If you cash in your pension early can you qualify for council tax benefits later? STEVE WEBB replies
One of my colleagues cashed their pension in at 55. They said without the work pension they would receive council tax benefit at pension age. Is this correct?
New school to expand further with plans for sports hall
An Essex primary is set to expand further with plans for a new assembly and sports hall
Violent unrest at pink-wearing mothers' migrants protest continues: Demonstration turns ugly after masked men hijack proceedings, trying to rush gates at asylum seekers hotel before police crack down
The protest, which is ongoing, quickly turned to chaos as a group of up to 30 balaclava-clad men - all with their faces covered - swarmed the crowd, setting off smoke bombs and chanting profanities.
Watford FC diversity officer screamed 'Go back to your country, you bloody Indians' as she brawled with railway staff
University graduate Ebonnie-Rose John-Jules, 23, was the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Championship club 's Community Sports & Education Trust.
DR MAX PEMBERTON: This is the REAL reason why there's been an explosion in cases of ADHD - and why we should all be scared of the consequences
I do believe ADHD is being wildly overdiagnosed. I also worry that the surge in cases is starting to have a damaging impact on the day-to-day lives of everyone.
Hulk Hogan funeral and memorial plans revealed after WWE icon's tragic death at 71
Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, died from a cardiac arrest on July 24 and was also fighting leukemia at the time of his passing. He had been taken ill at home in Clearwater, Florida.
Prince Andrew appears moody as he steps out with Sarah Ferguson for the first time after the release of a scathing new biography about disgraced Duke of York
The Duke of York, 65, looked deeply troubled as he drove a black Land Rover Defender alongside his ex wife of 10 years, Sarah Ferguson , also 65, who also appeared sombre.
China's IPv6 adoption takes a decent leap forward, especially on fixed networks
PLUS: Nightmare insect found in Australia; Arista makes more stuff in India; Atlassian job cuts; And more!
Asia In Brief China’s Cyberspace Administration last week reported increased uptake of IPv6.…
Locals fear plan for 1,300 new homes will 'completely ruin' small Essex town
Residents said plans for new homes and schools would cause 'utter chaos' if they go ahead
Richard Ayoade bested by tricky Celebrity Catchphrase puzzle and misses out on huge jackpot - but can YOU solve it within the time limit?
The funnyman, 48, Katie McGlynn, 32, and Joe Swash, 43, took part in the quiz show to try and raise some cash for his chosen charity.
I'm 19 and my sister hasn't invited me to her 'child-free' wedding but STILL expects a gift. Am I wrong for being furious?
A bride has been blasted online after expecting a wedding gift from her 19-year-old sister - even though she's banned her from the big day.
Disney Struggles With How to Use AI - While Retaining Copyrights and Avoiding Legal Issues
Disney "cloned" Dwayne Johnson when filming a live-action Moana, reports the Wall Street Journal, using an AI process that they were ultimately afraid to use:
Under the plan they devised, Johnson's similarly buff cousin Tanoai Reed — who is 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds — would fill in as a body double for a small number of shots. Disney would work with AI company Metaphysic to create deepfakes of Johnson's face that could be layered on top of Reed's performance in the footage — a "digital double" that effectively allowed Johnson to be in two places at once... Johnson approved the plan, but the use of a new technology had Disney attorneys hammering out details over how it could be deployed, what security precautions would protect the data and a host of other concerns. They also worried that the studio ultimately couldn't claim ownership over every element of the film if AI generated parts of it, people involved in the negotiations said. Disney and Metaphysic spent 18 months negotiating on and off over the terms of the contract and work on the digital double. But none of the footage will be in the final film when it's released next summer...
Interviews with more than 20 current and former employees and partners present an entertainment giant torn between the inevitability of AI's advance and concerns about how to use it. Progress has at times been slowed by bureaucracy and hand-wringing over the company's social contract with its fans, not to mention its legal contract with unions representing actors, writers and other creative partners... For Disney, protecting its characters and stories while also embracing new AI technology is key. "We have been around for 100 years and we intend to be around for the next 100 years," said the company's legal chief, Horacio Gutierrez, in an interview. "AI will be transformative, but it doesn't need to be lawless...." [As recently as June, a Disney/Comcast Universal lawsuit had argued that Midjourney "is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism."]
Concerns about bad publicity were a big reason that Disney scrapped a plan to use AI in Tron: Ares — a movie set for release in October about an AI-generated soldier entering the real world. Since the movie is about artificial intelligence, executives pitched the idea of actually incorporating AI into one of the characters... as a buzzy marketing strategy, according to people familiar with the matter. A writer would provide context on the animated character — a sidekick to Jeff Bridges' lead role named Bit — to a generative AI program. Then on screen, the AI program, voiced by an actor, would respond to questions as Bit as cameras rolled. But with negotiations with unions representing writers and actors over contracts happening at the same time, Disney dismissed the idea, and executives internally were told that the company couldn't risk the bad publicity, the people said...
Disney's own history speaks to how studios have navigated technological crossroads before. When Disney hired Pixar to produce a handful of graphic images for its 1989 hit The Little Mermaid, executives kept the incorporation a secret, fearing backlash from fans if they learned that not every frame of the animated film had been hand-drawn. Such knowledge, executives feared, might "take away the magic."
Disney invested $1.5 billion in Fortnite creator Epic Games, acccording to the article, and is planning a world in Fortnite where gamers can interact with Marvel superheroes and creatures from Avatar. But "an experiment to allow gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader was fraught. Within minutes of launching the AI bot, gamers had figured out a way to make it curse in James Earl Jones's signature baritone." (Though Epic patched the workaround within 30 minutes.)
But the article spells out another concern for Disney executives. "If a Fortnite gamer creates a Darth Vader and Spider-Man dance that goes viral on YouTube, who owns that dance?
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Disney World fans left emotional over latest addition to theme park: 'Can't wait'
Disney World has shared the star-studded lineup of musicians set to perform at the theme park over the next few months - and fans were left emotional after noticing one band on the roster.
People are just realizing hidden detail in Kai Trump's first Instagram post
Fans are connecting the dots between Kai Trump's debut post and her mom's new relationship.
Ed Kelce shares picture of Taylor Swift with his late girlfriend as Travis and Jason's dad mourns her death
Maguire passed away on Friday at the age of 74 , according to her obituary , surrounded by loved ones. Ed Kelce has now shared some pictures from their time together.
Young adults with Down Syndrome enjoy learning new skills with firefighters
A team of young adults with Down Syndrome showed their new firefighting skills to friends and family after a special course.
Accused family-slayer warned jurors they would 'regret' convicting him in past trial - years before he 'killed family of four', cops say
Austin Robert Drummond, 28, remains on the run after he was identified as the primary suspect in a chilling Tennessee quadruple homicide.
After Trump moves nuclear submarines close to Russia, Putin responds by beginning 'war game training' with China in bleak show of combined force
In retaliation to US President Donald Trump moving submarines closer to Russia, Putin has begun 'war game training' with China in a bleak display of their allied force.
How Napster Inspired a Generation of Rule-Breaking Entrepreneurs
Napster's latest AI pivot "is the latest in a series of attempts by various owners to ride its brand cachet during emerging tech waves," Fast Company reported in July.
In March, it sold for $207 million to Infinite Reality, an immersive digital media and e-commerce company, which also rebranded as Napster last month. Since 2020, other owners have included a British VR music startup (to create VR concerts) and two crypto-focused companies that bought it to anchor a Web3 music platform. Napster's launch follows a growing number of attempts to drive AI adoption beyond smartphones and laptops.
And tonight the Washington Post re-visited the legacy of Napster's original mp3-sharing model, arguing Napster "inspired successive generations of entrepreneurs to risk flouting the law so they could grow enough to get the laws changed to suit them, including Airbnb and Uber."
"Napster to me embodies the idea that it is better to seek forgiveness than permission," said Mark Lemley, director of Stanford Law School's Program in Law, Science & Technology. "It didn't work out well for Napster or for many of the others who got sued, but it worked out very well for everyone else — users, and eventually the content industry, too, which is making record profits...." [Napster co-founder Sean] Parker later advised Spotify, and Napster marketing chief Oliver Schusser is now Apple's vice president for music.
Although many users saw Napster as an extension of rock-and-roll rebellion, that was not the company's real plan. First Fanning's majority-owning uncle, and then venture capital firm Hummer Winblad, wanted the start-up to leverage its knowledge of individual music consumers to make lucrative deals with the labels, according to internal documents this reporter found in researching a book on Napster. They warned that if no agreement were reached and Napster failed, more decentralized pirate services would take the audience and offer the labels nothing.
But settlement talks failed. The litigation blitz also took down a Napster competitor called Scour, which a young Travis Kalanick had joined shortly after its founding. Kalanick later created Uber, dedicated to overthrowing taxi regulations.
The article concludes that "Now it is Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, among the largest companies in the world, bankrolling the consumption of all media.
"They, too, have absorbed Napster's lessons in realpolitik, namely to build it first and hope the regulators will either yield or catch up."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Kerry Katona reveals she developed alopecia after her stressful split from ex Ryan Mahoney and admits she still struggles with hair loss
Kerry, 44, and personal trainer Ryan, 36, separated in November after six years together, citing a 'breach of trust'.