Eliana Willis

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETVideo creation is still the frontier of generative AI, and OpenAI leads the pack with its Sora AI video generator. The generator, which launched last month during the 12 days of OpenAI, has caused quite a buzz because of its highly realistic output quality. On Wednesday, OpenAI shared with ZDNET that there are 10 Sora generations per second worldwide. That translates to 600 videos being generated every minute. The top five cities for Sora adoption are Seoul, New York City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Singapore, listed from highest to lowest. Also: OpenAI tailored ChatGPT Gov for government use – here’s what that meansWith Sora, creating a video from scratch is as easy as dropping in a prompt or an existing asset you own, such as an image or video in your gallery. You can also customize ratios, duration, and even select from presets to get your creative juices flowing. Beyond video, OpenAI shared that the second-fastest growing feature on Sora is remixing, which allows users to add, remove, or edit objects in an existing video by using a text prompt, as seen in the video below. When remixing, users are also able to select the strength of the remix, depending on how much of the original video’s essence they want to keep. [embedded content]Sora also offers other video editing features, such as re-cut, which lets users trim and extend existing clips, and blend, which transitions elements from one video to another. Both Sora’s video editing and generating features have practical applications for content creators and working professionals who could benefit from using the platform to create b-roll, marketing video materials, clips, and more.Also: My favorite ChatGPT feature just got way more powerfulBoth ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers can access Sora with varying limitations. With the ChatGPT Plus subscription, which costs $20 per month, users can generate up to 50 videos per month, each up to 720p resolution and five seconds in duration. Although the price may seem steep, other perks include first and greater access to some of OpenAI’s latest and greatest features including Advanced Voice, o1 with Canvas, o3-mini, and DALL-E 3. The ChatGPT Pro subscription costs $200 per month and offers everything ChatGPT Plus does at a much greater scale, as well as o1 pro. At the moment, there is no way to access Sora from ChatGPT Free, Enterprise, and Edu accounts. If you just want to try Sora, but don’t have long-term use for ChatGPT Plus, you can always subscribe for a month and cancel. Artificial Intelligence More

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETVideo creation is still the frontier of generative AI, and OpenAI leads the pack with its Sora AI video generator. The generator, which launched last month during the 12 days of OpenAI, has caused quite a buzz because of its highly realistic output quality. On Wednesday, OpenAI shared with ZDNET that there are 10 Sora generations per second worldwide. That translates to 600 videos being generated every minute. The top five cities for Sora adoption are Seoul, New York City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Singapore, listed from highest to lowest. Also: OpenAI tailored ChatGPT Gov for government use – here’s what that meansWith Sora, creating a video from scratch is as easy as dropping in a prompt or an existing asset you own, such as an image or video in your gallery. You can also customize ratios, duration, and even select from presets to get your creative juices flowing. Beyond video, OpenAI shared that the second-fastest growing feature on Sora is remixing, which allows users to add, remove, or edit objects in an existing video by using a text prompt, as seen in the video below. When remixing, users are also able to select the strength of the remix, depending on how much of the original video’s essence they want to keep. [embedded content]Sora also offers other video editing features, such as re-cut, which lets users trim and extend existing clips, and blend, which transitions elements from one video to another. Both Sora’s video editing and generating features have practical applications for content creators and working professionals who could benefit from using the platform to create b-roll, marketing video materials, clips, and more.Also: My favorite ChatGPT feature just got way more powerfulBoth ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers can access Sora with varying limitations. With the ChatGPT Plus subscription, which costs $20 per month, users can generate up to 50 videos per month, each up to 720p resolution and five seconds in duration. Although the price may seem steep, other perks include first and greater access to some of OpenAI’s latest and greatest features including Advanced Voice, o1 with Canvas, o3-mini, and DALL-E 3. The ChatGPT Pro subscription costs $200 per month and offers everything ChatGPT Plus does at a much greater scale, as well as o1 pro. At the moment, there is no way to access Sora from ChatGPT Free, Enterprise, and Edu accounts. If you just want to try Sora, but don’t have long-term use for ChatGPT Plus, you can always subscribe for a month and cancel. Artificial Intelligence More

Artie Beaty/ZDNETYou’re probably used to sending a Venmo payment to cover lunch or coffee, but what about using it to hop on a flight? In an announcement last week, JetBlue says it’s the first airline to accept payment for a plane ticket through Venmo. Many airlines already let you use PayPal (which owns Venmo), but this is the first airline partnership with the popular peer-to-peer payment platform.Also: Gemini Live is expanding and can now talk about what’s on your screenYou can pay for your JetBlue flights with a linked credit or debit card, a bank account, or your Venmo balance. For now, the feature is available only on jetblue.com, but the company says it will be rolling out in app in the coming months. You also can’t Venmo a payment for in-flight purchases. More

ZDNETLaggy internet might be a thing of the past, at least for Comcast customers.In a press release today, the company introduced what it calls a first in the nation — ultra-low-latency internet designed for gaming, videoconferencing, and virtual reality. The technology has been in testing since 2023.Drastically reduced latency With this launch, Comcast explains, latency for FaceTime on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro, apps for Meta’s mixed reality headsets like the Quest 3, many Steam games, and NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW, will be drastically reduced. In the future, “other applications that choose to leverage this open standard technology” will be supported as well.Also: Slow home internet? 3 simple things I always check first for faster Wi-FiThe company offered a surprise speed boost to customers about a year ago, but this change will make your current internet feel faster without actually increasing bandwidth. Just because it’s available to customers, though, that doesn’t mean everyone will see the benefit. The device or application you’re using will need to support low-latency connectivity.Xfinity offers up to 2,000Mbps connectivity across a wide part of the nation, but speed isn’t everything. If data has a delay, or latency, as it transfers from one point to another (especially for latency-sensitive applications like those listed above), you’re going to have a slow experience. Comcast’s new venture focuses on ensuring each bit of information travels more quickly. If there’s a slowdown, the devices can adjust to either lessen the blockage or even eliminate it entirely. More

The humble MP3 player is making a comeback as people get burned out from all the streaming subscriptions. An MP3 player offers some fresh features your phone does not. For starters, you don’t need a data connection to use it. Many come with a DAC built right in, so you can go beyond MP3 and enjoy hi-res FLAC files. And finally, why not own your own music collection, rather than rent it from someone else?Also: The best speakers for vinylWhat is the best MP3 player right now?We rounded up the top MP3 players you can buy by evaluating storage, battery life, media type, and price to deliver this curated list of picks. My top choice for best MP3 player overall is the Sony NW-A306 Walkman More

Maria Diaz/ZDNETRight now, you can get a Ring Stick Up Cam Pro More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETWhether you’re an iOS or Android user, Google Photos is an excellent photo storage and sharing service, with features such as Magic Editor and Ask Photos. However, one very basic capability was missing until this week: the option to flip photos.On Wednesday, Google shared that users can now flip or mirror their photos from the Google Photos app. Although that may sound like a fundamental feature, the previous edit functions only allowed users to crop, rotate, or adjust a picture’s aspect ratio before. You couldn’t actually flip an image within the app.Also: I’ve used every Samsung Galaxy S25 model – and the one I love most isn’t the UltraTo access the new feature, you can open the Google Photos app, tap Edit, Crop, and then the flip icon to mirror your photo. There is one catch: the feature is only available in the Google Photos for Android app. Luckily for iOS users, the native Photos app includes a flip button, which you can use to adjust your photo before you upload it to your Google Photos library.  More