Google has revived its Art Selfie feature with generative AI, allowing users to create stylized images that reference famous artists and notable periods of history — imagining yourself in Rousseau’s jungles or as a Shakespearean performer, for example.
The new Art Selfie 2 tool is located under the Google Arts & Culture app, where it’ll also provide facts about the art style or period being referenced.
Here’s the Wall Street Journal with a look at how Apple could maintain “close oversight” of iOS sideloading in the EU after the Digital Markets Act’s March deadline:
The company will give itself the ability to review each app downloaded outside of its App Store. Apple also plans to collect fees from developers that offer downloads outside of the App Store, said people familiar with the company’s plans.
I will be very interested to see if the EU is happy with such a tightly controlled approach. The EU’s top antitrust official Margrethe Vestager recently said it “stands absolutely ready to do noncompliance cases.”
[The Wall Street Journal]
For years, Apple’s App Store policies have made it impossible for apps to sell digital services and goods on their own terms. A new law in the EU could change all of that — and Spotify is prepared.
Google teased a reveal for January 25th, but what’s a day between friends? The new Pixel 8 and 8 Pro hue will apparently be available exclusively through the Google Store and Google Fi.
Nokia — the telecom giant, not the logo on HMD phones — is still a smartphone force to be reckoned with. Oppo and its sub-brand OnePlus learned this the hard way after infringing upon Nokia’s patents and being forced to stop sales in Germany and other European countries. The new deal solves that, just in time for the flagship OnePlus 12’s release.
The Logitech Reach is designed for one-handed operation, and will soon be available to purchase via normal channels for $349.99 starting this summer, following an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign,
That’s pretty steep, but the lofty price may be worth it for creative streamers who have spent years wrestling with rigid tripods or webcams perched on a tower of books to achieve a top-down angle overlooking their work.
Two pre-recorded musical performances that were previously set to take place at the canceled Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo event will soon be available to watch on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel.
The Legend of Zelda Orchestra Concert will be released on February 9th at 8AM ET, followed by the Splatoon 3 Deep Cut concert on February 10th at 8AM ET.
WABetaInfo has spotted an in-development “Third-party Chats” feature in the latest beta version of WhatsApp’s iOS app, mirroring a similar feature found in the Android version last September. It’s all thanks to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which will require dominant messaging apps in Europe like WhatsApp (but probably not iMessage) to offer interoperability with other services when it goes into force in March.
Former TechCrunch EIC Matthew Panzarino got to touch it — something we’d heard was beyond the reach of mere mortals who don’t work for Disney Parks.
It looks just as mindblowing as ever. I am so damn jealous. Here’s how the lightsaber likely works.
While Carvana escaped its seeming plunge into bankruptcy and is now trading for $45 a share, the used car seller now has one fewer competitor. Vroom is technically still around but is now pivoting to just do auto financing and AI analytics for auto retail, laying off 90 percent of the company’s employees as it exits the used auto business.
