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  • UEG Expands in Celebrity Brand Building With Business Ventures Division

    UEG Expands in Celebrity Brand Building With Business Ventures Division

    Celebrity brand-building has become a big business.

    So the United Entertainment Group has launched UEG Ventures after company founder Jarrod Moses had success connecting Queen Latifah and CoverGirl for their brand partnership.

    UEG is an entertainment and sports marketing agency, part of DEJ Holdings (Daniel J. Edelman Holdings). Jarrod Moses launched UEG in 2007 and in 2024 became global chair of DJE’s entertainment, sports and culture business.

    Now the agency is looking to pair more starry clients with capital investment for additional Madison Avenue success stories, whether with start-ups or as the face of brands.

    Celebrity entrepreneurs will enter business ventures in the earliest stages of development or as they expand. “UEG Ventures was built to bring the power of culture into the foundation of business. By aligning investment with creative strategy and our unmatched access to talent, we help visionary brands move faster, connect deeper, and scale smarter,” Moses said in a statement.

    Recent dealmaking at UEG to bring star wattage to new products includes Paris Hilton and her 11:11 Media banner teaming with the McCormick spice brand for campaign and product partnerships as part of a two-year tie-up, a partnership between the soda retail chain Cool Sips and actress Whitney Leavitt and actor and producer Wilmer Valderrama pacting with real estate developer Edens to create the Latin American-inspired cocktail bar Elegacia in Washington D.C. as part of the Union Market development.

    “UEG Ventures has a clear understanding of the intersection of business and talent in a way few others do — and they bring a level of authenticity that was essential as I built the Elegancia brand, a Latin food and drink concept inspired by the dishes that are most authentic to me,” Valderrama stated.

    As UEG moves beyond just offering expertise in marketing strategy, PR and other talent support, the new Ventures division is looking to strike celebrity and brand partnerships in the health and wellness, food and beverage, fashion and apparel, beauty and personal care, financial services, sports, retail and technology sectors.

    UEG is headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, London, Hamburg, Sydney, and Tokyo.

  • OpenAI’s New AI Model Rosalind Could Shave Years Off Drug Discovery. You Probably Can’t Use It

    OpenAI’s New AI Model Rosalind Could Shave Years Off Drug Discovery. You Probably Can’t Use It

    In brief

    • OpenAI unveiled GPT-Rosalind to accelerate drug discovery workflows.
    • Benchmarks show strong gains, but real-world impact remains constrained .
    • Access is tightly restricted amid rising biosecurity concerns.

    OpenAI just named its first domain-specific AI model after Rosalind Franklin—the British chemist whose X-ray crystallography work helped reveal DNA’s double helix, and who was famously denied credit for it during her lifetime.

    GPT-Rosalind, unveiled Thursday, is a purpose-built reasoning model for biology, drug discovery, and translational medicine. It’s the first in what OpenAI is calling a Life Sciences model series—a direct play for a market where many specialized labs from universities to Google DeepMind are all jostling for position.

    Getting a drug from target discovery to regulatory approval in the U.S. takes 10 to 15 years on average according to experts.. Most of that time disappears not in eureka moments, but in the grind: parsing thousands of papers, querying databases, designing reagents, and interpreting ambiguous results. This is what GPT-Rosaling is trying to tackle.

    OpenAI argues the model can compress that early-stage work. As the company put it, GPT-Rosalind is designed to help scientists “explore more possibilities, surface connections that might otherwise be missed, and arrive at better hypotheses sooner.”

    The benchmarks back up at least some of that ambition. On BixBench—a benchmark built around real-world bioinformatics tasks—GPT-Rosalind logged a 0.751 pass rate, the top score among models with published results. On LABBench2, it outperformed its predecessor GPT-5.4 on six out of eleven tasks.

    GPT-Rosalind Beats GPT 5.4 in every single case involving life science, but it’s a highly specific model that will underperform in anything other than that.

    OpenAI also announced Dyno Therapeutics will help test and evaluate its model based on unpublished RNA sequences to rule out memorization. GPT-Rosalind’s best-of-ten submissions ranked above the 95th percentile of human experts on sequence prediction tasks, and around the 84th percentile on generation.

    That said, OpenAI’s own life sciences research lead Joy Jiao was measured about what the model can actually do. She explained the company doesn’t see Rosalind as a model capable of creating new treatments autonomously, but told reporters that it could be a great help in speeding research up. “We do think there’s a real opportunity to help researchers move faster through some of the most complex and time-intensive parts of the scientific process,” Jiao said in a press briefing, according to the LA Times.

    The ecosystem around the model may matter as much as the model itself. OpenAI is also releasing a free Life Sciences research plugin for Codex connecting to over 50 scientific databases and tools—protein structure lookups, sequence search, literature review, genomics pipelines. Enterprise users with GPT-Rosalind access get the reasoning layer on top. Everyone else gets the plugin with standard models.

    OpenAI has lined up a roster of pharma and biotech customers for the launch, including Amgen, Moderna, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Separately, it’s running a research collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory on AI-guided protein and catalyst design.

    “The life sciences field demands precision at every step. The questions are highly complex, the data are highly unique, and the stakes are incredibly high,” said Sean Bruich, Amgen’s Senior VP of AI and Data in the official announcement.

    Access to Rosalind is deliberately restricted. The model is U.S. enterprise only, gated behind a qualification and safety review. The concern isn’t abstract: an international coalition of over 100 scientists has already called for tighter controls on biological data used to train AI, citing pathogen design risks. OpenAI’s restricted rollout is a direct response. During the research preview, usage won’t consume existing API credits.

    This also isn’t OpenAI’s first move into science workflows. The Prism scientific writing workspace launched in January was a first step. GPT-Rosalind is the sharper, more specialized follow-up—and a signal that domain-specific models are becoming a serious competitive front.

    No fully AI-discovered drug has cleared phase 3 trials. That number is still zero. But if GPT-Rosalind helps a researcher design a better experiment six months faster across thousands of labs, then the compounding effect on what gets discovered, and when, could be the whole ballgame. That’s the actual thesis here, and it’s worth watching closely.

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  • Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ‘Amores Perros’ Gets June Theatrical Re-Release by Mubi (EXCLUSIVE)

    Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s ‘Amores Perros’ Gets June Theatrical Re-Release by Mubi (EXCLUSIVE)

    After 25 years, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s debut feature “Amores Perros” will get a theatrical re-release from Mubi. The film will hit cinemas in New York and Los Angeles on June 12, expanding nationwide June 19.  

    Following three characters as their lives converge following a fatal car crash, “Amores Perros” first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000, going on to debut in theaters on March 30, 2001. At the festival, the film won the Grand Prize of the Critics’ Week, an achievement credited with launching Iñárritu’s international career. The film also received an Academy Award nomination for best foreign language film in 2001. “Amores Perros” stars Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Bauche and Goya Toledo.

    The streaming service, film distributor and production company first acquired rights for the restored 4k version of the film during the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered in the Cannes Classics selection. Criterion Collection, Estudio Mexico Films and Altavista Films carried out the restoration, with color supervision by Iñárritu and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto

    “It’s incredible that these wild dogs are still barking 25 years later,” said Iñárritu. “I’m very excited that Mubi is bringing ‘Amores Perros’ back to the big screen, especially for younger generations who never had the chance to experience it in theaters. This film changed the lives of all of us who made it.” 

    In the years since ‘Amores Perros’ premiered, Iñárritu has won five Academy Awards; the Mexican filmmaker took home best picture, best director and best original screenplay awards for “Birdman” in 2015, best director for “The Revenant” in 2016 and was the recipient of a special achievement Academy Award in 2017 for the virtual reality installation “Carne y Arena.” 

    Anniversary celebrations for “Amores Perros” also includes “Sueño Perro,” an exhibit of never-before-seen footage that opened last fall and is currently on display at LACMA until July 26, and an artbook for the film, published by Mack last fall.

  • Riteish Deshmukh’s ‘Raja Shivaji’ Trailer Bows From India’s Jio Studios

    Riteish Deshmukh’s ‘Raja Shivaji’ Trailer Bows From India’s Jio Studios

    Jio Studios and Mumbai Film Company have released the trailer for “Raja Shivaji,” the historical epic charting the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

    The film is set for a worldwide release on May 1 in the Marathi and Hindi languages.

    “Raja Shivaji” chronicles the rise of young Shivaji Bhonsale, who challenged the might of established empires to found the Maratha kingdom and lay the groundwork for “Swarajya” (self-rule) during a turbulent period of Indian history.

    Riteish Deshmukh serves as director, lead actor, writer and producer on the project, which traces the evolution of the young warrior into one of India’s most revered historical figures. The production draws from lesser-known stories surrounding the leader’s life, focusing on his strategic acumen and valor.

    The trailer launch event in Mumbai was attended by Jyoti Deshpande, Riteish Deshmukh, Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Sachin Khedekar, Bhagyashree, Jitendra Joshi, Genelia Deshmukh and music composers Ajay–Atul. The film’s earlier-released teaser and title anthem “Chhatrapati” have already generated strong audience response.

    “For 10 years, I have been trying to make Raja Shivaji. When we finally began in 2023, it feels like even Maharaj is saying – now your time has come,” Deshmukh said at the launch. “Because dreams alone don’t make things happen. To bring them to life, you need support. Jio Studios and Jyoti Deshpande stood by us and showed that courage and I am extremely grateful to them.” The director and star described the film as “a humble offering… at the feet of Maharaj.”

    “‘Raja Shivaji’ is not just a film, it is a celebration of India’s spirit, identity, and rich history,” said Jyoti Deshpande, president of Jio Studios. Jio Studios previously backed the massively successful “Dhurandhar” duology. “At Jio Studios, our endeavor has always been to champion stories that are rooted in India yet resonate universally. The phenomenal success of the ‘Dhurandhar’ duology reaffirmed that audiences are deeply connected to powerful, homegrown narratives told with conviction and scale. With ‘Raja Shivaji,’ we continue that journey, bringing to life the story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a towering symbol of courage, vision, and Hindavi Swarajya, whose larger-than-life legacy continues to inspire generations.”

    “We wanted to showcase the human story behind the legend as well as his strategic brilliance and valor. Riteish and his team have crafted a narrative that goes beyond the spectacle to explore the making of a leader, his values, and the forces that shaped him,” Deshpande continued. “Backed by authenticity, scale, a stellar ensemble cast and soul-stirring music, ‘Raja Shivaji’ reflects our commitment to presenting Indian stories with both grandeur and heart to audiences across the world. This is not just a cinematic experience, but a tribute to the pride of India, bringing the pages of our history books alive for audiences across generations.”

    “I feel deeply emotional today and I am truly grateful to the entire team from production to design to every single person who came together to bring this vision alive,” said producer and cast member Genelia Deshmukh. “More than just a film, ‘Raja Shivaji’ is our heartfelt tribute to the legend his life, his legacy, and everything he stands for. It’s not just a project, it’s a responsibility and a blessing that we could bring this dream to life.”

    The ensemble cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sachin Khedekar, Boman Irani, Bhagyashree, Fardeen Khan, Jitendra Joshi, Amol Gupte, Genelia Deshmukh, and Riteish Vilasrao Deshmukh.

    The production features music by Ajay–Atul and cinematography by Santosh Sivan. Jio Studios is presenting the Mumbai Film Company production, with Jyoti Deshpande and Genelia Deshmukh producing.

    The May 1 release date coincides with Maharashtra Day, a holiday commemorating the formation of the western Indian state of Maharashtra from which the titular ruler hailed.

    Watch the trailer here:

  • GoPro’s Mission 1 camera series will start at $600

    We heard all about GoPro’s new action camera series last week, but the company is now unveiling the pricing across its Mission 1, Mission 1 Pro and Mission 1 Pro ILS cameras. The entry-level Mission 1 ($600) features GoPro’s new 50-megapixel 1-inch sensor, which the company says will offer a major leap in image quality and low-light performance over the Hero 13 line. While largely looking the same as the Hero series (and still waterproof), the Mission 1 can record 8K video at 30fps and 4K at 120fps. It lacks the higher frame rates of the other Mission 1 cameras, but supports 10-bit GP-Log2 color and 32-bit float audio.

    The Mission 1 Pro ($700) is the flagship fixed-lens model this year, aimed at the professional (or semi-pro) videographer. It has upgraded frame-rate capture to 8K at 60 fps and 4K at 240 fps, along with an extreme “burst” slow-motion mode that hits 960 fps at 1080p. It also captures 4:3 “Open Gate” recordings at 8K/30fps and 4K/120fps, covering the entire sensor area, enabling more versatile editing and cropping across different screen sizes, including vertical video.

    GoPro Mission 1 camera series

    Steve Dent for Engadget

    Then there’s the beastly Mission 1 Pro ILS (Interchangeable Lens System). It swaps the standard GoPro lens for a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) mount lens. It otherwise shares the same 1-inch sensor and high-speed 8K/60fps video specs as the Pro model. It also matches the Pro model’s $700 price, with an additional $100 discount for GoPro subscribers. However, it won’t be launching until Q3 2026.

    All of the Mission 1 Series accessories will be available on a rolling basis beginning May 28, with GoPro’s own wireless mic system (take note, Rode and DJI) priced at $160. If you preorder a Mission 1 or Mission 1 Pro directly from GoPro now, you’ll get the point-and-shoot grip bundled for free. The company still doesn’t have an official release date for the cameras.

  • Strategy buys 34,164 bitcoin for $2.54 billion, third-largest purchase on record

    Strategy buys 34,164 bitcoin for $2.54 billion, third-largest purchase on record

    Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) added 34,164 bitcoin to its treasury over the past week at an average price of about $74,395 per coin, for a total cost of roughly $2.54 billion, according to a Monday filing.

    The purchase brings the company’s total holdings to 815,061 $BTC, acquired for approximately $61.56 billion at an average cost basis of $75,527. With $BTC currently trading at around $75,000, Strategy’s stash is currently break even. Strategy is the world’s largest publicly-listed bitcoin holder. It began acquiring $BTC as a balance sheet asset in 2020.

    Last week’s acquisitions were funded by $2.2 million raised through sales of the company’s preferred stock, Stretch (STRC), and $366 million from common stock offerings.

    MSTR shares are down more than 2.5% in pre-market trading.

  • Coinbase Announces New Regarding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)!

    Coinbase Announces New Regarding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH)!

    Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, continues to expand its presence in the UK.

    At this point, Coinbase recently announced the launch of its cryptocurrency-backed lending service in the UK.

    Coinbase stated in a press release that users in the UK can borrow in $USDC using Bitcoin ($BTC), Ethereum ($ETH), and cbETH as collateral.

    Users can borrow $USDC by offering $BTC, $ETH, or cbETH as collateral. Accordingly, Coinbase allows users to borrow up to $5 million in $USDC in exchange for other crypto assets through Morpho on Base.

    The service is offered through Morpho, an open-source lending protocol built on the Base network.

    According to the announcement, users can access the borrowing feature in the Coinbase app’s “Borrow” section by selecting an asset as collateral and specifying the amount of $USDC they wish to borrow. Morpho then transfers the loan to the user’s Coinbase account within seconds, where it can be converted to British pounds or transferred.

    According to the statement, there is no fixed repayment schedule, and borrowers can repay their loans at any time.

    “…There is no fixed repayment schedule, and users will always have the flexibility to choose when they repay their loans.”

    Coinbase’s UK lending product service launched a year after it introduced crypto-backed loans in the US in January 2025. The initial US offering allowed customers to borrow up to $100,000 (currently $5 million) in $USDC using Bitcoin as collateral. This service is available across the US, excluding New York. Starting with Bitcoin, the lending service has now expanded to include Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), and Litecoin (LTC).

    Coinbase also added that it plans to expand access to cryptocurrency-backed loans to more countries in the near future.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • Firefighters rescue dog from deep cave in Kentucky

    Firefighters rescue dog from deep cave in Kentucky

  • SiriusXM, ABC News Launch Two New Audio Channels

    SiriusXM, ABC News Launch Two New Audio Channels

    SiriusXM will launch two new channels in collaboration with Disney’s ABC News, expanding its news offering.

    “ABC News Live,” a simulcast of ABC News’ live-streaming service, debuted Monday on Channel 796 and on the SiriusXM app, while “20/20 True Crime” will launch launching coming weeks on Channel 794.

    In addition to the new channels, two ABC News programs will soon be available on SiriusXM’s P.O.T.U.S., found on Channel 124. Both “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” and the “Start Here Weekend” newscast will launch later in the spring.

    ABC News joins other mainstream news outlets, including NBC News, MS NOW, CNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg, BBC World Service and NPR that are already in the company’s content lineup.

    “ABC News Live” delivers breaking news from across the United States and around the world. Listeners can get new developments in politics, weather, health, business, and more. “20/20 True Crime” will serve as a destination for in-depth storytelling from “20/20” and ABC News. The channel will feature narrative podcasts, full episodes of “20/20,” installments of “20/20: The After Show,” and curated cases from the “20/20 True Crime Vault.”

    “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” is anchored by George Stephanopoulos, and co-anchored by Martha Raddatz and Jonathan Karl. The show features newsmaker interviews, in-the-field reporting, and panel discussions. “Start Here Weekend,” hosted by Brad Mielke, dives deeper into the stories driving headlines through in-depth conversations with ABC News correspondents, experts, and newsmakers.

    Starting this weekend, This Week can be heard on P.O.T.U.S. every Sunday at 2pm ET, with Start Here Weekend available on Saturdays at 9am and 6pm ET.

  • European Film Industry Up in Arms Over Planned Creative Europe MEDIA Program Overhaul

    European Film Industry Up in Arms Over Planned Creative Europe MEDIA Program Overhaul

    European trade organizations representing the full film industry sector spectrum are up in arms against the EU Commission’s plans to make major changes to its Creative Europe funding program by combining its culture and media strands under the so-called AgoraEU initiative.

    As the deadline looms for the new 2028-2034 financial framework to be implemented in Brussels, the orgs — which comprise the European Producers Club, Europa Distribution and arthouse cinemas org Cicae — issued a joint statement on Monday “urging the European Parliament” and member states “to preserve the identity and the core objectives of the Creative Europe — MEDIA program” and to reinforce its impact on the entire film value chain and ensure that the “intrinsic and artistic value of culture” remain “at the heart of the program.”

    One crucial bone of contention is that under the planned overhaul, the budget of the MEDIA program —  which supports EU film-TV-videogame development, distribution, training and promotion — would most likely shrink from its current €2.44 billion ($2.8 billion) for 2021-2027 to a total €3.2 billion ($3.7 billion) sum that in 2028-2034 would be allocated to the new MEDIA+ program covering film, TV and video games on the one hand, but also going to the news media sector. This blurs the boundaries and risks jeopardizing some of the film and audiovisual industry support.

    The EU funding overhaul proposal refers generically to “media” bunching together film, TV, video games and also the news, immersive reality and multimedia industries, the trade organizations complained.

    “The word ‘film’ should be reintroduced, to clearly distinguish the film and audiovisual sector from the broader media sector and avoid confusion that could undermine the specificities and independence of each sector,” they said.

    Creative Europe’s MEDIA Program has been a crucial EU film and TV industry driver for the past 35 years.