Here are the top trending stories from the world of technology. Stories and news that every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
Now you can add songs to Spotify playlist directly from Instagram Posts & Reels
Now you can easily integrate Spotify with Instagram. Yes, you’ve heard it right. Instagram has unveiled a new feature that will allow you to add any songs or music being played in reels or posts directly into Spotify playlist. Users will have to click on a link accompanying their posts and reels. Once clicked, you’ll be taken to a audio preview page where you’ll find ‘add’ logo with Spotify logo. Just click on this ‘add’ button and the songs will be automatically added to your Spotify library. However, for enjoying this feature, you’ll have to first integrate your Spotify account with Instagram.
2)
Meta launches ‘Spirit LM’ – its first open-source multimodal model for integrating text & speech
Last week Meta launched yet another AI model without much fun-fare. The special thing about Spirit LM is that it is Meta’s first multimodal model that aims to seamlessly integrate text and speech. The ultimate aim of this multimodal model is to improve the expressiveness of AI-generated speech, resolving the drawback usually found in traditional automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. It utilizes phonetic, pitch, and tone tokens to capture vocal nuances, making the generated speech sound more human-like. However, unfortunately the model is currently available only for non-commercial purposes under Meta’s FAIR non-commercial research license.
3)
WhatsApp’s Meta AI may soon get a memory feature
WhatsApp’s AI assistant may soon be able to remember your birthday, your preferences, your diet and many other important details of your life. According to WABetainfo, WhatsApp is currently testing a chat memory feature for its AI assistant. This new feature will enable the AI assistant to retain and remember important information about you. These information’s will be sourced from your daily conversations. Although this feature may add some great value to your life, critics may raise red flags over possible intrusion of privacy.
4)
YouTube is testing new affordable Premium Lite version
YouTube is currently beta testing a new subscription tier called Premium Lite, which offers a more affordable option for users seeking ad-free viewing, albeit with some limitations. This plan is being trialed in select countries, including Australia, Germany, and Thailand. Unlike the past plans that offered completely ad-free viewing, the new Premium Lite plan includes limited ads. This means users will still encounter some advertisements while watching content but significantly fewer than in the free version. The Premium Lite subscription is expected to be priced at around half the cost of the standard YouTube Premium plan.