Tech News Feed
Is Sleeping on Your Stomach Really That Bad? - CNET
Actors Recorded Videos for 'Vladimir.' It Turned Into Russian Propaganda.
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Electric Co-op and Utility: What's the Difference? - CNET
How Tech Giants Use Money, Access To Steer Academic Research
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A Guide to the American Express Gold Card's Benefits - CNET
The Best Fitness Apps for 2023 - CNET
Cable Lobby To FCC: Please Don't Look Too Closely at the Prices We Charge
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Compare Current Refinance Rates in December 2023 - CNET
Here's how to move your subscriptions off Google Podcasts before it shuts down
Earlier this year, Google announced it would shut down its standalone podcast app in 2024. Since then, the company has started moving podcasts into YouTube and its companion app YouTube Music. As a way to ease the transition, Google will be rolling out a migration tool for its current podcast app users. With the tool, users in the US will be able to move their favorite pod subscriptions from Google Podcasts to YouTube Music, or export them for use in other podcast apps.
In the coming weeks, the migration tool will be available through a banner in Google Podcasts. There are step-by-step instructions on how to use the migration tool in Google's Help Center. The entire process is just four steps and you’ll need to have both Google Podcasts and YouTube Music installed on your device to complete the transfer. After the transfer, Google notes it may take a few minutes for everything to show up in your YouTube Music library.
Google's move to ditch its standalone podcast app doesn't come as a total surprise. Google Podcasts has been around since 2018 but it never quite took off like similar apps, including Overcast and Spotify. And YouTube is already a popular destination for podcast fans, with a recent study claiming over 23 percent of podcasts listeners use YouTube as their primary player. Many of today's trending podcasts are already available on YouTube. For podcasts that are not available on the platform, users can add shows directly to their YouTube Music library via RSS feed. This isn't Google's first rodeo. Back in 2020, the company nixed its standalone music app, Google Play Music, in favor of YouTube Music, and it also offered a comprehensive tool to transfer libraries to the new app.
Google Podcasts will remain live for listening through March 2024, after which users will be able to migrate or export their subscriptions through July 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/heres-how-to-move-your-subscriptions-off-google-podcasts-before-it-shuts-down-194039938.html?src=rssNintendo Cancels Japanese Esports Events Following Threats to Staff and Spectators
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Meta's Threads is getting searchable topics (just don't call them hashtags)
Meta’s latest update for Threads will address a long-running feature request for the company’s Twitter competitor: topic tags. The company is adding searchable tags to make it easier for people to find conversations that interest them.
Mark Zuckeberg previewed the change last month, but the feature is now available to all Threads users, according to the company. With the update, Threads users can append one tag to each post, and the app will surface tag suggestions and stats about how many other users have used the topic in the past.
Notably, though the feature can be found under the familiar # symbol, Threads’ tags are a bit different than hashtags. As Instagram head Adam Mosseri noted in a post, Threads tags can contain spaces and special characters. Threads posts are also limited to a single tag per post, so users may want to think carefully about which tag they select.
Hashtags have been a long-requested feature for Meta’s Twitter competitor, and many users have questioned why the company didn’t carry over the feature, which is also widely used on Instagram. It seems Meta has been slow to adopt the feature, however, because of fears of how it could be misused on the rapidly growing platform.
Hashtags, while long popular on Instagram and X, have also been misused. On Instagram, hashtags have been used to spread misinformation and other incredibly problematic content. And while Meta has already imposed search limitations on “potentially sensitive” content on Threads, the added restrictions on tags might discourage other kinds of abuse. “The hope is this design focuses tags more on communities and less on engagement hacking,” Mosseri explained.
But even with the limitations, the addition of tags could help make Threads more useful for tracking real-time conversations. And the fact that tags include stats about how much they’re being used suggests it could also be a precursor to some kind of trending topics feature, which has been the source of much speculation.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-threads-is-getting-searchable-topics-just-dont-call-them-hashtags-191915209.html?src=rssYes, Your Mattress and Pillows Could Be Sabotaging Your Sleep. Here's What to Know - CNET
I Went to Bed With a Robot to Get Better Sleep. Here's Why You Should Too - CNET
Watch The Game Awards 2023 here at 7:30PM ET
The tenth edition of the Game Awards is upon us. The event unfolds Thursday evening, with host Geoff Keighley scheduled to take the stage at 7:30PM ET. In addition to the myriad trailers, announcements, gameplay clips and speeches, six titles will compete for the coveted Game of the Year award. Engadget will cover all the big news as it happens, and you can watch along below.
Baldur’s Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 lead the pack with eight total nominations. They’ll compete for Game of the Year with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (seven nods), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (five), The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (five) and the Resident Evil 4 remake (four).
Nintendo had a banner year, even as the Switch likely approaches its swan song. The company raked in 15 total nominations — the most of any publisher. Sony was next, with 13 nods, while Microsoft (including Bethesda and Activision Blizzard) received 10 noms. Meanwhile, Epic Games, the only non-hardware-producing publisher in the top four, snagged nine.
The awards show includes 31 total awards in areas as diverse as Best Action Game, Best Esports Coach and Best Independent Game. The indie category opened a can of worms this year, as the beloved Dave the Diver was included in the category despite being produced by a subsidiary of Nexon, a behemoth with an $18.3 billion market cap.
You can tune into the Game Awards on YouTube, Twitch (and other platforms) at 7:30PM ET on Thursday. Or, watch below:
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-the-game-awards-2023-here-at-730pm-et-190011911.html?src=rssUK Says Russia Targeted Officials in Email-Hacking Campaign
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Amazon ditches Venmo as a direct payment option after just 14 months
Folks who have gotten used to using Venmo to pay for goods on Amazon will have to switch to another payment method to renew their Prime membership or order goods. Amazon is ditching Venmo as a direct payment option just 14 months after enabling it.
It's no longer possible to add Venmo as an Amazon payment option. Those who already have Venmo enabled in their Amazon wallet can use it to check out until January 10. Amazon told customers that it will still accept Venmo debit and credit cards.
Amazon has not disclosed why it's getting rid of Venmo as a direct payment option. However, it told CNBC that customers still have almost a dozen other payment methods to choose from. A Venmo spokesperson told the outlet that “We have a strong relationship with Amazon and look forward to continuing to build on it.“
For what it's worth, Amazon doesn't accept direct payments from PayPal, Venmo's parent company, either. As with Venmo, though, it allows customers to pay with PayPal debit cards.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-ditches-venmo-as-a-direct-payment-option-after-just-14-months-180949996.html?src=rssMaybe We Already Have Runaway Machines
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Streamlabs is bringing livestreaming tools to X
Content creation experts Streamlabs has partnered with beleaguered social media platform X to offer a “seamless go-live experience”. This is part of X’s long-promised integration of game streaming to the site. To that end, it’ll allow X users to initiate streams without having to manually input stream keys and it’ll let those same users sign into the Streamlabs desktop app or the mobile app using social media credentials.
The system also integrates with X’s new live broadcast chat functionality, so you can monitor chat messages in the Streamlabs desktop add as you stream. The desktop app also lets you adjust monetization options on the fly, including custom alerts for tipping and overlays for branded content. Additionally, content creators have access to the Streamlabs merch store so they can hawk branded products while they stream. Creators using X will also have access to the company's line of widgets for increased engagement.
For regular users, this partnership will allow people to chat with their favorite streamers in real-time straight from X, though this feature looks to be paywalled behind one of those Blue subscriptions, or Premium or whatever it’s called these days. The one that gets you the universally-beloved blue check mark.
Of course, there’s the massive antisemitic elephant in the room. This is a strange time to announce a partnership with X, given Musk’s recent behavior and the ongoing exodus of advertisers from the social media platform. So far this exodus has included Apple, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Warner Brothers Discovery and others. It looks like Streamlabs, and by extension Logitech, has decided to buck trends and tie its horse to the X wagon. Still, new livestreaming tools are never a bad thing.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/streamlabs-is-bringing-livestreaming-tools-to-x-175752692.html?src=rss