Top News:
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Google is rolling out a new AI-powered ad format that shows shoppers how items of clothing would look on different skin tones and body types — A new breed of online ad allows brands to pay Google to offer shoppers AI-generated images that show how items of clothing would look on different skin tones and body types.
Discussion:
Digiday, ClickZ, Lauren Ito on LinkedIn, Search Engine Land, Adweek, The Drum, MarTech and Adweek, more at Techmeme »
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Thomas Buckley / Bloomberg:
Pixar lays off ~175 employees, or around 14% of its workforce, the biggest restructuring in Pixar's history, and plans to stop making original shows for Disney+ — About 175 employees are getting layoff notices Tuesday, the company said. — The reductions reflect a decision to refocus Pixar …
Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
Amid a dispute between music publishers and Spotify, the NMPA asks Congress to change copyright law to give rights holders more options to negotiate royalties — The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has called on Congress to make a change to copyright law in the United States …
Discussion:
Billboard, Digital Music News, Digital Music News, David Israelite on LinkedIn, Variety, Rolling Stone, CMU, Billboard and CMU
Charlie Warzel / The Atlantic:
OpenAI's Scarlett Johansson debacle is merely a reminder of AI's manifest destiny philosophy: “This is happening, whether you like it or not”, consent be damned — The Scarlett Johansson debacle is a microcosm of AI's raw deal: It's happening, and you can't stop it.
Discussion:
NPR, @richardlawler@threads.net, @kathrynferreira, @othernedwin, @joshkraushaar, @mikepepi, @mmitchell_ai, @cwarzel, @cwarzel, @evanmcmurry, @dseetharaman, @cwarzel, Benzinga, BGR, CNET, Slate, The Information, New York Post, Vanity Fair, Deadline, @Dhmspector@mastodon.social, The Hollywood Reporter, Business Insider, Digital Music News, Global News, UPROXX, The US Sun, CMU, SheKnows, Forbes, GB News, CBS News, HuffPost, Fox News, Us Weekly, The Register, New York Times, New York Daily News, Fast Company, The A.V. Club, Platformer, Boing Boing, E! Online, VentureBeat, IndieWire, The Wrap, Los Angeles Times and The Verge, more at Techmeme »
Allison Quinn / The Daily Beast:
Russian state-run channel Rossiya24 is broadcasting days-old episodes of Tucker Carlson's show with a Russian voiceover — THEY'LL NEVER LET GO — Hilariously, the supposedly new program called “Tucker” is just days-old episodes of his show with a Russian voiceover.
Discussion:
Newsweek, Mediaite, @billkristol, @neilpateltdc, @brianstelter, New York Daily News, The Hill, Boing Boing and Vanity Fair
Robert Klara / Adweek:
A profile of Vidhya Srinivasan, Google's VP and GM of ads since November 2023, as the company faces challenges including restoring advertiser trust — She's fighting to rebuild advertiser trust and make sure Google stays ahead of the AI race — When she was a kid, Vidhya Srinivasan …
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with Google's Sundar Pichai about new AI features, the future of search and its impact on publishers, providing value for YouTube content creators, and more — The head of Google sat down with Decoder last week to talk about the biggest advancements in AI, the future of Google Search, and the fate of the web.
Discussion:
@reckless1280@threads.net, @waxy@xoxo.zone, @daveleebbg@threads.net, @pressgazette, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @josemurilo@mato.social, Digital Music News, @cdarwin@c.im, @jason_kint, @kristileilani, Tubefilter, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @ethank@threads.net, @glenngabe@mas.to, Search Engine Journal, Techdirt, Music Ally, Benzinga, VentureBeat and Search Engine Land
Michael Nuñez / VentureBeat:
Generative AI music startup Suno raised $125M from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Matrix, Founder Collective, and others — Suno, a trailblazing music AI startup, announced today that it has raised a staggering $125 million in its latest funding round …
Discussion:
Suno, The Information, Digital Music News, Rolling Stone, Music Business Worldwide and Billboard, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast says StreamSaver, a bundle of Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+, will be available starting next week to Comcast TV or broadband customers at $15/month — Comcast, as its legacy cable TV business continues to shrink, has built a new cable-style bundle for the streaming era.
Discussion:
Xfinity, Digiday, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, @loudmouthjulia, Michael Estrin on LinkedIn, @tvgrimreaper, Advanced Television, Next TV, Media Play News, StreamTV Insider, UPROXX, Axios, Jason Weitzel on LinkedIn, Adweek, The Verge, The Hill, 9to5Mac, Reuters, IndieWire, The Streamable, Cord Cutters News, The Wrap, Awful Announcing, WORLD SCREEN and Bloomberg
Huizhong Wu / Associated Press:
In a video statement, Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan says she was released from prison after serving four years for charges related to covering COVID-19 in Wuhan — Zhang Zhan was released from prison after serving four years for charges related to reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan …
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
ProPublica passed $45M in annual revenue from more than 54K donors in 2023 and commits to local and regional reporting expansion through its 50 State Initiative — With annual revenue of $45 million and a staff approaching 200 people, ProPublica has been one of the big journalism winners of the past decade.
Discussion:
Ben Werdmuller on LinkedIn, @charlesornstein, ProPublica, @sarahscire and @dicktofel
Sara Fischer / Axios:
A group of lawmakers push a US Senate bill that would require USPS to hit performance targets before imposing surcharges on the delivery of newspapers — - Newspapers previously relied on gig economy workers to distribute newspapers via their own vehicles early in the morning.
Discussion:
Senator Welch, 118th US Congress, U.S. Senate, @newsalliance and News/Media Alliance
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