Displaying 1 - 10 of 6788
  • Thursday, May. 9, 2024
In this image taken from a video advertisement, a hydraulic press crushes an array of creative instruments .The newly-released ad promoting Apple's new iPad Pro has struck quite a nerve online. (Apple via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) -- 

A newly released ad promoting Apple's new iPad Pro has struck quite a nerve online.

The ad, which was released by the tech giant Tuesday, shows a hydraulic press crushing just about every creative instrument artists and consumers have used over the years — from a piano and record player, to piles of paint, books, cameras and relics of arcade games. Resulting from the destruction? A pristine new iPad Pro.

"The most powerful iPad ever is also the thinnest," a narrator says at the end of the commercial.

Apple's intention seems straightforward: Look at all the things this new product can do. But critics have called it tone-deaf — with several marketing experts noting the campaign's execution missed the mark.

"I had a really disturbing reaction to the ad," said Americus Reed II, professor of marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "I understood conceptually what they were trying to do, but ... I think More

  • Thursday, May. 9, 2024
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof poses during a photo call for the film "The Immigrant" at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France on May 24, 2013. Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison and lashings just ahead of his planned trip to the Cannes film festival, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

The award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison and lashings just ahead of his planned trip to the Cannes Film Festival, his lawyer told The Associated Press Thursday.

Rasoulof, 51, known for his film "There Is No Evil," has become the latest artist targeted in a widening crackdown on all dissent in the Islamic Republic following years of mass protests, including over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini.

Iranian authorities haven't acknowledged the sentence but Rasoulof and other artists had co-signed a letter urging authorities to "put your gun down" amid demonstrations over a 2022 building collapse that killed at least 29 people in the southwestern city of Abadan. In the time since then, artists, athletes, celebrities and others have been called for questioning or faced prison sentences.

"This judgment is issued due to Mr. Rasoulof signing statements in support of the Iranian people," his More

  • Thursday, May. 9, 2024
The TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. TikTok will begin labeling content created using artificial intelligence when it's uploaded from certain platforms. TikTok says its efforts are an attempt to combat misinformation from being spread on its social media platform. The announcement came on ABC's “Good Morning America” on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

TikTok will begin labeling content created using artificial intelligence when it's uploaded from outside its own platform.

TikTok says its efforts are an attempt to combat misinformation from being spread on its social media platform.

"AI enables incredible creative opportunities, but can confuse or mislead viewers if they don't know content was AI-generated," the company said in a prepared statement Thursday. "Labeling helps make that context clear—which is why we label AIGC made with TikTok AI effects, and have required creators to label realistic AIGC for over a year."

The move is part of an overall effort by those in the technology industry to provide more safeguards for AI usage. In February Meta announced that it was working with industry partners on technical standards that will make it easier to identify images and eventually video and audio generated by artificial intelligence tools. The efforts would include Facebook and More

  • Wednesday, May. 8, 2024
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) waves after the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. The tight end has been cast on FX's "Grotesquerie" season. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

While his superstar girlfriend Taylor Swift resumes her world Eras tour, Travis Kelce is keeping busy.

The NFL player has joined the cast of "Grotesquerie" on FX. The series is a horror drama from Ryan Murphy, but a spokesperson for the network says it is not under the "American Horror Story" umbrella.

Late Tuesday, cast member Niecy Nash posted a series of videos to Instagram featuring her on set with Kelce.

"Guys, guess who I am working with on 'Grotesquerie'?" Kelce pops into frame and says, "Jumpin' into new territory with Niecy." A later video where she wrote "late night shenanigans" showed the two in what appeared to be a red convertible. "Look at this guy," she says. "Buckle up!" added Kelce.

And a final video featured Murphy embracing Kelce and saying, "You were wonderful." Off camera, Nash asks, "How do you feel?" Kelce replied, "Whoo! I'm just glad I didn't hurt nobody."

It's been an off-season of new jobs More

  • Wednesday, May. 8, 2024
Cans of Bud Light beer are seen before a major league baseball game on April 25, 2023, in Philadelphia. Anheuser-Busch reports earnings on Wednesday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Anheuser-Busch InBev reported higher-than-expected revenue in the first quarter despite lower sales in the U.S. and China.

The world's largest brewer — whose brands include Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona — said its revenue rose 2.6% to $14.5 billion. That beat Wall Street's forecast of $14.3 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Volumes declined 0.6% for the quarter, the Leuven, Belgium-based company said. Beer volumes were down 1.3%, while volumes of non-beer products – including Cutwater and Nutrl spirits – rose 3.5%.

The company continued to struggle in the U.S., where revenue fell by 9% for the January-March period. North American beer volumes dropped 10% for the quarter.

Sales of Bud Light, the company's longtime bestseller in the U.S., plunged last spring amid conservative backlash after the brand sent a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Customers who felt Bud Light didn't do More

  • Wednesday, May. 8, 2024
Pearlena Igbokwe (photo by Maarten de Boer/Universal Studio Group)
LOS ANGELES -- 

Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy, has announced his appointees to the Television Academy Executive Committee for 2024. 

The six industry leaders--including two returning members Pearlena Igbokwe and John Landgraf, as well as Brandon Riegg whose career path started nearly 25 years ago with a Television Academy Foundation internship--form a think tank of experts that will be positioned at the forefront of the most pressing issues confronting both the industry and its Academy. They will advise Abrego on the organization’s direction and its core initiatives and work with the Television Academy’s officers and the board of governors to guide the Academy. 

“I am thrilled to welcome these industry luminaries to the Academy’s Executive Committee and feel fortunate to be able to count on their counsel to drive the Academy forward and bolster its mission,” said Abrego. “Their partnership will be invaluable to the Academy, and to me More

  • Tuesday, May. 7, 2024
This photo shows a logo of the Super Nintendo World during an event in Tokyo, on Feb. 15, 2024. Japanese video-game maker Nintendo said Tuesday, May 7, 2024 that it will make an announcement about a successor to its Switch home console sometime before March 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
TOKYO (AP) -- 

Japanese video-game maker Nintendo said Tuesday that it will make an announcement about a successor to its Switch home console sometime before March 2025.

In reporting its financial results, Nintendo gave no details about the announcement, including about whether it would launch that successor product during this fiscal year, or just announce its plans for it.

"We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015," the company's president, Shuntaro Furukawa, said in a statement.

Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported a 13% rise in profit for the fiscal year that ended in March, boosted by solid demand for Switch software like "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom."

Nintendo's net profit for the fiscal year through March 2024 totaled 490.6 billion yen ($3 billion), up from 432.7 More

  • Monday, May. 6, 2024
Edward J. Scott (l) and Melody Thomas Scott
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Public television host and cookbook author Lidia Bastianich, "The Young and the Restless" actor Melody Thomas Scott and "The Bold and the Beautiful" producer Edward Scott will be the Lifetime Achievement honorees at the Daytime Emmys in June.

Bastianich has created Daytime Emmy Award-winning cooking shows over the last 25 years on PBS, including "Lidia's Kitchen." The 77-year-old chef has also published numerous cookbooks.

Melody Thomas Scott has played Nikki Newman on the CBS soap opera "The Young and the Restless" for 45 years. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy as lead actress in 1999. She made her movie debut at 8 years old in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Marnie."

She has been married to Edward Scott since 1985.

Edward Scott has won six Daytime Emmys for his producing work. He currently is supervising producer on "The Bold and the Beautiful." He joined "The Young and the Restless" as an associate producer in 1976 and More

  • Monday, May. 6, 2024
Kim Godwin attends the Disney 2022 Upfront presentation at Basketball City Pier 36, Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in New York. Godwin is out as ABC News president after three years as the first Black woman to lead a television network news division. On Sunday, May 5, 2024, Godwin said she was retiring from the business. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) -- 

Kim Godwin is out after three tumultuous years as ABC News president, a move presaged earlier this year when network parent Walt Disney Co. installed one of its executives, Debra O'Connell, to oversee the news division.

Godwin, the first Black woman to lead a network news division, said Sunday she was retiring from the business. O'Connell said she will be in charge "for the time being" as it looks ahead.

Godwin inherited a news division where its two most important programs, "World News Tonight" and "Good Morning America," led rivals at CBS and NBC in the ratings. They're still ahead, although "Good Morning America" has seen some slippage amid the messy departures of anchors T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach, and Cecilia Vega's jump to CBS News.

Godwin was recruited as an outsider from CBS News and was beset by grumbling about her management style that made it into print.

In a note to staff members, Godwin said she understood and More

  • Sunday, May. 5, 2024
Actor Bernard Hill arrives for the U.K. Premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" at the Odeon Leicester Square, in London, Dec. 12, 2012. Hill, who delivered a rousing battle cry before leading his people into battle in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and went down with the ship as captain in “Titanic,” has died. Hill, 79, died Sunday morning, May 5, 2024, agent Lou Coulson said. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)
LONDON (AP) -- 

Actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and went down with the ship as the captain in "Titanic," has died.

Hill, 79, passed away Sunday morning, agent Lou Coulson said.

Hill joined "The Lord Of The Rings" franchise in the second film of the trilogy, 2002's "The Two Towers," as Théoden, King of Rohan. The following year, he reprised the role in "Return of the King," a movie that won 11 Oscars.

In one of the film's most memorable scenes, Hill's character fires up his overmatched forces by delivering a battle cry on horseback that sends his troops thundering downhill toward the enemy and his own imminent death.

"Arise, arise, riders of Théoden!" Hill hollers. "Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride for ruin and the world's ending! Death! Death! More

MySHOOT Company Profiles