Today, TIDAL announced some significant changes to its subscription tiers and the way it will pay artists. First, TIDAL is introducing a free streaming tier, marking the first time the service will be accessible without a monthly subscription. On the other hand, TIDAL's new payment methods will allow subscribers to have some influence over where at least a portion of their membership fees will go.
Snapchat has introduced a new camera-based analysis feature called Food Scan that, as its name suggests, enables users to scan food items using the social media app. As with other camera-based image analysis tools, Food Scan is able to analyze the item in an image -- ingredients, in this case -- to present related information.
Following a small launch in Portland earlier this year, Google has announced the widespread rollout of its new grocery pickup feature for Google Maps. The feature simplifies the grocery pickup process by integrating order features into the Maps product, enabling Google users to see when their order is ready and more using the same app that provides directions to the grocery store.
Microsoft is sending thousands of people a gift card for their store via email starting this week. The company suggested that they'll be sending digital gift cards to random emails* over the next few weeks in order to "start your holiday shopping." It is important, at a time like this, to recognize the massive potential for chaos this will likely cause in the future.
Twitch made a surprise appearance on the Nintendo Switch eShop this week, becoming one of the few media apps available on the platform. The addition of Twitch continues this slow, seemingly random drip release of media apps for the Switch that we've seen since launch. Unfortunately, there are a large number of media apps that could be on the Switch but aren't - a fact that's brought back to the forefront whenever a new media app makes its way to the eShop.
Even though Microsoft has been supporting PC with day-and-date releases of first-party games, the Microsoft Store hasn't been the most convenient way to buy and install PC games. However, that may be changing, as a new report today claims that Microsoft is removing some folder restrictions associated with game installs from both the Microsoft Store and the Xbox Game Pass app. This, in turn, could give PC users more flexibility in how they access, store, and mod their games.
Samsung's entry into the Wear OS world helped reinvigorate Google's wearable platform, especially as it was timed with the launch of Wear OS 3. The situation is hardly perfect, though, since there is still no other smartwatch running the least Wear OS version other than Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. There is also the matter of Samsung's Tizen apps coming to Wear OS while remaining exclusive to Samsung, though that might not remain true for long if the company's Internet browser smartwatch app is any indication.
Facebook, or rather Meta now, and Instagram have recently come under fire for how the company allegedly prioritized profits through network traffic over users' mental health, especially younger users. Although Facebook naturally denied the accusations, Instagram promised that it would implement features that will at least try to get users to stay mentally sane. The first of those features is now rolling out to a few users to remind them to stop scrolling through the feed from time to time.
There are several medical conditions and diseases that can impact a person's ability to communicate with others through speech. Google is working to make its apps more accessible to people with impairments and disabilities while helping them to communicate better with people around them. Millions of people in the US and around the world suffer from conditions that impair speech, including stroke, ALS, Cerebral Palsy, traumatic brain injury, and Parkinson's disease.
When Facebook announced it would be called Meta forevermore (or at least until the next rebranding), it wasn't just renaming the company. It was also broadcasting its bigger and somewhat more worrying ambitions to take over the world through a metaverse platform. It did also announce that it would unify some of its brands, especially those revolving around its money-related services under Novi. Now the effects of those changes might be coming soon to WhatsApp, and it could have some repercussions for the messaging service's users.
Robinhood, which has already found itself at the center of some controversy in 2021, announced today that it has suffered a security breach. The breach dates back to November 3rd when it says that an "unauthorized third party obtained access to a limited amount of personal information for a portion of our customers." The good news is that Robinhood doesn't think more delicate data, such as social security numbers and credit/debit card numbers have been compromised.
For some Windows users, the ability to install and run Android apps directly is perhaps the biggest pull of the Windows 11 release. It doesn't have its caveats, though, the biggest of which is the very limited selection of officially supported apps from Amazon's Appstore. That catalog will grow over time, of course, but that still leaves a lot of Android apps out of the party. Fortunately, Windows' new Subsystem for Android is an open system, at least for now, and a new tool has popped up to help less tech-savvy users to get the most out of that Android apps support.