Entertainment Industry

Coca-Cola and Jon Batiste amp up QR codes with audio and artistic imagery

09/06/202309/05/2023 John Montgallo

The upgrade in the mobile marketing campaign gave the quick response codes a hotter new experience. While the pandemic made sure that pretty much everyone is now finally familiar with humble QR codes, this doesn’t mean that people like them all that much. The barcodes are typically black and white pixelated squares that are functional but not exciting. A new Coca-Cola campaign took this as a challenge and worked to see if people would enjoy and respond to QR codes more readily if those barcodes were far more artistic in…

Augmented reality allows a dead pianist to give a final performance

07/28/202307/27/2023 Julie Campbell

The experience was meant to be an immersive way for Ryuichi Sakamoto to play for an audience again. Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese composer, died in March at 71 years old but was still able to give a final concert recently through the use of augmented reality technology. This tech made it possible for the composer’s digital avatar to perform a piano concert for 50 minutes. The audience was able to experience the concert in augmented reality using the Magic Leap 2 AR headset. Interestingly, Sakamoto isn’t the only artist to…

AI technology to create “new” Beatles song

06/16/202306/15/2023 Julie Campbell

Artificial intelligence is being used to digitally bring the band’s voices back together this year. Through the use of AI technology, the Beatles are going to be releasing a new song for the first time in decades, bringing their voices back together, to a certain extent. Paul McCartney recently announced that the new Beatles song is slated for release in 2023. According to Paul McCartney, when speaking to the BBC, there is no set release date, though it will come out before the end of this year. Moreover, the song…

Alexa voices will no longer include celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson

06/02/202306/01/2023 Stephanie Beck

The smart gadget will also no longer be able to sound like Melissa McCarthy is speaking to you. Amazon has announced that it has stopped the sale of celebrity Alexa voices in the form of “personalities” for the device. The e-commerce giant posted a note on the product pages that used to include celebrities for personalities. According to Amazon’s note, the celebrity Alexa voices are no longer available for purchase. Melissa McCarthy and Samuel L. Jackson aren’t the only celebrities whose “personalities” are being removed from the availability list. Others…

Kids can create and animate bedtime stories with this Alexa feature

12/02/202212/01/2022 Stephanie Beck

Bedtime Stories - Kids reading at nighttime

Amazon has rolled out a new “Create with Alexa” feature that uses artificial technology for kids. Amazon has announced the launch of its new “Create with Alexa” feature, which is designed to let kids create and animate their bedtime stories while also adding music. This feature uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help kids to compose stories and then bring them to life with animation and tunes. The feature is initially only available on Echo Show devices in the United States. The new feature allows children to create their bedtime stories…