Tech

google’s-ai-videos-get-a-big-upgrade-with-veo-3.1

Google’s AI videos get a big upgrade with Veo 3.1

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It’s getting harder to know what’s real on the Internet, and Google is not helping one bit with the announcement of Veo 3.1. The company’s new video model supposedly offers better audio and realism, along with greater prompt accuracy. The updated video AI will be available throughout the Google ecosystem, including the Flow filmmaking tool, where the new model will unlock additional features. And if you’re worried about the cost of conjuring all these AI videos, Google is also adding a “Fast” variant of Veo.

Veo made waves when it debuted earlier this year, demonstrating a staggering improvement in AI video quality just a few months after Veo 2’s release. It turns out that having all that video on YouTube is very useful for training AI models, so Google is already moving on to Veo 3.1 with a raft of new features.

Google says Veo 3.1 offers stronger prompt adherence, which results in better video outputs and fewer wasted compute cycles. Audio, which was a hallmark feature of the Veo 3 release, has reportedly improved, too. Veo 3’s text-to-video was limited to 720p landscape output, but there’s an ever-increasing volume of vertical video on the Internet. So Veo 3.1 can produce both landscape and portrait 16:9 video.

Google previously said it would bring Veo video tools to YouTube Shorts, which use a vertical video format like TikTok. The release of Veo 3.1 probably opens the door to fulfilling that promise. You can bet Veo videos will show up more frequently on TikTok as well now that it fits the format. This release also keeps Google in its race with OpenAI, which recently released a Sora iPhone app with an impressive new version of its video-generating AI.

Google’s AI videos get a big upgrade with Veo 3.1 Read More »

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DirecTV screensavers will show AI-generated ads with your face in 2026

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According to a March blog post from Glance’s VP of AI, Ian Anderson, Glance’s avatars “analyze customer behavior, preferences, and browsing history to provide tailor-made product recommendations, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.”

In a statement today, Naveen Tewari, Glance’s CEO and founder, said the screensavers will allow people to “instantly select a brand and reimagine themselves in the brand catalog right from their living-room TV itself.”

The DirecTV screensavers will also allow people to make 30-second-long AI-generated videos featuring their avatar, The Verge reported.

In addition to providing an “AI-commerce experience,” DirecTV expects the screensavers to help with “content discovery” and “personalization,” Vikash Sharm, SVP of product marketing at DirecTV, said in a statement.

The screensavers will also be able to show real-time weather and sports scores, Glance said.

A natural progression

Turning to ad-centric screensavers may frustrate customers who didn’t expect ads when they bought into Gemini devices for their streaming capabilities.

However, DirecTV has an expanding advertising business that has included experimenting with ad types, such as ads that show when people hit pause. As far as offensive ads go, screensaver ads can be considered less intrusive, since they typically show only when someone isn’t actively viewing their TV. Gemini screensavers can also be disabled.

It has become increasingly important for DirecTV to diversify revenue beyond satellite and Internet subscriptions. DirecTV had over 20 million subscribers in 2015; in 2024, streaming business publication Next TV, citing an anonymous source “close to the company,” reported that the AT&T-owned firm was down to about 11 million subscribers.

Simultaneously, the streaming industry—including streaming services and streaming software—has been increasingly relying on advertising to boost revenue. For some streaming service providers, increasing revenue through ads is starting to eclipse the pressure to do so through subscriber counts. Considering DirecTV’s declining viewership and growing interest in streaming, finding more ways to sell ads seems like a natural progression.

With legacy pay TV providers already dealing with dwindling subscriptions, introducing new types of ads risks making DirecTV less appealing as well.

And it’s likely that things won’t end there.

“This, we can integrate across different places within the television,” Glance COO Mansi Jain told The Verge. “We are starting with the screensaver, but tomorrow… we can integrate it in the launcher of the TV.”

DirecTV screensavers will show AI-generated ads with your face in 2026 Read More »

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Google will let Gemini schedule meetings for you in Gmail

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Gemini, Gmail, Google, Tech / /

Meetings can be a real drain on productivity, but a new Gmail feature might at least cut down on the time you spend scheduling them. The company has announced “Help Me Schedule” is coming to Gmail, leveraging Gemini AI to recognize when you want to schedule a meeting and offering possible meeting times for the email recipient to choose.

The new meeting feature is reminiscent of Magic Cue on Google’s latest Pixel phones. As you type emails, Gmail will be able to recognize when you are planning a meeting. A Help Me Schedule button will appear in the toolbar. Upon clicking, Google’s AI will swing into action and find possible meeting times that match the context of your message and are available in your calendar.

When you engage with Help me schedule, the AI generates an in-line meeting widget for your message. The recipient can select the time that works for them, and that’s it—the meeting is scheduled for both parties. What about meetings with more than one invitee? Google says the feature won’t support groups at launch.

Google has been on a Gemini-fueled tear lately, expanding access to AI features across a range of products. The company’s nano banana image model is coming to multiple products, and the Veo video model is popping up in Photos and YouTube. Gemini has also rolled out to Google Home to offer AI-assisted notifications and activity summaries.

Google will let Gemini schedule meetings for you in Gmail Read More »

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Nvidia sells tiny new computer that puts big AI on your desktop

Acer, AI, AI chips, AI development tools, AI GPU, AI infrastructure, ai supercomputer, ASUS, Biz & IT, desktop computing, DGX Spark, elon musk, Google, Grace Blackwell, HP, Jensen Huang, machine learning, msi, NVIDIA, openai, Project DIGITS, spacex, Tech / /

On Tuesday, Nvidia announced it will begin taking orders for the DGX Spark, a $4,000 desktop AI computer that wraps one petaflop of computing performance and 128GB of unified memory into a form factor small enough to sit on a desk. Its biggest selling point is likely its large integrated memory that can run larger AI models than consumer GPUs.

Nvidia will begin taking orders for the DGX Spark on Wednesday, October 15, through its website, with systems also available from manufacturing partners and select US retail stores.

The DGX Spark, which Nvidia previewed as “Project DIGITS” in January and formally named in May, represents Nvidia’s attempt to create a new category of desktop computer workstation specifically for AI development.

With the Spark, Nvidia seeks to address a problem facing some AI developers: Many AI tasks exceed the memory and software capabilities of standard PCs and workstations (more on that below), forcing them to shift their work to cloud services or data centers. However, the actual market for a desktop AI workstation remains uncertain, particularly given the upfront cost versus cloud alternatives, which allow developers to pay as they go.

Nvidia’s Spark reportedly includes enough memory to run larger-than-typical AI models for local tasks, with up to 200 billion parameters and fine-tune models containing up to 70 billion parameters without requiring remote infrastructure. Potential uses include running larger open-weights language models and media synthesis models such as AI image generators.

According to Nvidia, users can customize Black Forest Labs’ Flux.1 models for image generation, build vision search and summarization agents using Nvidia’s Cosmos Reason vision language model, or create chatbots using the Qwen3 model optimized for the DGX Spark platform.

Big memory in a tiny box

Nvidia has squeezed a lot into a 2.65-pound box that measures 5.91 x 5.91 x 1.99 inches and uses 240 watts of power. The system runs on Nvidia’s GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, includes ConnectX-7 200Gb/s networking, and uses NVLink-C2C technology that provides five times the bandwidth of PCIe Gen 5. It also includes the aforementioned 128GB of unified memory that is shared between system and GPU tasks.

Nvidia sells tiny new computer that puts big AI on your desktop Read More »

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Windows 10 support “ends” today, but it’s just the first of many deaths

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Today is the official end-of-support date for Microsoft’s Windows 10. That doesn’t mean these PCs will suddenly stop working, but if you don’t take action, it does mean your PC has received its last regular security patches and that Microsoft is washing its hands of technical support.

This end-of-support date comes about a decade after the initial release of Windows 10, which is typical for most Windows versions. But it comes just four years after Windows 10 was replaced by Windows 11, a version with stricter system requirements that left many older-but-still-functional PCs with no officially supported upgrade path. As a result, Windows 10 still runs on roughly 40 percent of the world’s Windows PCs (or around a third of US-based PCs), according to StatCounter data.

But this end-of-support date also isn’t set in stone. Home users with Windows 10 PCs can enroll in Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, which extends the support timeline by another year. We’ve published directions for how to do this here—while you do need one of the Microsoft accounts that the company is always pushing, it’s relatively trivial to enroll in the ESU program for free.

Home users can only get a one-year stay of execution for Windows 10, but IT administrators and other institutions with fleets of Windows 10 PCs can also pay for up to three years of ESUs, which is also roughly the amount of time users can expect new Microsoft Defender antivirus updates and updates for core apps like Microsoft Edge.

Obviously, Microsoft’s preferred upgrade path would be either an upgrade to Windows 11 for PCs that meet the requirements or an upgrade to a new PC that does support Windows 11. It’s also still possible, at least for now, to install and run Windows 11 on unsupported PCs. Your day-to-day experience will generally be pretty good, though installing Microsoft’s major yearly updates (like the upcoming Windows 11 25H2 update) can be a bit of a pain. For new Windows 11 users, we’ll publish an update to our Windows 11 cleanup guide soon—these steps help to minimize the upsells and annoyances that Microsoft has baked into its latest OS.

Windows 10 support “ends” today, but it’s just the first of many deaths Read More »

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Google’s Photoshop-killer AI model is coming to search, Photos, and NotebookLM

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NotebookLM added a video overview feature several months back, which uses AI to generate a video summary of the content you’ve added to the notebook. The addition of Nano Banana to NotebookLM is much less open-ended. Instead of entering prompts to edit images, NotebookLM has a new set of video styles powered by Nano Banana, including whiteboard, anime, retro print, and more. The original style is still available as “Classic.”

My favorite video.

NotebookLM’s videos are still somewhat limited, but this update adds a second general format. You can now choose “Brief” in addition to “Explainer,” with the option to add prompts that steer the video in the right direction. Although, that’s not a guarantee, as this is still generative AI. At least the style should be more consistent with the addition of Nano Banana.

The updated image editor is also coming to Google Photos, but Google doesn’t have a firm timeline. Google claims that its Nano Banana model is a “major upgrade” over its previous image-editing model. Conversational editing was added to Photos last month, but it’s not the Nano Banana model that has impressed testers over the summer. Google says that Nano Banana will arrive in the Photos app in the next few weeks, which should make those conversational edits much less frustrating.

Google’s Photoshop-killer AI model is coming to search, Photos, and NotebookLM Read More »

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Apple’s streaming service gets harder to tell apart from its streaming app, box

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Apple has lightly rebranded its video-on-demand streaming service. The Netflix rival that has brought us critically acclaimed shows and movies like Slow Horses and The Lost Bus has gone from Apple TV+ to Apple TV.

Apple announced the name change today in a press release that was primarily about the film F1: The Movie coming to its streaming service on December 12. Unlike previous announcements, however, today’s release referred to the streaming service as Apple TV, instead of Apple TV+. The announcement reads:

Apple TV+ is now simply Apple TV, with a vibrant new identity.

Apple didn’t specify how its streaming service’s “identity” has changed at all. As of this writing, accessing Apple’s streaming service via a browser or smart TV app still shows the original Apple TV+ branding.

Similar to rival streaming service HBO Max’s recent re-rebrand, or ESPN+ becoming ESPN, this rebrand is rather mild. Still, the change makes Apple’s streaming service slightly harder to differentiate from Apple’s streaming app, which is also named Apple TV, and its streaming boxes, which Apple officially called Apple TVs until 2015, when their official names started including the max resolution that they support (such as: Apple TV 4K). You can have one or two of those offerings without needing the others (although watching Apple’s streaming service on streaming hardware does require Apple’s streaming app).

Apple’s streaming service gets harder to tell apart from its streaming app, box Read More »

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People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads

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Amazon Echo Show owners are reporting an uptick in advertisements on their smart displays.

The company’s Echo Show smart displays have previously shown ads through the company’s Shopping Lists feature, as well as advertising for Alexa skills. Additionally, Echo Shows may play audio ads when users listen to Amazon Music on Alexa.

However, reports on Reddit (examples here, here, and here) and from The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, who owns more than one Echo Show, suggest that Amazon has increased the amount of ads it shows on its smart displays’ home screens. The Echo Show’s apparent increase in ads is pushing people to stop using or even return their Echo Shows.

The smart displays have also started showing ads for Alexa+, the new generative AI version of Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. Ads for the subscription-based Alexa+ are reportedly taking over Echo Show screens, even though the service is still in Early Access.

“This is getting ridiculous and I’m about to just toss the whole thing and move back to Google,” one Redditor said of the “full-volume” ads for Alexa+ on their Echo Show.

The Verge’s Tuohy reported seeing ads on one (but not all) of her Echo Shows for the first time this week and said ads sometimes show when the display is set to show personal photos. She reported seeing ads for “elderberry herbal supplements, Quest sports chips, and tabletop picture frames.”

Users are unable to disable the home screen ads. When reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson told Ars Technica:

People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads Read More »

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Bose SoundTouch home theater systems regress into dumb speakers Feb. 18

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Bose will brick key features of its SoundTouch Wi-Fi speakers and soundbars soon. On Thursday, Bose informed customers that as of February 18, 2026, it will stop supporting the devices, and the devices’ cloud-based features, including the companion app, will stop working.

The SoundTouch app enabled numerous capabilities, including integrating music services, like Spotify and TuneIn, and the ability to program multiple speakers in different rooms to play the same audio simultaneously.

Bose has also said that some saved presets won’t work and that users won’t be able to change saved presets once the app is gone.

Additionally, Bose will stop providing security updates for SoundTouch devices.

The Framingham, Massachusetts-headquartered company noted to customers that the speakers will continue being able to play audio from a device connected via AUX or HDMI. Wireless playback will still work over Bluetooth; however, Bluetooth is known to introduce more latency than Wi-Fi connections.

Affected customers can trade in their SoundTouch product for a credit worth up to $200.

In its notice sent to customers this week, Bose provided minimal explanation for end-of-life-ing its pricey SoundTouch speakers, saying:

Bose SoundTouch systems were introduced into the market in 2013. Technology has evolved since then, and we’re no longer able to sustain the development and support of the cloud infrastructure that powers this older generation of products. We remain committed to creating new listening experiences for our customers built on modern technologies.

Ars Technica has reached out to Bose for comment.

“Really disgusted”

Bose launched SoundTouch with three speakers ranging from $399 to $699. The company marketed the wireless home audio system as a way to extend high-quality sound throughout the home using Wi-Fi-connected speakers.

In 2015, Bose expanded the lineup with speakers ranging from $200 to $400 and soundbars and home theater systems ranging from $1,100 to $1,500.

By 2020, however, Bose was distancing itself from SoundTouch. It informed customers that it was “discontinuing sales of some SoundTouch products” but said it was “committed” to supporting the “SoundTouch app and product software for the foreseeable future.” Apparently, Bose couldn’t see beyond the next five years.

Bose SoundTouch home theater systems regress into dumb speakers Feb. 18 Read More »

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UK regulators plan to force Google changes under new competition law

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Google is facing multiple antitrust actions in the US, and European regulators have been similarly tightening the screws. You can now add the UK to the list of Google’s governmental worries. The country’s antitrust regulator, known as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has confirmed that Google has “strategic market status,” paving the way to more limits on how Google does business in the UK. Naturally, Google objects to this course of action.

The designation is connected to the UK’s new digital markets competition regime, which was enacted at the beginning of the year. Shortly after, the CMA announced it was conducting an investigation into whether Google should be designated with strategic market status. The outcome of that process is a resounding “yes.”

This label does not mean Google has done anything illegal or that it is subject to immediate regulation. It simply means the company has “substantial and entrenched market power” in one or more areas under the purview of the CMA. Specifically, the agency has found that Google is dominant in search and search advertising, holding a greater than 90 percent share of Internet searches in the UK.

In Google’s US antitrust trials, the rapid rise of generative AI has muddied the waters. Google has claimed on numerous occasions that the proliferation of AI firms offering search services means there is ample competition. In the UK, regulators note that Google’s Gemini AI assistant is not in the scope of the strategic market status designation. However, some AI features connected to search, like AI Overviews and AI Mode, are included.

According to the CMA, consultations on possible interventions to ensure effective competition will begin later this year. The agency’s first set of antitrust measures will likely expand on solutions that Google has introduced in other regions or has offered on a voluntary basis in the UK. This could include giving publishers more control over how their data is used in search and “choice screens” that suggest Google alternatives to users. Measures that require new action from Google could be announced in the first half of 2026.

UK regulators plan to force Google changes under new competition law Read More »

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YouTube prepares to welcome back banned creators with “second chance” program

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A few weeks ago, Google told US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that it would allow creators banned for COVID and election misinformation to rejoin the platform. It didn’t offer many details in the letter, but now YouTube has explained the restoration process. YouTube’s “second chances” are actually more expansive than the letter made it seem. Going forward, almost anyone banned from YouTube will have an opportunity to request a new channel. The company doesn’t guarantee approval, but you can expect to see plenty of banned creators back on Google’s video platform in the coming months.

YouTube will now allow banned creator to request reinstatement, but this is separate from appealing a ban. If a channel is banned, creators continue to have the option of appealing the ban. If successful, their channel comes back as if nothing happened. After one year, creators will now have the “second chance” option.

“We know many terminated creators deserve a second chance,” the blog post reads, noting that YouTube itself doesn’t always get things right the first time. The option for getting a new channel will appear in YouTube Studio on the desktop, and Google expects to begin sending out these notices in the coming months. However, anyone terminated for copyright violations is out of luck—Google does not forgive such infringement as easily as it does claiming that COVID is a hoax.

The readmission process will still come with a review by YouTube staff, and the company says it will take multiple factors into consideration, including whether or not the behavior that got the channel banned is still against the rules. This is clearly a reference to COVID and election misinformation, which Google did not allow on YouTube for several years but has since stopped policing. The site will also consider factors like how severe or persistent the violations were and whether the creator’s actions “harmed or may continue to harm the YouTube community.”

YouTube prepares to welcome back banned creators with “second chance” program Read More »

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Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15

Logitech, Smart Home, Tech / /

In another loss for early smart home adopters, Logitech has announced that it will brick all Pop switches on October 15.

In August of 2016, Logitech launched Pop switches, which provide quick access to a range of smart home actions, including third-party gadgets. For example, people could set their Pop buttons to launch Philips Hue or Insteon lighting presets, play a playlist from their Sonos speaker, or control Lutron smart blinds. Each button could store three actions, worked by identifying smart home devices on a shared Wi-Fi network, and was controllable via a dedicated Android or iOS app. The Pop Home Switch Starter Pack launched at $100, and individual Pop Add-on Home Switches debuted at $40 each.

A company spokesperson told Ars Technica that Logitech informed customers on September 29 that their Pop switches would soon become e-waste. According to copies of the email shared via Reddit, Logitech’s notice said:

As of October 15, 2025, your POP button(s) and the connected hub will no longer be supported and will lose all functionality.

As an attempt at compensation, Logitech gave affected customers a coupon for 15 percent off some Logitech products, including its Ultimate Ears speakers. The coupon is only valid in the US until March 31, 2026, and doesn’t apply to Logitech’s Pro or RS racing wheels for gaming, videoconferencing products, its Logitech for Business line, or “newly released products,” according to the email.

Logitech’s neglected smart home

Logitech’s spokesperson didn’t respond to Ars’ questions regarding e-waste, the short cancellation notice, or whether Pop button owners can continue using the devices locally after October 15.

“For close to a decade we have been maintaining the POP ecosystem, but as technology evolves, we have made the decision to end support for this device,” Logitech’s representative told Ars, repeating messaging from the email sent to customers.

Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15 Read More »