Category: Media & Entertainment

Freepik, the online graphic design platform, unveiled a new “open” AI image model on Tuesday that the company says was trained exclusively on commercially licensed, “safe-for-work” images. The model, called F Lite, contains around 10 billion parameters — parameters being the internal components that make up the model. F Lite was developed in partnership with…

YouTube support affected by European power outages, too

April 28, 2025

YouTube’s support team is experiencing an outage, too. The company says the widespread power outages in Spain and Portugal have knocked some of YouTube’s customer support team offline, including those who offer support in related European languages. The company did not share how many employees are unable to work because of the outages, or how…

Amazon’s big book sale just happens to overlap with Independent Bookstore Day

April 26, 2025

Amazon is raising eyebrows with the timing of its big book sale for 2025, which runs from April 23 to 28 — which means it’s competing directly with Independent Bookstore Day. As writer Maris Kreisman explained in Lit Hub, Independent Bookstore Day is an annual event organized by the American Booksellers Association (ABA), with events,…

Netflix now offers dialogue-only subtitles

April 24, 2025

Netflix just introduced a new way to experience subtitles that eliminates the need to read audio cues like “door slams” or “phone rings.” Announced on Thursday, Netflix’s new dialogue-only subtitles can be enabled by going to “Navigate to Audio” and then “Subtitles.” Users will see an option labeled “English” instead of “English (CC),” indicating that…

Speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Applications now open

April 24, 2025

TechCrunch Disrupt returns October 27–29 to Moscone West in San Francisco — and we’re inviting thought leaders, founders, VCs, and tech experts to apply for a chance to take the stage at one of the most anticipated tech events of the year. Applications are now open to speak at Disrupt 2025, where over 10,000+ tech…

Netflix aims to be a trillion-dollar company, says co-CEO

April 23, 2025

At Semafor’s 2025 Word Economy Summit on Wednesday, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he believes Netflix’s long-term goal to achieve a $1 trillion market capitalization is possible if the streaming giant continues to perform well. Sarandos said, “In the previous five years, we’ve doubled our revenue, we grew profits 10 times, and we grew our…

DOJ reportedly probes Disney-FuboTV deal over competition concerns

April 23, 2025

The U.S. Department of Justice is probing Disney’s deal to take a controlling stake in FuboTV, Bloomberg reports. Fubo is a live TV streaming service known for its extensive sports coverage. Officials are examining whether the deal would create a concentration of power in the sports streaming market. In January, Disney announced that it was going…

Character.AI unveils AvatarFX, an AI video model to create lifelike chatbots

April 22, 2025

Character.AI, a leading platform for chatting and roleplaying with AI-generated characters, unveiled its forthcoming video generation model, AvatarFX, on Tuesday. Available in closed beta, the model animates the platform’s characters in a variety of styles and voices, from human-like characters to 2D animal cartoons. AvatarFX distinguishes itself from competitors like OpenAI’s Sora because it isn’t…

Two undergrads built an AI speech model to rival NotebookLM

April 22, 2025

A pair of undergrads, neither with extensive AI expertise, say that they’ve created an openly available AI model that can generate podcast-style clips similar to Google’s NotebookLM. The market for synthetic speech tools is vast and growing. ElevenLabs is one of the largest players, but there’s no shortage of challengers (see PlayAI, Sesame, and so…

Kids sure love video game movies

April 20, 2025

“A Minecraft Movie” isn’t just a hit — after three weekends in theaters, the film is estimated to have grossed $344 million domestically and $720 million worldwide. That makes it the biggest movie of an admittedly underwhelming year at the box office (so far), and the second biggest video game movie of all time. Coming…

A new kids’ show will come with a crypto wallet when it debuts this fall

April 18, 2025

A new animated kids’ series expected to premiere this year won’t be headed for a TV network. Or a streaming service. Instead, the founders of production studio We Ghosted Media plan to launch on a decentralized web platform that uses blockchain technology. And yes, a crypto wallet will be involved. We Ghosted Media — founded by…

Netflix is revamping search with AI to improve discovery

April 18, 2025

Netflix is building a new search experience aimed at improving the discovery experience, and it’s going to use AI to do it, the company’s CEO Greg Peters said during its first-quarter results conference call. Peters said Netflix is working on “interactive search that’s based on generative technologies” to help people find different titles. Answering an…

As Deezer approaches profitability, it rolls out a custom algorithm and other new features

April 16, 2025

Last month, Deezer reported its first positive cash flow in 2024, marking a significant milestone in its history. As the music streaming platform nears profitability, it’s launching new features to differentiate itself in the highly competitive market. On Wednesday, Deezer announced several features aimed at providing listeners with a more personalized experience. These include a…

Stop doomscrolling and watch the ‘Great Moose Migration’ livestream

April 15, 2025

You could say that TikTok is ruining our attention spans, and yet, viewers around the world are tuning in to watch a monotonous livestream from a Swedish TV station that they’ve probably never heard of. It’s time for the Great Moose Migration. For thousands of years, moose have crossed the Ångerman River each spring, trekking…

Google bets on geothermal to power data centers in Taiwan

April 15, 2025

Swedish company Baseload Capital is developing the project.

Publishing platform Medium says it’s sticking with DEI

April 15, 2025

Publishing platform Medium says it’s still committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), even as many other U.S. tech companies have scaled back their efforts in this space to appease the Trump administration. In a blog post published on Monday, Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine backed the company’s diverse community, saying that businesses shouldn’t have to…

Google’s Veo 2 video generating model comes to Gemini

April 15, 2025

Google is bringing its Veo 2 video-generating AI model to users who pay for Gemini Advanced, the company’s premium AI plan. The expansion comes as Google looks to deliver an answer to OpenAI’s Sora video generation platform, and as competition in the space grows fiercer. Two weeks ago, one of the more formidable synthetic media…

Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani spills business tea with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

April 15, 2025

Reshma Saujani, founder of the non-profit Girls Who Code, got straight to the point. “If I had applied to be the CEO of Girls Who Code, I wouldn’t have gotten the job,” she told Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, on the latest episode of the duchess’ podcast, “Confessions of a Female Founder.” “I didn’t code,” Saujani…

Apple’s ‘Mythic Quest’ is ending with an updated Season 4 finale

April 12, 2025

“Mythic Quest,” the Apple TV+ workplace comedy about the making of a popular online roleplaying game, is ending after four seasons. A new version of the show’s fourth season finale — first aired on March 26, and now the de facto series finale — will premiere on Apple TV+ next week, with a new ending.…

YouTube considers a daily timer for users looking to cut back on Shorts

April 11, 2025

YouTube is looking into potentially offering a feature that would allow users to set a daily timer to limit how long they spend on Shorts. Recent findings from the beta version of the YouTube app, first reported by Android Authority, suggest that the platform is developing a feature to help users stop the endless scrolling…

Less than a month to get your exhibit table for TechCrunch Sessions: AI

April 11, 2025

TechCrunch Sessions: AI is fast approaching. So, what does that mean for you? It means exhibit tables are nearly gone — and now’s your chance to grab one before they’re all sold out. If you’ve got a game-changing product to showcase to the AI world, don’t keep it quiet. Exhibit your brand in front of…

Netflix’s latest season of ‘Black Mirror’ comes with a mobile game

April 10, 2025

Season 7 of “Black Mirror” premiered on Thursday, introducing a new mobile game connected to one of its episodes. The game, titled “Thronglets,” from Netflix’s own Night School Studio, serves as a companion to the episode called “Plaything.” Players interact with virtual yellow pets and strive to keep them alive. If players are successful in…

Netflix’s latest season of ‘Black Mirror’ comes with a mobile game

April 10, 2025

Netflix’s latest season of ‘Black Mirror’ comes with a mobile game

April 10, 2025

YouTube rolls out a free AI music-making tool for creators

April 10, 2025

YouTube is launching a new feature that will allow creators to use AI technology to generate custom instrumental backing music that can be added to their videos. In an update published to its Creator Insider channel this week, the company shared that it’s beginning to roll out an update to its Creator Music marketplace that…

Amazon says its AI video model can now generate minutes-long clips

April 7, 2025

Amazon has upgraded its AI video model, Nova Reel, with the ability to generate videos up to two minutes in length. Nova Reel, announced in December 2024, was Amazon’s first foray into the generative video space. It competes with models from OpenAI, Google, and others in what’s fast becoming a crowded market. The latest Nova…

AI video startup Moonvalley raised a fresh $43M, SEC filing shows

April 7, 2025

Los Angeles-based startup Moonvalley, which is developing AI tools for video creation, has raised a fresh $43 million in venture capital, according to an SEC filing. The filing, which lists 11 unnamed investors, comes roughly a week after Moonvalley launched its first AI video-generating model, Marey. Moonvalley previously raised $70 million in seed funding from backers…

BBC seeks more prominent credit in Apple and Google News

April 6, 2025

The British Broadcasting Corporation has filed a complaint with a UK antitrust regulator complaining that aggregators like Apple News and Google News minimize credit for the stories they feature. Apple Insider reports that the BBC is asking the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to require Apple and Google to more prominently credit news sources. And…

‘A Minecraft Movie’ is on-track for a $135M opening weekend

April 5, 2025

The big screen adaptation of video game mega-franchise Minecraft brought in $58 million on Friday, putting it on-track for a $135 million opening weekend domestically — or potentially even more. That would give “A Minecraft Movie” the biggest opening of the year, beating out “Captain America: Brave New World” (which earned $88.8 million during its…

Midjourney releases its first new AI image model in nearly a year

April 3, 2025

Midjourney, one of the earliest AI image-generating services on the web, has released its first new AI image model in nearly a year. Dubbed V7, the model, which began rolling out in alpha around midnight Eastern on Friday, comes a week after OpenAI debuted a new image generator in ChatGPT that quickly went viral for…

Amazon Kindle’s new feature uses AI to generate recaps for books in a series

April 3, 2025

Amazon is introducing a new “Recaps” feature for Kindle users to help them recall plot points and character arcs before picking up the latest book in a series. While the company’s press release for the new feature doesn’t mention AI, Amazon confirmed to TechCrunch that recaps are AI-generated. “We use technology, including GenAI and Amazon…

ChatGPT users have generated over 700M images since last week, OpenAI says

April 3, 2025

OpenAI’s new image-generation feature is on track to be one of the company’s most popular product launches ever. According to Brad Lightcap, who oversees day-to-day operations and global deployment at OpenAI, over 130 million users have generated more than 700 million images since the upgraded image generator launched in ChatGPT on May 25. “[W]e appreciate…

Spotify debuts Gen AI ads, programmatic ad buying

April 3, 2025

Spotify announced Gen AI ads, among other changes to its advertising business, at an event in New York City on Thursday. Notably, the company introduced a new programmatic offering, the Spotify Ad Exchange (SAX), which allows advertisers to reach Spotify’s logged-in users via real-time auctions. Expanding on the SAX news, Spotify said it inked new…

Runway, best known for its video-generating AI models, raises $308M

April 3, 2025

Runway, a startup developing a range of generative AI models for media production, including video-generating models, has raised $308 million in a Series D funding round. General Atlantic led the round, which had participation from Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Nvidia, SoftBank, and others. The fresh capital will be put toward AI research…

Patreon signs podcast partnerships with Sony and Wondery

April 2, 2025

Patreon, a subscription platform for online creators, is ge has signed podcasting partnerships with Sony Music Entertainment and Amazon’s Wondery, the company announced on Wednesday. Patreon says the partnerships are designed to make the site a home to fan engagement and exclusive perks for shows from major podcast networks, as the company looks to expand…

AI crawlers cause Wikimedia Commons bandwidth demands to surge 50%

April 2, 2025

The Wikimedia Foundation, the umbrella organization of Wikipedia and a dozen or so other crowdsourced knowledge projects, said on Wednesday that bandwidth consumption for multimedia downloads from Wikimedia Commons has surged by 50% since January 2024. The reason, the outfit wrote in a blog post Tuesday, isn’t due to growing demand from knowledge-thirsty humans, but…

OpenAI disables image gen for certain Sora users as capacity challenges continue

March 31, 2025

OpenAI is still struggling to overcome the capacity issues brought on by the viral image generation feature the company launched last week. On Monday, OpenAI disabled image generation for new users of Sora, the company’s suite of generative AI media tools. “We’re currently experiencing heavy traffic and have temporarily disabled Sora video generation for new…

OpenAI disables video gen for certain Sora users as capacity challenges continue

March 31, 2025

OpenAI is still struggling to overcome the capacity issues brought on by the viral image generation feature the company launched last week. On Monday, OpenAI disabled video generation for new users of Sora, the company’s suite of generative AI media tools. “We’re currently experiencing heavy traffic and have temporarily disabled Sora video generation for new…

Runway releases an impressive new video-generating AI model

March 31, 2025

AI startup Runway on Monday released what it claims is one of the highest-fidelity AI-powered video generators yet. Called Gen-4, the model is rolling out to the company’s individual and enterprise customers. Runway claims that it can generate consistent characters, locations, and objects across scenes, maintain “coherent world environments,” and regenerate elements from different perspectives…

Streaming service Plex rolls out a revamped mobile app

March 31, 2025

Media software maker and streaming app Plex on Monday released an updated version of its mobile app. The redesign features a new user experience, reorganized navigation that includes giving its Watchlist a dedicated spot, and other changes that aim to make it easier to access power-user features for Plex customers who use the company’s personal…

China Miéville says we shouldn’t blame science fiction for its bad readers

March 30, 2025

It’s been 25 years since China Miéville stepped into the literary spotlight with his novel “Perdido Street Station.” Combining elements of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, the novel introduced readers to the fantastically complex city of New Crobuzon, filled with insect-headed khepri, cactus-shaped cactacae, and terrifying slake moths that feed on their victims’ dreams. It…

ChatGPT’s image-generation feature gets an upgrade

March 25, 2025

During a livestream on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the first major upgrade to ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities in over a year. ChatGPT can now leverage the company’s GPT-4o model to natively create and modify images and photos. GPT-4o has long underpinned the AI-powered chatbot platform, but until now, the model has been able to…

Step into the spotlight: Apply to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

March 24, 2025

Calling all tech innovators, startup fanatics, marketing gurus, and emerging VCs — this is your moment! You’ve waited long enough, and now the time has come to step into the spotlight at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, taking place October 27–29 in San Francisco. Share your expertise with over 10,000 eager attendees and make an impact by…

Jonah Peretti helped shaped digital media — can he do it again?

March 22, 2025

Jonah Peretti’s career to date has been defined by constant reinvention. As the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, Peretti has been at the forefront of digital media for almost two decades, navigating changes as the once small startup transformed into, at one point, a multimedia powerhouse. But as the company grows older, one question lingers:…

TechCrunch has, yes, personal news!

March 21, 2025

If you haven’t heard the news, TechCrunch has a shiny new home. After years under Yahoo’s ownership — which, in turn, is backed by Apollo Group — the brand is now in fresh hands. Its new parent company: Regent, a dynamic private equity firm with a diverse portfolio spanning media, retail, and manufacturing. Regent was…

Microsoft is exploring a way to credit contributors to AI training data

March 21, 2025

Microsoft is launching a research project to estimate the influence of specific training examples on the text, images, and other types of media that generative AI models create. That’s per a job listing dating back to December that was recently recirculated on LinkedIn. According to the listing, which seeks a research intern, the project will…

Google claims news is worthless to its ad business after test involving 1% of search results in eight EU markets

March 21, 2025

Google has reported the results of an experiment it ran which removed news from search results for 1% of users for 2.5 months in eight* markets in Europe — claiming the results show that news is essentially worthless to Google’s ad business. The search giant conducted the test because European copyright law requires it to…

Apple is reportedly losing $1B per year on its streaming service

March 20, 2025

Apple is losing more than $1 billion per year on its streaming service, Apple TV+, according to a new report from The Information. Apple TV+ is the only service in Apple’s portfolio that isn’t profitable, the report reveals. The company has spent around $5 billion on content each year since the streaming service launched in…

A high schooler built a website that lets you challenge AI models to a Minecraft build-off

March 20, 2025

As conventional AI benchmarking techniques prove inadequate, AI builders are turning to more creative ways to assess the capabilities of generative AI models. For one group of developers, that’s Minecraft, the Microsoft-owned sandbox-building game. The website Minecraft Benchmark (or MC-Bench) was developed collaboratively to pit AI models against each other in head-to-head challenges to respond…

Gwyneth Paltrow says Goop is growing just fine

March 20, 2025

Gwyneth Paltrow gave an update on her company Goop in a cover story for Vanity Fair. Paltrow founded the lifestyle brand Goop in 2008 and it has raised more than $140 million from investors including Greycroft and G9 Ventures, according to Pitchbook. The brand is often regarded as one of the first examples of a…

OpenAI upgrades its transcription and voice-generating AI models

March 20, 2025

OpenAI is bringing new transcription and voice-generating AI models to its API that the company claims improve upon its previous releases. For OpenAI, the models fit into its broader “agentic” vision: building automated systems that can independently accomplish tasks on behalf of users. The definition of “agent” might be in dispute, but OpenAI Head of…

Make waves in 2025: Exhibit at TechCrunch events

March 20, 2025

If you’re reading this, you already know: It’s time to amplify your brand. Get in front of thousands of TechCrunch event attendees, readers, and decision-makers who can take your business further this year by exhibiting at a TechCrunch event. The perks of exhibiting: What’s in it for you Exhibiting doesn’t just elevate your brand —…

xAI launches an API for generating images

March 19, 2025

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has added image generation capabilities to its API. Only one model is available in the API at the moment, “grok-2-image-1212.” Given a caption, the model can generate up to 10 images per request (limited to 5 requests per second) in JPG format, priced at $0.07 per image. For comparison, AI…

Streamer Plex raises subscription price for the first time in a decade

March 19, 2025

Streaming service and software maker Plex is raising its prices. The company announced on Wednesday its first price increase in a decade for its premium subscription service Plex Pass, which offers power users a variety of additional features, like offline access, themes, hardware transcoding, and other advanced settings. The service will now cost $6.99 per…

‘The Last of Us’ to stream in American Sign Language on Max

March 19, 2025

Max announced on Wednesday that the HBO series “The Last of Us” will be available to stream in American Sign Language (ASL). Season 2 premieres on April 13. Notably, this is the first time HBO’s original content will be accessible for streaming in ASL on the service, representing a step towards inclusivity for deaf and…

Agentic AI startup AMT aims to be ‘Google Adwords for influencers,’ raises seed round

March 19, 2025

Booking an ad campaign with social media influencers is currently not exactly easy. For starters, influencers’ approaches to marketing can be unconventional, and there’s no standard way to engage with them. On the other side, marketing agencies that employ hosts of people to book and track brand campaigns are limited by how many influencers they…

US paid music subscribers cross 100 million mark for the first time

March 19, 2025

The U.S. crossed the 100 million paid subscriber mark for music streaming services for the first time ever last year, as per a new report by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). The subscriber number was up from 96.8 million in 2023, with year-on-year growth of roughly 3%. RIAA’s report said that these numbers…

Stability AI’s new AI model turns photos into 3D scenes

March 18, 2025

Stability AI has released a new AI model, Stable Virtual Camera, that the company says can transform 2D images into “immersive” videos with realistic depth and perspective. Virtual cameras are tools often used in digital filmmaking and 3D animation to capture and navigate scenes in real-time. With Stable Virtual Camera, Stability sought to add generative…

People are using Google’s new AI model to remove watermarks from images

March 17, 2025

Users on social media have discovered a controversial use case for Google’s new Gemini AI model: removing watermarks from images, including from images published by Getty Images and other well-known stock media outfits. Last week, Google expanded access to its Gemini 2.0 Flash model’s image generation feature, which lets the model natively generate and edit…

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, acquires a generative AI video startup

March 17, 2025

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has acquired Hotshot, a startup working on AI-powered video generation tools along the lines of OpenAI’s Sora. Aakash Sastry, Hotshot’s CEO and co-founder, announced the news in a post on X on Monday. “Over the past 2 years we’ve built 3 video foundation models as a small team — Hotshot-XL,…

Vote for the session you want to see at TechCrunch Sessions: AI

March 17, 2025

We’ve been blown away by the overwhelming response to speak at TechCrunch Sessions: AI on June 5 in Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley. After thorough consideration, we’ve selected six standout finalists. The power to choose who will take the stage and share their AI expertise with 1,200 AI leaders and enthusiasts is now in your…

Google adds its HD voice model Chirp 3 to its Vertex AI platform

March 17, 2025

A lot of the focus in generative AI up to now has been on text-based interfaces used to generate text, images and more. The next wave appears to be voice, and it’s rolling in fast. In the latest development, Google today announced that it would be adding Chirp 3 — its HD voice interface —…

People are using Google’s new AI model to remove watermarks from images

March 16, 2025

How ‘The Electric State’ team created a world of unlikely robots

March 14, 2025

The new Netflix movie “The Electric State” depicts a world full of robots — but not robots as we know them. Directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo (who previously helmed two Avengers blockbusters, “Infinity War” and “Endgame”) for a reported budget of $320 million, “The Electric State” takes place in an alternate version of…

OpenAI’s ‘creative writing’ AI evokes that annoying kid from high school fiction club

March 13, 2025

When I was 16, I attended a writing workshop with a group of precocious young poets, where we all tried very hard to prove who among us was the most tortured upper-middle-class teenager. One boy refused to tell anyone where he was from, declaring, “I’m from everywhere and nowhere.” Two weeks later, he admitted he…

Bria lands new funding for AI models trained on licensed data

March 13, 2025

AI-powered image generators, which are at the center of a number of copyright lawsuits against AI companies, are frequently trained on massive amounts of data from public websites. Most of these companies argue that fair use doctrine shields their data scraping and training practices. But many copyright holders disagree. That’s why some startups and firms developing image…

Food delivery startup Wonder acquires media company Tastemade for $90M

March 12, 2025

Food delivery startup Wonder is acquiring media company Tastemade for around $90 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. Founded in 2021, Tastemade produces food, travel, and home videos and operates several free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels. The acquisition gives Wonder access to a content studio, production company, and advertising business. Wonder will leverage…

Moonvalley releases a video generator it claims was trained on licensed content

March 12, 2025

Los Angeles-based startup Moonvalley has launched an AI video-generating model it claims is one of the few trained on openly licensed — not copyrighted — data. Named “Marey” after cinema trailblazer Étienne-Jules Marey, the model was built in collaboration with Asteria, a newer AI animation studio. Marey was trained on “owned or fully licensed” source…

Spotify says its payouts are getting better, but artists still disagree

March 11, 2025

Spotify on Tuesday released its annual Loud & Clear report, detailing information about the music streaming service’s royalty payments. While Spotify revealed earlier this year that it paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024, the new report offers more in-depth numbers about its payments in an effort to dispel reports that the company…

The New Yorker has finally embraced modernity

March 11, 2025

When the first email was sent in 1971, Richard Nixon was president. The video game “Pong” was still in development. The Pittsburgh Pirates were a good baseball team. This is to say, technological achievements like the email have lived long enough to have their own grandchildren. And yet, one of the most storied magazines in…

Podcast app Pocket Casts makes its web player free

March 11, 2025

Pocket Casts, the podcast app acquired by Automattic in 2021, is now making its web player free. The company says the move offers an alternative to the big platforms’ closed ecosystems, where algorithmic-driven content is prioritized and podcasts are kept behind paywalls. Podcasts were built on open technology — the open, decentralized standard RSS, which…

Supercharge your brand visibility with an exhibit table at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

March 10, 2025

From October 27-29, TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 will bring together over 10,000 startup pioneers, VC leaders, and tech enthusiasts at Moscone West in San Francisco—the epicenter of innovation set to reshape the future of technology. What’s in it for your startup? A golden opportunity to put your innovation in front of an eager audience for all…

Christie’s AI art auction reportedly exceeds expectations

March 6, 2025

Nearly 6,500 artists demanded in an open letter that fine art auction house Christie’s cancel its first show dedicated solely to works created with AI. Yet, the show, Augmented Intelligence, went on — and reportedly exceeded expectations. According to Christie’s, the show brought in more than $700,000, with many lots reaching beyond their high estimates.…

Spotify says it’s fixing the bug that caused Premium users to hear ads

March 6, 2025

Spotify has acknowledged an issue that’s causing some of its paid Premium subscribers to encounter ads when trying to play music. In an X post published on Thursday by Spotify’s customer service account, the company said it’s looking into the problem and linked to its Community website where the issue has been documented by users…

Prime Video tests AI dubbing for select movies and TV series

March 5, 2025

Prime Video is now experimenting with AI-assisted dubbing for select licensed movies and TV shows, as announced by the Amazon-owned streaming service on Wednesday. According to Prime Video, this new test will feature AI-assisted dubbing services in English and Latin American Spanish, combining AI with human localization professionals to “ensure quality control,” the company explained. …

YouTube launches a $7.99 per month, ad-free Premium Lite subscription

March 5, 2025

YouTube on Wednesday announced a new premium subscription tier called Premium Lite, which will users to watch “most” videos ad-free for $7.99 per month. With YouTube Lite, customers will be able to watch videos across verticals like gaming, fashion, beauty, cooking, news, and more, ad-free, but will be shown ads on music content and music…

Conan O’Brien comments on AI during his opening monologue at the Oscars

March 3, 2025

When hosting the 2025 Oscars last night, comedian and late-night TV host Conan O’Brien addressed the use of AI in his opening monologue, reflecting the growing conversation about the technology’s influence in Hollywood. “We did not use AI to make this show,” O’Brien said. His remarks were clearly a reference to the use of generative AI…

Stability AI optimized its audio generation model to run on Arm chips

March 3, 2025

AI startup Stability AI has teamed up with chipmaker Arm to bring Stability’s Stable Audio Open, an AI model that can generate audio including sound effects, to mobile devices running Arm chips. While a number of AI-powered apps can generate audio, like Suno and Udio, most rely on cloud processing, meaning that they can’t be…

TechCrunch Disrupt 2025: Final 24 hours to save up to $1,130

February 28, 2025

The early bird gets the worm and time is running out! You have less than 24 hours left to save up to $1,130 when purchasing passes to TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. If you want massive savings on Disrupt 2025 individual passes and up to 30% on group tickets, secure your low ticket rate today. These offers…

2025 TechCrunch Events Calendar

February 27, 2025

For two decades, TechCrunch has provided a front row view to the future of technology, shaping conversations that matter and spotlighting the next big things before they break — both on the page and in person at our world-renowned events. This year, as we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re launching our most ambitious events calendar…

Alexa+ can work with Prime Video and Fire TV to ‘jump to a scene’ in a movie

February 26, 2025

As part of the new Alexa+ experience Amazon introduced on Wednesday, the smart assistant will gain the ability to navigate through movies on Prime Video on your behalf. Thanks to integrations between Alexa, Prime Video, and Fire TV, Alexa+, as the upgraded assistant is called, will be able to “jump to a scene” in a…

YouTube surpasses 1B monthly podcast viewers

February 26, 2025

YouTube continues to assert its dominance in the podcasting space, presenting significant competition to both Spotify and Apple Podcasts. In an announcement on Wednesday, the company revealed YouTube has surpassed 1 billion monthly active podcast viewers. This milestone highlights YouTube’s popularity in the podcast industry and emphasizes consumer preference for video-first formats. Last year, YouTube…

YouTube is working to make ad slots less interruptive

February 25, 2025

YouTube announced it’s making changes to mid-roll ads to improve the viewing experience for users while also helping creators potentially earn more revenue. Starting May 12, the Google-owned platform is going to show fewer ads during moments that feel interruptive or may cause viewers to abandon the video — like in the middle of a…

1,000 artists release ‘silent’ album to protest UK copyright sell-out to AI

February 24, 2025

The U.K. government is pushing forward with plans to attract more AI companies to the region by proposing changes to copyright law that would allow developers to train AI models on artists’ content on the internet—without permission or payment—unless creators proactively “opt out.” Not everyone is marching to the same beat, though. On Monday, a…

SoundCloud partners with TicketMaster to let artists list events

February 24, 2025

Music streamer SoundCloud announced a partnership with entertainment company Live Nation today, allowing artists on its platform to list Ticketmaster and Universe events on their profile in a customized way. The company said it would create more promotion opportunities for artists in the future in partnership with Ticketmaster through a new promotion program but didn’t…

How I Podcast: Summer Album / Winter Album’s Jody Avirgan

February 22, 2025

The beauty of podcasting is that anyone can do it. It’s a rare medium that’s nearly as easy to make as it is to consume. And as such, no two people do it exactly the same way. There are a wealth of hardware and software solutions open to potential podcasters, so setups run the gamut…

Explore the online world of Apple TV’s ‘Severance’

February 22, 2025

Apple has been steadily working to expand the world of the Apple TV+ series “Severance,” through online materials, e-books, podcasts, and other content – and so have its fans. Taking advantage of its platform power, the Cupertino tech giant has been able to easily distribute supplemental material that adds to the show’s storytelling abilities, offering…

Your Android phone could have stalkerware. Here’s how to remove it

February 20, 2025

Google Play Books purchases on iOS now skirt the App Store’s commission

February 18, 2025

Google has gained permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly to customers through its iOS app, Google Play Books. While iOS apps today can offer access to content previously purchased elsewhere, like e-books bought via a website, developers have to request a specific exception to link their iOS app’s users to the company’s own…

The New York Times has greenlit AI tools for product and edit staff

February 17, 2025

The New York Times is now allowing its product and editorial teams to use AI tools, which might one day write social copy, SEO headlines, and code, reports Semafor. The news came to staff via an email, in which the publication announced the debut of its new internal AI summary tool called Echo. The New…

Olyn secures Beatles biopic for its ‘Shopify for filmmakers’

February 17, 2025

The recent Brian Epstein biopic “Midas Man,” a film about the manager of The Beatles, debuted not on a platform like Netflix or Amazon, but on a startup that bills itself as “Shopify for filmmakers.” So what, you might ask? The answer is that the new platform, Olyn, claims to offer a new model for…

YouTube TV reaches new deal to keep Paramount content

February 16, 2025

After warnings that Paramount content was about to disappear from Google’s pay TV service YouTube TV, the companies announced late Saturday that the’d reached a deal that averting any disruption to channel availability. Those announcements didn’t include many specifics about the agreement, but a statement from a Paramount spokesperson said it includes “an expanded streaming…

Hotstar and JioCinema merge into JioHotstar as Reliance tightens grip on streaming in India

February 13, 2025

Hotstar and JioCinema, two widely used video streaming apps in India, have merged into JioHotstar. JioStar, a joint venture between Reliance-owned Viacom18 and Star India, said Friday it had integrated JioCinema’s content into a revamped version of Disney’s Hotstar platform. The merged service will feature movies and TV shows from Disney, Warner Bros, NBCUniversal and…

Apple’s TV app, TV+ streaming service, and MLS Season Pass launches on Android

February 12, 2025

Apple on Wednesday announced that its Apple TV app, including its Apple TV+ streaming service and MLS Season Pass, is arriving on Android devices. While the company previously offered a version of its app for Google TV, the newly released app will support a broader range of Android-based devices, including phones, tablets, and even foldables.…

Las Vegas just got a Netflix restaurant

February 12, 2025

You can now dine out on dishes inspired by Netflix movies and shows at Las Vegas’s newest restaurant. Netflix Bites is open as of this week in the MGM Grand Hotel & Casio, where it will operate for a year. The restaurant offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner options like a Bridgerton-inspired tea service, Stranger Wings,…

YouTube AI updates include auto dubbing expansion, age ID tech, and more

February 11, 2025

In his annual letter, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan dubbed AI as one of the company’s four “big bets” for 2025, pointing to the company’s investments in AI tools for creators, like those that help them come up with video ideas, thumbnails, or those that help translate their content into other languages. The latter feature will…

Google backs Toonsutra to grow its webtoons platform in India

February 11, 2025

It’s no news that India is a huge market for entertainment businesses, but what often doesn’t get mentioned is that its people love to see content in their own languages. According to a recent survey by non-profit Internet and Mobile Association of India, more than 870 million Indians sought out videos, music and other content…

Apple Music adds a better-sounding Spatial Audio version of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show

February 10, 2025

If you want to relive Kendrick Lamar’s headline-making Super Bowl halftime show, Apple Music just dropped a replay of the performance in its surround sound-like Spatial Audio. Since Apple currently sponsors the Super Bowl halftime show, the company has permission to republish these musical spectacles — but this is better than just a YouTube video…

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