Hulu On Disney+ Launches Today In The U.S. For Disney Bundle Subscribers



The Walt Disney Company announced today the official launch of Hulu on Disney+ in the U.S. for Disney Bundle subscribers, bringing together the extensive Disney+ and Hulu libraries — including beloved characters, award-winning films and series, and 100 years’ worth of inspiring stories — all in one place.

The new experience is a seamless showcase of the value the Disney Bundle that allows Bundle subscribers (or those who hold subscriptions to both standalone apps) to stream extensive Hulu content, including the critically acclaimed fan favorites like Grey’s Anatomy, Only Murders in the Building, Poor Things, and The Bear, directly in the Disney+ Bundle app. Bundle plans are available at $9.99/month, while Disney + and Hulu remain available as standalone offerings.

Starting today, subscribers will see the full Hulu on Disney+ experience which includes Hulu titles integrated in recommendations, sets, and collections on Disney+, making it easier to discover thousands of general entertainment titles and explore the impressive breadth and depth of Hulu and Disney+ content via a more personalized experience — without having to move between apps. For standalone Disney+ subscribers, Hulu content merchandised across Disney+ will now come with expanded upsell options across additional devices, making it more convenient to upgrade their subscription to the Bundle starting at only $2/month more.

Hulu is officially on Disney+, Hollywood Reporter wrote. Disney says that Hulu on Disney+ is now live and out of beta, giving subscribers to both services (or to the Disney bundle) access to content in one place.

“It’s whole goal is to make happier subscribers and healthier subscribers, provide them with convenience, deeper engagement, better retention and increase the value of the Disney bundle for our subscribers,” says Joe Earley, president of direct-to-consumer for Disney Entertainment.

Hulu content first became available on Disney+ in beta form late last year, but now the service is fully integrated, with executives touting a slew of technical moves needed to enable to move.

“This launch really represents the most extensive technical advancement to Disney+ and our entire streaming platform since we launched Disney+ over four years ago,” adds Aaron LaBerge, president & CTO for Disney Entertainment & ESPN, noting that the tech will also be used to help launch ESPN’s flagship streaming product once it is ready for market.

“Our teams have had to reimagine and redesign many core aspects of our platform. We completely redefined the way that we manage video assets, integrating our libraries and improving quality. We shipped an entirely new content management system that delivers capabilities for editorial and programming teams to merchandise and promote our content with much more flexibility.”

Engadget reported Disney didn’t waste much absorbing Hulu into its multimedia maw. After taking full ownership of Hulu last November, the company started beta testing integration with Disney+ a month later. Today, Hulu on Disney+ is officially coming out of beta, making it easier for subscribers to access both services.

In my opinion, it seems like a really good idea for Disney and Hulu to be accessible within the same streaming service. Getting both for one subscription seems useful.


Elon Musk Requires ‘FSD’ Demo For Every Prospective Tesla Buyer In North America



Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now requiring employees to install and show customers how to use the latest version of the company’s premium driver assistance system, which is marketed as “FSD” or Full Self-Driving, before completing a vehicle delivery in North America, CNBC reported.

“Going forward, it is mandatory in North America to install and activate FSD V12.3.1 and take customers on a short test ride before handing over the car,” Musk wrote in an email to staffers on Monday. “Almost no one actually realizes how well (supervised) FSD actually works. I know this will slow down the delivery process, but it is nonetheless a hard requirement.”

Bloomberg first reported on Musk’s email, which was also viewed by CNBC.

While all new Tesla vehicles have a standard driver assistance system installed called Autopilot, the company’s FSD option costs $199 per month for most customers in North America.

Tesla’s FSD system does not turn cars into autonomous vehicles. According to Tesla owners’ manuals, drivers must remain attentive to the road and ready to steer or brake at any time when using FSD or FSD Beta.

TechCrunch reported Tesla is about to start giving every customer in the U.S. a one-month trial of its $12,000 driver-assistance system, which it calls Full Self-Driving Beta, provided they have a car with the compatible hardware. The company is also reportedly mandating, at CEO Elon Musk’s request, that prospective buyers are given a demo of the software before they purchase a new Tesla.

The full-court press to promote FSD Beta software, an upgraded version of the Autopilot system that comes standard in all Tesla vehicles, is happening at an interesting moment for the company. It’s the end of the first quarter of 2024, and Tesla usually pulls out all the stops — including having executives help deliver cars to customers — to meet or beat its sales goals.

According to TechCrunch, tempting customers with a new incentive could be one way to boost sales, although it could backfire if prospective customers are turned off by Tesla adding extra steps to its usually streamlined buying process.

To enjoy Tesla’s FSD technology, you’d have to pay $12,000 to unlock it on top of what you paid for the car itself. It comes with all of the company’s Autopilot features, as well as the ability to use auto steer on city streets and to activate your vehicle’s capability to identify stop signs and traffic lights so it can automatically slow your vehicle to a stop on approach, Engadget reported

Still, $12,000 is a big chunk of money. If you’re on the fence about shelling out that much, Tesla might be hoping that the demonstration could give you the push you need to make you say yes.

In my opinion, I think it is likely that people who really want to buy a Tesla will attempt to come to come up with the money for the FSD beta software. That said, having to pay $12,000 on top of the Tesla itself, could be difficult for those unable to throw around that amount of money.


Musk’s X Corp Loses Lawsuit Against Hate Speech Watchdog



A U.S. judge on Monday threw out Elon Musk’s lawsuit against a nonprofit group that faulted him for allowing a rise in hate speech on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Reuters reported.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said it was “evident” that Musk’s X Corp sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) because he didn’t like its criticism, and thought its research would hurt X’s image and scare away advertisers.

“X Corp has brought this case in order to punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp — and perhaps in order to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism, Breyer wrote.

“It is impossible to read the complaint and not conclude that X Corp is far more concerned about CCDH’s speech than it is its data collection methods,” he added.

X, in a statement, said it plans to appeal.

According to Reuters, the decision is a blow to Musk, the world’s third-richest person, who has for many years styled himself as a free-speech champion.

But since paying $44 billion for Twitter in October 2022, he has faced wide criticism for firing too many people who policed misinformation, and from civil rights groups for allowing more harmful and abusive posts.

Engadget reported a judge has dismissed a lawsuit from X against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that researches hate speech on the Elon Musk-owned platform. In the decision, the judge said that the lawsuit was an attempt to “punish” the organization for criticizing the company.

X sued the CCDH last summer, accusing the group of “scraping” its platform as part of a “scare campaign” to hurt its advertising business. The group had published research claiming X was failing to act on reports of hate speech, and was in some cases boosting such content.

In a ruling, federal judge Charles Breyer said that “this case is about punishing” CCDH for publishing unflattering research. “It is clear to the Court that if X Corp was indeed motived to spend money in response to CCDH’s scraping in 2023, it was not because of the harm such scraping posed to the X platform, but because of the harm it posed to X Corp’s image,” Breyer wrote. “X Corp’s motivation in bringing this case is evident. X Corp has brought this case in order to punish CCDH for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp – and perhaps in order to dissuade others.”

The Verge reported the CCDH is an organization aimed at identifying and pushing back against hate speech online. Last year, the CCDH found that X didn’t address hateful content posted by 99 percent of premium users and that the platform failed to take swift action against over 200 blatantly racist and antisemitic posts.

In my opinion, the judge made the correct ruling regarding X Corp. and its failure to remove racist and antisemitic posts. Perhaps Mr. Musk wouldn’t be in this situation if he had not fired so many Twitter workers.


Justice Department Risks Picking The Wrong Fight With Apple



With its lawsuit against Apple, the Justice Department focuses on outdated issues and irrelevant points, missing an opportunity to address more pressing concerns, Bloomberg reported.

According to Bloomberg, despite the friendly image that Apple Inc. cultivates, it’s a hard-driving company behind the scenes. Just ask the many suppliers that Apple has abruptly dropped or the app developers it has put out of business.

Apple also hasn’t been one to welcome openness or competition. It refused to bring its iMessage app to Android phones and only agreed to adopt the cross-platform RCS messaging system under mounting pressure. Apple makes developers use its in-app purchase system, shuns cloud-gaming services, and has been reluctant to open up its tap-to-pay chip to outside apps — all because it wants to protect its kingdom from rivals.

That’s provided the U.S. Department of Justice with plenty of fodder for its antitrust lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday. But the case relies mostly on outdated arguments and cites problems that Apple is already resolving. It even levels the dubious claim that Apple makes its products worse in order to harm rivals.

Bloomberg reported: Here are the five main issues that the Justice Department is hanging its hat on:

  • Apple has hindered the development of “super apps,” software like WeChat in China that includes several mini apps.
  • The company hasn’t supported cloud streaming game services, which run off a data center and can be delivered to the iPhone for playback.
  • Apple has barred third-party texting apps on the iPhone from sending SMS messages, and its own messaging software doesn’t work on Android.
  • There’s a lack of support on the iPhone for third-party smartwatches, including the ability to get some notifications.
  • Apple doesn’t let third-party apps use its tap-to-pay technology to make in-person payments.

Impending innovation. Reducing consumer choice. Extending dominance to other markets. These are accusations that the Justice Department leveled against a technology giant it accused of running an illegal monopoly. But they aren’t from this week’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple — they’re from the case the department brought against Microsoft in 1998, The New York Times reported.

The move against Apple is, along with the Justice Department’s 2020 lawsuit against Google over search, perhaps the most ambitious tech antitrust battle since the Clinton administration’s effort to open up Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

And federal prosecutors are explicitly connecting the Apple lawsuit to that earlier fight. 

According to the New York Times, the Justice Department sees a direct connection between the two cases. “Microsoft” appears 26 times in the Apple complaint. And prosecutors say Apple wouldn’t have achieved its current towering success had it not been for the government’s fight against Microsoft:

“The iPod did not achieve widespread adoption until Apple developed a cross-platform version of the iPod and iTunes for Microsoft’s Windows operating system, at the time, the dominant operating system for personal computers. In the absence of the consent decree in United States v. Microsoft, it would have been more difficult for Apple to achieve this success and ultimately launch the iPhone.”

In my opinion, it seems like the Department of Justice is very interested in going after Apple. And now, we wait and see what happens.


Users Shocked To Find Instagram Limits Political Content By Default



Instagram users have started complaining on X (formerly Twitter) after discovering that Meta has begun limiting recommended political content by default, ArsTechnica reported.

Instagram apparently did not notify users directly on the platform when this change happened.

Instead, Instagram rolled out the change in February, announcing in a blog that the platform doesn’t “want to proactively recommend political content from accounts you don’t follow.” That post confirmed on Meta “won’t proactively recommend content about politics on recommendations surfaces across Instagram and Threads,” so that those platforms can remain “a great experience for everyone.”

“This change does not impact posts from accounts people choose to follow; it impacts what the system recommends, and people can control if they want more,” Meta’s spokesperson Dani Lever told ArsTechnica. “We have been working for years to show people less political content based on what they told us they want, and what posts they told us are political.”

To change the setting, users can navigate to Instagram’s menu for “settings and activity” in their profiles, where they can update their “content preferences.” On this menu, “political content” is the last item under a list of “suggested content” controls that allow users to set preferences for what content is recommended in their feeds.

CNET reported reported: If you’ve noticed less political content on Instagram, it’s not just you.

Back in February, Meta announced that it would not longer “proactively recommend political content from accounts you don’t follow.” That means you should still see political content from anyone you follow. And you’ll be limited in what political content you see from other accounts, whether that’s on the explore page, in your feed recommendations or on reels.

Seeing less political content from people you don’t follow isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It could even be a good thing, if you tend to see a good amount of content that goes against your political leanings, CNET wrote.

Mashable reported it looks like Meta is distancing itself — and users — from political content even more.

According to Mashable, it’s easy to see why. Social media sites have been rife with misinformation and disinformation during past elections. It seems Meta’s response to these egregious mistakes is to make political content rarer on its platforms. Users have noticed that Instagram and Threads are quite literally putting limits on political content. On many user’s accounts, the settings were automatically set to “limit” users from seeing “political content”.

As Instagram describes, this decision affects all of the suggested posts in Explore, Reels, Feed Recommendations, and Suggested Users. “It does not affect the content from accounts you follow,” Instagram says.

“This announcement expands on years of work on how we approach and treat political content based on what people have told use they wanted,” Dani Lever, a Meta spokesperson, told Mashable. “And now, people are going to be able to control whether they would like to have these types of posts recommended to them.”

In my opinion, I really don’t want to see political posts on Instagram. That said, if you really want to see more political posts, there’s a way to make that happen if you go into Instagram’s settings.


UN Adopts First Global Artificial Intelligence Resolution



The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted the first global resolution on artificial intelligence that encourages countries to safeguard human rights, protect personal data, and monitor AI for risks, Reuters reported.

The nonbinding resolution, proposed by the United States and co-sponsored by China and over 120 other nations, also advocates the strengthening of privacy policies.

“Today, all 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly have spoken in one voice and together, chosen to govern artificial intelligence rather than let it govern us,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

The resolution is the latest in a series of initiatives – few of which carry teeth – by governments around the world to shape AI’s development, amid fears it could be used to disrupt democratic processes, turbocharge fraud or lead to dramatic job losses, among other harms.

ArsTechnica reported the United Nations General assembly unanimously consented to adopt what some call the first global resolution on AI. The resolution aims to foster the protection of personal data, enhance privacy policies, ensure close monitoring for AI for potential risks, and uphold human rights. It emerged from a proposal by the United States and received backing from China and 121 other countries.

According to ArsTechnica, being a nonbonding agreement and thus effectively toothless, the resolution seems broadly popular in the AI industry. On X, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote, “We fully support the UN’s adoption of the comprehensive AI resolution. The consensus reached today marks a critical step towards establishing international guardrails for the ethical and sustainable development of AI, ensuring this technology serves the needs of everyone.”

The Hill reported the White House applauded the newly approved United Nations resolution on artificial intelligence (AI) safety Thursday, calling it a “historic step” to ensuring “trustworthy” advancements in technology.

The U.N. General Assembly approved the resolution, proposed by the United States and co-sponsored by 123 other countries, senior administration officials told reporters Thursday.

The proposal include a “comprehensive vision” for nations’ deployment and use of AI technology and how countries should respond to its benefits and challenges.

“We now look forward to building off of this landmark achievement,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a statement. “As this technology swiftly evolves, we will continue to strengthen international cooperation and respond to the far-reaching implications of AI.”

According to The Hill, the resolution comes amid growing concerns over the technology’s capabilities and the security risks associated with it. Congressional leaders have repeatedly sounded the alarm over the past year, hosting a series of hearings an forums to learn more about AI.

In my opinion, it sounds like several countries have decided to protect their people from the potential abuses of AI. That’s a good idea, and it should be upheld by all of those countries.


Unlock Your Podcast’s Potential with Blubrry PAI: The Ultimate AI Assistant #1732



Blubrry introduces the revolutionary Blubrry Podcast AI Assistant (Blubrry PAI), designed to streamline and enhance every aspect of podcast production and promotion. With features such as AI-driven planning, integrated production tools, and automated social media and email promotion capabilities, Blubrry PAI promises to alleviate common podcasting challenges. This comprehensive toolset allows podcasters to create better content, engage audiences more effectively, and provide richer metadata for search engines.

Let me know what you think of the intro music created by app.suno.ai

Subscribe to the Newsletter.
Join the Chat @ GeekNews.Chat
Email Todd or follow him on Facebook.
Like and Follow Geek News Central’s Facebook Page.
Download the Audio Show File
New YouTube Channel – Beyond the Office

Support my Show Sponsor: Best Godaddy Promo Codes
$11.99 – For a New Domain Name cjcfs3geek
$6.99 a month Economy Hosting (Free domain, professional email, and SSL certificate for the 1st year.) Promo Code: cjcgeek1h
$12.99 a month Managed WordPress Hosting (Free domain, professional email, and SSL certificate for the 1st year.) Promo Code: cjcgeek1w
Support the show by becoming a Geek News Central Insider

Continue reading Unlock Your Podcast’s Potential with Blubrry PAI: The Ultimate AI Assistant #1732