YouTube’s time management settings now have an option to put a zero-minute time limit on Shorts, effectively removing them from your app in Android and iOS. The option is an update to the Shorts timer YouTube originally announced in October; the lowest previous option was 15 minutes. The feature was expanded in January to give parents some control over how long their kids spend scrolling through Shorts, with an option for zero minutes “coming soon.” According to YouTube spokesperson Makenzie Spiller, the option to set the timer to zero is now “live for all parents, and is currently being rolled…
Category: Technology
MAGA Media Seems to Have Hit Its Breaking Point Over Iran
“The online right wasn’t supportive and there wasn’t anything that was going to change that,” says one person familiar with the Republican influencer pipeline.
Google introduces AI-generated avatars to YouTube Shorts
A new feature that lets you create an AI avatar with your likeness is now live on YouTube. First announced in a blog post earlier this year, avatars are designed to be used in Shorts (provided you still allow them to show up), allowing you to insert yourself into video content in a way that YouTube deems to be safe and secure.YouTube’s approach to combatting the AI sloppification of the internet and the proliferation of deepfakes appears to be adding more and more AI features to its platform, framing this latest addition as a tool that gives creators more control of their digital identities…
A jury is about to decide the fate of Ticketmaster
Consumer complaints about Ticketmaster are so voluminous at state attorneys general offices that Pennsylvania’s comes with an explicit plea for residents lodging a grievance about the company to be patient for a response. That kind of pressure has driven more than 30 states to push forward with claims that Live Nation-Ticketmaster illegally monopolized parts of the concert industry, even when the federal government settled its claims. Soon it will be up to a jury to decide if the ways Live Nation-Ticketmaster conducts its business is not just frustrating, but also illegal. An antitrust trial…
Spotify now lets everyone turn off all videos in its app
The controls can be used to choose an audio-first experience on the app or a video-enhanced one, Spotify says.
Coders Coded Their Job Away. Why Are So Many of Them Happy About It?
In the era of A.I. agents, many Silicon Valley programmers are now barely programming. Instead, what they’re doing is deeply, deeply weird.
Google Play will let you try a game before you buy it
Google Play has introduced a new feature called Game Trials, which will let you play a portion of paid games for free before you commit to buying them. It’s now rolling out to select paid games on mobile, and it’s coming soon to Google Play Games on PC. Titles that offer Game Trials will show a button marked “Try” on their profile pages. When you click it, you’ll see how long you can play the game before you have to buy it. In Google’s example, the survival and horror game Dredge will give you 60 minutes of free play time, after which you’ll get the option to either buy the game…
Birdfy Discount Code: Save Up to 40% on Smart Bird Feeders
Use these verified Birdfy discount codes to score up to 40% off smart feeders, camera kits, and accessories.
Apple is reportedly looking into 3D printing aluminum iPhones and Apple Watches
There could be even more 3D-printed Apple products coming in the future. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is exploring ways to 3D print aluminum to make the manufacturing processes for iPhones and Apple Watches more efficient.Gurman reported that this new production process could specifically change how Apple makes its watch casings as well as iPhone enclosures. It’s not the first time Apple has tapped into 3D printing, since both the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Series 11 were partially built with 3D-printed titanium that’s 100 percent recycled. More recently, Apple used its 3D printing…
The cute and cursed story of Furby
The hottest toy of 1998 was sort of adorable, and sort of annoying. It couldn’t do much – couldn’t do anything, really – but it could look at you, it could say some nonsense phrases, and it seemed uncannily aware of the world around it. That’s all Furby needed to pretty much take over the world.The story of Furby is filled with technical achievement. The fact that the furry little guy worked at all, ever, was a bit of a surprise to a lot of people involved. But Furby also represents a different way of thinking about our relationships with technology, a different idea about human-computer…