Spotify and Apple are running neck-and-neck in U.S. podcasting, with various surveys showing one or the other in first place. Not wanting to be shown up by Apple, which launched new creators tools this week, Spotify followed suit at the Podcast Movement conference in Denver, announcing customization features and a new audience performance dashboard. For the first time, podcasters will be able to customize parts of their podcast landing page, adding a bio and social media handles. “Spotify is working to build a more robust podcast ecosystem that serves creators, listeners, and advertisers at scale,” said Austin Lamon, director of podcasts. Continue reading Spotify Upgrades Podcast Customization, Audience Analytics

Amazon’s live-streaming video service Twitch has begun testing a vertical presentation it’s calling the “Discovery Feed” designed to make it easier for users to browse and find new content. The interactive gaming and entertainment platform is the latest to emulate TikTok’s flagship vertical scroll, joining recent converts YouTube, Reddit, Spotify and Amazon. Beginning this week, select users will be able to access the new viewing format, although initially it will be populated with horizontally-framed creator clips, Twitch says, explaining that the framing will switch to vertical “as the feed evolves.” Continue reading Twitch Is Testing New Vertical-Scroll Feed to Boost Discovery

A draft agreement said to have been presented by the U.S. government to ByteDance that would let TikTok avoid a federal ban seeks “near unfettered access” to company data and “unprecedented control” over platform functions. The nearly 100-page document, reported on this week, seeks control federal officials don’t have over other media outlets — social or otherwise — raising domestic concerns about government overreach. The draft dates to summer 2022. It is not known whether it has been updated or if the secretive negotiations between ByteDance and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) have since continued. Continue reading Plans for TikTok Containment Would Give Feds Broad Power

Amazon continues to expand its FAST portfolio, updating the Fire TV app with new channels from Variety, GameSpot, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Funny or Die, TVLine, Honest Trailers, Looper, Slash Film and more. They join the 400-plus Fire TV Channels that Amazon launched in May when the free streaming service debuted with content ranging from sports and entertainment to cooking, travel and gaming, featuring brands such as ABC News, FOX Sports, CBS Sports HQ, IGN, IMDb and Martha Stewart. In addition to responding to Alexa voice commands, Fire TV features a newly introduced navigational sidebar for browsing. Continue reading Amazon Updates Fire TV: New Channels, Sidebar Navigation

Salesforce suggests “the retail industry is again on the precipice of major disruption” based on consumer adoption of artificial intelligence, which is being used to change shopping habits and inform purchases through things like personalization, browsing suggestions and recommendations based on past habits and visualizations. Other popular use cases include AI-generated marketing assets and customer service agents. Based on a study conducted in May and June of this year involving 2,400 shoppers and 1,125 retail decision makers, Salesforce notes that one in six shoppers, or 17 percent, have already used generative AI for “purchase inspiration.” Continue reading Salesforce: 17 Percent of Shoppers Have Used Generative AI

The StanbyME Go from LG Electronics USA is a 27-inch portable smart touchscreen and LCD TV housed in a suitcase that runs for up to three hours on a full charge. Featuring four built-in speakers, screen mirroring (with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, iOS and Android) and voice controls, LG is touting its new mobile device as an “all-in-one entertainment option.” The 1080p display swivels, tilts and rotates in landscape or portrait orientation, and even includes a table mode for playing games. Priced at $1,000, it accommodates a full range of streaming apps courtesy of LG webOS. Continue reading StanbyME Go: LG Debuts a Portable, Multi-Purpose LCD TV

YouTube Music is adding Samples, a discovery feature that lets users scroll by swiping vertically, similar to TikTok’s signature video feed. Described as “the appetizer to a whole meal,” Samples is comprised of 30-second teasers, but quickly lets users add the entire song to a playlist or share it with friends, all “without leaving YouTube Music,” the Google-owned company informs, suggesting fans “kick off a great new radio station, watch the full video, visit the album page, or even use the song to create your own Short.” Rolling out globally in stages, the Samples tab will appear at the bottom of the YouTube Music app next to the Home, Library and Explore sections. Continue reading YouTube Music Adds a Vertical Video Scroll Called ‘Samples’

Netflix continues to expand its game ecosystem. The company released a TV game controller for iOS devices earlier this month and has just begun beta testing its game streaming on TVs in Canada and the UK, with plans to begin tests for computer play in the coming weeks. Participating in the tests are partner devices including Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku devices and TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, and Walmart Onn, with plans for more manufacturers to be added on an ongoing basis. Continue reading Netflix Beta Tests Its Game Streaming on TVs and Computers

Blockchain startup Aptos Labs will use the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to “explore innovative solutions” in blockchain and Web3 for technologies involving artificial intelligence, tokenization and payments. As part of the deal Aptos describes as a “partnership,” the company is launching Aptos Assistant, which will enable natural language prompts, making Web3 applications like smart contracts and decentralized apps more “user-friendly and secure” for “everyday Internet users and organizations” as well as developers. Aptos offers what is known as Layer 1 blockchain, technology designed to facilitate transactions at scale. Continue reading Aptos Teams with Microsoft Azure OpenAI on Web3 Solutions

X is developing a video-calling feature to add as part of its rebranding as an “everything app.” X CEO Linda Yaccarino shared the news in her first television interview since leaving NBCUniversal to become head of Elon Musk’s social media platform in June, when the platform was still known as Twitter. Yaccarino said X users will soon be able to make video calls based on their social ID alone, without sharing phone numbers. Long-form videos, creator subscriptions and the ability to make payments on the platform are additional features that Yaccarino explained will be coming to X. Continue reading Yaccarino: X Getting Video Calls with Its ‘Everything’ Rebrand

WeAre8 is a different kind of social media platform making its U.S. debut a year after launching in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The socially conscious mobile app prohibits hate speech and pays its users to watch ads. Earned funds can be withdrawn or directed to causes like Save the Children, Feeding America and Water.org. The app prohibits tobacco, big oil and gambling interests from advertising. Backed by publishers including The Independent, Warner Bros. Discovery and LADbible Group, WeAre8 hopes to attract 80 million users in two years. Continue reading Publishers Get Behind New Social App to Fund Good Causes

Google has debuted Project IDX, an AI-enabled development environment for building full-stack web and multiplatform apps. Comparing app development that works across mobile, web, and desktop platforms to “building a Rube Goldberg machine” with a duct-taped tech stack, Google says Project IDX smooths the process of compiling, testing, deploying and monitoring apps. The browser-based Project IDX is built on the Google Cloud using the Codey family of AI foundation models built on PaLM 2. Currently, IDX supports the JavaScript and Dart languages, with plans for Python, Go and more. Continue reading Google’s Project IDX Offers Full-Stack Dev in a Web Browser

PayPal has become the first major U.S. fintech firm to launch its own cryptocurrency with a stablecoin called PayPal USD. Issued by Paxos Trust Company, PayPal USD is 100 percent backed by dollar deposits, U.S. treasuries and cash equivalents, and will maintain a value of exactly $1, according to the company. Initially available only to U.S. customers, CEO Dan Schulman says PayPal intends to make cryptocurrency a part of its overall payments infrastructure and will soon integrate it with its Venmo mobile payment app. PayPal shares, in a slump since last year, were up 3 percent on the news. Continue reading PayPal Is First Major U.S. Fintech to Launch Own Stablecoin

Verizon has teamed with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on a discovery app called Replica that lets consumers scan artwork to generate digital collectibles. The augmented reality Replica experience lets museum visitors scan items using a mobile app that stores them to Roblox as objects or avatar accessories. Roblox account holders can also virtually explore the Met’s facade and partake in other immersive experiences. The effort follows a previous Verizon collaboration with the museum and indicates the way institutions can leverage AR to engage consumers. Continue reading The Met Teams with Verizon to Create Roblox AR Experience

Spotify is rolling out its new Confidence software development product in private beta. Based on its learnings from more than 10 years of experience experimenting at scale, the company says Confidence aims to make it simple for teams to set up, run and analyze their own user tests so they can quickly perfect and productize ideas. “Whether it’s automatically coordinating simultaneous A/B tests or orchestrating the rollout of an AI recommendation system across mobile, desktop, and web, the platform we built scales experimentation best practices and capabilities,” Spotify explains, adding that it plans to make the technology available soon to all companies. Continue reading Spotify’s Confidence Development Platform Is in Private Beta