Talking Baby AI Meme, Arcana's $5.5 Million AI Movie Pipeline, IR's Secret Backers Revealed
There is a serious side to this hilarious meme, writes technology consultant and influencer Shelly Palmer. 'We're just months away from living in a world where any given image (especially in media, marketing, ecommerce, and presentations) has a high likelihood of being AI-generated.' He writes. 'The political, cultural, economic, and creative implications will be massive.'
WESTWOOD, CA - SEPTEMBER 08: Actor Jon Lajoie attends the premiere of FXX's "The League" final ... More season and "You're The Worst" 2nd season at Regency Bruin Theater on September 8, 2015 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic)
I wrote to Lajoie for comment, but have not heard back yet. It looks like a clever combination of Google's Notebook LLM podcast maker and one of the realistic avatars created by app like Captions, but that's speculation on my part.
Lisbon , Portugal - 12 November 2024;c John Acunto, Co-founder & CEO, Infinite Reality; on Marketing ... More Summit Stage during day one of Web Summit 2024 at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo By Carlos Rodrigues/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images)
Infinite Reality's $3B Mystery Deepens Amid Lawsuits and Scrutiny. In a follow-up to its January funding announcement, Infinite Reality now says its $3 billion investment came through Sterling Select, though confusion, lawsuits, and denials persist. A Forbes investigation reveals mounting skepticism about the Florida-based metaverse startup's financial claims, valuation, and governance. The company has faced SEC subpoenas, unpaid vendor lawsuits, and murky investor disclosures. Questions remain about whether Sterling Select controls sufficient capital and why multiple entities cited in IR's press materials—such as Ashcroft Law and Google—distanced themselves. The company has acquired over a dozen firms in all-stock deals, boosting its self-reported valuation to $15.5 billion despite only $75M in 2024 revenue. Former partners, investors, and insiders expressed confusion or disbelief about IR's scale, while a former board member sued for financial documents. Infinite Reality says funds are arriving from offshore accounts and insists the valuation is justified. Trading on Nasdaq Private Markets is planned but hasn't begun.
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 20: Executive Producer Jonathan Yunger attends the "EXPEND4BLES" ... More Miami Premiere at Regal South Beach on September 20, 2023 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by)
Arcana Labs has emerged from stealth with $5.5 million in funding led by SEMCAP AI, introducing Arcana AI—a comprehensive AI-powered content production platform. Founded by industry veterans including CEO Jonathan Yunger, known for producing blockbuster franchises like Expendables and Hellboy, Arcana AI offers over 21 integrated tools for image, video, and audio creation, aiming to streamline the filmmaking process. The platform is designed to address real-world production challenges, providing features such as hyperrealistic rendering, character consistency, and seamless integration with models like DALL·E and Stable Diffusion. Currently, Arcana Labs has over 20 films in development, including a fully AI-generated sci-fi epic featuring SAG actors and the first entirely AI-produced horror movie. The company is also launching Arcana Productions to assist with content creation and Arcana Academy to educate filmmakers on AI-driven production techniques.
Riffusion, a San Francisco-based AI startup, has launched a free web platform that enables users to create original music using artificial intelligence. The platform features a new AI model named Fuzz, capable of generating complete songs from text descriptions, audio clips, or visual prompts. Fuzz distinguishes itself by learning individual users' musical preferences over time, offering a personalized creative experience. Co-founder and CEO Seth Forsgren emphasizes the platform's aim to democratize music creation, stating that everyone has inherent creativity. Unlike competitors that charge subscription fees, Riffusion's platform is freely available worldwide, appealing to both professional musicians and casual enthusiasts. The technology builds upon the company's previous work in applying image diffusion techniques to audio spectrograms. Industry professionals, including The Chainsmokers' Alex Pall, have joined Riffusion's advisory board, highlighting the platform's potential in the music industry. With a small team of 10 artists, engineers, and researchers, Riffusion aims to make music creation more accessible and enjoyable for all.
Numidia Valley is focused on creating a infrastructure for education, gaming, entertainment, and IP ... More ownership in an economy that skipped many of the analog systems of the 20th century.
Numidia Valley Taps Lamina1 for Web3 Creative Economy Pilot. In a bid to accelerate digital transformation, Algeria's Numidia Valley is launching a pilot with Lamina1, the blockchain platform co-founded by Neal Stephenson. The project aims to establish a regional Web3 creative economy by providing infrastructure and support for local artists, storytellers, and developers. Built on Lamina1's decentralized protocol, the initiative will include training, NFT marketplaces, and smart contract frameworks for media rights and distribution. It's part of a broader strategy to position Algeria as a center for blockchain innovation in North Africa.
Asteria Launches AI-Enhanced Animated Series 'The Odd Birds Show.' Asteria, a generative AI film and animation studio, has launched The Odd Birds Show, a short-form adult animated series created by Swedish animator Arvid Tappert. The series debuts across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and follows a dysfunctional bird family hosting their own talk show. Tappert developed a hybrid production pipeline combining hand-drawn art, 3D modeling, LoRA fine-tuning, VR puppeteering, motion tracking, and AI-assisted animation. Asteria says the approach enables high-quality output with small teams. The studio is also expanding the project into a longer-form series. Asteria's proprietary AI model, Marey, was trained on ethically licensed content.
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 19: Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap Inc., speaks onstage during the Snap ... More Partner Summit 2023 at Barker Hangar on April 19, 2023 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo byfor Snap, Inc.)
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel to Keynote AWE 2025 Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel will deliver a keynote at AWE USA 2025 on June 10 in Long Beach, marking his first appearance at the XR industry's flagship event. Spiegel is expected to outline Snap's distinct approach to augmented reality, centered on Spectacles smart glasses and its in-house tools, Snap OS and Lens Studio. Unlike Meta's gaming focus or Apple's productivity push, Snap emphasizes social, location-based AR experiences. The keynote comes as AWE expands its programming with new initiatives like the Builders Nexus and AWE Gaming Hub to support XR creators. The 2025 conference will feature over 6,000 attendees, 400 speakers, and 300 exhibitors, including Qualcomm and XREAL. Snap's ecosystem has often placed it outside mainstream XR circles, but Spiegel's presence at AWE signals growing engagement. Full event details and ticket information are available on the AWE USA 2025 website.
The 2025 Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, today announced its Immersive program, titled In Search ... More of Us, a genre-defying exhibition spotlighting 11 groundbreaking projects—including six world premieres—by visionary artists working at the forefront of immersive storytelling.
Tribeca Festival Announces 2025 Immersive Lineup 'In Search of Us.'
Tribeca Festival has unveiled its 2025 immersive program, In Search of Us, featuring 11 XR and AI-driven projects, including six world premieres. Presented in partnership with Onassis ONX and Agog, the exhibition explores themes like memory, identity, and collective imagination. Projects range from a haptic VR experience about electroshock therapy to an AI-generated installation on media violence. Notable creators include Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Cameron Kostopolous, Idris Brewster, and Meghna Singh. The works will be presented at Water Street Projects at WSA, a Lower Manhattan arts hub. General admission tickets go on sale April 29 at TribecaFilm.com.
Stay: Forever Home for the Quest 3 was created by Windup Minds, a team led by Bernard Yee, the ex-Meta lead who was responsible for all the first-party Quest showcase apps you know and love like First Steps and First Contact. Using an AI-powered personality engine, Ember will react and learn from your interactions and develop a unique bond with their owner over time
This column serves as the script for the news segment of our weekly AI/XR Podcast, co-hosted by former Paramount futurist and co-founder of Red Camera, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap, Mako Robotics, and Synthbee AI. This week's guest is Sam Liang, CEO of Otter AI. You can find us on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.
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The 50 Best Selling Titles on Meta Quest Store (Road to VR). The top five titles might not surprise you, but the rest of them might.
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Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
B.C. canola growers brace for new Chinese tariffs as harvest approaches
B.C. canola farmers are staring down millions in losses after China slapped new anti-dumping duties on Canadian canola just weeks before harvest begins. The retaliatory 75.8 per cent tariff on canola seed is the latest volley in the ongoing trade fight between the two countries. While farmers brace for the hit, experts are asking whether Canada's own 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) are worth the cost, and if they should be scrapped in hopes China will reverse its canola tariff. Ernest Wiebe, who farms 800 acres of canola in Montney near Fort St. John, B.C., says producers are feeling discouraged by a recent drop in price for their crops. The price per bushel had been $15 to $16 earlier this year, but it's since dropped to about $12.50 to $13.20 a bushel, Wiebe said. And it's a long way off from the highs of $27 a bushel seen in 2022. "With all the uncertainty and stress of tariffs, and anti-dumping duties, we have seen a significant slide in our prices," he said. Doing the math A price drop by about $3 per bushel can wipe out between $120 and $180 an acre, depending on yield, according to Wiebe, who sits on the board of the Canadian Canola Growers Association. For the roughly 290 producers in the Peace Region, who seed up to 110,000 acres a year and grow 95 per cent of B.C.'s canola, that's a massive hit. Most of the crop is bound for China, where it's crushed and processed into cooking oil. Meanwhile, input costs keep climbing. Fertilizer alone is up $200 a metric ton this year, Wiebe said, on top of higher bills for land, fuel, equipment, and taxes. The growing price gap could mean tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, in losses for the average farmer, and millions for B.C.'s economy."Overall, farmers [are] incredibly discouraged, and looking at it and going, 'Well, how are we going to make this all work?'" said Wiebe. B.C. growers are hoping for an average or slightly above-average crop this year. But a very dry May followed by late June rains has delayed maturity, raising the risk that bad weather — possibly even snow — could interfere with harvest. Pressure on Ottawa Werner Antweiler, an associate professor at University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business, says he is worried about farmers suffering the consequences of "arbitrary" Canadian tariffs. The canola tariffs came after Canada's 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese EVs, and Antweiler says the EV tariffs weren't based on a proper investigation under World Trade Organization (WTO) principles. "We should definitely revisit this issue and, in that way, also maybe reduce the countervailing duties that we now see on canola exports." Stuart Smyth, a professor of agriculture and resource economics at the University of Saskatchewan, believes China's new tariffs are a strategic move to push down international canola prices before China buys large volumes at a discount. Similar tariffs in 2019 and 2020 cost the canola industry $2.3 billion, he said. "If this stays in for six or eight months, we could be looking at billions of dollars in costs," Smyth told CBC Radio West host Sarah Penton. China claims Canada is dumping canola below the cost of production, which the federal government denies. Smyth says Canada doesn't subsidize crops like other countries do, nor does it promote exports with subsidies. LISTEN | Professor says EV tariffs hurt B.C. farmers Canada and China are challenging each other at the WTO, and while Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government is working with industry to find solutions, Smyth doesn't expect much of a response. He believes Carney is prioritizing the steel, aluminum, and auto sectors to save jobs in southern Ontario, where there's a high density of voters. "The federal government has been very reserved on reaching out to China, having consultations, or even trying to set up discussions with them," Smyth said. Farmers running out of time Wiebe says the federal government needs to strike a deal with China soon, even if that means walking back its EV tariffs. "If that could be resolved, and the tariffs, or the anti-dumping duty in this case, lifted, I believe our canola price would probably jump $2 to $3 a bushel probably within the next week." Some may pivot from canola if profitability keeps sliding, Wiebe said, but planting other crops like wheat or oats has risks of its own. Flooding those markets could only end up driving down those prices too. "We're price takers," he said. "We can only sell at what the market offers."
25 minutes ago
Air Canada suspends restart plans after union defies return to work order
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Digital Trends
33 minutes ago
- Digital Trends
YouTube apparently wants the Oscars – 5 reasons why it might be a great idea
YouTube is interested in hosting the Oscars, according to a Bloomberg report on Sunday, citing several people familiar with the matter. It would mean wrestling the rights from Walt Disney's ABC, which has long hosted the annual awards show and whose contract runs until 2028. Recommended Videos ABC already shows the Oscars on YouTube, but by owning the rights itself, YouTube would have primary control of the broadcast, giving it greater influence over how the event is presented on its platform. Like streaming rivals Netflix and Amazon, Google-owned YouTube is ramping up its coverage of live events in a bid to boost audience numbers. Bloomberg said that if YouTube managed to nab the rights to the Academy Awards, it would be 'a huge statement from YouTube and a shock to the industry.' Here are five reasons why it may actually be a good idea … and a couple why it might not. 1. Massive reach: YouTube is the world's most-visited video platform, with around 2.7 billion monthly active users. Giving the broadcast rights to YouTube could give a real boost to the Oscars ceremony, which has struggled to maintain relevance and grow audience numbers in recent years. 2. A younger, more diverse audience: YouTube is popular with younger viewers who are turning away from regular TV in increasing numbers. Having YouTube take control of the Oscars broadcast would likely bring in more of these younger viewers, as well as broaden the ceremony's multicultural audience, generating a wave of renewed interest in the annual entertainment event. 3. A more interactive viewing experience: The show could become a whole lot more engaging via things like live chat, polls, games like forecasting, and live behind-the-scenes material that viewers could effortlessly dip in and out of. 4. Influencer involvement: It could make the Oscars more fun with greater interaction with YouTube celebrities and influencers, bridging Hollywood and digital culture in ways that could make the ceremony feel fresh again. 5. Convenient on-demand viewing: YouTube can make it easy for viewers to enjoy the highlights, movie clips, or the entire ceremony on demand after the event is over, which would align nicely with changing viewing habits. Possible downsides: 1. Loss of its traditional TV broadcast audience: If YouTube wins the rights to show the event on its streaming platform, there's a risk that it could result in some people tuning out instead of tuning in, especially older folks who enjoy the Oscars but may be slow to hop aboard online streaming services like YouTube. 2. Possible technical issues: Streaming platforms are more prone to technical issues than traditional broadcasting operations. Netflix, for example, experienced a major livestreaming failure during the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match in November last year. More than 60 million people tuned in, but many of them were met with poor image quality and buffering. YouTube would have to be sure that it can handle the potentially massive demand.
