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Substack is taking one more step towards becoming an all-in-one social media / creator platform by adding a vertical video feed to its app. Technically, the new TikTok-style feed is a redesign of the existing Media tab that the company added to the app in 2024, but either way Substack's intentions are clear: It wants a piece of the short-video pie currently being shared by Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The feed features scrollable videos from creators you're subscribed to and others that have been algorithmically suggested. Multiple forms of short-form content can be included, like videos posted through Substack Notes, the company's Twitter-esque microblogging feature, clips from longer video posts and eventually previews of podcasts. Adding multimedia features like podcasts and videos has been a boon to creators, according to Substack. The company says that "82% of Substacks top-earning writers are using multimedia, up from just over 50% last April." Supporting short-form videos is an attempt to push things even further. Substack added support for native video in 2022, expanded those features in 2023 and more recently, gave creators the ability to host live video streams in 2024. The company has been pretty upfront that it views Substack as a home for more than just newsletters, and it's been trying to court TikTok creators specifically since at least 2024. Redesigning the Substack app gives subscribers a new way to find creators to follow, and makes the platform a better home for a whole new type of creator. The timing of Substack's change is purposeful. The extra breathing room President Trump gave TikTok by not enforcing the app's ban is supposed to end in April, meaning there could be room for alternative vertical video apps.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/substack-updated-its-app-to-make-it-even-more-like-tiktok-193415204.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
The only real way to increase the storage of an Xbox Series X/S is to use a specialized expansion card. Luckily, a really good one is heavily discounted right now. The WD 1TB C40 storage card is down to $110 as part of the Amazon Spring Sale. This is a discount of 30 percent, as the regular price is around $158. This is an officially-licensed product, so itll be a plug-and-play experience. It also delivers roughly the same performance as the internal drive. Its important to note that this allows for both the storage and playing of games. Most external drives can only store, and not play, titles on an Xbox Series X/S. Most modern AAA games require at least 50GB of available space. In other words, this drive will accommodate around 20 of these titles. Indie games tend to be much smaller, so the drive could conceivably house hundreds of smaller releases. The 2TB model is also on sale, for $200 instead of $260. The 512GB version is still at the original $80 asking price. This is a handy drive that gets the job done. The only drawback is the price. Most 1TB external drives are cheaper than $110. It sucks that Microsoft went this weird route with storage, but thats certainly not WDs fault. On the positive side, this is a small and light card that wont add any real weight to the already bulky Xbox consoles.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/wds-1tb-c50-xbox-storage-card-is-30-percent-off-in-the-amazon-spring-sale-184918803.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
If theres one thing you can count on with AI tools is that theyll launch without most of the promised features. It happened with Apple Intelligence. It happened with Galaxy AI. Now, its happening with Alexa+, Amazons AI-heavy upgrade to its virtual assistant. The tool is officially available but it doesnt do a whole lot, according to reporting by The Washington Post. The paper reviewed a number of internal company documents that noted the delay of many features. These documents suggest that a bunch of tools wont be available for two months or longer. Alexa+ users wont be able to use the platform to order takeout on Grubhub or identify family members via camera to remind them to do chores. The same goes for that neat-sounding tool that the company says will auto-generate a story to entertain kids. Also, Alexa+ cannot be used to brainstorm gift ideas or order groceries. Finally, there isnt a browser-based version available. The company says these delays are because the features do not meet Amazons standards for public release. So what can Alexa+ do right now? I havent gotten a chance to fool around with it, but the early access page suggests customers can use it to order an Uber, identify objects and draft emails. Thats something, I guess. Alexa+ is included with Amazon Prime but non-members have to pony up $20 per month. It may not be accessible to everyone just yet, as availability is expanding over the coming weeks and months. Also, it only works on devices with screens. These include the Echo Show 8, 10, 15 and 21.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-is-out-but-missing-a-lot-of-features-amazon-demoed-last-month-180741504.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
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