Tech

It’s a wonderful… robot? An AI-generated voice of Jimmy Stewart, the legendary Hollywood actor who died in 1997, reads a new bedtime story on the Calm sleep and meditation app. The voice of Stewart, who starred in films including “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Vertigo” and “Rear Window,” was recreated for the Calm story using AI

More than 10 years after Grand Theft Auto V first came out, the first look at the long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel, Grand Theft Auto VI, has officially been released. Rockstar Games dropped the first trailer to the massively hyped video game on Monday night after it first leaked online. Fans will have to wait

Director Lukas Dhont is the new guest curator for Galerie, Indian Paintbrush’s digital film club. Dhont, whose 2022 coming-of-age film “Close” was nominated for best international feature, names 18 films that influenced him the most for Galerie members. Among the entries is the 1975 documentary “Grey Gardens.” “A teacher in film school showed us ‘Grey

Verizon is making its latest aggressive push to bundle up streaming packages — offering ad-supported versions of Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max for $10 per month to wireless subscribers on unlimited plans. That’s about a 40% discount on the services compared with the $17/month it would cost to purchase them separately. Under such reseller

Spotify is laying off 17% of its global workforce in order to cut costs, CEO Daniel Ek said on Monday. According to the Financial Times, Ek made the announcement in an internal memo sent to staff. “I recognize this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions,” Ek wrote in the memo.

In its never-ending effort to try to reach younger news consumers, CNN has launched CNN Shorts — a new vertical video player on its website designed for smartphones. CNN already produces vertical-video news briefs for platforms including TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Now it sees a growing opportunity for CNN Shorts on its owned-and-operated

Blac Chyna was among the highest earners on OnlyFans, reportedly making millions per month on the adult-content-friendly creator subscription platform. But the model, rapper, TV personality and influencer, whose real name is Angela White, quit OnlyFans earlier this year — saying at the time that it was a “dead end” for her and that she

Elon Musk this week angrily told big advertisers like Disney and Apple who have halted spending on X/Twitter to “go fuck yourself.” Bill Ackman, head of investment holding company Pershing Square Holdings, believes Musk has a point — opining that large marketers employ a double standard in reacting to Musk’s combative rhetoric and his “free

TikTok users in Big Sky Country are free — for now — to keep watching short-form videos on the app in the new year. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Thursday blocking Montana’s first-of-its-kind U.S. ban of TikTok in the state, ruling that the law set to take effect Jan. 1, 2024, likely was

New rounds of layoffs took place Thursday at Condé Nast and Vox Media, the latest cutbacks in the publishing sector as companies look to tighten their belts. The job cuts at Condé Nast come after the company said earlier this month that it will lay off upwards of 300 employees, representing 5% of total headcount,

Linda Yaccarino, who’s already facing an uphill battle in winning over advertisers to X, has her work cut out for her to restore trust with big marketers after her boss profanely dissed those who had suspended advertising from the platform. Almost six months into her gig as CEO of X, Yaccarino continues to try to

Tubi, Fox Corp.’s ad-supported video-on-demand service, is eyeing a bigger international footprint: The streamer has tapped David Salmon, former CTO of Endeavor Streaming, as executive VP and managing director of international. Salmon, based in the U.K., will report to Tubi CEO Anjali Sud, the ex-chief exec of Vimeo who started at the streamer in September.

Saudi-owned MBC Group, the Middle East’s top broadcaster, has announced it is floating a 10% stake on the Riyadh stock exchange seeking to raise up to 831 million riyals ($222 million) in a move to boost growth and help fuel its output of high-end productions. “Institutional and retail investors will be allowed the opportunity to

A visibly irate Elon Musk said advertisers who pulled spending from X/Twitter, following his post that endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory, were trying to “blackmail” the company and threatened to drive it into bankruptcy. Musk, currently the world’s wealthiest individual, had a message to big advertisers including Disney that halted spending on his social network:

Netflix‘s games strategy is getting a nitro boost from Rockstar Games’ crime-tastic Grand Theft Auto series, one of the best-selling video-game franchises of all time. The three classic titles in “Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition” will be available Dec. 14 for Netflix customers at no additional charge on mobile platforms. Starting

Jezebel is getting resurrected, under new management. Three weeks ago, the former owner of the feminist news and opinion site, private-equity backed G/O Media, announced it was shuttering Jezebel — and laying off the staff — after failing to find a buyer. Now Paste Magazine, an Atlanta-based entertainment and culture publication, has snapped up Jezebel,

NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service is flying into Instacart‘s virtual grocery cart. The companies announced a new deal that makes Peacock Premium available to all subscribers of Instacart+ in the U.S. at no additional cost. Instacart+, which provides unlimited free delivery on orders of more than $35 and other perks, costs $99/year or $9.99/month. NBCU wouldn’t

Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan reliably generates a large and bro-heavy audience for Spotify. But will his show remain exclusively available on Spotify? “The Joe Rogan Experience,” exclusive to Spotify under a 2020 deal, again clocked in with the most popular show on the platform for 2023. The company revealed the top 25 rankings for the

Alex Cooper and Matt Kaplan have tapped Mina Lefevre as the chief content officer of Television of their newly formed media company, Trending. Lefevre will report to Kaplan and oversee creative, and strategic oversight for the company (ACE Entertainment, The Unwell Network and Call Her Daddy) in scripted and unscripted. “I am thrilled to be

Apple has announced the most popular podcasts of 2023 — and true crime once again leads the pack. Audiochuck’s long-running “Crime Junkie,” hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat, was the No. 1 most-listened to podcast overall on Apple Podcasts in the U.S., according to the tech giant. The true-crime podcast topped the U.S. chart

Bytedance, the unlisted Chinese tech giant that owns TikTok, is poised to slash most of its games operations, including Nuverse, which publishes ‘Marvel Snap.’ “We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to center on long-term strategic growth areas,” a ByteDance representative said in a statement by a Bytedance spokesman that was sent to Variety.

After Sports Illustrated was called out for publishing articles from apparently nonexistent authors with AI-generated headshots, the company that operates SI said the content in question came from a third party that had provided assurances those were written by humans. The Arena Group, which publishes Sports Illustrated, said it has ended its partnership with AdVon

“Wellington Paranormal,” the series spinoff from 2014 breakout hit film “What We Do In the Shadows,” is launching an audio companion piece. It is produced by Frank Podcasts, a new New Zealand-based podcast network, headed by Mike Minogue and Tim Batt. The podcast will feature actors, writers, directors and more, delving into the making of

After Elon Musk last month decided to banish article headlines from posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, he’s bringing them back — but in a different format. In early October, Musk said the removal of headlines under posts of links on X would “greatly improve the esthetics.” On Wednesday, the tech mogul said, “In

Cristiano Ronaldo has the most followers on Instagram. Elon Musk claims that title on his platform X (naturally). And Letterboxd has Martin Scorsese. When he joined in October, shortly after his film “Killers of the Flower Moon” hit theaters, the director quickly became the most-followed account on the burgeoning social media platform, which allows users to rate and

Russell Tovey wants you to know who David Robilliard was. He was a queer British poet and visual artist who died of AIDS in 1988 when he was just 36 years old. “I first learned about David at the ICA in London,” the “American Horror Story” star tells Variety, speaking from his London-area home. “There

Five days ago, OpenAI’s board fired CEO Sam Altman. Now the pioneering artificial intelligence startup, which created buzzy AI chatbot ChatGPT, is bringing him back. “We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo,”

Binance Holdings, operator of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, pleaded guilty to U.S. criminal charges that it violated the Bank Secrecy Act and other laws and will pay $4.3 billion to resolve the investigation, the Justice Department said Tuesday. In addition, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao entered a guilty plea of failing to maintain

Last year’s Pokémon Scarlet and Violet didn’t have nearly enough double battles. Outside of Ryme, the ghost-type gym leader, there were hardly any chances to fight two Pokémon at once, which offers some of the more challenging, strategic face-offs in the game series. The new DLC, The Indigo Disk, is here to drastically change that.

Major sports leagues have embraced legalized gambling across the U.S. At the same time, they recognize the need to act as good corporate citizens — and are urging fans who gamble to know their limits. The National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have teamed up for “Never Know What’s Next,”