WordPress row rumbles on, Glide gets AWS honour, and Australia backs publishers against Big Tech

This week's Content Aware brings you news of OpenAI's new $200/month "super ChatGPT", industry shenanigans, and the end of weather presenters.

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Glide and the AWS badge of approval (again)
Toot toot alert: we're about to blow our own horn. We're super proud to announce that we at Glide were recently awarded the AWS Media & Entertainment Competency, whose steady-as-she-goes title belies its magnitude in that it reflects the world's biggest cloud provider stating that we are kind of a big deal around here in helping media and entertainment projects and audience teams get stuff done and do amazing things for their customers, fans, and supporters. Since that is what we say we do, it's great to have someone say we live up to the hype!
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Corbidge comments on... Apple's AI solution to writing
New AI features introduced by Apple aim to bring the technology into everyday consumer use. Have they cracked it, or is it all a bit soulless? The immortal Corbidge takes a look at a crypt of creativity.
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New Year’s resolution, Aussie style
Australia’s News Bargaining Incentive, from January 2025, will reinforce old rules which obliged large social and search firms pay publishers for content. It in fact exceeds the previous scenario of requiring deals between firms, and will now take cash even where no deal has been agreed.
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WP Engine dispute with Automattic drags on
The rumbling dispute between the bigger names in the WordPress ecosystem is staying ugly after WP Engine got a judge to rule that it is being blocked from WordPress.org resources damaged WP Engine’s business. The dispute came about after Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic and unofficial guardian-in-chief of WordPress, took umbrage against WP Engine. The ruling requires Automattic to stop tracking WP Engine’s customers and remove a checkbox asking users to confirm they are not affiliated with WP Engine.
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A chill wind for weather presenters
Weather is hard to predict at the best of times and until now AIs have struggled with it. But the days of the weather slot after the news being presented by people could be coming to an end...
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Price sensitivit-ai
OpenAI's $200/month ChatGPT Pro plan has received mixed feedback - but those servers don't pay for themselves. While it promises enhanced performance for complex tasks, critics argue the improvements are minimal and it still struggles with simpler tasks. Time will tell if the income pays for a flood of content deals!
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What might 2025 hold for journalism?
The folks at Nieman Lab have rounded up the brightest minds in journalism and media to hear their predictions for the year ahead. As 2024 comes to a close, here are their thoughts.
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Insights from a big tech negotiator
Looking to do deals with AI firms or search and social giants? Media mystic Ricky Sutton has a chat with News Media Canada's CEO Paul Deegan about dealing with and doing deals with Big Tech, talking about behind-the-scenes developments, legislation and regulations, and Big Tech's "pick and choose" approach - all things Sutton himself has real world insight into.
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EU probes Google-Meta teen ad deal
European regulators are probing Google's abandoned ad partnership with Meta, which targeted teens on YouTube, alleging it violated rules on protecting minors. In response, Google highlighted its privacy protections, while Meta updated its privacy controls for users under 18.
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Traffic warning: November 2024 Google Core Update
Looks like we can breathe a sigh of relief: the recent Core Update from November 11th to December 5th wasn’t as impactful as previous versions, but still requires careful monitoring of traffic and rankings to assess any changes. With the update sending mixed signals, as always check your stats and look to similar media sites for similar traffic changes before assuming you have done something wrong.
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IPTC develops LPX Protocol for live event news coverage
The wizards at metadata authority IPTC, joined by DPP, Reuters, Arqiva, and Warner Brothers Discovery, have developed the DPP Live Production Exchange (LPX) protocol to improve the surfacing and categorisation of live events news coverage and video streaming. The LPX API and ninjs 3.0 are supported by tools from Arqiva, Reuters, and Wolftech, with more implementations expected soon.
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