Posts with «author_name|igor bonifacic» label

YouTube’s Green Screen lets you use other videos as backdrop for Shorts

YouTube is giving Shorts creators yet another way to incorporate content from other users within their videos. Starting today, the company has begun rolling out Green Screen, a feature that allows you to use up to 60 seconds of an eligible YouTube VOD or Short as the background for your own original Short. Green Screen allows you to use both the video and audio from a sampled clip.

If you don’t want other people incorporating your long-form footage in their Shorts, you can opt out from Green Screen sharing through YouTube Studio. Otherwise, each time a user samples someone’s content, you’ll see a link to the original video in the Shorts player.

YouTube has begun rolling out Green Screen to iOS, with Android to follow at a later date. You can access the feature through the three-dots menu found in the Shorts app. The rollout of Green Screen follows the announcement of the Cut functionality YouTube introduced last month. That feature allows creators to add up to five seconds of footage from an eligible Short or YouTube video to their clip. Remixing has played an important part in TikTok’s success, so it’s not a surprise to see YouTube working to offer Shorts users similar tools.

Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2022 right here!

'Apex Legends Mobile' arrives on May 17th

The wait is over. After a year of regional betas and a delay to the game's initially planned limited launch, Respawn Entertainment announced on Wednesday it will release Apex Legends Mobile on May 17th. At that point, anyone who wants to check out the battle royale can do so on Android and iOS. Fans can pre-register to receive a notification as soon as Apex Legends Mobile is available to download. And by signing up for a download prompt, Respawn says you'll be helping the community unlock special rewards.   

So close. Just out of reach. Apex Legends Mobile is launching May 17!

Help the community unlock the pre-registration rewards:

Android - pre-register now! https://t.co/IB2byHq93p
iOS - sign up here for pre-reg updates: https://t.co/A0s3xZpbQKpic.twitter.com/aL5pyXwRAn

— Apex Legends Mobile (@PlayApexMobile) May 11, 2022

EA first shared it was bringing Apex to mobile in 2019. The Android and iOS release does not feature cross-play support with the PC and console versions of the popular first-person shooter. At launch, Apex Legends Mobile will also include a smaller pool of playable characters, but one will feature one exclusive legend. 

Watch Nintendo's Indie World stream here at 10AM ET

Nintendo will host its latest Indie World Showcase today at 10AM ET. On Tuesday, the company said the show would run approximately 20 minutes and showcase a handful of new indie games coming to the Switch. Will we finally get a release date for Hollow Knight: Silksong? We don’t know. Team Cherry announced the sequel to its beloved Metrodvania in 2019, and fans have been waiting for a release date ever since.

Either way, you can watch the entire showcase unfold below and on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel. And if you miss the livestream, we’ll have you covered with all the major announcements following the event.

Carvana laid off 2,500 employees and chose to do so over Zoom

On Tuesday, online used car retailer Carvana took to Zoom to lay off 12 percent of its workforce, reports Protocol. According to Twitter reports, the startup incited “mass hysteria” among workers when it sent a company-wide email at 7:30AM informing everyone of the impending job cuts but not specifying who would be affected. In the end, Carvana told approximately 2,500 workers, many of them in “operational positions,” they no longer had a job with the company in a Zoom call some employees said was pre-recorded, a claim the startup disputes.

Fuck @Carvana. You just fired us in a zoom meeting and said “have a good day” at the end. You should be ashamed. Many people have children, rent to pay, and responsibilities. I am so disgusted by how this was handled

— Izzy (@OrangeCreamy11) May 10, 2022

Despite finding success early in the pandemic, Carvana has struggled recently. During its first-quarter earnings call, the company reported a $260 million net loss, and it blamed the layoffs on the financial headwinds that have come its way and slowed growth.

"Recent macroeconomic factors have pushed automotive retail into recession," a Carvana spokesperson told Protocol. "While Carvana is still growing, our growth is slower than what we originally prepared for in 2022, and we made the difficult decision to reduce the size of certain operations teams to better align with the current needs of the business."

On the same day Carvana told employees of the layoffs, the company announced it would spend $2.2 billion to buy a handful of used-car auction sites from Kar Auction Services. Carvana isn’t the first company to turn to a Zoom webinar to conduct layoffs. Late last year, mortgage startup Better.com fired about 10 percent of its workforce in a webinar that caused a similar backlash among those affected.

Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire Del Mar is its most affordable electric motorcycle yet

After months of teasing, Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire brand has unveiled its second all-electric motorcycle, the new middleweight Del Mar. Built on the brand’s new Arrow platform, it features a 60 kW motor capable of accelerating the EV from zero to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds, Electrek reported on Tuesday.

The Del Mar’s 21700-format battery is housed in a structural case that doubles as part of the motorcycle’s frame, reducing the overall weight of the vehicle. To make the Del Mar even lighter, LiveWire integrated a handful of components, including the onboard charger, into a single unit mounted to the outside of the structural battery case. All told, it’s about 25 percent lighter than the LiveWire One.

LiveWire expects the Del Mar will be able to travel approximately 100 miles on a single charge. Additionally, the EV will feature built-in GPS and cellular connectivity, which will allow the company to roll out new software features to the motorcycle and tune its performance through OTA updates. One feature you won’t find on the Del Mar is DC fast charging. It’s limited to Level 1 and 2 charging.

Following Tuesday’s reveal, LiveWire made 100 $17,699 “Launch Edition” Del Mar motorcycles available for pre-order. Those sold out almost instantly. As for the production model, which should go on sale sometime in the spring of 2023, LiveWire said it’s targeting a price of $15,000. For context, the LiveWire One, currently the brand’s most affordable electric motorcycle, starts at $22,799 before federal subsidies. LiveWire also teased that it’s already developing a third model based on the Arrow platform.

YouTube TV adds Spanish-only plans

YouTube TV is adding two new Spanish-language plans, Google announced today. The first of those, the aptly named Spanish Plan, will offer customers access to more than 28 Spanish-language channels, including Univision and ESPN Deportes. Google has priced the package at $25 per month for the first six months, and $35 per month thereafter. New YouTube TV customers can subscribe to the plan without paying for the platform’s base $65 per month package.

Now introducing... our new Spanish Plan! 👏🏾👏🏻🔊👏🏼👏🏿

28+ Spanish channels of live sports, news, telenovelas & more at $24.99/mo for the first 6 months ($34.99/mo after). Tag @ the first person who needs to know. ⬇️ https://t.co/68JUTU6MiOpic.twitter.com/ctIZgpuf1S

— YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) May 10, 2022

For those who want to add to their existing subscription, Google has also introduced a Spanish Plus add-on. Priced at $10 per month for the first six months and then $15 thereafter, the package comes with access to more than 25 Spanish-language channels, including Cine Latino and Discovery en Español.

Google has increasingly looked to Hispanic customers to grow YouTube TV’s subscriber base. Last year, the company made Univison, UniMás and Galavisión available to subscribers at “no extra cost.” Like many other streaming TV platforms, YouTube TV has repeatedly increased the price of its service to offset the cost of rising content deals.

Tesla recalls 130,000 cars for overheating infotainment systems

For at least the third time this year, Tesla is recalling some of its cars over a software issue. Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a notice on its website notifying owners of 2021 and 2022 Tesla Model S and X vehicles, as well as 2022 Model 3 and Y vehicles of an overheating issue affecting the infotainment system in their cars.

According to the agency, a software bug can cause the CPUs in those systems to overheat either when you’re about to fast charge the affected models or already in the process of doing so. Subsequently, the processor can slow down or restart when it gets too hot. “A lagging or restarting CPU may prevent the center screen from displaying the rearview camera image, gear selection, windshield visibility control settings, and warning lights, increasing the risk of a crash,” the NHTSA says in its notice.

The recall covers approximately 130,000 cars, Reutersreported on Tuesday. Tesla will issue an over-the-air update to address the issue. In a timeline Tesla shared on May 4th, the company said it wasn’t aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths related to the bug. Tesla has so far issued 11 recalls this year, tying it with Dodge parent company Stellantis for fourth-most in 2022. Earlier in the year, the company recalled more than 817,000 cars over faulty seat belt chimes, putting this latest action among the smaller recalls Tesla has carried out recently.

Tinder owner Match Group sues Google alleging antitrust violations

The parent company of Tinder and Hinge has sued Google. In a complaint (PDF link) filed Monday with a federal court in California, Match Group alleges the tech giant broke federal and state antitrust laws with its Play Store guidelines.

The lawsuit concerns a policy Google plans to implement later this year. In the fall of 2020, the company “clarified” its stance on in-app purchases, announcing it would eventually require all Android developers to process payments involving “digital goods and services” through the Play Store billing system. Google initially said it would begin enforcing the policy on September 30th, 2021, but later extended the deadline to June 1st, 2022.

Match alleges Google had “previously assured” the company it could use its own payments systems. The company claims Google has threatened to remove its apps from the Play Store if it does not comply with the upcoming policy change by the June 1st deadline. Match further claims Google has preemptively started rejecting app updates that maintain the existing payment systems found in its dating services. “Ten years ago, Match Group was Google’s partner. We are now its hostage,” the company says in its complaint.

“This lawsuit is a measure of last resort,” Match CEO Shar Dubey said in a statement the company shared with Engadget. “We tried, in good faith, to resolve these concerns with Google, but their insistence and threats to remove our brands’ apps from the Google Play Store by June 1st has left us no choice but to take legal action.”

In a statement Google shared with Engadget, the search giant said Match is eligible to pay a 15 percent commission on in-app purchases, a rate the company noted is the lowest among “major app platforms.” Google also pointed out that the “openness” of Android allows Match to distribute its apps through alternative app stores and sideloading if the company “doesn’t want to comply” with its policies. “This is just a continuation of Match Group’s self-interested campaign to avoid paying for the significant value they receive from the mobile platforms they’ve built their business on,” a Google spokesperson told Engadget.

The lawsuit comes at a time when both Apple and Google face significant regulatory pressure from lawmakers around the world to change their app store policies. In February, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the Open App Markets Act. Should the legislation become law as it stands, it would prevent both companies from locking third-party developers into their respective payment systems.

In March, Google announced it was partnering with Spotify to test third-party billing systems. Notably, Match says that pilot offers “nothing new for developers or users.” The company also said Google rejected its request to be included in the program and would not share the criteria for inclusion.

Hackers deface Russian platforms and smart TVs to display anti-war messages

On the same day Russia celebrated its role in defeating Nazi Germany, many of the country’s online platforms were defaced in protest of the war in Ukraine. The Washington Post reported on Monday that Russians with smart TVs saw channel listings replaced with a message implicating them in the ongoing conflict. “The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of murdered children is on your hands,” the message read, according to the outlet. “TV and authorities are lying. No to war.”

In addition to smart TVs, the apparent hack targetted some of the country’s largest internet companies, including Yandex. Hackers also went after Rutube, Russia’s alternative to YouTube. “Our video hosting has undergone a powerful cyberattack. At the moment, it is not possible to access the platform,” the service said in a statement it posted on its Telegram channel. Rutube later stated it had isolated the attack and that its content library wasn’t accessed in the incident.

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, the country has come under consistent attack from hackers. In the early days of the conflict, Anonymous claimed responsibility for a series of DDoS attacks that left several official government websites, including one belonging to the Ministry of Defence, inaccessible. It’s believed Anonymous was also responsible for an incident that saw several Russian state TV channels play the Ukranian national anthem. At the same time, Ukraine, with help from Microsoft and other western companies, recently managed to prevent Russian military hackers from disrupting one of the country’s energy providers.

'League of Legends' mocumentary 'Players' heads to Paramount+ on June 16th

Paramount+ has released the first trailer for Players, its long-awaited League of Legends mockumentary from American Vandal creators Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda. Set to debut on June 16th, the series centers on Fugitive Gaming, a fictional pro team that, after years of disappointment, hopes to win League’s most prestigious prize but must first overcome infighting between two of its star players.

According to Riot Games writer Kien Lam, the studio put in “a lot of hard work” to make the series authentic, and not feel cringe or campy. “I think you have every right to be skeptical given other gaming shows, but have some faith here,” Lam said. With Players, Riot clearly hopes to replicate at least some of the success it saw with Arcane. The Netflix animated series was both a critical and commercial success for Riot, and even managed to draw new players to the studio’s now decade-old MOBA.