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We’ve handed the midpoint of November, that means the Black Friday offers are in full swing. That doesn’t imply this week has been in need of information, although.
Google’s Gemini Reside AI assistant upstaged Siri on the iPhone, whereas the corporate was additionally rumoured to be working by itself ‘Disguise My E-mail’ different for Android.
Amazon refreshed its Fireplace TV line-up with a spread of latest fashions, Apple rolled out an unannounced safety characteristic, whereas Microsoft’s head of gaming Phil Spencer hinted at an Xbox handheld console far sooner or later.
Preserve studying to be taught who we named our winner and loser in tech this week.
Winner: Bluesky
Our winner this week is Bluesky because the social media app hit the highest of the App Retailer charts, gathering a report variety of customers.
Based on a stat-tracking web site by Bluesky developer Jaz, Bluesky formally surpassed 15 million customers on Wednesday. The Verge reported this information, including that Bluesky had grow to be the primary app within the iOS App Retailer charts, rating above Threads, ChatGPT, Google and TikTok.
As of Friday, Bluesky remained within the high spot, although it does nonetheless lag behind different social media platforms by way of person numbers.
Whereas Bluesky has just lately rolled out a number of new options, together with customized fonts, pinned posts and the flexibility to share movies, none of those appear to be the driving drive behind the sudden surge in sign-ups.
Relatively, latest studies attribute the landmark variety of customers to the result US presidential election. Extra particularly, customers appear to be fed up with Elon Musk because the X proprietor joined the Trump administration because the chief of its ‘Division of Authorities Effectivity’ – or DOGE – and need to transfer on to bluer skies.
No matter why persons are becoming a member of Bluesky, it’s thrilling to see a correct different to X develop in recognition.
Loser: Amazon
Our loser this week is Amazon as the corporate introduced it could be shutting down its free streaming platform, Amazon Freevee.
If you happen to’re unfamiliar with Freevee, the streaming service obtained its begin in January 2019 when it launched underneath the identify IMDb Freedive. Later in 2019, it was rebranded to IMDb TV, earlier than being rebranded a second (and ultimate) time in 2022 to Amazon Freevee.
All appeared properly for 2 years because the platform launched new and authentic content material, together with over 100 Amazon Originals beforehand unique to Amazon Prime Video. All of this content material was free to stream and not using a Prime membership, with the app using an ad-supported mannequin to make a revenue fairly than counting on the subscription mannequin utilized by its sister web site, Prime Video.
Nevertheless, it appears the advert income wasn’t sufficient to maintain Freevee afloat, as Amazon has formally introduced it’s shutting the streaming service down.
An Amazon rep instructed Selection, “To ship a less complicated viewing expertise for patrons, we have now determined to part out Freevee branding. There can be no change to the content material accessible for Prime members, and an unlimited providing of free streaming content material will nonetheless be accessible for non-Prime members, together with choose originals from Amazon MGM Studios, a wide range of licensed motion pictures and collection, and a broad library of FAST channels — all accessible on Prime Video”.
Which means non-Prime members will nonetheless have the ability to entry some free content material beforehand discovered on Freevee by way of Prime Video and not using a membership. Nevertheless, there can be no extra rebranding for Freevee, with the platform as we all know it now leaving for good.
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