Software

Ecobee is integrating smart locks into its app.

Spotify already lets you upload your own pics to use as playlist covers, but now it has launched a feature that gives you an easy, in-app way to customize them. The audio streaming service's new Create Cover Art feature comes with a set of tools you can use to crop images in different shapes, such as hearts and stars, and then place them against backgrounds in the colors of your choice.

It’s the end of an era for one of the App Store’s earliest success stories. Foursquare is shutting down its signature city guide app in order to “focus our efforts on building an even better experience in Swarm,” the company said in an update.

Update, October 18, 5PM ET: District Judge James Donato has granted an administrative stay. This effectively puts Donato's prior order, which was due to come into effect shortly, on pause until the 9th Circuit's resolves Google's stay motion. In a statement given to Engadget, a Google spokesperson said: 

Google’s NotebookLM software just got some cool new features that primarily impact audio overviews. For the uninitiated, the platform’s Audio Overview tool uses AI to whip up an audio summary of a piece of content. It started with written content, but has since expanded to YouTube videos.

With short-form videos becoming extremely common these days, it's not unusual to discover new songs and artists from apps like TikTok and Instagram.

Unity has re

Be My Eyes, the accessibility app for mobile devices that puts blind and low-vision people on a live video call with a sighted guide, will help Microsoft train its AI. Be My Eyes will provide anonymized video data to improve scene understanding in Microsoft’s accessibility-focused AI models.

Meta is continuing its flurry of teen safety features for Instagram as the company faces mounting questions about its handling of younger users’ privacy and safety in its apps. The latest batch of updates are meant to tighten its protections against sextortion.

Threads is sometimes criticized for not prioritizing real-time content in its recommendations. Now, Meta is adding status indicators that can show when a particular user is online in an apparent effort to address that need.