Category Archives: Technology

DSTLRY launches Commissioned Digital Remarques and Unlimited Digital Covers

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The Big Burn #1 Digital Remarque by Becky Cloonan, Sold for $75
The Big Burn #1 Digital Remarque by Becky Cloonan, Sold for $75

DSTLRY has unveiled two groundbreaking additions to its digital marketplace: Commissioned Digital Remarques and Unlimited Digital Covers. These innovative features further establish DSTLRY as a pioneer in transforming how creators and fans interact with their favorite creators and stories.

Commissioned Digital Remarques allow fans worldwide the opportunity to request one-of-a-kind, personalized Remarques  directly from their favorite participating DSTLRY creators. This groundbreaking, patent-pending system offers an unprecedented capability to connect fans with creators, whether online or in person at comic conventions. Creators maintain full control over pricing and availability for commissioned signatures and artwork, while benefiting from royalties on both initial sales and all secondary market transactions. This ensures creators receive unmatched long-term support and recognition for their work, all while delivering a uniquely personal experience for fans.

Simply log into https://dstlry.co/commissions, browse participating creators, and request your personalized digital signature, sketch, or both. Once completed, you’ll receive a verified, one-of-a-kind piece from your favorite DSTLRY creator.

Unlimited Digital Covers ensure that one version of every DSTLRY digital issue will always be available for purchase, without time restrictions or deadlines. Starting today, fans can access main covers and sketch cover variants with no limits, offering unrestricted access to all DSTLRY titles. Beyond these two unlimited options, collectible variant covers remain available for just one week following release, after which they transition exclusively to the DSTLRY Marketplace. Keep in mind, all DSTLRY digital purchases are fully owned and tradable, with every resale on the DSTLRY Marketplace generating royalties for creators. 

Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduces Anti-Piracy Legislation

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U.S. House of Representatives

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-18) has introduced H.R. 791, the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA). The legislation’s goal is to prevent foreign-run piracy sites from exploiting loopholes in existing law. The legislation has received a positive “applause” from the Motion Picture Association.

It is estimated intellectual property theft drains $30 billion and 230,000 jobs from the U.S. economy each year.

The legislation provides a framework to create “blocking orders” against infringing websites and online services. Copyright owners would petition U.S. courts for no-fault injunctions blocking access to infringing websites and services. The short version is those seeking an order would present information like IP addresses to a court who then would put in place an injunction the website would be blocked for a period of time.

You can read a description of the legislation here and the full legislation here.

Publisher Scholastic hit with a data breach

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Scholastic

Publishing giant Scholastic has suffered a cyberattack and lost data on millions of individuals. A hacker with the alias “Parasocial” claims to have stolen the data through an employee portal.

According to the monitoring site “Have I Been Pwned,” the data breach featured 4,247,768 individuals occurring on January 8, 22025 and includes email addresses, names, phone numbers, and physical addresses. The contacts include customers and “education contacts.”

It has been reported that Parasocial gained access by stealing login credentials from an employee throught malware. An export limit on Scholastic’s server prevented even more data being stolen. Parasocial said they had no intention in making the data public and instead criticized Scholastic for their security practices.

Scholastic said they were looking into the claim according to the Daily Dot.

CES 2025: Crunchyroll to Launch a New Manga App This Year

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Crunchyroll Manga

Japanese comics – or manga, the source material for many beloved anime series – will become even more accessible in North America as Crunchyroll has announced a new app, Crunchyroll Manga, for fans to enjoy digital manga as part of a new premium option for Crunchyroll members.

Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini announced that the new app would be coming to Crunchyroll later this year during Sony Group Corporation’s press conference at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. 

Home to the largest dedicated anime library, Crunchyroll will soon offer an all-new service, Crunchyroll Manga, making it easier than ever for fans to read brand-new and beloved titles from multiple top publishers all in one place.

Crunchyroll’s new app, Crunchyroll Manga, launches later this year as a standalone app on iOS and Android, debuting in the U.S. and Canada. Designed to complement Crunchyroll memberships, the app will be offered as a premium add-on, with web browser integration also planned for the future.

In the announcement, Purini noted that research shows that nearly 70% of anime fans read digital manga at least once a month.

Offering a vast array of stories across diverse genres, Crunchyroll Manga will feature both iconic titles and current fan favorites. Manga on Crunchyroll Manga will debut in English with the goal of increasing language options as the app expands similarly to Crunchyroll’s streaming service. 

Webtoon and Discord Continue Partnership with In-App Reading Event

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School Bus Graveyard

Webtoon, the world’s largest digital comics platform, and Discord, the voice, video, and text communications platform, have announced a continuation of their partnership with the launch of an in-app reading event.

  • Eligible fans who ​​​​explore the first ten episodes of one of the biggest Webtoon Originals series, “School Bus Graveyard,” and find Wumpus twice will receive a one-month trial of Discord Nitro. 
  • The promotion will run from December 4, 2024, to December 25, 2024.
  • This promotion is available for users who have not had an active Discord Nitro membership, redeemed a separate Discord Nitro trial, or accepted a Discord Nitro membership gift in the last 12 months.

The initial partnership saw the launch of the original webcomic miniseries “Wumpus Wonderventures” from Ringo Award-winning studio Merryweather Media, with the four-episode series accumulating 6.3M views.

DC Universe Infinite expands into Europe and Latin America

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DC Universe Infinite

DC Universe Infinite is going global! DC has announced that its DC Universe Infinite digital comic subscription service is expanding its international footprint. DC Universe Infinite is now available in France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, joining Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The service is also scheduled to launch in Brazil and Mexico on December 16. Comic book fans will have access to more than 30,000 comics with an Ultra subscription of their favorite English-language DC titles, plus the recently announced DC GO! collection of original webcomics, available to read in a vertical scroll format, along with select iconic DC series like Batman: Hush, plus classic issues of MAD Magazine, reformatted to take advantage of this new feature.

DC Universe Infinite subscribers will have full access to an extensive library of comics and will also have early access to new Digital First comics. With new titles being added in English to DC Universe Infinite six months after they hit retail store shelves, the expansive library is constantly being updated, including recent additions for Ultra tier subscribers.

DC Universe Infinite also supports a fan-favorite community area full of in-depth discussions on the latest releases, Q&As with talent and more via the official DC Discord server. The DC Universe Infinite community channel on DC Discord is free and is available in each of the new countries.

Fans that sign up for the ULTRA tier subscription on DC Universe Infinite during the first 30 days of each country’s launch can subscribe at an introductory 15% discount. Anyone that subscribes at the introductory pricing can renew at the same discounted price for as long as they maintain their paid subscription. Starting January 20, 2025, ULTRA subscriptions will be available at the standard price, per country. Visit this page for pricing details of all subscription tiers for all territories.

IDW launches a new and improved digital comic app

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IDW Publishing logo

IDW Publishing has announced that its free app now offers digital readers a revamped design and improved reading experience.

Now matching the comic book company’s rebrand for 2025, the free app features the latest releases front and center, including everything from the best-selling TMNT titles to acclaimed original horror stories like Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees.

As part of an ongoing effort to improve the digital reading experience for fans, the app now offers a revamped search function making it easier than ever before to find your favorite comics from the vast IDW library. Readers now also have the ability to choose between reading horizontally or vertically, as well as offline mode, allowing readers to download comics to their device and read them at any time, regardless of an internet connection.

The new and improved IDW app is available now for download and features the latest releases from IDW including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto #1, Star Trek: Lower Decks #1, and more.

Stranger Comics Joins GlobalComix as the Publisher Celebrates 15 Years

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Stranger Comics on GlobalComix

GlobalComix has announced that Stranger Comics is debuting its popular library of afro-fantasy titles on the digital comics platform including the Asunda Universe essentials Niobe: She is Life & She is Death, Tales of Asunda, and more. In addition to bringing Stranger Comics’ graphic fiction catalog to the platform, GlobalComix is working to reimagine its series as vertical scroll episodes, helping introduce the series to today’s generation of mobile-first readers. The first will be the critically acclaimed series Niobe: She is Life & The Untamed, followed by more stories from Tales of Asunda.

Tales of Asunda is an ongoing series in the expanding, interconnected world of Asunda, which is rich in culture and tradition with years of development. It celebrates many of its lead characters and backdrops in afro-fantasy-inspired settings with emotional themes that resonate globally on a deeply human level. The latest installment, NIOBE: She Tribe is written by President of Stranger Sebastian A. Jones, with co-writer Emmy-nominated actress Thuso Mbedu. NIOBE: She Tribe tackles the pros and cons of “tradition,” asking both character and reader if all traditions are good, to be followed as law, binding in mind, body, and spirit. If they are disputed, what are the motives? If they are flawed, how can they be resolved? And if traditions are changed, how can people accept and evolve? When Niobe learns of a tradition that a tribal chief is decided in a fight to the death she must choose between challenging and changing an ancient custom or remaining hidden from the world and her destiny.

Incredible titles from Stranger Comics and many more are available in the GlobalComix App for iOS and Google Play and on the web. 

SAG-AFTRA and Ethovox sign an agreement that empowers actors and secures A.I. guardrails

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SAG-AFTRA and Ethovox

SAG-AFTRA and Ethovox have announced a new agreement that ensures performers are protected and empowered in the A.I. age. 

Co-founded by BAFTA Games Award-winner Cissy Jones, Ethovox is building a fully-authenticated foundational A.I. model for voice. In addition to ensuring performers can participate in Ethovox’s consensual foundational model knowing that they will be protected and compensated fairly, the voice model will reflect a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Further, the SAG-AFTRA-Ethovox contract leads the field in performer compensation as it provides both session fees and ongoing revenue sharing for the life of the foundational model.

A foundational voice model provides the basis for digital replicas. It requires volumes of underlying voice data to enable the replicas to function properly. The Ethovox model will not be user-facing, and the voices included in the model will not be identifiable in any of the speech generated. 

The Ethovox Agreement was approved by the union’s Corporate/Educational & Non-Broadcast Committee and was additionally presented to and approved by SAG-AFTRA’s National Executive Committee.

Those who would like to learn more can visit www.sagaftra.org/ethovox.

Disney and Pixar Collaborate with Robosen to Launch the World’s First Robotic Buzz Lightyear Toy

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Robosen Robotics has collaborated with Disney and Pixar to bring one of the world’s most iconic characters to life like never before with the launch of the Toy Story Buzz Lightyear Robot. This groundbreaking robotic experience invites fans of all ages to experience Buzz Lightyear through an interactive robot that combines cutting-edge technology with the timeless charm of your favorite Space Ranger. The Buzz Lightyear Robot is available now for an MSRP of $599 atwww.robosen.com and www.DisneyStore.com, www.disneystore.co.uk, Disney Store Times Square, Disney Store Oxford Street and Disney Store Dublin.

An Unprecedented Robotic Experience

For the first time ever, Toy Story fans can own a fully controllable and programmable Buzz Lightyear robot. Meticulously crafted with more than 3,000 parts, 23 servo motors and 75 microchips, this Buzz Lightyear robot embodies the spirit of innovation, adventure and imagination that Toy Story fans have cherished for generations. The Buzz Lightyear Robot is fully voice and app-controlled, allowing fans to immerse themselves in iconic missions and scenes while controlling Buzz’s every move.

Equipped with innovative micro-servos that enable first-ever realistic eye and mouth movement, the Buzz Lightyear Robot delivers a lifelike recreation of the legendary Space Ranger. Whether engaging in pre-built missions or creating custom scenarios using Robosen Studio —debuting this fall—this robot offers an exciting level of interactivity and creativity.

Key Features

  • Voice & App Controlled for seamless operation
  • More than 3,000 intricate parts designed for lifelike movement
  • 23 servo motors enabling full-range motion
  • 75 microchips powering interactive features
  • First of its kind micro-servos providing realistic facial expressions
  • Ultra-authentic Buzz Lightyear experience
  • In-App programming for custom scenes using Toy Story lines
  • Robosen Studio PC integration coming soon

The Buzz Lightyear Robot stands 14.6 inches tall and weighs 3.7 pounds, making it a substantial and impressive figure for any collection. Whether you’re recreating famous scenes, enjoying the robot with family or designing your own adventures, this robot takes Toy Story fandom to an entirely new level.

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