The AI-generated Digital Marilyn chatbot lets you interact “in real-time using advanced natural language processing, deep learning and GPT 3.5,” Soul Machines said in announcing the project Friday. - Variety
The movie industry is notorious for learning precisely the wrong lesson from its successes, not to mention failures. Here are some trends from last year that I hope to see more of. - Washington Post
The statewide network is eliminating 15 positions, some 8% of its workforce, mostly in audio and podcast production. (The newsroom is not affected.) The reason is the same as with other public radio outlets shedding staff: reduced revenue, especially from corporate advertising/sponsorships. - Inside Radio
The law essentially crowbars open what the EU calls the gatekeepers’ “core services.” In the past regulators have proposed containing corporate giants by taking them to pieces. EU lawmakers have adopted the motto “Don’t break up big tech companies, break them open.” - Wired
Congressional staff reported on some of the calls they were getting. “We’re getting a lot of calls from high schoolers asking what a Congressman is. Yes really,” wrote Taylor Hulsey, communications director for Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL). - Deadline
Though listenership and ratings are up (Nielsen reports WBUR is the top news station in its market and third overall), income from advertising and sponsorship is way, way down. - Boston Herald
"The verdict against movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed assigned new blame in the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after an assistant director last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm." She was acquitted of a charge of evidence-tampering. - AP
Film composers have taken up serialism as an important technique, employing this to yield a high degree of dissonance and ethereal sounds. - The Conversation
As we entered the new millennium, three daring TV series remade the television landscape, and they all featured a new breed of outsider: lawless, desperate, violent characters once unimaginable on the small screens in our living rooms. - LitHub
"On the surface, there is much reason to cheer. No country on the continent has benefited as much from the disruption of global streaming platforms as South Africa, where competition between Netflix and homegrown rival Showmax has fueled a surge in production." - Variety
In fact, this reform is already in place in Maine, Alaska, New York City, San Francisco, and the Twin Cities — and in the Best Picture category. It simply needs to be extended to the other categories and to other locales. - Literary Hub
Now deep into the five-year grant, the combined newsrooms reach 2.8 million readers and listeners; newsletter subscriptions total 760,500; and the Sun-Times’ pageviews increased 55% over the past year. Staff sizes also have grown — crucial to producing more content — as have staff compensation and diversity. - NiemanLab
“This decision sends a powerful message — no company, not even a monopoly like Apple, can wield power abusively to control how other companies interact with their customers,” Spotify said in response to the ruling. - The Verge
None of these efforts moved the audience measurement needle, in most cases because they didn’t sufficiently address the primary cause of audience — the appeal of the programming. The industry just keeps running content through the same psychographic filters and keeps getting the same audiences. - Current
