How to transform an entire industry

Dogs age better by hanging out with people and pets. Turns out, quality time with humans and fellow fur friends can actually help dogs age healthier. So, those puppy playdates and belly rub sessions are the ultimate anti-ageing treatment. NOW WHO’S A GOOD BOY?!

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What’s in store:

• How one startup is transforming entertainment with AI at its heart.

• Meta’s NotebookLlama needs a bit more life in its voice.

• Around the web: Microsoft Teams introduces threaded chats and a combined view for chats and channels.

Read Time: 5 minutes

AI TECH

The AI startup changing the face of entertainment and technology

Fairy tales are timeless classics that never change… until now. One tech-powered startup is pushing the boundaries of entertainment with their ambitious plan to transform entertainment as we know it.

Elf Labs pitches itself as a “transmedia” company - meaning it delivers characters and stories across multiple platforms simultaneously.

With the power of AR, VR, compression and AI, Elf Labs is planning to take on a $2T industry with fresh ideas.

Characters you know and love, reimagined

A crucial part of the Elf Labs strategy has been to secure trademarks based on iconic and loveable fairy tale characters that have been in our imaginations for many years.

Snow White, Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and more are part of the Elf Labs IP portfolio, giving incredible new opportunities for classic characters.

Elf Labs owns the Junior Elf Book collection, giving them the legal right to use these characters, having already secured hundreds of historic trademark victories.

Disney’s princess IP alone has generated over $46B in revenue. Now Elf Labs is coming for a slice.

Once upon a time in tech

Elf Labs holds 100+ trademarks and 12 technology patents, which will enable them to create a truly interactive world across many platforms.

They’re starting with 3 major franchises that will live on a first-of-its-kind web based streaming platform. Featuring Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, Pinocchio and Rapunzel, this launch will include digital games, animated content, high fidelity 3D virtual characters and AR/VR capabilities.

With such powerful IP, Elf Labs has plans to generate revenue in the following industries:

• Licensed Merchandise

• Digital Gaming

• Television & Film

• Advertising & Media Sales

• Streaming Content

• Amusement Parks & Attractions

An award-winning team

Their multi-faceted approach represents the ambition of CEO David Phillips, who leverages his own experience in building successful disruptive business models.

To power this ambitious vision, Elf Labs brought in the best in the business. This includes Dreamworks alumnus Mike De Seve, branding guru Bernt Ullmann, and leading global technology company Cosmic Wire.

Together, they fire on all cylinders and are ready to launch Elf Labs into the stratosphere.

Learn more about Elf Labs

You can learn more about Elf Labs and invest in its ambitious vision to disrupt entertainment here. You can get up to 40% bonus shares - but the round closes today, October 30 at 1159pm PST!

Learn more and invest →

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On This Day

October 30th 1974 - Muhammad Ali regains the world heavyweight boxing championship by knocking out George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle, held in Kinshasa, Zaire.

Tool of the Week

Voice Design AI

Voice Design AI combines AI with advanced voice synthesis to create lifelike, expressive voices suited for applications from audiobooks and podcasts to virtual assistants and e-learning. With features like emotion recognition, multi-language support, and customisable voice settings, it generates speech that captures natural nuances and intonations.

Try it out! →

META

Meta’s NotebookLlama gives AI podcasting a go, kinda

Meta recently launched NotebookLlama, a tool designed to replicate Google’s NotebookLM podcast feature using its own Llama models.

NotebookLlama turns text files into a podcast-like digest, although the quality still has room for improvement.

NotebookLlama starts by creating a transcript from an uploaded file, such as a PDF article.

It then adds elements of “dramatisation” and interruptions to make the output feel more conversational.

Finally, it uses open text-to-speech models to produce audio, but this audio often sounds quite robotic and, at times, overlaps awkwardly.

Here’s the gist:

• The audio produced by NotebookLlama has a distinctly robotic tone.

• Using multiple AI voices might create a more dynamic podcast experience.

• AI-generated content still struggles with accuracy, occasionally producing “hallucinated” information.

Dramatised but robotic

According to Meta’s team, these audio limitations could be addressed with stronger models.

There’s also the potential to improve the structure by using AI voices to debate topics, rather than a single model crafting the entire outline.

However, NotebookLlama, like other AI podcast generators, faces a common challenge “hallucinations” where AI may generate inaccurate misleading content.

NotebookLlama sounds like our beloved Captain Holt. Meep, morp, zeeeeep.

Mindstream Picks

Space: NASA has identified why the Orion heat shield has more material than anticipated on the Artemis 1 mission but will withhold details until further testing.

Crypto: Bitcoin surged 5% early Tuesday, pushing U.S.-listed crypto stocks higher as investors aimed for ambitious targets.

Games: Epic Games’ new marketplace, Fab, has faced criticism from digital artists and developers due to bugs, missing features, and the upcoming end of free Megascans access in 2025.

Music: The new Dwayne Wade statue outside Kasey Center drew criticism online for its depiction of the basketball star’s face soon after its unveiling.

Don’t Miss: Microsoft Teams is introducing threaded conversations and a new unified view for chats and channels. The update, available in mid-2025, will streamline navigation and organise conversations by integrating chats, teams, and channels in a single place.

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Yesterday’s Poll

“Is Apple Intelligence living up the hype?”

Absolutely, privacy + AI is the future. 51% ✅

It's cool, but I'm still figuring it out. 49%

Your Views:

“Apple is not altruistic. Cut through the smoke & mirrors. It's always about control/the closed system/the 'walled garden'.” - reller12

“Living up the hype and then some! Can’t wait to try this out!” - Auzed88

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