Both Sony and Microsoft have released year-end roundups that offer some fun stats on how you spent your time on Xbox or PlayStation this year. You can check out your results by signing into your account on PlayStation’s 2023 Wrap-Up site and Xbox’s Year in Review page.
Zach Seward, the co-founder of Quartz, is joining the publication to figure out the best ways to use AI in the newsroom, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. An internal memo seen by the Journal says Seward will establish a small team to experiment with AI tools, adding that he believes “Times journalism will always be reported, written and edited by our expert journalists.”
In celebration of Google’s 25th anniversary, the company created an interactive Where’s Waldo-style Doodle that’s filled with images of the most-search topics from 1999 to 2023. There are 25 images to find, and they range from Pikachu to Taylor Swift. It’s a nice way to kill some time!
The app — on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS — now directs you to Apple TV to buy or rent movies and shows. This means you can only access purchased or rented content from the Apple TV app as well.
While Apple previously said you’d be able to stream to hotel TVs using AirPlay later this year, an update on Apple’s iOS 17 page says the capability is coming in 2024. The company has similarly confirmed suspicions that Apple Music’s new collaborative playlist feature won’t be coming until next year.
Paul Mayne — the founder of the Day One journaling app some claim Apple “sherlocked” — is quoted in the announcement for the iOS 17.2 launch of Apple’s Journal app:
The Journal app is an exciting development for us because it introduces the benefits of digital journaling to a wider audience and ushers in a new chapter for the practice. We have integrated the Journaling Suggestions API into the Day One app to give our users an even richer experience that puts privacy at the forefront, and we can’t wait for them to try it.
Microsoft says it’s partnered with the United States’ largest federation of unions in a move that aims to ease workers into a “new AI era.”
That apparently involves AI “learning sessions”, hosting labor summits, and supporting governmental policies that will “equip workers with the essential skills, knowledge and economic support needed to thrive in an AI-powered economy.” Oh, and AI curriculum on LinkedIn tailored to the fields “most impacted by AI.”
As part of Google’s 25th anniversary, the search engine is releasing a “Trends Time Capsule” of the most-searched topics across several different categories — like video games, dog breeds, and TV shows — from 1999 to 2023.
Google says it used internal Google Trends tools, combined with “anonymous and aggregated Google Search data” to calculate the most popular results for each year.
[Google]
