(COMBO) This photo combo created on January 15, 2025 shows a businessman from South Africa … [+]
We’ll hear any minute whether the US Supreme Court upholds a law that would ban TikTok starting this Sunday, January 19. Bloomberg reported that parent company Bytedance is dancing with none other than Elon Musk. And Bytedance has assured American employees that their jobs are safe. Because a deal has to be made here, maybe before Sunday.
This photo illustration created on January 8, 2025, in Brussels, shows the logo of the media giant Meta. … [+]
Meta ended fact-checking on its platform in the USA. They will continue to check the facts in Brazil and where they are legally obliged to do so. What are the facts, anyway? All this is a product of bias. Who is to say what the truth is, in a post-truth era? Let’s state the fact that isn’t often discussed: Facebook is a cesspool of misinformation, child trafficking, and violent crime. Like TikTok and AI, it needs to be regulated. But Meta won’t be, especially now that they’ve gotten ready to play ball with Elon (that guy is everywhere) and the incoming laissez-faire administration. They replaced the liberal lobbyist with a Republican. They donated to Trump’s inauguration. They added outspoken conservative leadership from the UFC to their board. They will ensure that corporate taxes remain low and regulation of social media and AI remain theoretical – ie. non-existent. The more Meta does this, the greater the shareholder returns will be. These returns are the primary responsibility of the CEO, trumping morality and politics. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, like Elon Musk, are what outgoing President Joe Biden called “the new oligarchs.”
OpenAI has launched a new beta feature in ChatGPT called Tasks. which will allow users to schedule reminders and automate actions, as Siri may one day do. Available exclusively to paid subscribers, Tasks enables one-time and recurring scheduling, with a maximum of 10 active tasks. Users can configure it for routine updates such as weather or news and more personalized automation such as meal planning or entertainment recommendations. Unlike traditional assistants like Siri or Google Assistant, Tasks integrates with ChatGPT’s conversational AI to proactively suggest actions based on user interactions, though approval is required. To use it, select “task schedule” in the model selector, define the task and specify the time. Task management is accessible within chat threads or a dedicated web section, allowing modifications or cancellations. Users receive notifications on web, desktop and mobile platforms after task completion.
As of January 2025, Defeat Saber is approaching 10 million units sold on the Quest platform alone. This estimate is based on the game’s ‘Pure’ achievement, which indicates that approximately 9.7 million users have played the game on Quest. Considering that Defeat Saber was bundled with Quest 2 purchases for a five-month period in 2022, an estimated 20% of players picked up the game through this promotion. This suggests approximately 7.76 million paid copies, generating an estimated value $233 million in revenue from the base game to Quest, priced at $30. This figure does not account for additional revenue from the game’s extensive paid DLC music packs.
Cinematic AI
Do we believe this video or our lying eyes?
This column is also a podcast hosted by its author, Charlie Fink, Ted Schilowitz, former studio executive and co-founder of Red Camera, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap. This week our guest is Ashley Crowder, founder and CEO of Vntana. We can be found on Spotify, iTunes and YouTube
