Tech

TikTok’s “Series” Feature Allows Users To Paywall “Premium” Videos Up To 20 Mins

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Instagram and Snapchat previously held the title of most-used and highly regarded social media apps, but as of late, it’s been TikTok that’s taking over. The Chinese-owned platform has evolved rapidly since rising in popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Today (March 7), they have another exciting update to share with creators, which will allow them to bring in more money than ever before.

As per Variety, TikTok announced “Series” on Tuesday, noting that at this time, the feature is available only for select accounts. Those who have access will be able to post Collections of premium content that lives behind a paywall. Similarly to websites like OnlyFans, users who want to see the videos in question will have to pay a fee. At this time, each series can include 80 posts, each one with a maximum of 20 minutes. This gives the community “a new, longer format to watch their favourite creators and content,” rather than being restricted by the current 10-minute limit.

Introducing Series on TikTok

@tiktoknewsroom

Introducing TikTok Series 🥁 Our new premium feature enables creators to post Collections of up to 80 videos, each up to 20 minutes long 🙌

♬ original sound – TikTok Newsroom – TikTok Newsroom

It’s worth noting that TikTok will allow each creator to select the price for their Series, something not every pay-per-view site offers. The content will be available for purchase through direct in-video links, or on the user’s own profile. Of course, this doesn’t mean we’ll start seeing OF-esque content on the platform. As with all other uploads, “Series videos must adhere to community guideline standards.”

In the coming months, TikTokers will have the opportunity to submit applications to enroll in the new program. For a limited time, the app will be paying creators 100% of their Series earnings (after platform and processing fees). It remains unclear how the payment structure will change in the future. “Right now we’re focused on building the product and hearing feedback from our creators to improve the product,” a spokesperson for the app told Variety.

Other ways users have been making money on the popular social media site include the Creator Fund, which specifically pays those making “innovative content.” Additionally, the recent announcement of the Creativity Program Beta is raising plenty of eyebrows. It’s an invitation-only program that pays those making “high-quality, original content” more than one minute a share of ad revenue. What do you think of TikToks newest rollout? Sound off in the comments, and check back later for more pop culture news.

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Apple’s Hip-Hop 50 Illustrator Black Power Barbie Discusses Rap Nostalgia Animations

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2023 marks the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, sparking international celebration among fans of the genre. Influential organizations have contributed to commemorating the New York City-born musical style, including Showtime’s HIP HOP 50 series and NPR’s 50 Years of Hip Hop podcast. Apple also joined in the festivities and commissioned Amika Cooper (known professionally as Black Power Barbie) to create animations for their digital storefront. The tech company displayed the completed project in their App Store during Black History Month.

Born in the Big Apple but raised in Toronto, Cooper currently resides in Brooklyn. In an interview with Complex Canada, the illustrator discussed how her connection to the city inspired her project for Apple. “When I’m working on my personal projects,” she explained, “during that process you start to think about the person, the world they live in, and I think that’s what helps you understand what they’re about.” The artist added, “that’s another part of my style that became important to me, trying to create a nostalgic feel so that when people see something, they can recognize the time and place surrounding that character.”

Black Power Barbie’s Tribute To Hip Hop Reflects On Its NYC Roots

Cooper also describes her research process for the animation, including gaining knowledge about the history of the genre, and its widespread influences on the culture. “Just living in Brooklyn, I knew New York had to be a big part of it,” she explains. “I walk past history every day. Then you get the fashion, like wearing Adidas shell toes and bamboo earrings.” The artist notes how we often forget how the genre is rooted in the 70s, saying, “people forget that it didn’t really start with Biggie.”

Just last week, Cooper proudly took to Instagram to share her completed project, which commemorates many stages of the development of hip-hop. Playing alongside Black Star’s 1998 track “Definition,” the animation itself boasts vibrant colors and distinguishable characters. It swiftly roles through the genre’s vinyl past to digital present. Although Cooper notes the time-consuming hard work she contributed to the project, it’s evident that the final result is a thoughtful ode to the genre. For more news on hip-hop and pop culture, be sure to check out HNHH.

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Elon Musk Reclaims Title As World’s Richest Man

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Elon Musk has reclaimed his title as the richest man in the world after a rise in Tesla’s stock over the last few weeks. While the stock, in which much of Musk’s wealth is tied up, took a massive hit in 2022, it’s bounced back a bit over the last month. Since February 1, Tesla is up 17%. It is still down significantly from its highs in 2021 however. According to reports from Barron’s, the SpaceX co-founder owns approximately 424 million shares of Tesla.

As it stands, Musk’s net worth was just north of $187.1 billion as of Monday after markets closed, according to Bloomberg. The figure positions him just over Bernard Arnault, CEO of French luxury brand LVMH (LVMHF), who is worth $185.3 billion. All-in-all, Musk spent a little over two months at the No. 2 spot before regaining it this week.

Elon Musk In 2022

BOCA CHICA BEACH, TX – AUGUST 25: SpaceX founder Elon Musk during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on August 25, 2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. The two companies announced plans to work together to provide T-Mobile cellular service using Starlink satellites. (Photo by Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)

Despite the recent gains, Musk is still down significantly over the last year. At the end of 2022, he became the first person to ever lose $200 billion. His net worth plummeted from $340 billion in Nov. 2021 to $137 billion in Dec. 2022. Outside of Tesla, Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter has also done a good deal to damage his personal wealth. The decision to buy the company shook Tesla investors for starters.

Additionally, his behavior on the platform has become increasingly erratic. In one recent post, he claimed that the United States media is racist against white people. “For a very long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians. Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America,” he said. “Maybe they can try not being racist.” Behind the scenes, there have been large layoffs at the company as well. In his time at the site, he’s also launched a paid verification program known as Twitter Blue. The feature got off to a rocky start in 2022 but has since launched in full.

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Can You Copyright an AI-Generated Image? The U.S. Copyright Office Says No

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copyright infringement

By revoking copyright registration it had previously granted for a comic book whose artwork was created by an AI-powered image generator, the U.S. Copyright Office has effectively ruled that AI-generated images are not eligible for copyright protection in the U.S. 

Kris Kashtanova is a New York-based artist who created the graphic novel Zarya of the Dawn.  Kashtonova wrote the story, created the layout and organized the presentation of the images.  The images were generated by Midjourney, a commercial image synthesis service that uses the latent diffusion process.

Latent diffusion models are used to generate detailed images from text descriptions, by mapping an image generator to text descriptions.  Effectively, the user can input a text description of the image they want created, and the latent diffusion model will generate detailed image based on those parameters.

Kashtanova registered the copyright in Zarya of the Dawn with the Copyright Office in 2022, claiming that the artwork was not created entirely by the AI, but had been created by her with AI assistance.  The Copyright Office has previously rejected copyrights registered to AI as the author – however, it has not ruled against copyrights in AI artwork where the author is a person.    Here, Kashtanova was granted copyright registration for Zarya of the Dawn in September 2022.

However, this past Tuesday, the Copyright Office revoked the registration, on the basis that Kashtanova had not disclosed in her application that the images in the comic were created by an AI model.  Apparently, following issuance of the registration, the Copyright Office learned on social media that her comic included AI-generated images.   The Copyright Officer then issued a notice to her in October 2022, requiring her to provide additional information showing why the registration should not be canceled.

Through her attorney, Kashtanova responded that Midjourney was merely an assistive tool, and she had authored every aspect of the work.  The Copyright Office rejected this argument, finding that although she claimed to have “guided” the content of each image, it was Midjourney that had “authored’ the images for purposes of copyright registration.  Accordingly, the portion of her registration covering the images was canceled.

Kashtanova still holds a copyright registration for the other elements of the comic- namely, the text and the selection and coordination of the visual elements.  However, for now, this ruling means that AI-generated images cannot be copyrighted in the United States, and this ruling will likely stand unless it is challenged in court or revised by law.

The post Can You Copyright an AI-Generated Image? The U.S. Copyright Office Says No appeared first on The Source.

Fired Twitter and Google Employees Create Rival Social Media Platform

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Fired Twitter and Google Employees Create Rival Social Media Platform

Sarah Oh, a former human rights advisor for Twitter, and her friend Gabor Cselle, a former Director at Google, have teamed up to create T2, a rival service to Twitter.

Currently, in beta, T2 offers a post feed with a 280-character limit. However, according to Oh, that’s not the only difference between T2 and Twitter. “We really do want to create an experience that allows people to share what they want to share without fearing risk of things like abuse and harassment, and we feel like we’re really well positioned to deliver on that,” Oh told CNN.

There have also been many creators who have teamed up to create Twitter-esque social media platforms to attract those users who have left Twitter after expressing their distaste for the app following Elon Musk’s takeover. For example, the founders of Instagram announced Artifact, “a personalized news feed” powered by artificial intelligence, a description that quickly earned it comparisons to Twitter. According to CNN, it resembled news reader applications like Apple News or the defunct Google Reader. Artifact displayed popular articles from large media organizations and smaller bloggers in a main feed, tailored to users based on their activity and selected interests. 

Additionally, Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell, who served as Twitter’s global head of social and editorial for three years, and  DeVaris Brown, who served as a product manager lead, were let go by Musk and have also teamed up to create their own social media platform, Spill.

According to The Insider, Spill, named for the phrase “spill the tea,” will use blockchain to compensate users for popular posts and include a feature called “tea parties” where users can gather online or in real life to connect. “While Spill is for everyone, we are catering to culture drivers who frequently set new trends yet routinely get overlooked and under compensated,” Terrell tweeted in his announcement of the app. “Yes, we mean Black creators, Queer creators, and a variety of influential voices outside the U.S.”

Following the app’s announcement, Terrell tweeted that Spill had received 20,000 reservations for handles within 12 hours.

The post Fired Twitter and Google Employees Create Rival Social Media Platform appeared first on The Source.

Original iPhone from 2007 Sells for $63,000 at Auction

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iPhone AP 070109070253

Do you happen to have a first-generation iPhone still in the packaging? You could be sitting on a nice amount of cash.

A first-generation 2007 iPhone recently sold for $63,000 in a Sunday online auction. The phone had never been opened and went for over 100 times the original cost.

CNN notes the bidding started at $2,500, but the 27 bids would inflate the number on LCG Auctions’ website to the final number. LCG Auctions founder Mark Montero stated the bids were between 10 buyers and the final bid came from “an individual from the US.”

The phone was owned by Karen Green who received the 8 GB phone as a gift but never opened it. Another iPhone she once owned sold for over $39,000.

The iPhone originally cost $599 and only had a 3.5-inch screen and 2-megapixel camera, while running on a 2G network exclusive to AT&T.

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Meta Announces Verified Subscription To Fight Against Frauds & Scams

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Months after it was announced that Meta was laying off approximately 11,000 employees, Mark Zuckerberg is back with another controversial revelation. These days, social media platforms are doing all they can to keep your attention. Users are finding features being implemented and taken away each week. Now, it looks like Zuckerberg is taking notes from Elon Musk. He shared that Meta would be rolling out a new paid verification subscription service, which was met with mixed reactions.

For those that have been desiring a blue check mark next to their name, your time has come. According to multiple reports, Meta Verified will become available this week in Australia and New Zealand. Users will pay $11.99 per month, or $14.99 on iOS, and will also receive direct access to customer support.

Meta Hopes To Combat Imposter Accounts

A main objection to Meta is that connecting with anyone who works for the company is nearly impossible. Further, in the past, it would be celebrities who found themselves copied and duplicated by fraudsters looking to scam the unsuspecting. Daily, thousands of social media users fall victim to scams from people impersonating a celebrity. However, it isn’t just the famous who have fallen victim to these cons. Everyday people have also been hacked or their photos used un ruses.

“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuckerberg also said about the new feature. In a press release, the company added: “To help up-and-coming creators grow their presence and build community faster, today Mark Zuckerberg announced that we’ll begin testing a new offering called Meta Verified, a subscription bundle on Instagram and Facebook that includes a verified badge that authenticates your account with government ID, proactive account protection, access to account support, and increased visibility and reach. We’re starting with a gradual test in Australia and New Zealand later this week to learn what’s most valuable, and we hope to bring Meta Verified to the rest of the world soon.”

Meta Offers Additional Features
A blue verification checkmark on Instagram account on Instagram displayed on a laptop screen and Instagram logo displayed on a phone screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Poland on February 19, 2023. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Additionally, it seems that Meta will boost visibility for subscription creators in the comments sections and recommendations. They also claim that subscribers will have access to exclusive only content, but that has yet to be specified. Will you be signing up?

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Tesla Recalls Nearly 400,000 Vehicles, Implies Faulty Self-Driving Beta Software

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On Thursday, Tesla recalled 362,758 vehicles, claiming that the software controlling the company’s self-drive feature may cause crashes. The Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta is what allows Tesla owners to take their hands off of the wheel. The most alluring feature of this developing software is its ability to navigate through urban streets. However, nearly 400k of these vehicles may be negatively affected by faulty software. The bug specifically affects the 2016-2023 Model S and Model X, the 2017-2023 Model 3, and the 2020-2023 Model Y.

In a recall report posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website, this error could cause vehicles to “act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution.” The recall notice also noted troubles with picking up on “changes in posted speed limits.” Additionally Tesla will accordingly update the software with their “over-the-air” response.

Tesla’s Will Deliver Over-The-Air Update

Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves the Phillip Burton Federal Building on February 03, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Closing arguments have wrapped up in the trial where investors are suing Tesla and Elon Musk, its chief executive officer, over his August 2018 tweets where he said he was taking Tesla private with funding that he secured. The tweet was found to be false and cost shareholders billions of dollars when Tesla’s stock price began to fluctuate wildly allegedly based on the tweet. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The FSD Beta feature is only available to Tesla owners who subscribe to the FSD program. According to CNBC, this program has a $15,000 upfront payment, with a $ 199-a-month payment. The software is still experimental and hasn’t been fully “de-bugged.” Correspondingly, prospective program members must complete a safe-driving analysis before being able to test out this feature. CEO Elon Musk reported in Tesla’s previous earnings call, “As of now, we’ve deployed Full Self-Driving Beta to — for city streets — to roughly 400,000 customers in North America. This is a huge milestone for autonomy as FSD Beta is the only way any consumer can actually test the latest AI-powered autonomy.”

Considering the safety risks posed by a still-in-development software, Twitter users are in shock about Tesla’s recall notice. Specifically, frustration arose with the usage of “recall,” especially given that the fix featured an over-the-air update. On Thursday, Musk took to twitter to respond to the verbiage confusion. He tweeted, “the word ‘recall’ for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just flat wrong!” Even with such chaos ensuing within Tesla, its stocks quickly recuperated from a 1% drop this week.

Twitter Reacts:

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Cardi B Reacts To Instagram’s New GIF Feature, Says “The Twitter Ghettos” Is Where It Belongs

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In order to keep up with their competitors, social media platforms are constantly launching new updates in hopes of satisfying current users and attracting new ones. In particular, Instagram has released several over the years that have helped elevate their platform. Among them are borrowing Snapchat’s concept of Stories to keeping up with TikTok via Reels. Most recently, they’re attempting to introduce GIFs in an exciting way.

Users have already been able to send the animated images back and forth in their DMs. Now, IG will allow them to respond to both Stories and feed posts with them. This feature is already popular on Twitter, where many use GIFs to their comedic advantage. According to Cardi B, Elon Musk’s app may be where the antics should stay.

On Friday (February 16) evening, the New Yorker wrote, “I know them GIFs ain’t hitting like they hit in the Twitter ghettos.” Her tweet has since earned nearly 7K likes, as well as hundreds of replies agreeing with her. “They need to be original and stick to comments only,” one fan account said.

In response to that, another page chimed in, “Instagram is NEVER original. They don’t know if they want to be TikTok or Twitter [at this point].” Elsewhere, someone else pointed out that IG hasn’t hit the same since they began prioritizing video content. “It’s so ghetto, Instagram needs to go back to pictures!” they demanded.

She’s obviously not be loving Instagram’s newest feature. Still, her followers on the app certainly ate up Cardi’s Super Bowl weekend outfits. During her time on stage, the mother of two put on a tantalizing display in a revealing metallic mini-dress. She also stepped out in Chanel and a pair of Loubitons on game day, though that look wasn’t exactly practical for the event.

Cardi B attends the Pre-GRAMMY Gala & GRAMMY Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Julie Greenwald & Craig Kallman at The Beverly Hilton on February 04, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

On her Story last weekend, the rap diva posted a comedic clip of her and Offset awkwardly running through an Arizona parking lot. At the time, they were attempting to catch Rihanna’s Halftime Show, though Bardi’s footwear proved to be something of a problem. Read more about that here, and check back later for more pop culture news updates.

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TikTok’s SoundOn Partners with Snoop Dogg to Bring Death Row Catalog Exclusively to TikTok

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DeathRow TikTok SoundOn 1

Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records have teamed up with TikTok’s SoundOn to exclusively provide the legendary Death Row library to the TikTok audience for one week before its DSP release.

It has been a year since the storied catalog was accessible. SoundOn, TikTok’s all-in-one artist platform for music distribution, development, and promotion, will distribute the catalog in this groundbreaking collaboration.

Your favorite creators can now use the label’s well-known tracks, such as “Gin and Juice” and “Ain’t No Fun,” as the soundtrack to their most recent dance, dish, or narrative. The venerable studio albums Doggystyle and The Doggfather by Snoop Dogg are included in the recently made catalog. Via the TikTok Sounds Page, creators will also have access to a special playlist that was put together in collaboration with Death Row Records.

“I’m excited for y’all, because Death Row Records is back up for you to enjoy. You can go get that playlist right now and you can listen to any song you want off the catalogue strictly on TikTok… Tell ’em Snoop Dogg sent you.”

– Snoop Dogg via Tiktok

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