<p>Linktree is launching a set of new features aimed at helping creators earn more money directly from its platform. The new tools include the ability to sell courses, earn from brand-sponsored links, and build shoppable storefronts. The launch of the new monetization features will help Linktree stand out among other similar platforms like Beacons and [&hellip;]</p>

<p>YouTube said on Wednesday that it will launch a redesign of its TV app this summer. On the books are easier navigation, playback, and quality tweaks, as well as better access to comments, channel info, and subscribing. The company didn&#8217;t provide any further details about the redesign, but we&#8217;ve asked for a peek at the [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Meta&#8217;s Oversight Board, the independent group created to help Meta with content moderation decisions, on Tuesday issued its response to the social media company&#8217;s new hate speech policies announced in January. The Board says that Meta&#8217;s new policies were &#8220;announced hastily, in a departure from regular procedure,&#8221; and called on the company to provide more [&hellip;]</p>

<p>xAI&#8217;s Grok chatbot can now answer questions about what&#8217;s in view of your smartphone&#8217;s camera, similar to real-time vision features available for Google&#8217;s Gemini and ChatGPT. On Tuesday, xAI announced the launch of Grok Vision, which lets users point their phone at objects like products, signs, and documents and ask questions about them. Grok Vision [&hellip;]</p>

<p>An OpenAI exec said during Google&#8217;s antitrust trial this week that OpenAI would be interested in buying Google&#8217;s Chrome browser if it were made available for sale. ChatGPT chief Nick Turley said in a court hearing on Tuesday that acquiring Chrome would allow OpenAI to &#8220;offer a really incredible experience&#8221; and &#8220;introduce users into what [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Character.AI, a leading platform for chatting and roleplaying with AI-generated characters, unveiled its forthcoming video generation model, AvatarFX, on Tuesday. Available in closed beta, the model animates the platform&#8217;s characters in a variety of styles and voices, from human-like characters to 2D animal cartoons. AvatarFX distinguishes itself from competitors like OpenAI&#8217;s Sora because it isn&#8217;t [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Meta announced on Tuesday that it&#8217;s officially launching Edits, its CapCut-like video-creation app. Releasing globally, Edits will allow creators to do things like keep track of video ideas, get inspiration for new content, and create videos with effects and AI tools. The app is available on iOS and Android. All of the app&#8217;s features will [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Chatbots and other kinds of AI agents may feel like a dime a dozen these days. But the truth is that, for both businesses and consumers, some may be infinitely more useful (and perhaps less dystopian) than others. Today, a startup that’s built a successful business around that concept is announcing a major growth round [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Bluesky announced on Monday that it is rolling out blue check verification, confirming previous rumors that this feature was on its way to the platform. Like Twitter&#8217;s original blue check (RIP), Bluesky&#8217;s blue check will verify that notable accounts are legitimate, making it easy for users to trust that an account&#8217;s posts are real. In [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Popular social network and forum site Reddit reported significant outages on Monday morning.&nbsp; The connection errors started at around 11:20 a.m. ET, according to the website Downdetector, which collects anecdotal reports from impacted users globally. At its peak, more than 90,000 users logged an outage report with the downtime tracking website.&nbsp; At 11:52 a.m. ET, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Meta is using AI technology to search for kids who are lying about their age on Instagram in order to bypass safeguards, the company announced on Monday. When Meta finds an account that it suspects belongs to a teen, the platform will enroll them into a restricted Teen Account, even if the account lists an [&hellip;]</p>

<p>One of the chief complaints of Airbnb users over the years has been not being able to tell right away how much they would pay for their stay, including charges such as cleaning fees. Airbnb is now fixing that by showing the total cost for a given property, including all charges, automatically. Users across the [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Bluesky may soon get a new blue checkmark verification system, according to changes to the app’s public GitHub repository spotted Friday by reverse engineer alice.mosphere.at. The blue checks may have a similar look to the system pioneered by Twitter, now X, but Bluesky&#8217;s version seems like it will work quite differently. Bluesky&#8217;s blue check system [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The Chinese e-commerce marketplace app DHgate, which is now the No. 2 free iPhone app in the U.S., isn&#8217;t the only one that&#8217;s oddly benefiting from President Trump&#8217;s tariffs on U.S. imports from China. Another Chinese shopping app, Taobao, has now also entered the Top 5 as of Thursday. U.S. consumers began flocking to these [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Instagram on Thursday announced that it&#8217;s rolling out Blend, a new feature that lets you create a custom, personalized reels feed for you and your friends. Blends are invite-only and can be created with a singular friend or with a group chat. The custom feeds are refreshed with new content each day. The launch doesn&#8217;t [&hellip;]</p>

<p>In Meta&#8217;s antitrust trial on Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified that TikTok&#8217;s success was a risk to Meta&#8217;s business, saying the short-form video app was a &#8220;top priority&#8221; and a &#8220;highly urgent&#8221; competitive threat when it arrived in 2018, according to Bloomberg and other outlets. The reports come from a packed first week of [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Smashing, an AI-powered app that lets users build a curated list of news and posts, is shutting down, because of its inability to scale rapidly enough. </p>

<p>During Meta&#8217;s antitrust trial this week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Snapchat would have grown faster if it accepted his company&#8217;s offer to buy the social network back in 2013, Business Insider reports. Court documents revealed that Meta, then called Facebook, offered to buy Snapchat for $6 billion (reports at the time said that [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Aura, a digital photo frames company founded by early Twitter employees, is introducing its latest model, Aspen, which adds new technology to the device and its accompanying mobile app. In addition to hosting your digital photos in its 12-inch HD display, the device now also allows you to add captions to your photos when they [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Last month, Deezer reported its first positive cash flow in 2024, marking a significant milestone in its history. As the music streaming platform nears profitability, it’s launching new features to differentiate itself in the highly competitive market. On Wednesday, Deezer announced several features aimed at providing listeners with a more personalized experience. These include a [&hellip;]</p>