Tech

Ring in the new year with a fresh slate of releases on Disney+, including “Goosebumps: The Vanishing,” the next season of Disney’s “Goosebumps” anthology series starring David Schwimmer. For nature lovers, National Geographic’s “A Real Bug’s Life” returns for Season 2, while true crime devotees can sink their teeth into “Gypsy Rose: Life After Lockup.”

“CoComelon” producer Moonbug Entertainment has struck a deal with early learning company Lingokids to launch games featuring characters from Moonbug’s popular live-action preschool brand “Blippi.” The “Blippi” franchise — which includes multiple shows across platforms — follows the titular character as he serves as preschool-aged kid’s “best friend” and “inspire them to learn through play

Universal Music Group and Amazon Music have announced an expanded global relationship that will “enable further innovation, exclusive content with UMG artists, and advancement of artist-centric principles including increased fraud protection,” according to the announcement. While full details were not disclosed, the deal is intended to advance UMG’s “Streaming 2.0” strategy, which focuses less on

Ahead of the Season 2 premiere of global hit “Squid Game,” Google is getting in on the deadly fun and games. Netflix partnered with Google Search on the Easter egg activation. To play the game, search “Squid Game” on Google and tap the brown envelope that appears at the bottom of the screen. The Google

It starts in the gift shop. “Squid Game: The Experience,” an immersive entertainment installation that opened in October in a shuttered shopping mall near Madison Square Garden, brings its participants slowly into the dark, dystopian world of the South Korean drama series that exploded into a massive hit for Netflix in 2021. Players begin the

Two Epic Games board directors have resigned from their positions amid an antitrust inquiry by the Justice Department. The board members had been appointed to the privately held company’s board by minority investor Tencent, which is the China-based owner of Epic competitor Riot Games. Epic Games, which also counts Disney among its investors, is the

Over the last several years, the entertainment industry has been rocked by a succession of body blows. It came out of a global pandemic only to be hit with dual strikes (WGA and SAG-AFTRA) that caused historically long labor stoppages, which were followed by a work slowdown brought on by a deflation of the streaming

The Game Awards hit record viewership with its 2024 show on Dec. 12, which drew an estimated 154 million global livestreams. That’s up 31% over the 2023 show at 118 million livestreams. Per the Game Awards, which marked its 10-year anniversary with the 2024 show, the 2024 viewership high was reached with streams across YouTube,

The Supreme Court agreed to hear TikTok‘s appeal for an emergency injunction blocking a federal law that would ban the popular video app unless Chinese parent ByteDance sells its stake. The high court’s decision in the matter is a test of where the justices come down in weighing American’s constitutionally protected right to free speech

“Yellowjackets” and “Scream” star Jasmin Savoy Brown has a new podcast, titled “Today in Gay.” Described as a “short, joyful daily news podcast by and for the queer community,” Brown came up with the show three years ago when she realized there’s no queer equivalent to NPR’s “Up First” or the NY Times’ “The Headlines.”

YouTube filed a lawsuit against Ganjingworld, which operates the Gan Jing World video-sharing site, alleging that it has been “automatically vacuuming up YouTube user channels and associated content from YouTube.” Ganjingworld’s service “clones most of YouTube’s functionalities and its overall appearance,” YouTube says in the suit, filed Wednesday in California state court. “But GJW’s imitation

In what’s being touted as the first partnership of its kind, CAA is collaborating with YouTube on a program promising to let actors, athletes and other talent fight back against AI-generated fakes uploaded to the video platform. YouTube’s message to Hollywood is that it’s trying to be a good partner to creative industries by taking

James Wan‘s Atomic Monster production company has acquired the rights to develop Game Award-nominated indie title “Pacific Drive” into a TV series. Created by Cassandra Dracott from Ironwood Studios, “Pacific Drive” is a retropunk-style driving and survival game set to an experimental electronic music soundtrack that challenges players to escape a surreal and abandoned exclusion

The launch trailer for new “Alien” VR game “Alien: Rogue Incursion” has arrived. From Survios and 20th Century Games, the title is set in the “Alien” cinematic universe and play as rogue Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks on a mission to the planet Purdan (LV-354) in search of a former squadmate. After a sudden attack, Zula

A “clean” image and video generation model, trained exclusively on “ethically sourced” data, is being positioned for enterprise-grade productions in Hollywood next year as an alternative to offerings from tech giants accused of data scraping. The new model, dubbed “Marey,” after early cinema pioneer Étienne-Jules Marey, will be available in January or February 2025. As

Kristin Cavallari is taking “Let’s Be Honest” live. The relationship and lifestyle podcast, presented by Dear Media, will have a four-city tour in 2025, with stops in Atlanta, Chicago, Boston and New York. “Kristin Cavallari’s Headline Tour” kicks off March 7. “I am so excited to take ‘Let’s Be Honest’ on the road in 2025.

TikTok filed an appeal with the Supreme Court seeking an emergency injunction to block a U.S. law from going into effect that would impose a nationwide ban on the popular app unless Chinese parent ByteDance sells its stake in TikTok. In a statement Monday, TikTok said, “The Supreme Court has an established record of upholding

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos deactivated his account on X, formerly Twitter, where he had more than 2.3 million followers. Stephanopoulos’ account on Elon Musk-owned X (@GStephanopoulos) is no longer available, displaying a message that says, “This account doesn’t exist.” Stephanopoulos’ Instagram account remains active. Stephanopoulos’ X account went dark at some point over the

The NFL already has women fans. According to the league, this year’s Super Bowl LVIII game had a record-breaking increase in female viewership, with women representing almost half of the total audience. But the NFL is continually looking to find new ways to grow its fanbase, particularly among younger consumers. To that end, the NFL

Now burning up on Netflix: a new spin on the classic TV yule-log. With less than two weeks to go before Christmas, Netflix has launched three themed virtual yule logs, each 60 minutes in length, based on Shonda Rhimes’ “Bridgerton” series, South Korean hit “Squid Game” (with Season 2 set to premiere Dec. 26) and

Dunder Mifflin — the people person’s paper people — is sending its top employees into “Funko Fusion” as characters from NBC’s “The Office” join the action-adventure video game Friday. Developed by 10:10 Games, the game, which released in September, is filled with Funko Pop! figurine versions of iconic pop culture figures. The game is a

Australia has unveiled plans to implement a targeted tax on major digital platforms that don’t share revenue with news organizations, marking its latest move to regulate tech companies’ relationships with media outlets. The measure, set to take effect Jan. 1, will impact tech companies earning over AU$250 million ($159 million) annually in Australia, including Meta,

“Last of Us” studio Naughty Dog has revealed its next game set up for owner PlayStation: “Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.” The trailer for the title was unveiled out of the 2024 Game Awards Thursday and positioned as the final big announcement of the night ahead of the award for Game of the Year. Naughty Dog

A sequel to the beloved game “Okami” is in the works at Capcom with original game director Hideki Kamiya. The untitled game is a followup to the 2006 action-adventure game developed by the now-closed Clover Studio and released for PlayStation 2. “Okami” is set in a fictional version of classical Japan and uses Japanese mythology and folklore

Netflix is going against its tradition of paywalling its steadily growing offering of mobile games by making its upcoming “Squid Game” battle royale title available for free to non-members for a “limited time” at launch. Debuting Dec. 17 ahead of the premiere of the second season of the hit South Korean-drama, “Squid Game: Unleashed” is

The trailer for “Borderlands 4″ was revealed by Gearbox and 2K Games out of the Game Awards Thursday. Per 2K’s synopsis for “Borderlands 4“: “See if you have what it takes to go down in history as a legendary Vault Hunter as you search for secret alien treasure, blasting everything in sight.” No specific release

Game developer Hazelight Studios has revealed its next co-op title for publisher Electronic Arts (EA) following the smash-hit success of 2021’s “It Takes Two“: “Split Fiction,” an action-adventure title, split-screen game where players will jump between sci-fi and fantasy worlds. Per EA and Hazelight Studios, “In ‘Split Fiction,’ players will discover a variety of sci-fi

The 2024 Game Awards are upon us. The big night for the gaming industry kicked off at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and will live stream across YouTube, Twitch and other social media channels. Hosted by gaming industry star Geoff Keighley, the event covers 29 competitive categories, including

YouTube TV is getting more expensive — outpacing the rate of inflation — with a 14% price increase for the streaming pay-TV package going into effect for new customers immediately. The cost of a new YouTube TV base plan subscription is increasing from $72.99 to $82.99, starting Dec. 12, 2024, for new users, the company

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone’s podcast series “Hildy the Barback and the Lake of Fire” will return for a second season. The announcement was made Thursday by the couple and podcast network Lemonada Media. Season 2 will premiere in summer 2025. McCarthy stars as the titular Hildy while Falcone is Urgrall the Horned One. Season