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Month: June 2024

Music record labels sue AI song-generators Suno and Udio for copyright infringement

Music record labels sue AI song-generators Suno and Udio for copyright infringement

BOSTON (AP) — Big record companies are suing artificial intelligence song-generators Suno and Udio for copyright infringement, alleging that the AI music startups are exploiting the recorded works of artists from Chuck Berry to Mariah Carey.

The Recording Industry Association of America announced the lawsuits Monday brought by labels including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records.

One case was filed in federal court in Boston against Suno AI, and the other in New York against Uncharted Labs, the developer of Udio AI.

Suno AI CEO Mikey Shulman said in an emailed statement that the technology is “designed to generate completely new outputs, not to memorize and regurgitate pre-existing content” and doesn’t allow users to reference specific artists.

Shulman said his Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup tried to explain this to labels “but instead of entertaining a good faith discussion, they’ve reverted to their old lawyer-led playbook.”

Udio didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. read more

Year’s 1st SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch on tap Tuesday with NOAA satellite

Year’s 1st SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch on tap Tuesday with NOAA satellite

SpaceX is locked and loaded for what would be only the 10th launch ever for its powerhouse Falcon Heavy rocket Tuesday taking a powerful weather satellite to space if weather on the ground cooperates.

The payload is the 11,000-pound GOES-U satellite for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headed to geostationary orbit where next year it will take on the duties of scanning the Atlantic ocean for tropical threats as well as other dangerous weather affecting the United States.

“GOES-U … will be the sentinel in the sky to keep an eye on hurricanes,” said Dan Lindsey, the chief scientist of NOAA’s GOES program during a press conference Monday. It will also continue to scan Central America, the Caribbean and South America as well as add to the lightning and wildfire observation capability in the U.S.

Liftoff is targeted at 5:16 p.m. from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at the opening of a two-hour window with a backup during the same window on Wednesday. NASA plans launch broadcast coverage on NASA TV and its social media channels beginning at 4:15 p.m. read more

SeaWorld: Howl-O-Scream haunted house lineup starts down on the Farm51

SeaWorld: Howl-O-Scream haunted house lineup starts down on the Farm51

SeaWorld Orlando has announced its first haunted house for its 2024 Howl-O-Scream event, and it’s named Farm51.

An email to annual passholders describes it as an abandoned farmhouse with “eerie rustling” in cornfields. Also, unfriendly extraterrestrials have crash-landed nearby.

SeaWorld’s website says there will be five haunted mazes at this year’s event, four of which will feature new content. There will also be seven scare zones (three of which are new) and five bars (two of which are new).

Howl-O-Scream again will feature the Jack the Ripper-themed stage show called “Monster Stomp” and “Sirens Song,” although the website hints it could be a finale for the latter. “Their song may be fading, but Hex has joined the call with a hunger to fill her swampy domain with fresh victims,” the site says.

This will be the fourth year for the after-hours, extra-ticket event. It will run on select nights between Sept. 6 and Nov. 2, skewing heavily toward weekend dates. Tickets are now on sale with prices varying with dates. A one-night ticket can be as low as $39.99, and there  are unlimited-admission options and bundles that include the sister Howl-O-Scream event at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay theme park. read more

United Launch Alliance’s 2nd Vulcan rocket arrives to Cape Canaveral

United Launch Alliance’s 2nd Vulcan rocket arrives to Cape Canaveral

United Launch Alliance needs to launch a second Vulcan Centaur rocket before it can begin its backlog of launches for the U.S. military. The hardware for that launch arrived to Cape Canaveral this weekend.

Teams began unloading the two-stage rocket Monday from ULA’s RocketShip transport vessel docked at Port Canaveral for transport over to ULA’s facilities at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Vulcan first stage and Centaur V upper stage made the multiday trip over river, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean from ULA’s factory in Decatur, Alabama.

The rocket is designated for the Certification-2 mission whose payload was originally supposed to be Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spacecraft. ULA has not mentioned Dream Chaser in its Cert-2 updates, though.

First up for #VulcanRocket #Cert2 offload is Centaur V! With its pressure-stabilized stainless-steel tanks, the upperstage is 38.5 feet (11.7 meters) in length and 17.7 feet (5.4 meters) in diameter. The cryogenic stage features two RL10C-1-1A engines, each producing 23,825… pic.twitter.com/aab67sufTC read more