On Thursday, Bits of Freedom—a Netherlands-based advocacy group specially focused on privacy and freedom of communication—announced that a judge ruled Meta must respect users’ choice to avoid invasive personalized feeds. Within two weeks, Meta must update its apps to allow EU users the choice of sticking with a chronological feed that is not based on...
On Tuesday, OpenAI announced Sora 2, its second-generation video-synthesis AI model that can now generate videos in various styles with synchronized dialogue and sound effects, which is a first for the company. OpenAI also launched a new iOS social app that allows users to insert themselves into AI-generated videos through what OpenAI calls “cameos.” OpenAI...
“Treat us like adults,” users rage On the X post where OpenAI announced parental controls, some parents slammed the update. In the X thread, one self-described parent of a 12-year-old suggested OpenAI was only offering “essentially just a set of useless settings,” requesting that the company consider allowing parents to review topics teens discuss as...
The Epic Games Store has seen an uptick in downloads since the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) prompted Apple to streamline its process for installing third-party app marketplaces, according to a new blog published by Epic. Stats shared by the gaming software giant on Wednesday show the drop-off rate for Epic Games Store installations on...
Starting today, OpenAI is rolling out ChatGPT safety tools intended for parents to use with their teenagers. This worldwide update includes the ability for parents, as well as law enforcement, to receive notifications if a child—in this case, users between the ages of 13 and 18—engages in chatbot conversations about self harm or suicide. These...
For example, I made a long list of various errands I needed to do, and Reminders grouped them into these categories: Administrative Tasks, Household Chores, Miscellaneous, Personal Tasks, Shopping, and Travel & Accommodation. The error rate here is respectable, but I would have tweaked some things. For one, I wouldn’t use the word “administrative” to...
A new app offering to record your phone calls and pay you for the audio so it can sell the data to AI companies is, unbelievably, the No. 2 app in Apple’s U.S. App Store’s Social Networking section. The app, Neon Mobile, pitches itself as a moneymaking tool offering “hundreds or even thousands of dollars...
Instagram has grown to 3 billion monthly active users, according to announcements by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram Head Adam Mosseri. This is a notable milestone for the Meta-owned platform, which hit 1 billion users back in 2018. “If you look at the last few years, almost all of our growth has been driven...
We’ve asked Meta if the new Instagram milestone includes users for its X rival Threads, which launched in July 2023 and requires users to sign up using an Instagram or Facebook account. Bloomberg reports that private messaging and Reels short-form video features are Instagram’s biggest growth drivers, and are what the platform is now focusing...
A couple of months ago, the founders behind YC-backed social app Candle were in “pivot hell,” cycling through more than a dozen ideas after joining Y Combinator’s Fall 2024 batch, while the clock on their seed money ticked down. Alex Ruber, previously an engineer at Apple, and Parth Chopra, formerly an engineer at Asana and...