In addition to the requisite security updates, Apple is introducing some day-to-day improvements with its new iOS 18.3. These mainly involve Apple Intelligence, now activated by default for the first time. Users that don’t want features such as ChatGPT Siri integration or Image Playground will have to disable them. Apple Intelligence notification summaries now appear in italicized print to stand out more. Apple at one point temporarily paused the AI summaries due to complaints over inaccurate information. Visual Intelligence can now provide information about animals and plants, and add data containing dates from pictures directly to a calendar. Continue reading Apple Intelligence Is On by Default for First Time with iOS 18.3

Free, ad-supported streaming video service Plex is introducing a new user interface and expanding its social media overlay, adding the ability for users to publicly share their Plex profiles and allow others to read and comment on their movie reviews. By default, all Plex users can be searched out by other Plex users within the app (unless they’ve changed that setting). Now, by opting to make profiles public on watch.plex.tv, they can be shared using the link and will also be searchable on the Web, showing what users have watched and have added to their watchlist, and more. California-based Plex offers ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) as well as linear FAST channels. Continue reading Plex Adds Public Profiles and Ways to Share Program Reviews

YouTube is rolling out new experimental features for Premium users and letting those paid plan subscribers access more than one test feature at a time. Among the exploratory features now available to YouTube Premium users is high-quality 256kbps audio on music videos and the ability to “jump ahead” on the web, something previously available only on mobile devices. For iOS users, picture-in-picture and smart downloads for YouTube Shorts are also among the new features. In addition, the company announced bundled pricing for those users who subscribe to both YouTube Premium and Google One Premium. Continue reading YouTube Premium Offers Speed Controls and Improved Audio

Amazon is testing a new way to provide viewers with content recommendations with AI Topics, now in limited beta release for Prime Video. AI Topics eschews traditional recommendation algorithms in favor of AI that “discovers” Prime Video content based on a combination of viewing history and personal interests. Users can request “mind-bending sci-fi” or “fantasy quests,” then navigate seamlessly through topics curated for them that appear on the Prime Video home page. Once a topic is selected, movies, series and linear channels will populate alongside additional related topics. Continue reading Amazon Testing ‘AI Topics’ Recommendations for Prime Video

Reddit has launched a new AI-powered search tool called Reddit Answers. Reddit is already appearing regularly in Google Search returns. The new interface provides a way users can utilize a conversational model to get answers directly from the social platform. “Once a question is asked, curated summaries of relevant conversations and details across Reddit will appear, including links to related communities and posts,” according to Reddit. Whether users will want to skip their usual go-to search engines in favor of querying Reddit alone could have long term ramifications for the 19-year old social platform, which went public in 2023. Continue reading ‘Reddit Answers’ Wants to Gain More Users Searching In-App

“AI won’t exist as an app, or a button… it’ll be an entirely new environment built on top of a web browser.” That is the pitch from The Browser Company, the New York-based firm behind the Arc browser that is now developing an AI-first web interface called Dia, expected to debut early next year. Dia aims to leverage AI tools to simplify common Internet tasks. The repertoire is now a familiar one, with things like writing assists and inspirational prompts becoming AI givens in a competitive field where Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini are already established. The Browser Company is trying to distinguish Dia with a simple, user-friendly interface. Continue reading The Browser Company is Building Dia, an AI-First Web Browser

Anticipating what one outlet calls “the likely imminent release of OpenAI’s Sora,” generative AI video competitors are compelled to step up their game. Luma AI has released a major upgrade to its Dream Machine, speeding its already quick video generation and enabling a chat function for natural language prompts, so you can talk to it as with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In addition to the new interface, Dream Machine is going mobile and adding a new foundation image model, Luma AI Photon, which “has been purpose built to advance the power and capabilities of Dream Machine,” according to the company. Continue reading Luma AI Upgrades Its Video Generator and Adds Image Model

Subscription-free streaming platform Plex — which features more than 600 channels, movies and TV shows — has redesigned its user interface to emphasize discovery and personalization. The new look is available in preview on mobile, with a public rollout planned in the weeks to come. “For personal media pros, we’ve centralized media libraries into a dedicated tab,” explains Plex, noting it’s added an option to save favorite libraries and quickly access power-user features. The Watchlist now has a dedicated spot in the navigation bar. Customers are using Plex to “find any title, anytime,” then linking it across services or adding it to the Watchlist. Continue reading Free Streaming Video Platform Plex Redesigns User Interface

Tubi has come up with a unique way to showcase its catalog of 250,000 movies and TV episodes: a feed of short-form videos similar to TikTok content. Called “Scenes,” the feature is available via Tubi’s mobile app for Android and iOS. Tubi, the Fox Corporation free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service, hopes Scenes will help Tubi viewers find what to watch as part of a “strategy to provide effortless entertainment on mobile.” Tubi already leverages machine learning and AI models to help personalize its recommendation experience and encourage discovery. Continue reading Tubi Introduces Short-Form Video Clips with Scenes Feature

Hangout is a new service that wants to make enjoying music more of a social experience. The platform, from Turntable Labs, is available on iOS, Android and the Web. At launch, Hangout offers more than 100 million songs, available to stream globally as a result of deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group as well as indie rights group Merlin. Users can select an avatar and invite friends to their personal ‘hangout’ space, taking turns playing songs from their favorite artists in the virtual DJ booth. Continue reading Hangout Is a New Social Platform with Music Listening Rooms

Signal, the encrypted messaging app, has added video call features that could position the company as a rival to communication platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. Signal has also added a “Calls” tab that lets users initiate new calls, review call history and create call links, which can conveniently be shared with colleagues via normal messaging instead of having to create specific call groups. The reusable links also make it easy to share invites for recurring calls. Signal Calls is available for iOS, Android and desktop. The desktop app lets users choose between grid, sidebar and speaker views. Continue reading Signal’s New Video Call Feature Takes on Zoom, Meet, Teams

Particle, the AI-powered news aggregator created by a pair of Twitter alums, has launched after a year in beta. The iOS app summarizes current events in quick hits the startup says do not violate the copyrights of publishers whose news it shares. Instead of simply scraping publishers’ work for proprietary use, the startup seeks to compensate publishers and drive traffic to news sites with prominent links to sources accompanying each AI news summary. Developed by Sara Beykpour and Marcel Molina, Particle has raised more than $11 million in early funding led by Lightspeed. Continue reading Particle Launches AI News App That Summarizes in Quick Hits

Microsoft Copilot now helps subscription users create personal themes in Outlook using generative AI. In what Microsoft says is “the first instance of dynamic AI-generated theming in productivity applications,” Copilot can now display inboxes against dynamic backdrops based on geography, the weather, or anything else users can imagine. The new feature is available across all popular platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and the Web. Just like you might “spruce up your office with artwork or plants,” Copilot lets AI enhance your digital environment, according to Microsoft. Continue reading Copilot Now Enables Custom AI Themes in Microsoft Outlook

Following the phasing out of legacy pricing for YouTube Premium subscribers that began in January in the U.S., the Google-owned streaming service is now doing the same in Europe and elsewhere. Long-time subscribers with pricing plans dating back to discontinued services Google Play Music and YouTube Red will begin paying the equivalent of the current $13.99 per month price starting in January 2025. The price increase encompasses both YouTube Premium, which is ad-free and includes YouTube Music, as well as YouTube’s standalone plans. Concurrently, the streaming giant is also rolling out a controls redesign for iOS and Android. Continue reading YouTube Raises Its Premium Subscription Rates Internationally

Nintendo has released a new app designed to delight gaming fans who have embraced the music featured in popular games such as “Super Mario Bros.,” “The Legend of Zelda” or “Pokémon.” Nintendo Music parses nearly 40 years of musical history from the Japanese gamemaker, available free via the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service on iOS and Android. Users can stream songs or download for offline listening, building their own playlists to share or accessing Nintendo-curated programming. Recommendations will propagate based on a fan’s Nintendo Switch play activity. Continue reading Nintendo Music Debuts with 40 Years of Tunes for Switch Subs