Technologies

Disney Slaps Google With Cease and Desist, Claiming ‘Massive’ Copyright Violations

Disney also has a new partnership to let OpenAI use its characters in its AI video tool.

As Disney inks a $1 billion deal with OpenAI to license its characters for AI videos, the entertainment giant is also going after Google. Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist letter Wednesday, alleging that Google AI models are infringing on its copyright protections on a «massive scale.»

«Google’s AI Services are designed to free ride off Disney’s intellectual property. Google has refused to implement any technological measures to mitigate or prevent copyright infringement, even though such measures are readily available and being used by Google’s competitors,» the letter reads. «Instead, Google continues to directly exploit Disney’s copyrights for commercial gain.»

Google has released a major overhaul to its AI products with Gemini 3, which includes the second generation of its popular nano banana pro AI image model. There has been a massive uptick in the popularity and ability of creative AI tools this year. New models give users the ability to create ultra-realistic AI images and videos. This ability has long worried copyright and intellectual property owners, and improvements in AI models this year have brought those concerns into clearer view. Disney, one of the biggest intellectual property owners, has become central to such legal and ethical debates.

The letter outlines Disney’s concerns that Google is using its position as a market leader to create and disseminate AI content. As the parent company of YouTube, Google is «flooding the market with infringing works, and reaping enormous profits and other value from its unlawful, harmful and damaging exploitation of Disney’s copyrighted works,» the letter says. Disney says it brought its concerns to Google’s attention months ago, but the tech company did nothing in response, leading to the cease-and-desist letter this week.

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Disney, along with Universal and Warner Bros., had already filed lawsuits against Midjourney AI over similar infringement concerns, calling the AI company «a bottomless pit of plagiarism.» Disney’s complaint in the new cease-and-desist letter deals with the same issue that Google AI users can use its models to create content that is too similar to its copyrighted characters like Darth Vader. But while Disney takes legal action against Google, it has also explored licensing opportunities with other AI companies like OpenAI.

On Thursday, Disney announced it had inked a $1 billion deal with OpenAI, one of the biggest competitors to Google. The deal gives OpenAI clearance to use more than 200 iconic Disney characters in AI images and Sora videos, including those from Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. The deal makes Disney a «major customer» of OpenAI, bringing ChatGPT to Disney employees and select Sora AI videos to Disney Plus. This is a markedly different approach from previous AI-related legal action taken by Disney.

CNET reached out to Google for comment but did not receive a response before publication. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, parent company of CNET, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

For more, check out the new pricing for Disney Plus, Hulu Live and ESPN and our guide to understanding copyright and AI.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Dec. 24

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 24.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I’m Irish-American, but yet 6-Down, which involves Ireland, stumped me at first. Read on for all the answers.. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Wordle or Boggle
Answer: GAME

5A clue: Big Newton
Answer: ISAAC

7A clue: Specialized vocabulary
Answer: LINGO

8A clue: «See you in a bit!»
Answer: LATER

9A clue: Tone of many internet comments
Answer: SNARK

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Sharks use them to breathe
Answer: GILLS

2D clue: From Singapore or South Korea, say
Answer: ASIAN

3D clue: Large ocean ray
Answer: MANTA

4D clue: ___ beaver
Answer: EAGER

6D clue: Second-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin
Answer: CORK

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Technologies

Quadrantids Is a Short but Sweet Meteor Shower Just After New Year’s. How to See It

This meteor shower has one of the most active peaks, but it doesn’t last for very long.

The Quadrantids has the potential to be one of the most active meteor showers of the year, and skygazers won’t have long to wait to see it. The annual shower is predicted to reach maximum intensity on Jan. 3. And with a display that can rival Perseids, Quadrantids could be worth braving the cold to see it.

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The show officially begins on Dec. 28 and lasts until Jan. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. Quadrantids is scheduled to peak on Jan. 2-3, when it may produce upwards of 125 meteors per hour. This matches Perseids and other larger meteor showers on a per-hour rate, but Quadrantids also has one of the shortest peaks at just 6 hours, so it rarely produces as many meteors overall as the other big ones.

The meteor shower comes to Earth courtesy of the 2003 EH1 asteroid, which is notable because most meteor showers are fed from comets, not asteroids. Per NASA, 2003 EH1 is a near-Earth asteroid that orbits the sun once every five and a half years. Science posits that 2003 EH1 was a comet in a past life, but too many trips around the sun stripped it of its ice, leaving only its rocky core. The Earth runs through EH1’s orbital debris every January, which results in the Quadrantids meteor shower.

How and where to see Quadrantids

Quadrantids is named for the constellation where its meteors appear to originate, a point known as the radiant. This presents another oddity, as the shower originates from the constellation Quadrans Muralis. This constellation ceased to be recognized as an official constellation in the 1920s and isn’t available on most publicly accessible sky maps.

For the modern skygazer, you’ll instead need to find the Bootes and Draco constellations, both of which contain stars that were once a part of the Quadrans Muralis. Draco will be easier to find after sunset on the evening of Jan. 2, and will be just above the horizon in the northern sky. Bootes orbits around Draco, but will remain under the horizon until just after 1 a.m. local time in the northeastern sky. From that point forward, both will sit in the northeastern part of the sky until sunrise. You’ll want to point your chair in that direction and stay there to see meteors.

As the American Meteor Society notes, Quadrantids has a short but active peak, lasting around 6 hours. The peak is expected to start around 4 p.m. ET and last well into the evening. NASA predicts the meteor shower to start one day later on Jan. 3-4, so if you don’t see any on the evening of Jan. 2, try again on Jan. 3.

To get the best results, the standard space viewing tips apply. You’ll want to get as far away from the city and suburbs as possible to reduce light pollution. Since it’ll be so cold outside, dress warmly and abstain from alcoholic beverages, as they can affect your body temperature. You won’t need any binoculars or telescopes, and the reduced field of view may actually impact your ability to see meteors.

The bad news is that either way, the Quadrantids meteor shower coincides almost perfectly with January’s Wolf Moon, which also happens to be a supermoon. This will introduce quite a lot of light pollution, which will likely drown out all but the brightest meteors. So, while it may have a peak of over 100 meteors per hour, both NASA and the AMS agree that the more realistic expectation is 10 or so bright meteors per hour.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 24, #1649

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 24, No. 1,649.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little tricky, with a double letter that could confuse players. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.