Startup Profile: Who Are Ambl?
Ambl, the revolutionary new app that connects customers with the best venues and bars in an instant, has just launched…
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Ambl, the revolutionary new app that connects customers with the best venues and bars in an instant, has just launched…
The post Startup Profile: Who Are Ambl? appeared first on TechRound.
TikTok will soon create AI-generated profile pictures at users’ request, according to a leak first covered by The Verge.
The tool creates headshots in the same way you might create AI headshots on the Lensa app or AI SuitUp. But, instead of generating a photo through a third party, TikTok’s new feature will allegedly be built right into the app, The Verge reported. In screenshots shared from social media consultant Matt Navarra, it looks like the app will ask users to submit between three to 10 photos and it will create up to 30 avatars, but you can only use the tool once a day. Then, you can set it as your avatar, download them, post them — whatever your heart desires.
TikTok did not immediately respond to Mashable’s request for comment, but it said in a statement to TechCrunch that the tool — which it calls an “experiment” — is already available in select regions.
“We’re always thinking about new ways to add value to the community and enrich the TikTok experience, as we continue to build a safe place that entertains, inspires creativity, and drives culture,” a TikTok spokesperson told TechCrunch. “In a few select regions, we’re experimenting with a new way to create and share profile pictures with the TikTok community.”
If you’ve been paying attention, this should come as no surprise. Social media platforms are all trying to dip their fingers into generative AI: Snapchat’s divisive My AI, Meta’s late scramble to AI, Artifact, the AI social media platform from the creators of Instagram, and more.
All the while, TikTok is in trouble. Lawmakers in over a dozen countries have all implemented various bans of the app due to fears that TikTok is giving user data to the Chinese government, and one U.S. state completely banned the app from being downloaded.
Some Twitter users with more than one million followers have had their blue ticks re-instated, without paying to subscribe. …
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Twitter under Elon Musk keeps getting dumber.
Over the weekend, Twitter’s new management decided to pull back on its promise to take away “legacy” blue checkmarks, relics of Twitter’s now-defunct system for verifying the identity of notable accounts, on April 1. Instead, Twitter introduced a change that makes the blue checkmark functionally meaningless.
Users can no longer see whether an account has a blue checkmark because it was verified, or because the account owner pays for one with a Twitter Blue subscription. Twitter has changed the tooltip that appears when you tap the badge on a Twitter profile to read exactly the same no matter how the checkmark was acquired: “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.” The whole thing feels motivated by stupidity, pettiness, or a sad combination of the two.
In order to tell if an account actually belongs to who it purports to belong to, you might have to do a little extra digging. Thankfully, it’s not that hard to tell who is real and who isn’t.
Despite the changes and confusion over the weekend, Twitter’s official policies regarding the blue checkmark remain consistent with the vision Musk has laid out for the site. According to the rules, the badge is for Twitter Blue members, with legacy accounts losing it…at some point. Maybe.
Weirdly, the only major account to lose its checkmark right now is the official New York Times account. Again, the word “petty” comes to mind.
Anyway, if you see an account claiming to belong to a notable person or organization, but you’re not sure it’s the real thing, the first thing you need to do is check its username. I mean the one with an @ sign in front of it, not the display name. If an account has the same avatar and display name as someone else, but the @ handle is totally different, you’ve got a fake.
Example: An account has the avatar and display name belonging to the New York Times, but its handle is something random, like a person’s name. That’s a phony.
One nice little bonus factor of the new rules is that people with checkmarks can’t just change their handles or display names to impersonate others right now. Changing either of those things will result in a temporary loss of the badge until Twitter decides that you’ve met the eligibility criteria again. At least, that’s what the rules say. Who knows how any of this stuff will actually be enforced.
In this world where the presence of a checkmark doesn’t actually mean anything, we have to look at other parts of a profile to decide whether or not an account is trustworthy. When it comes to major celebrities, news organizations, or brands, it’s always easy to tell a fraud from the genuine article by looking at follower counts.
Put simply, a fake New York Times Twitter account isn’t going to have a few hundred or even just a few thousand followers. The real one has 55 million followers, and you likely have a few mutuals in that list, which you can see on its profile. The same holds true of pretty much any legacy verified account that’s worth impersonating. The New York Times, LeBron James, and any other famous account is going to have hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers.
Another thing to look at when you check for follower counts is when the account was made. Every profile tells you when it was registered right beneath its bio. Anyone who is ripe for impersonation has probably been on the site for a decade or more. Anyone doing the impersonating might have made the account last week.
It takes two seconds to check this. Don’t be the person who forgets.
The last bit of advice I have for you if you’re not sure whether or not an account is the real deal is pretty simple: Just read its tweets.
Let’s go back to the Times example, since it lost its checkmark. If you can’t tell from a glance whether an account belongs to the newspaper or is an imposter, go to the account and scroll down. If it’s the real account, chances are that you’re gonna see a bunch of links to New York Times stories, and presumably those links actually go to the stories described in the tweets.
If, instead, you see spammy tweets or anything else that’s unbecoming of a major newspaper, it’s probably not the real deal. The same principle applies to any other famous person or organization. If the fake account (which, again, probably has a low follower count) is tweeting things that the real account owner likely wouldn’t tweet, you can safely disregard.
Unless they got hacked, because that’s a thing that happens now, too. Such is life on Twitter after Musk.
Spotify is launching a new feature today called Exclude from your Taste Profile. As its name suggests, it lets you choose playlists — perhaps those played by a child or other family member — that you don’t want affecting your personalized recommendations.
The company says the feature “reduces the impact” the playlists have on your recommended content. So if your child loves jamming out to “Elmo’s Favorite Elmo Songs!” ad nauseam, the new feature should help you avoid hearing similar children’s tunes in your Daily Mix playlists and other algorithmically generated content. (Although we wouldn’t fault you for putting on “Brushy Brush!” while cleaning those pearly whites.)
Exclude from your Taste Profile only works with playlists — not albums or individual songs. Spotify says liked songs within those playlists will still affect your recommendations, so it may be wise to ask family members to ease up on the heart button. The changes will apply retroactively, excluding past and future listens of the unwanted playlists from your recommendations.
Spotify is rolling out the feature “starting today,” suggesting you may not see it immediately. The feature will work on iOS, Android, desktop and the web. Once available, you can exclude music by selecting a playlist, tapping the three-dot menu near the top and selecting “Exclude from your Taste Profile.” In addition, the company says you can turn the feature off at any time using the same process.