Amid reports that Facebook has misled shareholders about significant declines in teens and younger users, Mark Zuckerberg said the company was “retooling” in order to make “serving young adults” its top priority. To do that, the company plans to make “significant changes” to its Facebook and Instagram apps, and spend billions of dollars building out its vision for a “metaverse.”

Citing increased competition from TikTok and iMessage, Zuckerberg said the company would do more to win over “young adult” users, even if it came at the expense of older users. He said the company’s TikTok rival Reels would be “as important for our products as Stories.” “We also expect to make significant changes to Instagram and Facebook in the next year to further lean into video and make Reels a more central part of the experience,” Zuckerberg said.

On top of that, he said the company was “retooling” internally in order to make young people its “North Star.” He added the shift “will take years, not months.” The issue of younger users has been particularly fraught for the company. A whistleblower’s disclosures about Facebook’s internal research on teen mental health prompted a series of Congressional hearings about child safety, and a wave of headlines about how the photo sharing app may be harmful to some of its most vulnerable users. At the same time, other internal documents have indicated Facebook and Instagram have faced significant declines in engagement among teens and young adults for years.

Zuckerberg said another major priority for the company would be building its vision for a “metaverse.” He didn’t comment on reports that the company would change its name to reflect its new focus on augmented reality and virtual reality, but made clear the company has significant ambitions in the space. “Our goal is to help the metaverse reach a billion people,” he said. He added that a metaverse could enable “hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce.”

The company also said Monday that going forward it will report two sets of financials: one for its “family” of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp; and one for its Reality Labs division that oversees its augmented and virtual reality work. In a statement, Facebook said its 2021 profit will be reduced by $10 billion due to its investment in Reality Labs, and that the company would only increase its AR and VR spending in the next “several years.”

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Blue Origin has more ambitious plans than simply space tourism. Today, the spaceflight company owned by Jeff Bezos announced that it is working on creating its very own space station as well. Called Orbital Reef, it promises to be something of an industrial and commercial hub, and is meant to start operating in the second half of this decade. 

It will be developed, owned and operated in partnership with Sierra Space, a subsidiary of the Sierra Nevada corporation. Sierra Space is perhaps better known for Dream Chaser, a spacecraft that’s set to begin operating in 2022 and carry cargo to the International Space Station. Orbital Reef is also backed by Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions and Arizona State University. The company hopes to use Boeing’s Starliner and Sierra Space’s aforementioned Dream Chaser to ferry both cargo and passengers to Orbital Reef.

Think of Orbital Reef as essentially a “business park,” but in space. In a press release, Blue Origin said that the destination “will offer research, industrial, international, and commercial customers the cost competitive end-to-end services they need including space transportation and logistics, space habitation, equipment accommodation, and operations including onboard crew.” Anyone who wants to “establish their own address in orbit” can do so.

Blue Origin

Blue Origin said that Orbital Reef would be habitable for up to 10 people, which is almost as much as that of the International Space Station. It will feature “human-centered space architecture” with “world-class services and amenities.” There will be multiple ports for visiting spacecraft and modules. Orbital Reef will apparently feature an open system that will enable any customer or nation to use it. As the market for such facilities grows, Blue Origin promises that Orbital Reef will scale the amenities and utilities to match.

“Seasoned space agencies, high-tech consortia, sovereign nations without space programs, media and travel companies, funded entrepreneurs and sponsored inventors, and future-minded investors all have a place on Orbital Reef,” said the company in a press release.

“For over sixty years, NASA and other space agencies have developed orbital space flight and space habitation, setting us up for commercial business to take off in this decade,” said Brent Sherwood, Senior Vice President of Advanced Development Programs for Blue Origin. “We will expand access, lower the cost, and provide all the services and amenities needed to normalize space flight. A vibrant business ecosystem will grow in low Earth orbit, generating new discoveries, new products, new entertainments, and global awareness.”

Blue Origin’s only successful project is a suborbital tourist program that sends passengers to the edge of space (and back) on the New Shepard. It has already flown eight people, which includes Bezos as well as Star Trek’s William Shatner. Other projects, such as the New Glenn rocket (which the company hopes to use to launch some of Orbital Reef’s modules) and the Blue Moon lunar lander are still in development. 

Google has announced a policy change to push YouTube creators to produce and publish higher-quality content for kids. Starting next month, the company will demonetize channels that primarily target young people or market themselves as "made for kids" if the content they upload is of low quality. By YouTube's definition, that can include overly commercial videos and ones that encourage bad behaviors. Per the new guidelines, YouTube warns those videos may see limited or no ads. Additionally, the company says violating its new content guidelines could lead to removal from the YouTube Partner Program. 

The move is part of a recent push by Google to make YouTube and YouTube Kids a more appropriate destination for children and their families. At the start of the year, the company announced the availability of expanded parental controls for tweens and teens. More recently, it implemented new safety measures to protect kids across its various platforms. One of those changes saw the company change the default upload setting for users between the ages of 13 and 17 to the most private option available. 

"Our ultimate goal is to foster a safe and enriching environment for families while rewarding trusted creators who are making high-quality kids and family content," Google said of this latest policy change. It may take some time before the new guidelines elevate the quality of content on YouTube. So it doesn't hurt to keep an eye out on what your children are watching. 

Apple TV+ will expand into a new territory when it launches in South Korea on November 4th. In a case of perfect timing, the streaming service's first series from the country will debut worldwide on the same day (or a day earlier if you're in the US).

The brilliantly titled Dr. Brain is a sci-fi drama based on a webtoon of the same name. Lee Sun-kyun of Parasite fame (he played Park Dong-ik, the father of the well-off family) stars as brain scientist Sewon. After Sewon's family suffers a mysterious accident, he hacks the brains of the deceased to access their memories and learn clues about what happened.

The six-episode series is co-written, directed and executive produced by the highly regarded filmmaker Kim Jee-woon, who's perhaps best known for The Good, The Bad and The Weird and I Saw the Devil. A new episode of Dr. Brain will hit Apple TV+ each week until the finale on December 10th. 

It's a busy fall for sci-fi projects on Apple TV+. Foundation, based on Isaac Asimov's books of the same name, debuted in September, while alien invasion series Invasion premiered last Friday. A movie called Finch, in which Tom Hanks plays a man who takes a road trip across post-apocalyptic America with his dog and robot, will hit Apple TV+ on November 5th.

It's not only iOS and macOS that Apple has updated today. The company has rolled out a firmware update for HomePod as well. The discontinued speaker now supports Apple Music lossless playback, as well as Dolby Atmos spatial audio. Apple Music lossless will also be available on HomePod mini after you update it via the HomePod section of the Home app.

It's a much-needed update, since Apple Music lossless hit iOS, iPadOS, macOS and Apple TV 4K devices in June. Apple only started publicly testing lossless and Dolby Atmos support on HomePod in August. In any case, it's good to see that Apple eventually brought a pair of notable audio features to products it designed primarily to, you know, play audio.

If you’ve ever damaged your phone, you may have run into a situation where you found it difficult to find a place that can repair it. Samsung is trying to help owners of its flagship devices avoid that situation with a newly announced Best Buy partnership. Starting on October 26th, more than 100 Best Buy stores across the US will begin offering Galaxy S and Galaxy Note repairs. Then, early next month, those same locations will start repairing Samsung’s Galaxy Z foldables.

If you bring your phone into one of the stores, they’ll be able to help with front and back screen replacements, battery swaps as well as port and camera repairs. Best Buy’s Geek Squad will complete the repairs with parts and training provided by Samsung.

For the South Korean company, this partnership is all about expanding its repair footprint. The 100 Best Buy stores add to the more than 550 in-person authorized care locations the company already has in place across the US. They won’t help you if you own a more affordable Samsung device like the Galaxy A52 (and you may not like the idea of the Geek Squad handling your device), but it’s still a step in the right direction. Outside of Apple, most tech companies have struggled to make it easy for their customers to find in-person support, and that's something that can have a significant impact on someone's relationship with a brand.

Zoom’s live transcription feature is now widely available to all free users. Previously it was a feature you had to pay to access, but toward the start of the year, Zoom said it would roll it out to everyone. Now that it's here, free users don’t need to request access from the company if they need the tool for their meetings. If you’re in a call and want to request the host turn on live transcription, you can do so by using the meeting toolbar.

At the moment, the feature only works in English, but support for more languages is on the way. In September, Zoom said it would offer automated closed captioning in a total of 30 languages over the next year. The company is also working on adding live translation for 12 languages over that same time frame.

Apple has at long last released the latest major version of its Mac operating system, macOS Monterey. While it's perhaps a more modest update than in previous years, there are some significant changes in some areas of the OS.

The redesigned Safari might be the most obvious transformation for many users. Apple initially planned to remove the tabs bar before it thankfully saw sense and decided to leave it as is in a later developer preview. The bar will match the color of the web page you're viewing, and there are some new features, such as Tab Groups.

Apple has overhauled FaceTime in macOS Monterey too. It works a little more like other conference calling software, in that you can start a call and then invite other people. This includes folks using Android or Windows devices through the new FaceTime web app. In addition, M1 Macs will support spatial audio for FaceTime and other features through AirPods and AirPods Max.

Elsewhere, macOS Monterey adds the Focus Modes seen in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Quick Notes, Shortcuts and a new-look Maps app. Live Text, Apple's answer to Google Lens, is another new tool at macOS users' disposal.

SharePlay, the feature that lets people sync streaming videos and music with friends, isn't available just yet on macOS, but Apple rolled it out on iPhone today as part of iOS 15.1. You'll also need to wait a little longer for Universal Control, which brings Mac and iPad together. You can move your cursor from one to the other and drag files between devices. SharePlay and Universal Control will arrive on macOS later this fall.

Apple said in September that it was launching a feature called Group Workouts on Fitness+ that would use iOS 15's SharePlay tool for exercise sessions over FaceTime. The company just announced that Group Workouts is available starting today, so you can get up to 32 friends together to follow along with the company's exercise or meditation videos. 

To use the new features, you'll need to update to iOS 15.1 or iPadOS 15.1, as well as watchOS 8.1, which also implies those are available today. Those who plan on watching the videos on their Apple TV will also need tvOS 15.1. To start a Group Workout, you'll need to first be on a FaceTime call, go to the Fitness app, then pick the video to follow. As you all sweat it out, Apple will display each person's metrics on their own screens. When someone moves ahead on the Burn Bar (which appears on specific workouts with more cardio activity) or closes their rings, everyone gets an alert so you can celebrate together. 

SharePlay wasn't available when iOS 15 launched earlier this year, and during our testing of the iOS 15 beta it was buggy and unstable. The company was expected to release iOS 15.1 this week, bringing the ability to SharePlay over FaceTime, so you can watch movies and videos with your friends or just show them what's on your iPhone. We've reached out to Apple for confirmation on whether iOS 15.1 and SharePlay elsewhere on the system is available today, and will update if we hear back.

Fitness+ is also expanding to 15 new countries. From Nov. 3rd, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates will be able to access the service. In America, those on UnitedHealthcare insurance can get a year of Fitness+ on their plans at no additional cost, starting Nov. 1st. 

Although Xbox owners are waiting for Microsoft to switch on its own cloud gaming service on consoles, they have other ways to stream games. An update in September brought the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser to Xbox One and Series X/S consoles, allowing players to access Google Stadia. Starting today, they can fire up PC games via NVIDIA's GeForce Now as well.

GeForce Now is now available in beta on Edge, as The Verge notes, creating a pathway for Xbox users to play hundreds of games they might otherwise miss out on. GeForce Now is free for one-hour sessions though the resolution is limited to 1080p. NVIDIA just unveiled a new, more expensive plan that promises "desktop-class latency" and gameplay streaming in 1440p at up to 120 fps on PC and Mac and in 4K HDR at 60 fps on NVIDIA Shield TV.

Microsoft said it will bring Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud gaming feature to consoles this holiday season. Even so, thanks to GeForce Now, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S players now have a gateway to some major PC exclusives, such as League of Legends and Dota 2, without the need for a gaming rig.