Technology

NYU AND SONY’S PERSONAL ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS LAUNCH THE SONY AUDIO INSTITUTE

Published

1 year ago

March 11, 2025

THE INSTITUTE WILL FOSTER INNOVATION AT THE INTERSECTION OF TECHNOLOGY AND MUSIC

ESTEEMED EDUCATOR LARRY S. MILLER TO BECOME DIRECTOR

NEW YORK, March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — New York University (NYU) and Sony Corporation through its Personal Entertainment Business’ U.S. operations (Sony) announce the launch of the Sony Audio Institute, an initiative designed to prepare the next generation of creators and innovators within NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, fostering innovation at the intersection of technology, music and business. The Sony Audio Institute, established for an initial 10-year term, will serve as a hub for interdisciplinary collaboration, merging the expertise of Sony’s professional and consumer audio businesses with NYU students, faculty, and facilities. The Institute will elevate classroom experiences with cutting-edge technology, power pioneering research opportunities, and deepen NYU’s and Sony’s relationships with New York City’s vibrant entertainment community through events and workshops.

The Sony Audio Institute was created by NYU Steinhardt leadership and faculty and Sony’s Personal Entertainment Business, which is responsible for Sony’s professional and consumer audio business and heavily focused on its engagement and support of music and creators at all levels, including producers, engineers, songwriters, recording studios and more through its hardware and innovative audio solutions. Formally known as the Sony Audio Institute for Music Business and Technology, the Institute will offer new opportunities and support to students in Steinhardt’s Music Business and Music Technology degree programs.

The Sony Audio Institute will open this spring with Larry S. Miller, NYU Steinhardt Clinical Professor and music industry veteran who received the 2024 Educator of the Year Award from the Music Business Association, as inaugural Director. He will also continue as the Director of the Music Business Program at NYU Steinhardt until Fall 2025.

“It is an honor to establish this collaboration with New York University, one of the world’s premier music schools, renowned for its long-standing legacy of producing some of the audio industry’s top talent,” said Kimio Maki, President and CEO, Sony Corporation. “Through this collaboration, we look forward to inspiring creativity for the next generation of music creators and witness how their artistry will influence the music industry for years to come.”

“We are excited and grateful that Sony has chosen NYU Steinhardt to collaborate on this important initiative, which will create new opportunities for our amazingly talented students through scholarships, internships, research fellowships, and other unrivaled experiences. This forward-looking initiative will not only create new opportunities for creative expression, it will give our students a competitive advantage in a rapidly changing industry. I’d like to thank the team at Sony and everyone at NYU who worked tirelessly to make this dream a reality,” said NYU President Linda G. Mills.

The Sony Audio Institute will integrate Sony’s state-of-the-art technology into NYU’s immersive learning environment for students focused on the music business and technology. This includes giving students access to a variety of audio solutions, such as 360 Reality Audio, Sony’s immersive music experience, and 360 Virtual Mixing Environment, a technology that accurately reproduces the acoustic field of an audio studio using only headphones with proprietary measurement technology, thus enabling users to create professional audio mixes from anywhere.

NYU’s Music and Audio Research Lab (MARL), which studies the convergence of science, technology, music, and sound, will pursue, with input from Sony researchers and engineers, groundbreaking research in the areas of music and audio technologies. MARL’s current research includes music and auditory perception and cognition, machine listening and music information retrieval, spatial, and immersive audio, music in the health and rehabilitation sciences, and more. Joint research will complement MARL’s existing activities and create a space where students can help to shape the future of music and technology.

The partnership between NYU and Sony will cultivate student engagement through workshops, internships and special events, connecting students with real-world opportunities. A studio at NYU’s Brooklyn campus will be named the “Sony Audio Institute Studio,” and will be equipped with Sony’s 360 Reality Audio, as well as 360 Virtual Mixing Environment. In addition, NYU venues will present student-driven programming that bridges the gap between academic learning and real-world industry experiences. These spaces will offer NYU students and future creators a platform for hands-on innovation and collaboration.

Finally, through the Sony Audio Institute, NYU is establishing a scholarship program to assist undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students at NYU Steinhardt who demonstrate financial need and academic merit with a preference for students who have an interest in pursuing research or careers in the audio industry.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Steinhardt’s students, faculty, and researchers to develop deep expertise with Sony’s creative technologies,” said Jack H. Knott, Dean of NYU Steinhardt. “Our programs are already among the best in the world, and with this new support from and partnership with Sony, we will produce the talent and research to help drive the future of music creation and audio technology.”

“I am honored and excited to be leading this innovative new Institute,” said Larry S. Miller, NYU Steinhardt Clinical Professor. “I am confident that our outstanding students, faculty, and researchers will embrace the multitude of opportunities this brings to NYU Steinhardt’s music programs.”

“At Sony, we’re always looking to push the boundaries of audio technology to create new music experiences that transform the industry,” said Jun Makino, VP of Personal Entertainment Business U.S. operations at Sony. “The Sony Audio Institute is part of our long-term vision to drive innovation, cultivate fresh perspectives, and reinforce Sony audio’s role at the forefront of supporting music creators.”

“The Sony Audio Institute isn’t just about technology – it’s about investing in and empowering the next generation of creators and industry leaders,” said Jordy Freed, Head of Brand, Business Development & Strategy, Personal Entertainment Business U.S. operations at Sony. “We want to break down barriers by giving young creators access to world-class tools, mentorship, and hands-on experiences—helping them develop their craft and shape the sound of tomorrow.”

About Sony Corporation
Sony Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation and is responsible for the Entertainment, Technology & Services (ET&S) business. With the mission to “create the future of entertainment through the power of technology together with creators,” we aim to continue to deliver Kando* to people around the world.

For more information, visit: http://www.sony.net/

*Kando is a Japanese word that roughly translates to the sense of awe and emotion you feel when experiencing something beautiful and amazing for the first time.

About NYU Steinhardt
Located in the heart of New York City’s Greenwich Village, NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School’s mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit steinhardt.nyu.edu.

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SOURCE Sony Corporation

Technology

Northern Hemisphere Heat Drives Demand for Cooling and Sun-Protection Products on Yiwugo

Published

59 minutes ago

July 24, 2026

YIWU, China, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Yiwugo.com, the official website of the Yiwu Commodity Market, is the largest commodity wholesale market in the world. The final whistle may have blown on the World Cup, but the intense heat gripping the Northern Hemisphere shows no sign of letting up. Europe has experienced unusually hot weather this year, sparking not only a surge in demand for air conditioners but also a boom in portable handheld fans. Merchants on Yiwugo say that in previous years, European customers would begin placing orders in March or April and take their time completing their annual procurement. This year, however, the purchasing season has stretched well into summer, with a flood of new buyers coming in, most of them looking for small handheld fans. With customers eager to capitalize on the peak summer season, delivery timelines have also become significantly tighter. Whereas orders in previous years could generally be fulfilled within a month, merchants are now frequently being asked to deliver within about a week, leaving manufacturers scrambling to keep pace with demand.

Lingpan Official Flagship Store has specialized in the production and sales of small fans, insulated cups, and related products for 15 years. This summer, demand from European customers for high-speed small fans has risen sharply, accompanied by urgent delivery requirements. Many customers began requesting shipment just one week after placing their orders, hoping the products would arrive in time for the World Cup and the ongoing heatwave across Europe. One long-standing European customer purchased only five models of small fans from Lingpan last year. Anticipating stronger demand ahead of this summer, the customer expanded the order to 10 models. The first shipment sold out soon after arriving at port, prompting several subsequent repeat orders. European buyers have shown particular interest in high-speed cooling fans and placed great requirements on product quality. So far this year, Lingpan’s fan sales have more than doubled compared with the same period last year, with total purchases reaching approximately RMB 1 million.

Beyond Europe, the owner of Lingpan, Ling Pan pointed out that the Indian market has also undergone significant changes over the past two years. Indian customers are showing great interest in panda-shaped fans, drinking cups, and related products. Procurement volumes among many Indian buyers have increased substantially, with average annual purchases now reaching several hundred thousand yuan.

Unlike European countries grappling with sudden heat waves, Asian markets such as Japan and South Korea, where summers are consistently hot and air conditioners and fans are already everyday essentials, have shown much stronger demand for sun-protection products. From April 1, 2026 to date, sales of sun-protection masks on Yiwugo have increased by 31.6% YoY, while sales of sun-protection face shields surged by 72.42% and sun hats rose by 8.1%.

Chen Jia, a Yiwugo merchant, has engaged in the production and sales of sun-protection masks and sun-protection face shields for eight years. Chen operates the Xiao Zhen and Xiao Mian Sun-Protection Products Workshop in District 4 of the Yiwu International Trade Market. In recent years, the company has customized cooling nylon fabrics for customers in Japan and South Korea. Sun-protection masks and sun-protection face shields made from this material not only offer UPF 50+ protection, but also maintain a more structured shape and are less susceptible to snagging or deformation. Their protective performance remains effective after routine washing, and the products can last for more than five years under normal use.

In 2024, a TV shopping operator from South Korea contacted Xiao Zheng and Xiao Mian through Yiwugo and began placing orders after inspecting the products in person. Over the following two years, the company continued to improve the fitness and design of its sun-protection products. It introduced sun-protection face shields with breathable mesh panels and incorporated soft supports around the nose area to prevent the masks from rubbing against lipstick. These product upgrades have steadily driven up customer ratings on the client’s store. Annual procurement, initially valued at around RMB 300,000, has risen year by year, and the company has since developed into a recognized brand in the local market.

Persistent heat across the Northern Hemisphere has been creating new forms of cross-border consumer demand while enabling Yiwugo merchants to keenly capture shifts in overseas markets. From the strong sales of small portable fans in Europe to the rising demand for functional sun-protection products in Japan and South Korea, the diversity of orders reflects both consumers’ need for relief from extreme heat and the ability of Yiwu manufacturers to strengthen their presence in global markets through product innovation and rapid fulfillment. Faced with a rapidly changing international market, many merchants are continuing to refine product designs, upgrade fabric techniques, and enhance supply efficiency. By leveraging Yiwugo to broaden their export channels, they are keeping pace with overseas consumption trends and capitalizing on the expanding market for cooling and sun-protection products, turning the summer heat into new momentum for cross-border trade.

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SOURCE Yiwugo.com

Technology

Snorkel AI Highlights First Wave of Open Benchmarks Grants Projects

Published

59 minutes ago

July 24, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Snorkel AI today highlighted the first group of projects supported through Open Benchmarks Grants, a $3 million commitment to support open-source datasets, benchmarks, and evaluation research.

Launched in February 2026, Open Benchmarks Grants has received hundreds of applications from researchers, labs, and engineers working to address a growing challenge: AI systems are advancing faster than the field’s ability to rigorously measure their performance on realistic, consequential work.

“From complex environments and huge autonomy horizons to rich, sophisticated outputs, these projects tackle some of the field’s hardest evaluation challenges,” said Fred Sala, a member of the Open Benchmarks Grants steering committee and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “I’m excited to see the broader research community use, validate, and build on them.”

Open Benchmarks Grants provides selected teams with funding, expert data development support, research and engineering collaboration, and platform resources. Supported projects include:

Frontier-Bench (formerly Terminal-Bench 3.0), developed with Laude Institute and the Harbor community, is a harder, more domain-diverse successor to Terminal-Bench 2.1 — built in the open, task by task, under continuous adversarial review.Agents’ Last Exam, developed with UC Berkeley RDI and the RDI Foundation, evaluates agents on long-horizon, economically valuable professional workflows. It spans 55 sub-industries and includes more than 1,500 tasks toward a 5,000-task target, sourced and validated by more than 300 industry experts.OSWorld 2.0, developed with XLANG Lab, evaluates computer-use agents on 108 long-horizon workflows across 31 self-hosted web environments and professional desktop applications.Continual Learning Bench, developed with UC Berkeley SkyLab and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, measures whether agents genuinely improve across sequential, stateful tasks.SlopCode Bench, developed with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, measures how code quality degrades as coding agents repeatedly modify and extend their own solutions.Terminal-Bench 2.1, developed with Stanford University, Laude Institute and the Harbor community, evaluates agents on challenging work in terminal environments. The release corrected 28 tasks and introduced continuous validation.

With support from Open Benchmarks Grants, Terminal-Bench Science is also now in development, extending the Terminal-Bench framework to computational research workflows across the life, physical, earth, and mathematical sciences.

Beyond the grants program, Snorkel led the development of Senior SWE-Bench with the research teams at Princeton University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The benchmark evaluates coding agents on senior-level engineering work, including implementing features from realistic instructions, investigating bugs that require runtime analysis, and producing code that follows existing codebase conventions.

Open Benchmarks Grants was established with support from Hugging Face, Prime Intellect, Together AI, Factory, Harbor, and PyTorch. Applications remain open and are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Learn more and apply for a grant at benchmarks.snorkel.ai.

About Snorkel AI
Snorkel AI is the frontier AI data lab, helping teams build the data and environments behind high-performing frontier and agentic AI. We combine technology with research-driven AI data development to create datasets, benchmarks, evals, and custom solutions for real-world AI systems. Founded out of the Stanford AI Lab in 2019, Snorkel works with leading AI labs and enterprises to move from better data to better outcomes.

media@snorkel.ai

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SOURCE Snorkel AI

Technology

Payzli Vaults to No. 3 on Tampa Bay’s Fast 50, Up From No. 22 in One Year

Published

59 minutes ago

July 24, 2026

Payments technology company, Payzli earns a second consecutive Fast 50 ranking, crediting the climb to accelerating partner and merchant growth on its proprietary technology stack.

TAMPA, Fla., July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Payzli, the partner-first payments technology company, has been named the No. 3 fastest-growing company in the region on the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2026 Fast 50 – a 19-spot climb from its No. 22 debut last year, and the company’s second consecutive year on the list.

The ranking was announced July 23 at the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Fast 50 event in Tampa, where Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer Naim Hamdar accepted the award alongside members of the Payzli team.

Payzli attributed its growth to a compounding effect: a national network of ISOs, agents and ISVs bringing merchants onto a technology platform Payzli built and operated in-house.

That platform rests on three proprietary pillars:

Payzli Connect: the company’s payment CRM and merchant-and-partner dashboard, giving agents and ISOs daily residuals visibility and giving merchants a single place to run their account.Payzli POS: AI-powered point-of-sale and business software purpose-built for service businesses, including salons, med spas, wellness studios, and independent operators.Payzli Transact: an online payment gateway built on Visa Platform Connect through Payzli’s partnership with Visa Acceptance Solutions.

The Visa Acceptance Solutions partnership is central to how Payzli frames its credibility: rather than assembling a growth story on top of borrowed infrastructure, the company processes on rails backed by one of the most established networks in the industry alongside Fiserv and TSYS – a point that matters to the partners and merchants deciding where to place their volume.

“A second year on this list, and a jump to No. 3, isn’t about one good quarter. It’s about a network deciding to build with us and stay,” said Naim Hamdar, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Payzli. “Every rank on this list represents partners we’ve earned and merchants who trust us to run their payments. We built the technology in-house so we could keep the promises the industry usually breaks: nothing hidden, a real person in reach, and daily residual visibility our agents can actually count on. That’s what this ranking measures and it’s why we’re doing it all, for the joy of business.”

“They say nothing in Tampa moves fast except the afternoon thunderstorms, so making the Fast 50 two years running feels pretty good,” said Kapil Pershad, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Payzli. “In all seriousness, this is a credit to our team and the businesses that trust us to power their growth.”

The Fast 50, produced by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, recognizes the fastest-growing private companies in the Tampa Bay region. Payzli’s return to the list and its move into the top three reflects a merchant-first product suite and a rapidly expanding national partner network across the payments and embedded-finance landscape.

About Payzli

Payzli is an end-to-end payments technology partner that makes accepting payments simpler and affordable for businesses of all sizes and risk levels. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Tampa, Florida, Payzli brings together in-person processing, an advanced online gateway, AI-powered point of sale, and mobile and contactless payments – backed by its own technology, honest pricing, and dedicated human support. Built partner-first, Payzli equips ISOs, agents, developers, and independent software vendors to grow, with direct integrations to major processing platforms, in-house underwriting, a flexible credit policy, a Visa Acceptance Solutions foundation partnership, and sponsor-bank backing from Esquire Bank, a NASDAQ-listed strategic investor in Payzli. For more information, email partners@payzli.com or visit payzli.com.

Payzli is a registered trademark of United Payment Systems LLC. United Payment Systems LLC is a registered ISO of Esquire Bank (Jericho, NY), Commercial Bank of California (Irvine, CA), and KeyBank, National Association (Cleveland, OH).

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SOURCE Payzli