Author: admin
Disney’s three-year licensing partnership with OpenAI includes just one of exclusivity, Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC. The company signed the partnership with OpenAI last week that will bring its iconic characters to the AI firm’s Sora video generator. Once that exclusive year is up, Disney is free to sign similar deals with other AI companies. The deal gives OpenAI a high-profile content partner, allowing users to draw on more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars to create content on Sora. For now, it’s the only AI platform that’s legally permitted to do so. For Disney,…
Slope, a lending startup that uses artificial intelligence to vet businesses, is partnering with Amazon starting Tuesday to provide a reusable line of credit to Amazon sellers, backed by a JPMorgan Chase credit facility, the company told CNBC exclusively. The new relationship means eligible U.S. Amazon vendors can apply for and access capital directly through their Amazon Seller accounts with real-time approvals. Slope was co-founded by CEO Lawrence Lin Murata, who said said he saw the ups and downs of running a small business while he was growing up in São Paulo.Lin Murata helped his parents at their family’s toy…
The online podcast recording platform Riverside came out with its own version of a year-end review like Spotify’s “Wrapped.” The recap, called “Rewind,” creates three custom videos for podcasters. Instead of sharing statistics like how many minutes you recorded, or how many episodes you made, Riverside created a 15-second collage of laughter, showing a quick succession of clips in which my podcast co-host and I make each other crack up. The next video is similar, except that it’s a supercut of us saying “umm” over and over. Then, Riverside scans its AI-generated transcripts of your recordings to find what single…
Chai Discovery, a biotech startup with backing from OpenAI, announced a $130 million Series B round at a $1.3 billion valuation on Monday. The round was led by General Catalyst and Oak HC/FT, the company said. Other participants include Menlo Ventures, OpenAI, Dimension, Thrive Capital, Neo, Yosemite venture fund, Lachy Groom, SV Angel, and new investors Glade Brook and Emerson Collective. The firm’s total funding now stands at over $225 million. The company is one in a growing industry that sees AI as a faster route toward drug development. In August, Menlo Ventures announced it was leading Chai’s $70 million…
Even three years after the generative AI boom started, most AI startups are still making money by selling to businesses, not individual consumers. Although consumers quickly adopted general-purpose LLMs like ChatGPT, most specialized consumer GenAI applications have yet to resonate. “A lot of early AI applications around video, audio, and photo were super cool,” said Chi-Hua Chien, co-founder and managing partner at Goodwater Capital, onstage at TechCrunch’s StrictlyVC event in early December. “But then Sora and Nano Banana came out, and the Chinese open sourced their video models. And so, a lot of those opportunities disappeared.” Chien compares some of…
RIP to Facebook Messenger’s desktop app. The native app for Mac and Windows is no longer available to users as of today, December 15, 2025, and existing users are being directed to the Facebook website to continue using the popular messaging service. Though originally launched at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Messenger’s desktop app couldn’t handle as many video call participants as business-focused rivals like Zoom, and didn’t offer screensharing or easy-to-share URLs. The writing was on the wall for the app’s declining importance to Meta, even before the company announced its shutdown plans this October. In 2023, Facebook…
On a recent December day, Mark Latino and a handful of his workers spun sheets of vinyl into tinsel for Christmas tree branches. They worked on a custom-made machine that’s nearly a century old, churning out strands of bright silver tinsel along its 35-foot (10-meter) length.Latino is the CEO of Lee Display, a Fairfield, California-based company that his great-grandfather founded in 1902. Back then, it specialized in handmade velvet and silk flowers for hats. Now, it’s one of the only companies in the United States that still makes artificial Christmas trees, producing around 10,000 each year. Tariffs and treesTariffs shone…
In a move that has sent shockwaves through Hollywood, Netflix recently announced its plans to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for $82.7 billion. Responses from the industry have been generally negative, sparking concern about the acquisition’s implications for jobs, the future of theatrical releases, and the representation of diverse voices in film and TV. Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos have sought to address fears surrounding the deal in a letter to employees, which was made public by Bloomberg on Monday. The executives reassured staff of their commitment to maintaining theatrical releases for WBD films. They also asserted that…
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The ongoing effort to find a man who walked onto Brown University ’s campus during a busy exam season and shot nearly a dozen students in a crowded lecture hall has raised questions about the school’s security systems and the urgency of the investigation itself.A day after Saturday’s mass shooting, officials said a person of interest taken into custody would be released without charges, leaving investigators with little actionable insight from the limited security video they had recovered and scrambling to develop new leads.Law enforcement officials were still doing the most basic investigative work two days…
by Phil Cappelli Last updated: 11:05 AM ET, Mon December 15, 2025 Margaritaville at Sea is expanding its Heroes Sail Free program for the holidays, with a larger pool of free cabins available across more dates, itineraries and ships.The Heroes Sail Free program honors military service members, first responders, teachers and other frontline workers with free cabins on Margaritaville at Sea sailings. The holiday boost is designed to increase availability during one of the busiest booking periods of the year for hero sailings.Online reservations open Monday, Dec. 15, at 6 p.m. ET, with cabins available on a first-come, first-served basis.…