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If you're in the market for a Fire TV device it's a good time to buy, as Amazon is having an early Valentine's Day event. The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $35, for a savings of $15 (30 percent) off the regular price. You can also grab the Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $40, netting you 33 percent ($20 off). And finally, the Fire TV Cube is priced at $115, near its lowest price ever. 

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is Amazon’s most powerful streaming stick, thanks to a faster processor that delivers 40 percent more power than the one in the Fire TV Stick 4K. That translates to faster app start times and more fluid menu navigation, for a better overall experience. The Fire TV Sitck 4K Max also comes with WiFi 6 connectivity, as well as support for Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos audio, along with Alexa commands via the Alexa Voice Remote.

While not quite as zippy, the Fire TV Stick 4K is slightly cheaper at $35. It's a great option if you want a low-profile streaming device that can handle 4K content. It also supports Dolby Vision and HDR, and comes with the Alexa Voice Remote, which lets you search for and launch content with voice commands. Frankly though, for the extra $2, I'd grab the Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

The Fire TV Cube is Amazon's most powerful streaming device with a hexa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It supports 4K, HDR content with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and it has picture-in-picture live view as well. You're also getting hands-free Alexa controls, too, letting you turn off your lights or check the weather, even with your TV off.

Finally, don't forget about Amazon's Fire TV soundbar that's back on sale for $100, for a savings of nearly 20 percent. It can enhance your TV audio via dual speakers, with access to 3D surround sound, while offering DTS Virtual X and Dolby Audio support.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-fire-tv-streaming-devices-are-up-to-33-percent-off-101521171.html?src=rss

If you're in the market for a Fire TV device it's a good time to buy, as Amazon is having an early Valentine's Day event. The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $35, for a savings of $15 (30 percent) off the regular price. You can also grab the Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $40, netting you 33 percent ($20 off). And finally, the Fire TV Cube is priced at $115, near its lowest price ever. 

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is Amazon’s most powerful streaming stick, thanks to a faster processor that delivers 40 percent more power than the one in the Fire TV Stick 4K. That translates to faster app start times and more fluid menu navigation, for a better overall experience. The Fire TV Sitck 4K Max also comes with WiFi 6 connectivity, as well as support for Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos audio, along with Alexa commands via the Alexa Voice Remote.

While not quite as zippy, the Fire TV Stick 4K is slightly cheaper at $35. It's a great option if you want a low-profile streaming device that can handle 4K content. It also supports Dolby Vision and HDR, and comes with the Alexa Voice Remote, which lets you search for and launch content with voice commands. Frankly though, for the extra $2, I'd grab the Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

The Fire TV Cube is Amazon's most powerful streaming device with a hexa-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It supports 4K, HDR content with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and it has picture-in-picture live view as well. You're also getting hands-free Alexa controls, too, letting you turn off your lights or check the weather, even with your TV off.

Finally, don't forget about Amazon's Fire TV soundbar that's back on sale for $100, for a savings of nearly 20 percent. It can enhance your TV audio via dual speakers, with access to 3D surround sound, while offering DTS Virtual X and Dolby Audio support.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-fire-tv-streaming-devices-are-up-to-33-percent-off-101521171.html?src=rss

Tesla and the 25 California counties that sued the automaker for mishandling hazardous waste at its facilities around the state have already reached an agreement just a few days after the lawsuit was filed. The court has ordered the automaker to pay $1.5 million as part of the settlement, which also includes hiring a third party to conduct annual waste audits of its trash containers for five years. These auditors will be taking a close look at the company's trash containers to check for hazardous materials. 

The counties that sued Tesla, which include Los Angeles and San Francisco, accused the company of dumping improperly labeled materials at transfer centers and landfills that were "not permitted to accept hazardous waste." Based on the complaint filed in San Joaquin County, Tesla was illegally disposing the waste it generated manufacturing and servicing its vehicles. 

Undercover investigators from the environmental division at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office were the first to find evidence of Tesla's illegal activities back in 2018. They found trash containers at the company's service centers containing materials, such as aerosols, antifreeze, lubricating oils, brake cleaners, lead acid batteries, aerosols, antifreeze, waste solvents, electronic waste and waste paint when they weren't supposed to. Investigators from other California counties' District Attorney's offices conducted their own investigations and found similar unlawful disposals. The Alameda country authorities who looked into its Fremont factory activities, for instance, discovered illegal disposal of waste containing copper and primer-contaminated debris. 

Tesla reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency over its handling of hazardous materials back in 2019 and had to agree to properly manage waste at its Fremont plant in addition to paying a $31,000 fine. The automaker had also taken steps to screen its trash containers for hazardous waste before taking them to the landfill after being notified of the issue. But as District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said, "today's settlement against [the company] serves to provide a cleaner environment for citizens throughout the state by preventing the contamination of [their] precious natural resources when hazardous waste is mismanaged and unlawfully disposed." By having a third party regularly check whether Tesla continues to comply with the agreement, authorities can ensure that the company isn't illegally dumping harmful materials across the state over the next few years. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-settles-california-hazardous-waste-lawsuit-for-15-million-070513014.html?src=rss

Tesla and the 25 California counties that sued the automaker for mishandling hazardous waste at its facilities around the state have already reached an agreement just a few days after the lawsuit was filed. The court has ordered the automaker to pay $1.5 million as part of the settlement, which also includes hiring a third party to conduct annual waste audits of its trash containers for five years. These auditors will be taking a close look at the company's trash containers to check for hazardous materials. 

The counties that sued Tesla, which include Los Angeles and San Francisco, accused the company of dumping improperly labeled materials at transfer centers and landfills that were "not permitted to accept hazardous waste." Based on the complaint filed in San Joaquin County, Tesla was illegally disposing the waste it generated manufacturing and servicing its vehicles. 

Undercover investigators from the environmental division at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office were the first to find evidence of Tesla's illegal activities back in 2018. They found trash containers at the company's service centers containing materials, such as aerosols, antifreeze, lubricating oils, brake cleaners, lead acid batteries, aerosols, antifreeze, waste solvents, electronic waste and waste paint when they weren't supposed to. Investigators from other California counties' District Attorney's offices conducted their own investigations and found similar unlawful disposals. The Alameda country authorities who looked into its Fremont factory activities, for instance, discovered illegal disposal of waste containing copper and primer-contaminated debris. 

Tesla reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency over its handling of hazardous materials back in 2019 and had to agree to properly manage waste at its Fremont plant in addition to paying a $31,000 fine. The automaker had also taken steps to screen its trash containers for hazardous waste before taking them to the landfill after being notified of the issue. But as District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said, "today's settlement against [the company] serves to provide a cleaner environment for citizens throughout the state by preventing the contamination of [their] precious natural resources when hazardous waste is mismanaged and unlawfully disposed." By having a third party regularly check whether Tesla continues to comply with the agreement, authorities can ensure that the company isn't illegally dumping harmful materials across the state over the next few years. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-settles-california-hazardous-waste-lawsuit-for-15-million-070513014.html?src=rss

Tesla and the 25 California counties that sued the automaker for mishandling hazardous waste at its facilities around the state have already reached an agreement just a few days after the lawsuit was filed. The court has ordered the automaker to pay $1.5 million as part of the settlement, which also includes hiring a third party to conduct annual waste audits of its trash containers for five years. These auditors will be taking a close look at the company's trash containers to check for hazardous materials. 

The counties that sued Tesla, which include Los Angeles and San Francisco, accused the company of dumping improperly labeled materials at transfer centers and landfills that were "not permitted to accept hazardous waste." Based on the complaint filed in San Joaquin County, Tesla was illegally disposing the waste it generated manufacturing and servicing its vehicles. 

Undercover investigators from the environmental division at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office were the first to find evidence of Tesla's illegal activities back in 2018. They found trash containers at the company's service centers containing materials, such as aerosols, antifreeze, lubricating oils, brake cleaners, lead acid batteries, aerosols, antifreeze, waste solvents, electronic waste and waste paint when they weren't supposed to. Investigators from other California counties' District Attorney's offices conducted their own investigations and found similar unlawful disposals. The Alameda country authorities who looked into its Fremont factory activities, for instance, discovered illegal disposal of waste containing copper and primer-contaminated debris. 

Tesla reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency over its handling of hazardous materials back in 2019 and had to agree to properly manage waste at its Fremont plant in addition to paying a $31,000 fine. The automaker had also taken steps to screen its trash containers for hazardous waste before taking them to the landfill after being notified of the issue. But as District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said, "today's settlement against [the company] serves to provide a cleaner environment for citizens throughout the state by preventing the contamination of [their] precious natural resources when hazardous waste is mismanaged and unlawfully disposed." By having a third party regularly check whether Tesla continues to comply with the agreement, authorities can ensure that the company isn't illegally dumping harmful materials across the state over the next few years. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-settles-california-hazardous-waste-lawsuit-for-15-million-070513014.html?src=rss

Reality Labs, Meta’s division for AR, VR and the metaverse, just had its best quarter yet despite continuing its multibillion-dollar losing streak. Reality Labs generated more than $1 billion in revenue during the final quarter of 2023 thanks to its Quest headsets and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

While crossing $1 billion in revenue is a new milestone for the company’s metaverse group, it’s still expected to continue racking up massive losses for the foreseeable future. Reality Labs lost $4.6 billion in the quarter, and more than $16 billion in 2023. Meta CFO Susan Li said that these losses are expected to “increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and our investments to further scale our ecosystem.”

The fourth-quarter, which encompasses the holiday shopping season, has typically been when reality does the best. During a call with analysts, Mark Zuckerberg suggested that the company’s smart glasses had done particularly well, saying that Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica was “planning on making more [smart glasses] than we'd both expected due to high demand.” He added that both Quest 2 and Quest 3 were “performing well,” calling Quest 3 the “most popular mixed reality device.”

Reality Labs aside, Meta had a strong quarter, reporting $40.1 billion to close out 2023, bringing its total revenue for the year to just under $135 billion. Facebook’s user base also grew to 2.1 billion daily active users (DAUs). Meta CFO Susan Li said that the company was “transitioning away” from sharing the metric and would no longer report on Facebook’s daily or monthly active users or its “family monthly active people.”

The company had shared that it would eventually stop reporting user numbers back in 2019 as Facebook’s growth began to slow. But the change shows how Facebook’s position in the company’s “family of apps” has changed in recent years. A report from Pew Research earlier this week found that Instagram is continuing to grow in the US while Facebook use remains flat.

Meta’s newest app, Threads, is still growing, however. Zuckerberg said the service has 130 million monthly users, up from “just under” 100 million last fall. “Threads now has more people actively using it today than it did during its initial launch peak," Zuckerberg said, referring to the app’s initial, but short-lived, surge in growth.

Zuckerberg also talked more about his newly-stated ambition to create artificial general intelligence, or AGI at Meta, saying it would be the “theme” of the company’s product work going forward. “This next generation of services requires building full general intelligence,” he said. “It's clear that we're going to need our models to be able to reason, plan, code, remember and many other cognitive abilities in order to provide the best versions of the services that we envision.”

The Meta CEO also indicated the company would be unlikely to offer any of its apps in alternative app stores in Europe, following Apple's controversial new developer policies. "The way that they've implemented it, I would be very surprised if any developer chose to go into the alternative app stores," he said. "They've made it so onerous, and I think so at odds with the intent of what the EU regulation was, that I think it's just going to be very difficult for anyone, including ourselves, to really seriously entertain."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-reality-labs-had-its-best-quarter-but-still-lost-4-billion-231135719.html?src=rss

Reality Labs, Meta’s division for AR, VR and the metaverse, just had its best quarter yet despite continuing its multibillion-dollar losing streak. Reality Labs generated more than $1 billion in revenue during the final quarter of 2023 thanks to its Quest headsets and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

While crossing $1 billion in revenue is a new milestone for the company’s metaverse group, it’s still expected to continue racking up massive losses for the foreseeable future. Reality Labs lost $4.6 billion in the quarter, and more than $16 billion in 2023. Meta CFO Susan Li said that these losses are expected to “increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and our investments to further scale our ecosystem.”

The fourth-quarter, which encompasses the holiday shopping season, has typically been when reality does the best. During a call with analysts, Mark Zuckerberg suggested that the company’s smart glasses had done particularly well, saying that Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica was “planning on making more [smart glasses] than we'd both expected due to high demand.” He added that both Quest 2 and Quest 3 were “performing well,” calling Quest 3 the “most popular mixed reality device.”

Reality Labs aside, Meta had a strong quarter, reporting $40.1 billion to close out 2023, bringing its total revenue for the year to just under $135 billion. Facebook’s user base also grew to 2.1 billion daily active users (DAUs). Meta CFO Susan Li said that the company was “transitioning away” from sharing the metric and would no longer report on Facebook’s daily or monthly active users or its “family monthly active people.”

The company had shared that it would eventually stop reporting user numbers back in 2019 as Facebook’s growth began to slow. But the change shows how Facebook’s position in the company’s “family of apps” has changed in recent years. A report from Pew Research earlier this week found that Instagram is continuing to grow in the US while Facebook use remains flat.

Meta’s newest app, Threads, is still growing, however. Zuckerberg said the service has 130 million monthly users, up from “just under” 100 million last fall. “Threads now has more people actively using it today than it did during its initial launch peak," Zuckerberg said, referring to the app’s initial, but short-lived, surge in growth.

Zuckerberg also talked more about his newly-stated ambition to create artificial general intelligence, or AGI at Meta, saying it would be the “theme” of the company’s product work going forward. “This next generation of services requires building full general intelligence,” he said. “It's clear that we're going to need our models to be able to reason, plan, code, remember and many other cognitive abilities in order to provide the best versions of the services that we envision.”

The Meta CEO also indicated the company would be unlikely to offer any of its apps in alternative app stores in Europe, following Apple's controversial new developer policies. "The way that they've implemented it, I would be very surprised if any developer chose to go into the alternative app stores," he said. "They've made it so onerous, and I think so at odds with the intent of what the EU regulation was, that I think it's just going to be very difficult for anyone, including ourselves, to really seriously entertain."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-reality-labs-had-its-best-quarter-but-still-lost-4-billion-231135719.html?src=rss

Reality Labs, Meta’s division for AR, VR and the metaverse, just had its best quarter yet despite continuing its multibillion-dollar losing streak. Reality Labs generated more than $1 billion in revenue during the final quarter of 2023 thanks to its Quest headsets and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

While crossing $1 billion in revenue is a new milestone for the company’s metaverse group, it’s still expected to continue racking up massive losses for the foreseeable future. Reality Labs lost $4.6 billion in the quarter, and more than $16 billion in 2023. Meta CFO Susan Li said that these losses are expected to “increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and our investments to further scale our ecosystem.”

The fourth-quarter, which encompasses the holiday shopping season, has typically been when reality does the best. During a call with analysts, Mark Zuckerberg suggested that the company’s smart glasses had done particularly well, saying that Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica was “planning on making more [smart glasses] than we'd both expected due to high demand.” He added that both Quest 2 and Quest 3 were “performing well,” calling Quest 3 the “most popular mixed reality device.”

Reality Labs aside, Meta had a strong quarter, reporting $40.1 billion to close out 2023, bringing its total revenue for the year to just under $135 billion. Facebook’s user base also grew to 2.1 billion daily active users (DAUs). Meta CFO Susan Li said that the company was “transitioning away” from sharing the metric and would no longer report on Facebook’s daily or monthly active users or its “family monthly active people.”

The company had shared that it would eventually stop reporting user numbers back in 2019 as Facebook’s growth began to slow. But the change shows how Facebook’s position in the company’s “family of apps” has changed in recent years. A report from Pew Research earlier this week found that Instagram is continuing to grow in the US while Facebook use remains flat.

Meta’s newest app, Threads, is still growing, however. Zuckerberg said the service has 130 million monthly users, up from “just under” 100 million last fall. “Threads now has more people actively using it today than it did during its initial launch peak," Zuckerberg said, referring to the app’s initial, but short-lived, surge in growth.

Zuckerberg also talked more about his newly-stated ambition to create artificial general intelligence, or AGI at Meta, saying it would be the “theme” of the company’s product work going forward. “This next generation of services requires building full general intelligence,” he said. “It's clear that we're going to need our models to be able to reason, plan, code, remember and many other cognitive abilities in order to provide the best versions of the services that we envision.”

The Meta CEO also indicated the company would be unlikely to offer any of its apps in alternative app stores in Europe, following Apple's controversial new developer policies. "The way that they've implemented it, I would be very surprised if any developer chose to go into the alternative app stores," he said. "They've made it so onerous, and I think so at odds with the intent of what the EU regulation was, that I think it's just going to be very difficult for anyone, including ourselves, to really seriously entertain."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-reality-labs-had-its-best-quarter-but-still-lost-4-billion-231135719.html?src=rss

After four consecutive quarters of revenue decline, Apple broke the trend and reported its first period of revenue growth today. In its earnings report for the first quarter of the financial year of 2024, the company announced a quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, which is an increase of 2 percent from the same period last year. 

In addition, Apple CEO Tim Cook said its "installed base of active devices has now surpassed 2.2 billion, reaching an all-time high across all products and geographic segments." This quarter includes money brought in from the sales of the iPhone 15 line introduced in September 2023, which had an obvious impact on performance. 

"Today Apple is reporting revenue growth for the December quarter fueled by iPhone sales, and an all-time revenue record in Services,” Cook said. He noted the company hitting "all-time revenue records across advertising, Cloud services, payment services and video as well as December quarter records in App Store and Apple Care." Cook recapped some updates made to the Apple TV app, as well as TV+ content earning nominations and awards. 

Cook went on to remind us during the company's earnings call that tomorrow is the launch day for the Vision Pro headset, calling it historic. After saying that Apple is dedicated to investing in new technologies, Cook added that the company will be sharing more about its developments in AI later this year. 

Products in the wearables, home and accessories categories didn't fare well in this quarter, though sales in the Mac department did increase year over year. iPad sales in particular dropped 25 percent over the same period last year, though Cook attributed that to a "difficult compare" to the big numbers recorded in the first quarter of 2023 due to new models with refreshed Apple Silicon. Considering the company did not release a new iPad model in 2023 at all, this is not surprising. 

Cook continued by highlighting developments like Apple opening its 100th retail location in Asia Pacific and updates on its sustainability efforts. He wrapped up by saying "Apple is a company that has never shied away from big challenges," adding "so we're optimistic about the future, confident in the long term and as excited as we've ever been to deliver for our users."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-sold-enough-iphones-and-services-last-quarter-to-reverse-a-downward-revenue-trend-223109289.html?src=rss

After four consecutive quarters of revenue decline, Apple broke the trend and reported its first period of revenue growth today. In its earnings report for the first quarter of the financial year of 2024, the company announced a quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, which is an increase of 2 percent from the same period last year. 

In addition, Apple CEO Tim Cook said its "installed base of active devices has now surpassed 2.2 billion, reaching an all-time high across all products and geographic segments." This quarter includes money brought in from the sales of the iPhone 15 line introduced in September 2023, which had an obvious impact on performance. 

"Today Apple is reporting revenue growth for the December quarter fueled by iPhone sales, and an all-time revenue record in Services,” Cook said. He noted the company hitting "all-time revenue records across advertising, Cloud services, payment services and video as well as December quarter records in App Store and Apple Care." Cook recapped some updates made to the Apple TV app, as well as TV+ content earning nominations and awards. 

Cook went on to remind us during the company's earnings call that tomorrow is the launch day for the Vision Pro headset, calling it historic. After saying that Apple is dedicated to investing in new technologies, Cook added that the company will be sharing more about its developments in AI later this year. 

Products in the wearables, home and accessories categories didn't fare well in this quarter, though sales in the Mac department did increase year over year. iPad sales in particular dropped 25 percent over the same period last year, though Cook attributed that to a "difficult compare" to the big numbers recorded in the first quarter of 2023 due to new models with refreshed Apple Silicon. Considering the company did not release a new iPad model in 2023 at all, this is not surprising. 

Cook continued by highlighting developments like Apple opening its 100th retail location in Asia Pacific and updates on its sustainability efforts. He wrapped up by saying "Apple is a company that has never shied away from big challenges," adding "so we're optimistic about the future, confident in the long term and as excited as we've ever been to deliver for our users."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-sold-enough-iphones-and-services-last-quarter-to-reverse-a-downward-revenue-trend-223109289.html?src=rss

After four consecutive quarters of revenue decline, Apple broke the trend and reported its first period of revenue growth today. In its earnings report for the first quarter of the financial year of 2024, the company announced a quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, which is an increase of 2 percent from the same period last year. 

In addition, Apple CEO Tim Cook said its "installed base of active devices has now surpassed 2.2 billion, reaching an all-time high across all products and geographic segments." This quarter includes money brought in from the sales of the iPhone 15 line introduced in September 2023, which had an obvious impact on performance. 

"Today Apple is reporting revenue growth for the December quarter fueled by iPhone sales, and an all-time revenue record in Services,” Cook said. He noted the company hitting "all-time revenue records across advertising, Cloud services, payment services and video as well as December quarter records in App Store and Apple Care." Cook recapped some updates made to the Apple TV app, as well as TV+ content earning nominations and awards. 

Cook went on to remind us during the company's earnings call that tomorrow is the launch day for the Vision Pro headset, calling it historic. After saying that Apple is dedicated to investing in new technologies, Cook added that the company will be sharing more about its developments in AI later this year. 

Products in the wearables, home and accessories categories didn't fare well in this quarter, though sales in the Mac department did increase year over year. iPad sales in particular dropped 25 percent over the same period last year, though Cook attributed that to a "difficult compare" to the big numbers recorded in the first quarter of 2023 due to new models with refreshed Apple Silicon. Considering the company did not release a new iPad model in 2023 at all, this is not surprising. 

Cook continued by highlighting developments like Apple opening its 100th retail location in Asia Pacific and updates on its sustainability efforts. He wrapped up by saying "Apple is a company that has never shied away from big challenges," adding "so we're optimistic about the future, confident in the long term and as excited as we've ever been to deliver for our users."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-sold-enough-iphones-and-services-last-quarter-to-reverse-a-downward-revenue-trend-223109289.html?src=rss

Earlier this week, the team behind the Arc browser for Mac (and recently Windows) released a brand-new iPhone app called Arc Search. As you might expect, it's infused with AI to power an experience where the app "browses for you"—pulling together a variety of sources of info across the internet to make a custom webpage to answer whatever questions you throw at it. That's just one part of what The Browser Company is calling Act 2 of Arc, and the company gave details on three other major new features its bringing to the browser over the coming weeks and months. 

The connective tissue of all these updates is that Arc is trying to blur the lines between a browser, search engine and website — the company wants to combine them all to make the internet a bit more useful to end users. In a promo video released today, various people from The Browser Company excitedly discuss a browser that can browse for you (an admittedly handy idea). 

The Arc Search app showed off one implementation of that idea, and the next is a feature that arrives today called Instant Links. When you search for something, pressing shift and enter will tell Arc to search and automatically open the top result. This won't have a 100 percent success rate, but there are definitely times when it comes in handy. One example Arc showed off was searching for "True Detective season 4 trailer" — pressing shift + enter automatically opened the trailer from YouTube in a new tab and started playing it. 

You can easily get multiple results with this tool, too. I told it to "show me a folder of five different soup recipes" and Arc created a folder with five different tabs in for me to review. I also asked for the forecasts in Rome, Paris and Athens and got three pages with the details for each city. It's handy, but I'm looking forward to Arc infusing it with more smarts than just simply pulling the "top" search result. (Side note: after testing this feature, my browser sidebar is awash with all kinds of nonsense. I'm glad Arc auto-closes things every day so I don't have to sort it out.)

In a similar vein, the upcoming Live Folders feature will collect updates from sites you want to follow, like a sort of RSS feed. The idea is anticipating what sites someone is going to browse to and bring updated results into that folder. One example involved getting tagged in things on GitHub — each time that happened, a tab would be added to the folder with the new item. The demo on this feature was brief, but it should be available in beta on February 15th for further testing.

I got the sense from the video that developers would need to enable their sites to be updated via Live Folders, so it doesn't seem like you can just add anything you want and expect it to work. In that way, it reminds me of some other Arc features like the one that lets you hover over a Gmail or Google Calendar tab to get a preview of your most recent messages or next appointment. Hopefully it'll have the smarts to do things like drop new posts from your favorite site into the folder or open a new video from a YouTube channel you subscribe to, but we'll have to wait to find out. (I also reached out to Arc for more details on how this might work and will update this story if I hear back.)

Finally, the last new feature here is also the most ambitious, and the one that most embodies that "browser that browses for you" vibe. Arc Explore, which the company says should be ready for testing in the next couple of months, uses LLMs to try and collapse the browser, search engine and site into a singular experience. In practice, this feels similar to what Arc is already doing with its new browser, but more advanced. One example the company gave involved making a restaurant reservation — starting with a query of wanting to make a reservation at one of a couple different restaurants, the Arc Explore interface brought back a bunch of details on each location alongside direct links to the Resy pages to book a table for two at exactly the time specified. 

Another demo showed off how using Arc Explore can be better than just searching and clicking on results. It centered around soup, as all good demos do. Having Arc Explore bring up details on a certain kind of soup immediately provided details like ingredient lists, direct recipe steps and of course related videos. Compared to the pain of browsing a lot of sites that get loaded down with autoplaying ads, videos, unrelated text and more distractions, the Arc Explore experience does feel pretty serene. Of course, that's only when it brings back the results relevant to you. But using a LLM, you can converse with Arc to get closer to what you're looking for. 

After using Arc Search on my iPhone, I can appreciate what The Browser Company is going for here — at the same time, though, breaking my old habits on how I browse the internet is no small thing. That means these tools are going to need to work pretty well when they launch if they're going to supplant the years I've spent putting things into a Google box and finding the results I want. But that sums up the whole philosophy and the point behind Arc: to shake up these habits in an effort to make a better browsing experience. Not all these experiments will stick, and others will probably mutate a lot from these initial ideas, but I'm definitely interested in seeing how things evolve from here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-arc-browser-is-getting-new-ai-powered-features-that-try-to-browse-the-web-for-you-211739679.html?src=rss

Earlier this week, the team behind the Arc browser for Mac (and recently Windows) released a brand-new iPhone app called Arc Search. As you might expect, it's infused with AI to power an experience where the app "browses for you"—pulling together a variety of sources of info across the internet to make a custom webpage to answer whatever questions you throw at it. That's just one part of what The Browser Company is calling Act 2 of Arc, and the company gave details on three other major new features its bringing to the browser over the coming weeks and months. 

The connective tissue of all these updates is that Arc is trying to blur the lines between a browser, search engine and website — the company wants to combine them all to make the internet a bit more useful to end users. In a promo video released today, various people from The Browser Company excitedly discuss a browser that can browse for you (an admittedly handy idea). 

The Arc Search app showed off one implementation of that idea, and the next is a feature that arrives today called Instant Links. When you search for something, pressing shift and enter will tell Arc to search and automatically open the top result. This won't have a 100 percent success rate, but there are definitely times when it comes in handy. One example Arc showed off was searching for "True Detective season 4 trailer" — pressing shift + enter automatically opened the trailer from YouTube in a new tab and started playing it. 

You can easily get multiple results with this tool, too. I told it to "show me a folder of five different soup recipes" and Arc created a folder with five different tabs in for me to review. I also asked for the forecasts in Rome, Paris and Athens and got three pages with the details for each city. It's handy, but I'm looking forward to Arc infusing it with more smarts than just simply pulling the "top" search result. (Side note: after testing this feature, my browser sidebar is awash with all kinds of nonsense. I'm glad Arc auto-closes things every day so I don't have to sort it out.)

In a similar vein, the upcoming Live Folders feature will collect updates from sites you want to follow, like a sort of RSS feed. The idea is anticipating what sites someone is going to browse to and bring updated results into that folder. One example involved getting tagged in things on GitHub — each time that happened, a tab would be added to the folder with the new item. The demo on this feature was brief, but it should be available in beta on February 15th for further testing.

I got the sense from the video that developers would need to enable their sites to be updated via Live Folders, so it doesn't seem like you can just add anything you want and expect it to work. In that way, it reminds me of some other Arc features like the one that lets you hover over a Gmail or Google Calendar tab to get a preview of your most recent messages or next appointment. Hopefully it'll have the smarts to do things like drop new posts from your favorite site into the folder or open a new video from a YouTube channel you subscribe to, but we'll have to wait to find out. (I also reached out to Arc for more details on how this might work and will update this story if I hear back.)

Finally, the last new feature here is also the most ambitious, and the one that most embodies that "browser that browses for you" vibe. Arc Explore, which the company says should be ready for testing in the next couple of months, uses LLMs to try and collapse the browser, search engine and site into a singular experience. In practice, this feels similar to what Arc is already doing with its new browser, but more advanced. One example the company gave involved making a restaurant reservation — starting with a query of wanting to make a reservation at one of a couple different restaurants, the Arc Explore interface brought back a bunch of details on each location alongside direct links to the Resy pages to book a table for two at exactly the time specified. 

Another demo showed off how using Arc Explore can be better than just searching and clicking on results. It centered around soup, as all good demos do. Having Arc Explore bring up details on a certain kind of soup immediately provided details like ingredient lists, direct recipe steps and of course related videos. Compared to the pain of browsing a lot of sites that get loaded down with autoplaying ads, videos, unrelated text and more distractions, the Arc Explore experience does feel pretty serene. Of course, that's only when it brings back the results relevant to you. But using a LLM, you can converse with Arc to get closer to what you're looking for. 

After using Arc Search on my iPhone, I can appreciate what The Browser Company is going for here — at the same time, though, breaking my old habits on how I browse the internet is no small thing. That means these tools are going to need to work pretty well when they launch if they're going to supplant the years I've spent putting things into a Google box and finding the results I want. But that sums up the whole philosophy and the point behind Arc: to shake up these habits in an effort to make a better browsing experience. Not all these experiments will stick, and others will probably mutate a lot from these initial ideas, but I'm definitely interested in seeing how things evolve from here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-arc-browser-is-getting-new-ai-powered-features-that-try-to-browse-the-web-for-you-211739679.html?src=rss

Earlier this week, the team behind the Arc browser for Mac (and recently Windows) released a brand-new iPhone app called Arc Search. As you might expect, it's infused with AI to power an experience where the app "browses for you"—pulling together a variety of sources of info across the internet to make a custom webpage to answer whatever questions you throw at it. That's just one part of what The Browser Company is calling Act 2 of Arc, and the company gave details on three other major new features its bringing to the browser over the coming weeks and months. 

The connective tissue of all these updates is that Arc is trying to blur the lines between a browser, search engine and website — the company wants to combine them all to make the internet a bit more useful to end users. In a promo video released today, various people from The Browser Company excitedly discuss a browser that can browse for you (an admittedly handy idea). 

The Arc Search app showed off one implementation of that idea, and the next is a feature that arrives today called Instant Links. When you search for something, pressing shift and enter will tell Arc to search and automatically open the top result. This won't have a 100 percent success rate, but there are definitely times when it comes in handy. One example Arc showed off was searching for "True Detective season 4 trailer" — pressing shift + enter automatically opened the trailer from YouTube in a new tab and started playing it. 

You can easily get multiple results with this tool, too. I told it to "show me a folder of five different soup recipes" and Arc created a folder with five different tabs in for me to review. I also asked for the forecasts in Rome, Paris and Athens and got three pages with the details for each city. It's handy, but I'm looking forward to Arc infusing it with more smarts than just simply pulling the "top" search result. (Side note: after testing this feature, my browser sidebar is awash with all kinds of nonsense. I'm glad Arc auto-closes things every day so I don't have to sort it out.)

In a similar vein, the upcoming Live Folders feature will collect updates from sites you want to follow, like a sort of RSS feed. The idea is anticipating what sites someone is going to browse to and bring updated results into that folder. One example involved getting tagged in things on GitHub — each time that happened, a tab would be added to the folder with the new item. The demo on this feature was brief, but it should be available in beta on February 15th for further testing.

I got the sense from the video that developers would need to enable their sites to be updated via Live Folders, so it doesn't seem like you can just add anything you want and expect it to work. In that way, it reminds me of some other Arc features like the one that lets you hover over a Gmail or Google Calendar tab to get a preview of your most recent messages or next appointment. Hopefully it'll have the smarts to do things like drop new posts from your favorite site into the folder or open a new video from a YouTube channel you subscribe to, but we'll have to wait to find out. (I also reached out to Arc for more details on how this might work and will update this story if I hear back.)

Finally, the last new feature here is also the most ambitious, and the one that most embodies that "browser that browses for you" vibe. Arc Explore, which the company says should be ready for testing in the next couple of months, uses LLMs to try and collapse the browser, search engine and site into a singular experience. In practice, this feels similar to what Arc is already doing with its new browser, but more advanced. One example the company gave involved making a restaurant reservation — starting with a query of wanting to make a reservation at one of a couple different restaurants, the Arc Explore interface brought back a bunch of details on each location alongside direct links to the Resy pages to book a table for two at exactly the time specified. 

Another demo showed off how using Arc Explore can be better than just searching and clicking on results. It centered around soup, as all good demos do. Having Arc Explore bring up details on a certain kind of soup immediately provided details like ingredient lists, direct recipe steps and of course related videos. Compared to the pain of browsing a lot of sites that get loaded down with autoplaying ads, videos, unrelated text and more distractions, the Arc Explore experience does feel pretty serene. Of course, that's only when it brings back the results relevant to you. But using a LLM, you can converse with Arc to get closer to what you're looking for. 

After using Arc Search on my iPhone, I can appreciate what The Browser Company is going for here — at the same time, though, breaking my old habits on how I browse the internet is no small thing. That means these tools are going to need to work pretty well when they launch if they're going to supplant the years I've spent putting things into a Google box and finding the results I want. But that sums up the whole philosophy and the point behind Arc: to shake up these habits in an effort to make a better browsing experience. Not all these experiments will stick, and others will probably mutate a lot from these initial ideas, but I'm definitely interested in seeing how things evolve from here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-arc-browser-is-getting-new-ai-powered-features-that-try-to-browse-the-web-for-you-211739679.html?src=rss

YouTube has hit a new milestone with its Music and Premium offerings. The paid services have more than 100 million users between them as of January, including those who were on a free trial. That's an increase of 20 million members in just over a year, and the figure has doubled since September 2021. YouTube has successfully grown the figures despite a $2 per month increase for Premium that came into force last summer.

It's unclear how many people are actually using YouTube Music (Premium includes access to that service). However you slice it, the music streaming service has significantly fewer paid users than Spotify, which had 220 million Premium members as of September 30. Spotify will reveal its latest membership numbers in an earnings report next week. Apple no longer breaks out its number of Apple Music subscribers. The last firm number the company gave for the service was 60 million subscribers back in 2019.

Regardless, the comparison between YouTube's paid service and Apple Music and Spotify Premium is hardly like-for-like. YouTube Premium is its own thing with its own benefits. It can be tough to go back to the lousier ad-strewn free version of the service after having Premium. The option to download videos for offline viewing without having to resort to workarounds and background playback feature are both very useful. YouTube Music is just an extra perk on top of that for many members.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtubes-paid-music-and-premium-services-now-have-more-than-100-million-subscribers-210008040.html?src=rss

YouTube has hit a new milestone with its Music and Premium offerings. The paid services have more than 100 million users between them as of January, including those who were on a free trial. That's an increase of 20 million members in just over a year, and the figure has doubled since September 2021. YouTube has successfully grown the figures despite a $2 per month increase for Premium that came into force last summer.

It's unclear how many people are actually using YouTube Music (Premium includes access to that service). However you slice it, the music streaming service has significantly fewer paid users than Spotify, which had 220 million Premium members as of September 30. Spotify will reveal its latest membership numbers in an earnings report next week. Apple no longer breaks out its number of Apple Music subscribers. The last firm number the company gave for the service was 60 million subscribers back in 2019.

Regardless, the comparison between YouTube's paid service and Apple Music and Spotify Premium is hardly like-for-like. YouTube Premium is its own thing with its own benefits. It can be tough to go back to the lousier ad-strewn free version of the service after having Premium. The option to download videos for offline viewing without having to resort to workarounds and background playback feature are both very useful. YouTube Music is just an extra perk on top of that for many members.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtubes-paid-music-and-premium-services-now-have-more-than-100-million-subscribers-210008040.html?src=rss

YouTube has hit a new milestone with its Music and Premium offerings. The paid services have more than 100 million users between them as of January, including those who were on a free trial. That's an increase of 20 million members in just over a year, and the figure has doubled since September 2021. YouTube has successfully grown the figures despite a $2 per month increase for Premium that came into force last summer.

It's unclear how many people are actually using YouTube Music (Premium includes access to that service). However you slice it, the music streaming service has significantly fewer paid users than Spotify, which had 220 million Premium members as of September 30. Spotify will reveal its latest membership numbers in an earnings report next week. Apple no longer breaks out its number of Apple Music subscribers. The last firm number the company gave for the service was 60 million subscribers back in 2019.

Regardless, the comparison between YouTube's paid service and Apple Music and Spotify Premium is hardly like-for-like. YouTube Premium is its own thing with its own benefits. It can be tough to go back to the lousier ad-strewn free version of the service after having Premium. The option to download videos for offline viewing without having to resort to workarounds and background playback feature are both very useful. YouTube Music is just an extra perk on top of that for many members.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtubes-paid-music-and-premium-services-now-have-more-than-100-million-subscribers-210008040.html?src=rss

Amazon launched a new generative AI shopping assistant, Rufus, on Thursday. The chatbot is trained on Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As and “information from across the web.” It’s only available to a limited set of Amazon customers for now but will expand in the coming weeks.

The company views the assistant as customers’ one-stop shop for all their shopping needs. Rufus can answer questions like, “What to consider when buying running shoes?” and display comparisons for things such as, “What are the differences between trail and road running shoes?” It can also respond to follow-up questions like, “Are these durable?”

Amazon suggests asking Rufus for general advice about product categories, such as things to look for when shopping for headphones. It can provide contextual advice as well, lending insight into products based on specific activities (like hiking) or events (holidays or celebrations). Other examples include asking it to compare product categories (“What’s the difference between lip gloss and lip oil?” or “Compare drip to pour-over coffee makers”). In addition, it can recommend gifts for people with particular tastes or shopping recommendations for holidays.

Rufus can also answer more fine-tuned questions about a specific product page you’re viewing. Amazon provides the examples, “Is this pickleball paddle good for beginners?” or “Is this jacket machine-washable?”

Amazon said in 2023 every division in its company was working on generative AI. It’s since launched AI-powered review summaries, and it began encouraging sellers to make AI listings and image backgrounds for their products. Rival Walmart teased a similar feature for its shoppers at CES 2024.

“It’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology won’t always get it exactly right,” wrote Amazon executive Rajiv Mehta. “We will keep improving our AI models and fine-tune responses to continuously make Rufus more helpful over time. Customers are encouraged to leave feedback by rating their answers with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and they have the option to provide freeform feedback as well.”

Rufus is launching in beta today to only “a small subset of customers,” and it will appear (for those in the beta) after updating the Amazon mobile app. The assistant will continue rolling out to US customers “in the coming weeks.” Once you’re allowed into the beta, you can summon Rufus by typing or speaking your questions into the search bar. A Rufus chat box will appear at the bottom of the screen.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-launches-rufus-an-ai-powered-shopping-assistant-204811837.html?src=rss

Amazon launched a new generative AI shopping assistant, Rufus, on Thursday. The chatbot is trained on Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As and “information from across the web.” It’s only available to a limited set of Amazon customers for now but will expand in the coming weeks.

The company views the assistant as customers’ one-stop shop for all their shopping needs. Rufus can answer questions like, “What to consider when buying running shoes?” and display comparisons for things such as, “What are the differences between trail and road running shoes?” It can also respond to follow-up questions like, “Are these durable?”

Amazon suggests asking Rufus for general advice about product categories, such as things to look for when shopping for headphones. It can provide contextual advice as well, lending insight into products based on specific activities (like hiking) or events (holidays or celebrations). Other examples include asking it to compare product categories (“What’s the difference between lip gloss and lip oil?” or “Compare drip to pour-over coffee makers”). In addition, it can recommend gifts for people with particular tastes or shopping recommendations for holidays.

Rufus can also answer more fine-tuned questions about a specific product page you’re viewing. Amazon provides the examples, “Is this pickleball paddle good for beginners?” or “Is this jacket machine-washable?”

Amazon said in 2023 every division in its company was working on generative AI. It’s since launched AI-powered review summaries, and it began encouraging sellers to make AI listings and image backgrounds for their products. Rival Walmart teased a similar feature for its shoppers at CES 2024.

“It’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology won’t always get it exactly right,” wrote Amazon executive Rajiv Mehta. “We will keep improving our AI models and fine-tune responses to continuously make Rufus more helpful over time. Customers are encouraged to leave feedback by rating their answers with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and they have the option to provide freeform feedback as well.”

Rufus is launching in beta today to only “a small subset of customers,” and it will appear (for those in the beta) after updating the Amazon mobile app. The assistant will continue rolling out to US customers “in the coming weeks.” Once you’re allowed into the beta, you can summon Rufus by typing or speaking your questions into the search bar. A Rufus chat box will appear at the bottom of the screen.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-launches-rufus-an-ai-powered-shopping-assistant-204811837.html?src=rss

Amazon launched a new generative AI shopping assistant, Rufus, on Thursday. The chatbot is trained on Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As and “information from across the web.” It’s only available to a limited set of Amazon customers for now but will expand in the coming weeks.

The company views the assistant as customers’ one-stop shop for all their shopping needs. Rufus can answer questions like, “What to consider when buying running shoes?” and display comparisons for things such as, “What are the differences between trail and road running shoes?” It can also respond to follow-up questions like, “Are these durable?”

Amazon suggests asking Rufus for general advice about product categories, such as things to look for when shopping for headphones. It can provide contextual advice as well, lending insight into products based on specific activities (like hiking) or events (holidays or celebrations). Other examples include asking it to compare product categories (“What’s the difference between lip gloss and lip oil?” or “Compare drip to pour-over coffee makers”). In addition, it can recommend gifts for people with particular tastes or shopping recommendations for holidays.

Rufus can also answer more fine-tuned questions about a specific product page you’re viewing. Amazon provides the examples, “Is this pickleball paddle good for beginners?” or “Is this jacket machine-washable?”

Amazon said in 2023 every division in its company was working on generative AI. It’s since launched AI-powered review summaries, and it began encouraging sellers to make AI listings and image backgrounds for their products. Rival Walmart teased a similar feature for its shoppers at CES 2024.

“It’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology won’t always get it exactly right,” wrote Amazon executive Rajiv Mehta. “We will keep improving our AI models and fine-tune responses to continuously make Rufus more helpful over time. Customers are encouraged to leave feedback by rating their answers with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and they have the option to provide freeform feedback as well.”

Rufus is launching in beta today to only “a small subset of customers,” and it will appear (for those in the beta) after updating the Amazon mobile app. The assistant will continue rolling out to US customers “in the coming weeks.” Once you’re allowed into the beta, you can summon Rufus by typing or speaking your questions into the search bar. A Rufus chat box will appear at the bottom of the screen.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-launches-rufus-an-ai-powered-shopping-assistant-204811837.html?src=rss