Amazon Prime Video has 2,500 hours of Jim Henson Co. content

Following the release of Jim Henson Co.’s sci-fi series Farscape on Amazon Prime Video, the entertainment company is bringing 2,500 hours of classic programming into the platform. Most will be available in 67 different territories, which includes Canada. Subscribers can expect to get original five seasons of Fraggle Rock (all 96 episodes), The Storyteller, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, and Mother Goose Stories. What isn’t coming to the country is Pajanimals. You can view the content available through a dedicated Amazon landing page for Jim Henson Co. at this link, available to subscribers of Prime or the standalone Amazon Prime Video service.

Source: Variety

Apple adds another Google AI expert to its team

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Late last year, Apple hired former Googler John Giannandrea as the first senior vice president of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Strategy as the company promised to get more serious about AI. Apple seems to be keeping that promise with its new hire. Another former Googler, Ian Goodfellow, joined the company as the director of Machine Learning in the Special Projects Group. This division is in charge of working on next-generation tech for the company. There might even be a chance that Goodfellow will report to Giannandrea. But Goodfellow didn’t elaborate on what he’ll be working on at Apple.

He worked for Google from 2013 to 2016, and then from 2017 to 2019. His last role at Google was senior staff research scientist. The year he wasn’t in the company, he worked for the Elon Musk-funded AI research non-profit OpenAI. He is known for inventing a form of machine learning training approach that’s called generative adversarial network (GAN). It’s a technique that pits two neural networks against each other to create photos and videos that look real. As Engadget mentioned, bad actors have been using GANs to create “deepfake” media, a lot of them AI-generated fake porn that borrows faces of famous celebrities.

Windows 10’s Game Bar tests Spotify support and meme generator

Microsoft updates its Game Bar overlay in beta to add a few features you gamers might welcome. One is adding a Spotify widget to let you play, pause, and skip tracks within a game. You can also change the current playback device as well as adjust volume without leaving the game you’re playing. The widget will offer playlist recommendations, too. Another feature coming to the Game Bar is letting you create memes you can share to Twitter, right in the game. It’ll let you edit the videos, add overlay text to the screenshots, and send it off to the social network.

The overlay also adds new features to the Xbox Social widget. You can text and voice chat your friends, watch their Mixer streams, and see what they’re playing. You get the same friends list and communication features on the Xbox One as well as within the Xbox App on Window 10, iOS, and Android. You also now have customization options that will let you show, hide, and pin specific widgets. Microsoft said they made the changes based on user feedback. To access the Game Bar, just press the Windows key + G.

Source: Xbox Wire

Netflix announces cast of ‘Cowboy Bebop’ adaptation, John Cho takes lead role

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Late last year, Netflix announced that it was making a live-action version of the anime Cowboy Bebop. They were bringing on the anime’s director Shinichiro Watanabe as a consultant. Now, the streaming service announced some of the actors who will be joining the show. John Cho will be taking the lead role of bounty hunter Spike Spiegel. He will be joined by Luke Cage star Mustafa Shakir as Spiegel’s partner Jet Black. The Originals’ Daniella Pineda will play the amnesia-stricken Faye Valentine. And British stage actor Alex Hassell will play notorious hitman and Spiegel’s rival, Vicious. The show has an initial 10-episode run and its first episode is said to be written by Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok screenwriter Christopher Yost.

Source: Engadget