Engadget : Arts & Entertainment

YouTube Music is moving into podcasts. YouTube proper hosts video versions of many podcasts, some of which accrue hundreds of thousands or even millions of views per episode. The audio service hasn't ventured into podcast territory just yet, but that's about to change, YouTube's podcast chief Kai Chuk announced at the Hot Pod Summit on Thursday.

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The European Commission, the executive wing of the European Union, has banned TikTok from devices it owns. It also asked its staff to remove the app from personal phones and tablets that are part of its mobile device service — in other words, any devices they use for work.

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Google is bringing some new features to its Workspace apps in the coming weeks, including a fresh lick of paint. The company is updating the look and feel of Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides in the coming weeks, drawing from its Material Design 3 language to do so. Google says the updated designs will streamline the user interface and put more emphasis on the most-loved tools in each app.

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Samsung's latest flagship smartphones haven't even been out for a week, but you can already score a solid discount on one model.

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The chair of the Federal Trade Commission has proposed new rules to tackle the scourge of text message scams. If the agency's commissioners approve the rules at a meeting in March, providers would have to block robotexts that are "highly likely to be illegal," chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.

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Artifact, the personalized news curation app from Instagram's co-founders, no longer has a waitlist. The app is live in the Apple App Store in most English-speaking markets, as well as on Android. Starting today, you'll no longer need a phone number to use Artifact unless you want to create an account and move to a different device. 

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Since it started opening up its generative AI-powered chatbot in Bing earlier this month, Microsoft has granted more than a million people access to a preview of the tool, while millions more are on the waitlist.

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Microsoft has expanded the Xbox Game Pass family plan to six more countries. Folks in Chile, Hungary, Israel, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden can now sign up for a membership that allows up to five friends and family members in the same country to access Game Pass Ultimate features via a single subscription.