Twitch is upgrading its presentation capabilities with the addition of vertical viewing and dual-format streaming. The popular Amazon-owned gaming platform is also adding 2K video in open beta for all partners and affiliates, broadening accessibility for high-definition formats. In January 2024, Twitch began experimenting with HD including 4K, which remains in closed beta for select users. The format tests were part of Twitch’s Enhanced Broadcast initiative with Nvidia and OBS Studio, purveyor of the open broadcaster format. Creators with access to Enhanced Broadcasting in Twitch Studio can use dual formatting to simultaneously stream in horizontal and vertical formats. Continue reading Twitch Announces New Features to Enhance Mobile Viewing

Google is celebrating 10 years of Google Photos by introducing a redesign of the Photos editor, including helpful new tools. The Photos editor gets some AI editing features previously available only on Pixel phones as part of its generative AI Magic Editor. The Photos platform is also expanding access to its AI-powered text-to-image Reimagine and automatic framing and related features first introduced with the Pixel 9. The company explains there are currently more than 1.5 billion monthly Photos users that have stored 9+ trillion photos and videos. The updates reflect Google’s AI push as it continues to integrate Gemini across its growing family of products and services. Continue reading Google Photos Rolling Out Redesign and New AI Editing Tools

YouTube is integrating Google Lens, allowing viewers to search elements of what they see while watching YouTube Shorts. The visual search enhancement aims to provide more ways to unearth information and discover content in an interactive, intuitive way. YouTube provides an example involving a Short filmed on location that features landmarks a viewer may be interested in visiting. In this example, users could ask Google Lens for related information to learn the name of the destination and helpful details regarding its culture and history, results that would appear over the video content as a visual overlay. YouTube began rolling out the Lens feature in beta to all viewers last week. Continue reading YouTube Shorts Powers New Visual Search with Google Lens

Artificial intelligence startup Odyssey, which turns two this year, has unveiled an interactive streaming AI video model. Available on the web in research preview, the model generates video streams every 40 milliseconds that viewers can navigate through — much like interacting with a 3D-rendered video game using either a keyboard, game controller or smartphone. Odyssey describes the current experience as similar to “exploring a glitchy dream” and says that while “utility is limited for now” its breakthrough is based on the fact that “improvements won’t be driven by hand-built game engines, but rather by models and data.” Continue reading Odyssey’s AI World Modeling Engine Streams Interactive 3D

Google is in a filmmaking frame of mind. The search giant introduced Veo 3, the latest version of its generative video model, loading it with cinematic capabilities including a new AI storytelling tool called Flow. At the Google I/O conference the company also debuted an upgraded image generator, Imagen 4, and announced expanded access to the AI music tool Lyria 2. Veo 3 can generate videos with audio — a Google first, adding things like background traffic noises, birds singing, “even dialogue between characters.” It offers improved consistency of characters, scenes and objects, while gaining camera controls, outpainting and object add/remove. Continue reading Google Upgrades GenAI Models, Debuts AI Storyteller ‘Flow’

CNN announced the planned fall launch of a new streaming direct-to-consumer service. Pricing and start date details have yet to be revealed, but network CEO Mark Thompson announced the new product Wednesday at the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront in New York City. Thompson said the streaming service will be tied to a CNN.com subscription product. As with recent streaming launches from FOX and ESPN, CNN is taking care not to compete with its most lucrative customers, traditional cable providers, who will be able to pass through the new offering at no additional charge. Continue reading CNN Shares Plan to Introduce New Streaming Product in 2025

TikTok AI Alive is a new image-to-video feature that can add sequential expression to selfies and add progressive hues to sunsets. Accessible through the platform’s Story Camera, AI Alive uses intelligent editing tools that give anyone, regardless of experience, “the ability to transform static images into captivating, short-form videos enhanced with movement, atmospheric and creative effects.” TikTok says it is prioritizing safety and transparency by adding a label to AI Alive stories, which will also have C2PA metadata embedded, traveling with the content even when it’s downloaded and shared elsewhere. Continue reading TikTok Offering ‘AI Alive’ Image-to-Video Generator in Stories

Amazon’s second Upfront presentation featured a lineup of Hollywood celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Momoa and Jamie Lee Curtis joined by sports stars such as Travis Kelce and John Cena. The streamer announced that “Spider-Noir,” the Marvel series starring Nicolas Cage, debuts on Prime Video next year, while the post-apocalyptic drama “Fallout” returns for a third season. The Academy of Country Music Awards will call Prime Video home for the next three years. The ad-supported version of the streaming service has added 15 million monthly customers since January 2024 and now reaches about 130 million U.S. households monthly. Continue reading Amazon Touts Prime Video Subs, Series and Sports at Upfront

The new smartphone lineup from Chinese manufacturer Honor will include AI image-to-video capabilities developed in partnership with Google Cloud. The Honor 400 series will let users generate videos from static photos, according to the company. Google recently added support for Veo 2, which generates videos at up to 4K, for Gemini Advanced subscribers, and Honor says its new phones will have Veo 2 baked into the operating system, beating Google’s own Pixel phone to the punch. The Huawei spin-off is set to launch the 400 series May 22. Continue reading Google Veo 2 Video Generator Coming to New Honor Phones

Netflix is testing a short-form video feature for mobile to compete for the attention of those spending time on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. The news came out of the company’s inaugural product and tech event where it also shared plans for an OpenAI-powered search tool that lets users describe their desired content conversationally. Netflix plans to introduce improved real-time recommendations and a redesigned TV homepage, rolling out globally in the coming weeks and months, according to Chief Product Officer Eunice Kim, who presided over the event with Chief Technology Officer Elizabeth Stone. Continue reading Netflix Highlights Original Shows in New Vertical Shorts Feed

Lightricks, the company behind the Facetune and Videoleap apps, has released a new video model called LTX Video, or LTXV, that generates what the company describes as high-quality AI video at speeds up to 30 times faster than competing products, and does it using consumer-grade hardware. The open-source, 13-billion parameter model achieves such efficiency by utilizing an approach called multiscale rendering, which generates video in progressively detailed layers. The program can run on high-end laptops and standard desktop computers, opening up generative video to an audience beyond those who have access to enterprise equipment. Continue reading Lightricks LTXV Makes Video Generation Faster and Cheaper

As part of a larger push to boost its global subscriptions, Google’s YouTube is pilot-testing a discounted two-person Premium plan with select users in France, Hong Kong, India and Taiwan. The tier’s pilot program, which allows users to share their YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium membership with another household member (13 years or older) without committing to a family plan, comes as the platform looks to diversity beyond its advertising business. YouTube is testing whether the plan, similar to the Duo offering from music streamer Spotify, would be appealing to couples or roommates looking to minimize costs while maintaining separate accounts. Continue reading YouTube Tests Two-Person Premium Tier to Help Grow Subs

YouTube is testing a new AI Overviews feature for search and discovery powered by Gemini. A “small number” of YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S. will notice a video results carousel popping up for some English-language search queries. The feature taps AI to highlight clips from videos deemed most helpful for a particular search. Initially, the feature will appear in response to practical inquiries, aiming for a more helpful response to things like product inquiries and requests for information about a place or activity. The idea is to provide quick highlights from several videos. Continue reading YouTube Testing Gemini-Powered AI Overviews for Searches

Since launching in 2005, YouTube has hosted more than 20 billion videos including music, shorts and podcasts. Now, to celebrate its 20th birthday, the original video streamer is celebrating by sharing stats, unveiling new features and hiding Easter eggs. In the coming weeks, YouTube TV members will be able to “experiment with building their own multiview” with non-sports content and more creators will be able to voice-reply to comments on their videos, something started as a small test last year. Then, this summer, YouTube’s TV app will unveil a makeover. Continue reading YouTube Adds Features to Celebrate 20 Years, 20 Billion Vids

Character.AI, a platform offering AI chatbots for socializing and role play, has released a video generation model called AvatarFX in closed beta. Promising the ability to make photorealistic images “come to life — speak, sing and emote — all with the click of a button,” the technology combines audio and video to create a variety of visual style and voice, from realistic 3D — including “non-human faces (like a favorite pet)” — to 2D animations, according to the company. AvatarFX also has the ability “to maintain strong temporal consistency with face, hand and body movement” and can “power videos with multiple speakers.” Continue reading Character.AI Introduces New Video Generator in Closed Beta