Month: March 2017

Apple clearly knows how popular video sharing is over social media, so it created a new way for iOS users to make and share videos. Today, the company announced a new app called Clips, a video-creation app that borrows many features from social media outlets' video-sharing apps but doesn't actually have a social media network attached to it. It appears Apple's goal with Clips is to provide a way to easily make fun videos by stringing together clips, music, text, and more, and then sharing them over social media.

Clips seems to be built for the generation that spends most of its time sharing video or photos over the Internet. It works similarly to Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram video features in that you press the record button to start a snippet of video and release your finger to end that snippet. You can record a bunch of snippets and package them together in one video and then add music, text, filters, emojis, shapes, and more. Clips includes a bunch of full-screen animated posters and backgrounds to choose from, as well, and a library of music tracks that automatically adjust to fit the length of your video.

The most unique feature is Live Titles, which lets you impose text over a video clip using your voice. You can record what you want to say, and Live Titles will translate it into text that appears over the video. It's almost like an easier way to close-caption a video, and it's certainly a quicker way to add a lot of text over a video clip than typing it out yourself. After you record a Live Title, you can edit it with different styles, punctuation, and emoji as well. This feature isn't just available for English speakers: Live Titles will support up to 36 different languages.

Enlarge (credit: Philippe Huguen/Getty Images)

Last week, the UK government halted taxpayer-funded advertising on YouTube and Google because some of its ads appeared on extremist content. Today, Google responded as more companies pulled advertising from its platform. Google's Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler explained in a blog post how the company will revamp its advertising policies to give companies more control over where their ads appear on YouTube and the Google Display Network. Schindler also signals a new epoch for Google and YouTube, one in which the company will focus more effort on preventing hate speech on its online video platform.

Schindler outlines three ways Google will be tweaking its ad policy. First, the company will remove ads from "hateful, offensive and derogatory content," or any content that's geared toward "attacking or harassing people based on their race, religion, gender or similar categories." This will begin immediately, and it basically means Google will effectively demonetize any extremist content it can find on its platform.

Second, Google will do more to ensure advertisements will show up on content made by creators in its YouTube Partners Program and not channels that impersonate or exploit those real members.

SpaceX

We don't have an official launch date yet for SpaceX's historic rocket re-launch just yet, but it could come as soon as March 29. During this flight, which will deliver the SES-10 satellite to geostationary orbit, the company plans to reuse the Falcon 9 first stage booster it successfully landed on a drone ship last April. That landing came after the Falcon 9 lifted a cargo ship toward the International Space Station.

Here's what we know so far about the upcoming launch: it can occur no earlier than March 29, because the launch of an Atlas V rocket has slipped to March 27, and it requires about 48 hours for the Air Force to reconfigure its downrange tracking system for a launch from a different pad. Further changes to the Atlas launch schedule could push the SpaceX launch into early April.

(credit: Adam Bowie)

After embedding Alexa into the Amazon Shopping app for iOS last week, Amazon is bringing a new feature to the digital assistant. You can now ask Alexa to order essentials that you need immediately through Prime Now. Prime Now is Amazon's two-hour delivery service currently available in 30 cities across the country that lets you order things like laundry detergent, chips, diapers, office supplies, alcohol (in a few select cities), and more for nearly immediate delivery.

Now you simply have to tell Alexa you want to order from Prime Now to get that two-hour delivery window. You can say, "Alexa, order dish soap from Prime Now" and the voice assistant will suggest types of dish soap for you to buy. When you confirm the product you want, Alexa adds it to your Prime Now cart. Once you meet the $20 minimum order amount, Alexa will place the order, and your items will arrive in two hours. In addition to essentials, you can also order restaurant delivery from Prime Now, and customers in Seattle, Columbus, and Cincinnati can order beer, wine, and other alcohol through the service.

There is one caveat that may make iOS users disappointed: Prime Now ordering with Alexa is currently only available on Amazon devices, including the Echo, Tap, and Fire tablets. You can't order anything through Prime Now by asking Alexa in the Amazon Shopping app, at least for now.