pipelines. “With Deadline Cloud, customers creating computer graphics, visual effects, or innovating their pipelines to incorporate artificial intelligence-generated visuals can build a cloud-based render farm — aggregated compute — that scales from zero to thousands of compute instances for peak demand, without needing to manage their own infrastructure,” according to AWS. Continue reading AWS Deadline Cloud Service Scales Up Instant Render Farms

The United States has entered into an agreement with the United Kingdom to collaboratively develop safety tests for the most advanced AI models. The memorandum of understanding aims at evaluating the societal and national defense risks posed by advanced models. Coming after commitments made at the AI Safety Summit in November, the deal is being described as the world’s first bilateral agreement on AI safety. The agreement, signed by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, envisions the countries “working to align their scientific approaches” and to accelerate evaluations for AI models, systems and agents. Continue reading U.S. and UK Form Partnership to Accelerate AI Safety Testing

Adobe’s upcoming GenStudio for marketers and an expanded agreement with Microsoft to integrate the Adobe Experience Cloud’s customer insights and generative AI from Firefly directly into Copilot were the big buzz at Adobe Summit 2024, which wrapped Thursday after four days in Las Vegas. Currently in beta, GenStudio will allow advertisers and brands to quickly plan campaigns and create ads, then activate, manage and measure the results with native integrations across Adobe Experience Cloud and Creative Cloud. General release is expected later this year, with pricing to be announced. Continue reading Adobe Promos GenStudio for Brands and New Microsoft Deal