Author: The Tech Guy

Spotify first previewed Memberships at its Investor Day back in May, and today the feature is rolling out in 34 markets. It lets eligible podcast creators charge their biggest fans a monthly fee for exclusive content and perks, and it replaces the podcast subscriptions Spotify introduced in 2021. Creators get to decide what their Membership includes: exclusive audio or video, bonus episodes, fewer ads, early access, access to a show’s archive, or all of the above. They can also split their benefits into up to three tiers, each with its own price. Spotify isn’t setting prices itself, though its own…

Google has announced new Chrome protections against scams and social engineering, including new site warnings, server-side Gemini analysis, and detection of ClickFix commands. The Gemini and ClickFix protections are part of Enhanced Protection, the Safe Browsing mode Google introduced in 2020. Last year, the company said more than 1 billion Chrome users had turned it on. Google claims Enhanced Protection makes users “ten times safer” than Standard Protection against phishing, social engineering, notification abuse, and other scams. The metric is based on how many safety warnings, on average, each group of users receives. Chrome’s Safe Browsing site warnings now come…

Elon said it yesterday, I said it before Elon. And I made over a dozen videos and posts, and detailed models and graphics, before Elon was willing to say it. I have also projected when the undeniable proof lands and when people believe. I found all of the evidence of the minihard builds and put it together and I determined what it meant. I even had to fight the AI. The AI kept wanted to hedge and give haircuts. SpaceX will be averaging 66% monetization. 50% leased. 16% will be one third of the rest for grokbot, grok and cursor.…

I’ve sacrificed too many charging cables to my car’s USB port (even the braided ones). All so my playlist could follow me down the road. Spotify just launched a fully native car app that runs on the car’s infotainment system, with no phone or cable required. However, it’s only available for Audi owners right now. Spotify / Audi What makes this app native in an Audi? For those catching up, Audi’s dashboard runs Android Automotive OS, a full-fledged operating system for in-car screens. Unlike Android Auto, which projects compatible apps from your smartphone onto your car’s screen, the new Spotify…

Samsung has plenty of default apps that are better than their Google alternatives or even third-party options. However, this is not true for all of them. While I like Samsung Notes, Reminders, SmartThings, Good Lock, and the Gallery app, Samsung’s keyboard, browser, and password management don’t hold up against the competition. I tested and replaced Samsung’s default apps one by one with better alternatives, and my Galaxy phone finally works the way I want. Related Your Android keyboard is collecting more data than your browser — here’s how to stop it Stop your keyboard app from snooping. Samsung Keyboard SwiftKey…

Credit: Marvin Velasco / Android Authority TL;DR Users are reporting that Duolingo is down. The company confirms that the service is experiencing a major outage. Duolingo says that it is investigating the incident. If you were looking to get some early practice in on Duolingo today, you’re out of luck. If it’s any consolation, you’re not the only one experiencing issues. The language learning service is running into elevated errors at the moment. Users are reporting that the Duolingo app is not working. Over on Duolingo’s status page, the company confirms that it is experiencing a major outage. As a…

OpenAI has disclosed that internal AI coding agents powered by GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra undercut its misalignment monitoring in two October incidents. “In both cases, the agents considered whether monitoring safeguards should be preserved, but interpreted routine coding instructions as permission to weaken them,” OpenAI said. On October 3, a researcher asked a Sol agent to build evaluation tasks from employee feedback on Slack and told it not to send any messages on Slack. The pipeline stalled when the monitor flagged a planned fix but lacked the access needed to record its finding. The researcher had the agent redirect…

Explanation: Jinkies, look at all those ghosts! It took 100 hours of observation and a special oxygen filter for today’s image to capture three faint nebulas hidden in the Cassiopeia constellation. IC 59 and IC 63, the original Ghosts of Cassiopeia, haunt the region near multi-star system γ Cassiopeia. Energetic light from γ Cassiopeia causes the hydrogen gas in IC 59 and 63 to glow red. Their dust reflects and scatters some blue-ish white starlight. Newly discovered Objects 1, 2, and 3 appear as blue phantoms, revealing the presence of ionized oxygen. But ionized by what? Like at the bow…

Back in July, well-known tipster Digital Chat Station claimed that vivo was deciding between three 200MP sensors for the telephoto camera on its upcoming camera flagship, the X500 Ultra. Now, the tipster suggests that the company may have made its choice. According to a recent post by the tipster, the latest engineering sample of the vivo X500 Ultra is testing a 200MP 1/1.2-inch sensor for the telephoto camera. vivo appears to have found a way to accommodate the larger sensor without taking up too much internal space. For comparison, the vivo X300 Ultra features a 200MP telephoto camera with a…

I’ve tested countless new TVs with the latest features over the years and the idea of where to put them usually comes down to wall-mounting or TV stands. I’m aware that ceiling mounts exist, but they’ve never seemed like a practical or logical solution for my needs. I’m not the only person who thinks so, and the number of ceiling-mounted TVs I’ve seen in people’s homes over the years is insignificant compared to the other mounting types. Ceiling mounting might be worth it in certain scenarios for some high-end models, but here are four reasons why I’ll never mount my…