Category Archives: Technology

Spotify Partners with Bookshop to Promote Book Sales

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Spotify

It’s been a few years since Spotify launched their audiobooks selection and they are now teaming up with Bookshop to sell copies of those books.

Page Match is a new tool where readers can scan a page of a printed or e-book using their phone and then continue listing to that book where they left off. It also works in reverse where you can go to the page of the book after listening to resume reading.

Spotify is partnering Bookshop to promote the purchase of books on its app. Bookshop is a website that’s a network of independent bookstores. Spotify will then get part of the sales as an affiliate fee.

In transparency, we use Bookshop’s affiliate program and anyone can just sign up and take part. Bookshop has expanded its offerings from just physical copies to digital copies as well.

While all of that sounds great, Bookshop does sell comics and graphic novels and potential for more sales is a good thing, Spotify has come under scrutiny lately for running ads for ICE recruitment. That lead to boycotts of the platform and pressure to pull the ads. The recruitment ads had run since April 2025 and were on Amazon, YouTube, Hulu, Max, and other streaming services. The ads ended in late 2025 after the campaign ended and they ran their intended time period.

Spotify refused to take down the ads stating they didn’t violate the platform’s advertising policies.

The ads ran and ended before the recent executions of American citizens by ICE but they were regularly abusing individuals and violating Constitutionally protected rights and housing detained individuals in inhuman conditions while they were running.

Numerous musicians withdrew their music from the platform in protest.

BookWalker Announces a New Global English Store and LCP DRM Integration Launching February 2026

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BookWalker

BookWalker has announced the official launch of its brand-new reading experience. Transitioning to a dedicated English-language hub at bookwalker.com, the platform will introduce a more flexible reading ecosystem, enhanced content protection, and a streamlined interface designed specifically for international readers.

The new BookWalker experience is expected to debut this February. This move represents a “reincarnation” for the platform, focusing on user-requested features and technical modernization.

In a significant shift toward reader independence, BookWalker is moving to LCP (Lightweight Content Protection). This next-generation system fulfills BookWalker’s commitment to protecting creators while liberating readers from the “walled garden” of proprietary apps.

LCP DRM allows individuals to take their digital library with them not tying them down to a single ecosystem. Consumers download a unique license file for purchases which can then be opened in any LCP-compatible reading app.

To provide a more tailored experience, BookWalker is dividing its global operations into two separate libraries:

  • English Collection: All English-language manga and light novels will move to the new bookwalker.com website and dedicated app.
  • Japanese Collection: The existing Japanese store and original BOOK☆WALKER App will remain the home for Japanese-language titles, allowing both platforms to optimize for their respective audiences.

To ensure a smooth transition, BookWalker has outlined a comprehensive migration path for all existing users. While libraries and Points will move to the new store, users will be required to complete a simple account migration process.

Neon Ichiban Launches on iOS

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Neon Ichiban

Neon Ichiban has announced the launch of its iOS app, now available on iPhone and iPad. Founded by comiXology veterans David Steinberger and Chip Mosher, Neon Ichiban is a new digital destination for fans, creators, and publishers of comics and manga.

Highlights of the App include:

  • Crisp panel transitions, fluid full-page and two-page views
  • Built for both iPhone and iPad, including right-to-left navigation for manga
  • Offline reading —perfect for travel, commutes, or anytime you’re unplugged

The digital platform has leaned heavily into the “digital experience” and “digital collectibles” allowing individuals to get digital signatures and digital sketches on (some of) the comics purchased within the app. There is also a built-in secondary marketplace allows fans to buy and sell digital comics while ensuring publishers and creators benefit.

Since its launch, Neon Ichiban has grown rapidly. Fans now have access to titles from (in alphabetical order: Dark Horse, DC, DSTLRY, Dynamite, IDW Publishing, Kodansha, Legendary Comics, Mad Cave, Marvel, Oni Press, Rebellion, Titan Comics, Vault Comics, and more—with new publishers joining almost every month.

Launched in late 2025, Neon Ichiban serves readers and collectors alike not only with same-day-as-print comics, manga, collections, graphic novels, but also a host of innovative features only found at Neon Ichiban.

An Android app is coming soon.

GlobalComix Announces Marvel Mondays

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GlobalComix Marvel Mondays

GlobalComix has announced “Marvel Mondays,” a year-long program that will bring ten new Marvel Comics titles to GlobalComix Gold subscribers every Monday throughout 2026.

Starting in January, GlobalComix Gold members will receive new Marvel stories delivered weekly at no additional cost. With a library of more than 100,000 comics available for $6.99 per month or $69 per year, Marvel Mondays underscores GlobalComix Gold’s position as a leading subscription service for readers who want breadth, depth, and ongoing new releases in one place.

Marvel Mondays is designed as a thank you to the GlobalComix Gold community. Announced just before Christmas Eve, the program reflects the company’s gratitude to its members and its commitment to giving back with more content, more consistency, and more reasons to return week after week.

The first Marvel Monday on January 5, 2026 will feature the inclusion of the following comics on GlobalComix Gold:

  • Jeff the Land Shark (2025-) #1-3
  • Magik (2025) #1-5
  • Marvel Rivals (2025) #1
  • Marvel Rivals: Hellfire Gala (2025) #1

Each Monday throughout 2026, ten new Marvel books will be added directly to the GlobalComix Gold library as part of the subscription. The January slate of releases will be revealed alongside the first content drop on January 5, 2026. 

GlobalComix has Launched a Limited Holiday Bundle: New Annual Subscribers Receive 10 Premium Comics to Keep Forever

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GlobalComix Holiday Bundle

GlobalComix has announced the Limited Holiday Bundle, a seasonal promotion that gives new Gold annual subscribers 10 premium collectible comics at no additional charge. The bundle is available for a limited time and adds even more value to the Unlimited Gold plan, which already includes access to more than 100,000 comics, manga, and graphic novels.

The Holiday Bundle features titles from Dark Horse, DC, Kodansha, and Marvel. Each selection is a collectible title that becomes a permanent part of the reader’s library the moment it is claimed, which stays with the reader forever, even if they choose not to renew their subscription in the future.

Comics included in the Holiday Bundle

  • Amazing Spider-Man (2025-) #1
  • Amazing Spider-Man (2025-) #2
  • Batman (2025-) #1
  • Blue Lock 1
  • Blue Lock 2
  • Captain America (2025-) #1
  • DC K.O. (2025-) #1
  • DC K.O. (2025-) #2
  • Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 15: Brothers of the Grass
  • Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 16: Gateway into Winter

The Holiday Bundle is available exclusively to first time purchasers of the GlobalComix Gold annual plan, priced at $69 per year. Readers can explore the full selection and sign up.

Google Responds to Disney’s Cease-and-Desist by Removing Content

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On the same day that Disney cut a billion dollar deal with OpenAI for the use of its intellectual property in SORA, news came out that Disney went after Google for the same thing. Disney accused Google of copyright infringement on a “massive scale.” Much like its lawsuit against Midjourney, Disney accused Google of exploiting its characters and distributing infringing images and videos. They sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google to get them to stop the infringement.

In response, Google has removed dozens of AI-generated videos featuring Disney’s characters. In their letter, Disney flagged YouTube videos and demanded they were removed.

On Thursday, those links were working and now a message reads, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Disney.”

Google released a statement that it would work with Disney on the issue:

We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them,” the company said. “More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content.

Disney also demanded Google implement safeguards to prevent AI tools from generating Disney-owned characters and cease using Disney’s characters to train its AI models.

Disney Sends a Cease-and-Desist to Google over Copyright Infringement and AI

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Mickey Mouse

On the same day that Disney cuts a billion dollar deal with OpenAI for the use of its intellectual property in SORA, news has come out that Disney is going after Google for the same thing.

Disney is accusing Google of copyright infringement on a “massive scale.” Much like its lawsuit against Midjourney, Disney accuses Google of exploiting its characters and distributing infringing images and videos.

Disney has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google to get them to stop the alleged infringement.

Google is infringing Disney’s copyrights on a massive scale, by copying a large corpus of Disney’s copyrighted works without authorization to train and develop generative artificial intelligence (‘AI’) models and services, and by using AI models and services to commercially exploit and distribute copies of its protected works to consumers in violation of Disney’s copyrights.

Google operates as a virtual vending machine, capable of reproducing, rendering, and distributing copies of Disney’s valuable library of copyrighted characters and other works on a mass scale. And compounding Google’s blatant infringement, many of the infringing images generated by Google’s AI Services are branded with Google’s Gemini logo, falsely implying that Google’s exploitation of Disney’s intellectual property is authorized and endorsed by Disney.

Disney included examples of images it alleges infringes. Disney has also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta and Character.AI.

A Google spokesperson stated:

We have a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them. More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content.

Disney has said they have attempted to engage with Google for months but Google hasn’t done anything to combat the issue and the infringement has increased over that time.

Disney is asking for them to cease “copying, publicly displaying, publicly performing, distributing, and creating derivative works of Disney’s copyrighted characters.” They also want the implementation of measures to prevent further infringement.

With a billion dollar investment in one company, a lawsuit against another, and threats against others, stories of what lead up to each will hopefully eventually come out. OpenAI isn’t profitable and burning through cash, needing billions in investments to keep up the charade. Compare that to Google’s profitability which allows it to reject deals like Disney may have been proposing behind the scenes which involves the use of generated video on Disney+. Google has Youtube, which has been named as part of the dissemination of the material. Google wouldn’t want to share the generated content, or give it to Disney exclusively stream, wanting it for their own platform. Same as Meta with Facebook. OpenAI has no platform currently to which to do that. It’s likely Disney is suing those that aren’t buying whatever Disney is really selling when it comes to AI.

Disney to Invest $1 Billion in OpenAI Allowing the Licensed Use of its Characters

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Mickey Mouse

Disney has partnered with OpenAI and invested $1 billion in the Sam Altman-run artificial intelligence company. With the deal, Disney is also licensing the use of its characters in AI video creation platform Sora. Users will now be able to “legally” use Disney’s characters from Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars.

The “shortform video creation” will be allowed on Disney+ as part of “fan-inspired Sora short form videos.” The licensed character product launches on Sora and ChatGPT in early 2026. Expect the slop to overrun everywhere even more soon after.

The three-year deal is a 180 with how the company is dealing with Midjourney, another artificial intelligence company. In June, Disney and Universal launched a lawsuit against Midjourney calling it a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.” Warner Bros. launched their own lawsuit and the two cases were consolidated in November. One wonders if there were negotiations between Disney and Midjourney that didn’t pan out which lead to the lawsuit.

Disney recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google, alleging Google’s AI platforms have resulted in copyright infringement on a “massive scale.”

The move by Disney is another attempt to reach out to people “where they’re at,” following a $1.5 billion equity investment into Epic Games which brings Disney characters into Fortnite in a multiyear effort.

It’s also a major shift from Disney who is notoriously litigious in protecting its intellectual property. In one infamous case, Disney threated to sue a daycare center over murals that featured the likeness of their characters. Universal Studios and Hanna-Barbera stepped up to allow the use of their characters to prevent the legal action.

Unions were quick to condemn the deal saying it “sanctioned” the “theft of (their) work.”

The Writers Guild of America stated:

Disney’s announcement with OpenAI appears to sanction its theft of our work and cedes the value of what we create to a tech company that has built its business off our backs.

And they’ll meet with Disney:

..to probe the terms of this deal, including the extent to which user-generated videos use the work of WGA members. We will continue to fight to protect our members’ creative and economic interests in the context of AI technology.

In a message to its members, the WGA has said:

Companies including OpenAI have stolen vast libraries of works owned by the studios and created by WGA members and Hollywood labor to train their artificial intelligence systems. We have repeatedly called for the studios to take legal action to defend the valuable intellectual property we help to create.

SAG-AFTRA said:

SAG-AFTRA will closely monitor the deal and its implementation to ensure compliance with our contracts and with applicable laws protecting image, voice and likeness,” the union said. “SAG-AFTRA members are very focused on the rapidly expanding use of intellectual property and individuals’ likenesses and voices by generative AI tools, and SAG-AFTRA remains vigilant about any such uses.

We acknowledge Disney’s and OpenAI’s independent outreaches to us on this matter and their assurances that they will meet their contractual and legal obligations to performers and continue to implement systems to ensure ethical and responsible use of this technology.

SAG-AFTRA has engaged in months of discussions with OpenAI about how to protect performers.

Anthropic Case Attorneys Request $302 million in Fees and Expenses

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Anthropic

We’ve previously covered the Anthropic class action case. The lawsuit was over the artificial intelligence platform Anthropic’s use of copywritten material. The settlement includes $1.5 billion, about $3,000 for each instance of use. If an author has 3 books that were used by Anthropic, they’d receive $9,000 as an example. The plaintiff’s lawyers have asked a federal judge for $300 million in attorney fees plus expenses of about $1.97 million and $17 million reserve fund for future expenses. That’s around 20% of the settlement. There’s also a request of $50,000 for each of the three named plaintiffs in the case.

The motion was filed and they attorneys claim their 20% is “markedly below” the 25% benchmark usually given. Class counsel from Susman Godfrey and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP would split 75% of the fees award.

The lawyers state they’ve spent more than 18,000 hours on the case which comes out to about $16,700 an hour.

BOOK☆WALKER Global Announces Complete Platform Overhaul to Elevate the Manga, Light Novel, and Audiobook Experience

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BOOK☆WALKER

BOOK☆WALKER Global, the premier destination for manga, light novels, and audiobooks, has announced that its platform will undergo a complete overhaul in the coming year. The updated platform is designed to enhance performance, deliver a modernized reading experience, and bring new features for fans of English-language content.

Key updates include:

  • Seamless Library Transfer: All existing English books and past purchases will be preserved and automatically transferred to the new platform.
  • Next-Generation Reader: A redesigned reading experience for both manga and novels, with updated apps and a fully rebuilt website.
  • Updated Login: Users may need to set a new password, but all other library content will remain intact.
  • Future Enhancements: Additional performance improvements and feature updates will be rolled out, with details shared in upcoming announcements.

To celebrate the announcement and provide a first look at the new platform, BOOK☆WALKER will host a livestream on Friday, 12/12 at  4pm PST (7pm EST) on YouTube.

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