Media & Entertainment

Generative AI startup Runway inks deal with a major Hollywood studio

Media & Entertainment /

Runway, a startup developing AI video tools, including video-generating models, has partnered with Lionsgate — the studio behind the “John Wick” and “Twilight” franchises — to train a custom video model on Lionsgate’s movie catalog. Lionsgate vice chair Michael Burns said in a statement that the studio’s “filmmakers, directors and other creative talent” will get […]

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AWS shuts down DeepComposer, its MIDI keyboard for AI music

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AWS’ weird AI-powered keyboard experiment, DeepComposer, is no more. In a blog post today, the company announced it’s shutting down the five-year-old DeepComposer, a physical MIDI piano and AWS service that let users compose songs with the help of generative AI. “After careful consideration, we have made the decision to end support for AWS DeepComposer,”

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Generative AI startup Typeface acquires two companies, Treat and Narrato, to bolster its portfolio

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Typeface, a generative AI startup focused on enterprise use cases, has acquired a pair of companies just over a year after raising $100 million at a $1 billion valuation. Typeface revealed on Monday that it’s purchased Treat, a company using AI to create personalized photo products, and Narrato, an AI-powered content creation and management platform.

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Runway announces an API for its video-generating AI models

Media & Entertainment /

Runway, one of several AI startups developing video-generating tech, today announced an API to allow devs and organizations to build the company’s generative AI models into third-party platforms, apps and services. Currently in limited access (there’s a waitlist), the Runway API only offers a single model to choose from — Gen-3 Alpha Turbo, a faster

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‘Hot Ones’ could add some heat to Netflix’s live lineup

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Netflix has never quite cracked the talk show formula, but maybe it can borrow an existing hit from YouTube. According to Bloomberg, the streamer is in talks with BuzzFeed to create live episodes of the popular YouTube talk show “Hot Ones.” Netflix and BuzzFeed did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. The show

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These two friends built a simple tool to transfer playlists between Apple Music and Spotify, and it works great

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Last year, I had the unfortunate experience of losing all my playlists when I switched from Apple Music to Spotify. To me, playlists are important. They’re snapshots of a time in your life; maybe your summer of 2016 had a certain soundtrack to it. But, traditionally, music streaming services don’t make it easy to take

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Apple’s Voice Memos app will soon let you layer vocals on top of music

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Apple’s Voice Memos app for iPhone will soon let you layer vocals on top of previously recorded music or an instrument track, the company revealed at its Apple Event 2024 on Monday. It also unveiled new iPhones, Apple Watch models and more. When the upgraded Voice Memos app rolls out, you’ll be able to sing

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Another blow to the Internet Archive’s lending library

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The Internet Archive’s online lending library recently suffered a big defeat in court. The organization is best known for operating the Wayback Machine, which stores old versions of web pages, a task that’s felt increasingly important as more of the web disappears. But the Archive also operated a digital lending library, called the Open Library,

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The Try Guys say their subscription strategy is working

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After a rough couple years, YouTube creators The Try Guys said they’re on-track to reach profitability, with subscriptions to their three-month-old, ad-free service 2nd Try now accounting for 20% of the company’s revenue. Of course, those numbers also mean The Try Guys remain reliant on other revenue streams, including YouTube advertising. But in an interview

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