Category: Entertainment

LG TVs may soon use AI to determine your emotions and beliefs, and display better ads

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

What would you say if your smart TV uses artificial intelligence to analyze your emotions and beliefs, put you into certain groups, to display targeted ads to you?

Ads may be based on your viewing habits, what you watch, when you watch, what you search for and so on.

What sounds like something straight out of Minority Report is actually going to be integrated into certain LG TVs. The report comes from Stream TV Insider.

According to the report, LG is teaming up with Zenapse, a “focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) and emotional intelligence to enhance marketing and customer experience (CX) optimization”.

The goal of the cooperation is to deliver ads that are more targeted by segmenting the audience with the help of AI and data. LG is integrating Zenapse’s technology into its Large Emotion Model (LEM) into its ad stack.

LEMs are created to understand “emotional and psychological drivers”. In this context, their purpose is to determine what viewers like and what resonates with them.

It is important to note that the technology analyzes the emotions of viewers indirectly, by analyzing the content that gets watched and consumption patterns.

So, if a viewer watches romantic comedies a lot, they might be more receptive to ads that play with emotions linked to romantic comedies.

But the platform goes beyond that. Ars Technica notes that viewers are categorized into very specific types, such as “social connectors”, “emotionally engaged planners”, or “goal-driven achievers”.

Companies that pay LG to display ads to viewers may tap into the data to show ads to highly specific groups of users only.

LG has not provided much details besides that. Can you turn the feature off? That is unclear. What you can do, however, is skip the connecting of the TV to the Internet. Without Internet, the TV won’t be able to do much.

Other options include using solutions such as AdGuard or DNS-based filters to weed out most of the advertisement before it lands on the TV.

What is your take on this? Are your TVs connected to the Internet? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Spotube open source Spotify client

Spotube: open source Spotify client without ads

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

You have plenty of options when it comes to listening to music. From traditional radio and Internet radio to locally stored music, music CDs, or online services such as Spotify or YouTube.

If you like Spotify, but do not like the advertisements that come with a free account, then you might like what the open source software Spotube has to offer.

It uses music information from Spotify, but links all the music to YouTube. Means: you get most features that Spotify offers, including popular radios, mixes and whatnot, but without ads, as music is streamed from YouTube.

Spotube is a cross-platform application. It is available for the desktop systems Windows, macOS and Linux, and also the mobile operating systems Android and iOS.

Installation is straightforward. First thing you may do is sign-in to a Spotify account. You can create one or sign-in to an existing one. This is not a requirement, but your playlists, artists that you follow and albums are carried over, which means that you get direct access to them.

You may also browse Spotify’s selection of radios, mixes and other content. The only features that are not supported are Spotify Podcasts and Shows. These are only available on Spotify and require a premium subscription.

Click on the play button and music starts to play. There is a noticeable delay. It may take a few seconds before you start to hear the music, but playback was reliable during tests. Never got the wrong song or no song at all while testing the application and its features. There is an alternative track sources feature, which may help if a song is wrong or not of the best quality.

Speaking of which, features do not end here. You can create or generate playlists, like tracks, follow artists, and even download music to the local system for offline playback.

Closing Words

Spotube is an excellent option when it comes to playing music on your devices. It uses Spotify’s vast database of music, mixes, radios, and such, and combines those with freely streamed music from YouTube to avoid advertisement entirely.

Do you listen to music on your devices? If so, which services do you use? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Google about to roll out YouTube Lite plan in select regions

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

YouTube users who do not want to see ads have three main options until now: subscribe to YouTube Premium, use a content blocker, or a third-party app that does away with ads as well.

Most YouTube users would probably agree that there are too many ads on the site. This hurts the viewing experience and wastes a lot of time. Google is also finding new ways to show ads to users. Recently, it introduced pause ads on YouTube.

YouTube Premium Lite

Recently, Google has tested YouTube Premium Lite in select regions. Not available for everyone, the plan offers a cheaper subscription with limited functionality.

The main differences to YouTube Premium are that there are still some ads, notably on music videos, and that YouTube Music is not included. There are a couple of other restrictions. There is no option to download and play videos offline and no background play either.

Bloomberg reports today that Google plans to roll out YouTube Premium Lite in select regions. Means, anyone may subscribe to the new plan once it becomes available in a region.

YouTube Premium is available for $13.99 per month in the US currently. Pricing varies from region to region. The price of YouTube Premium Lite was about half of that during the test phase. Google has not yet announced the final price for the product. Since it is a subscription, you can be sure that it will be raised regularly.

YouTube Premium Lite will become available in select countries, including the United States, Germany, and Australia.

Who is it for? YouTube Premium Lite is for users who want an ad-free experience on YouTube, do not watch many music videos, do not need offline playback or background playback.

Yes, third-party apps like NewPipe offer all of this for free.

Now it is your turn. Is YouTube Premium Lite something that you would subscribe to? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Block Breaker Google Search

You can now play Block Breaker on Google

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google loves to add little easter eggs to its products. It is not uncommon for the company to add games to its search engine. When you run searches for Pac Man, Snake, or Minesweeper, you may get the chance to play that game directly on Google Search.

The latest addition to Google Searches’ growing list of games is Block Breaker. It is a Breakout or Arkanoid clone.

You control a paddle at the bottom of the screen with the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard. The goal is to destroy all bricks displayed at the top of the screen.

To start, hit the up arrow. This releases the first ball. Some bricks include bonuses that extend the paddle, add lasers to it, or release more balls. There are also maluses, like temporary slow downs for the paddle.

Levels change fluently, which means that you keep all extras and balls. This is an interesting take on the game, which put you back to a single ball and no extras on each level start.

How to play Block Breaker

Block Breaker Game on Google

To play Block Breaker, you need to access Google Search and run a search for Block Breaker.

Note: The search for the game appears limited to certain geographic regions. There is a workaround though apart from using a VPN.

Just load this link in your favorite browser. This should display the Block Breaker game at the top of the search results.

Hit the play button to get started. The game shows its basic controls on the first screen, so that you know what to do. You have three lives after which you get the game over screen.

A few basic controls are supported. You may turn the music off or enable fullscreen mode.

The game should work across all device types and browsers. You can play it on your mobile devices, desktop PCs, or tablets without issues.

Note that there is no progress saving of any kind. When you close the game and reopen it later, you start at the first level again. Block Breaker does remember the high score though.

Now You: do you play games online or locally? Anything great that you started playing recently?

Like Clockwork, Netflix is rising prices again

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Years ago, I predicted that streaming companies would raise subscription prices regularly, maybe even yearly. Today, news broke that Netflix is raising the price of subscriptions again.

The details:

  • The new prices affect viewers from the United States, Canada, Portugal, and Argentina.
  • In the US, the price of a subscription rises between $1 and $2.50, depending on the plan.
  • The changes take effect on the next billing cycle.

Here is the new price structure in the United States:

  • Standard with Ads is now $7.99 (up $1)
  • Standard is now $17.99 (up $2.50)
  • Premium is now $24.99 (up $2)
  • Adding an extra member is now $8.99 (up $1)

This is the first price increase since October 2023, when Netflix increase the price of Premium from $19.99 to $22.99 in the United States. It also increased the price of its Basic plan back then, but this plan is no longer available.

There you have it. Disney increased pricing last August already in the United States.

My 2023 article on the matter still stands. I predicted regular price jumps, and more and more ads on the platforms. Ads would bring in revenue, but also make the pricier plans more attractive. It is a page directly out of Google’s playbook on YouTube. Make ads insufferable and you will increase subscriptions to more expensive plans that promise fewer or no ads.

I will continue what I have been doing for years: subscribe to a streaming service for just a month, if they have something that I’m interested in. Do that once a year, and you save a lot of money. Yes, you won’t be the first to watch a new show, but that is not really important to me.

Now it is your turn. Are you subscribed to streaming services? If so, to which and how much do you pay currently for the subscription?

YouTube Premium Lite Check

Here is how you find out if you can subscribe to YouTube Premium Lite

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

YouTube Premium, Google’s subscription-based plan for its video streaming service YouTube, is either quite expensive or a great deal, depending on who you ask.

If you are just after getting rid of ads on YouTube, it is quite expensive in the eyes of many. One reason is that Google added YouTube Music to the subscription. That’s great for users who use it, but not so much for everyone else.

That is probably the main reason why Google tested various YouTube Premium Lite offers in the past. Currently, Google is testing YouTube Premium Lite again.

YouTube Premium Lite

Here are the main differences to YouTube Premium

  • No access to YouTube Music.
  • No downloads (offline watching).
  • No background playback in YouTube apps.
  • Mostly ad-free (some ads may be shown when watching music videos).

The price of a YouTube Premium Lite subscription is less than half of a YouTube Premium subscription. In the European Union, you pay €5.99 (which is roughly $6)

Find out if you can subscribe to YouTube Premium

All it takes is to click on this link to find out. You either get “this offer is not available” or an option to subscribe to Premium Lite (maybe even with a trial month for $0).

Tip: do not use the the iPhone app to subscribe to YouTube Premium or YouTube Premium Lite. You will pay a “premium” because of Apple App Store fees.

Good to know: Premium Lite is in testing at the time. Google could shutter the service at any time or make it available to more or even all Internet users.

There is another way

As you all know, Google is battling content blockers on YouTube as well as third-party YouTube clients. While the battle is raging, most content blockers and apps continue to work at the time of writing.

You could, use an app like NewPipe or a browser like Brave or Firefox (with uBlock Origin extension) on mobile to access YouTube.

VLC Media Player: 6 billion downloads and counting

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Computer users have plenty of options when it comes to using a media player. All operating systems include one by default, but some users prefer to download a third-party app.

These may offer better functionality, privacy, or other features.

VLC is a household name when it comes to media players. The cross-platform open source tool has been a favorite choice for millions of computer users.

This week, VideoLAN, the organization behind VLC Media Player, announced that downloads have crossed the six billion milestone. That is a lot of downloads for a player that is available for free and without the baking of a major corpo.

Local AI functionality coming to VLC

VideoLan announced a new feature that is coming to VLC Media Player in the future:

VLC automatic subtitles generation and translation based on local and open source AI models running on your machine working offline, and supporting numerous languages!

The new feature is demoed at CES 2025 and short videos have been posted to the official X account. Videos show AI-powered translations of content to German, Hebrew, French, and Japanese.

VideoLan promises that the implementation is privacy-friendly. It will run locally on user devices and use open source models next to that. This means that the feature is available offline as well.

VideoLan did not say when the feature is going to become available to VLC users.

Do you use media players? If so, which is your favorite and why? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Cassettes

The video downloader Cobalt just got a whole lot better

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

While streaming seems to gain more popularity by the day, some users prefer to download content at times or always. This offers several benefits, such as:

  • Access the content permanently, even if the video is deleted, modified, or blocked.
  • Enjoy the video without ads or any other unwanted content.
  • You do not need Internet to watch it.
  • Watch the video in your favorite local player.

There are plenty of services available on the Internet that let you download videos to the local system. You may also use standalone programs, Internet Download Manager is my favorite, if you prefer using a desktop program.

I reviewed the video downloader Cobalt in June. Cobalt is a free service that is easy to use and comes without any ads or unwanted content. The developers have added plenty of features to it since that last review.

Cobalt download videos
Main interface of the downloader

It now supports the following services at the time of writing: bilibili, blusky, dailymotion, facebook, instagram, look, ok, pinterest, reddit, rutube, snapchat, soundcloud, streamable, tiktok, tumbl, twitch, twitter (x), vine, vimeo, vk, and youtube.

Usage is still pretty straighforward: paste the URL of the video into the single form field on the Cobalt website and hit the check (>>) button afterwards. If things to well, you should get a download prompt right afterwards.

Tip: Cobalt collects anonymous traffic analytics “to get an approximate number of active cobalt users”. You can disable that under Settings > Privacy. There you also find an option to always tunnel files, which hides your IP and other information.

Cobalt Settings are extensive

The default video quality is set to 720p. You can open the settings to change that to anything between 8k+ and 144p.

For YouTube, you may also change the preferred codec from h264 to either av1 or vp9. There is also a beta option to enable hls for video & audio on YouTube.

Audio settings are also extensive. You may change the default audio format (mp3) to another (best, ogg, wav, or opus), the default audio bitrate from 128 kb/s to another (between 320 kb/s and 8 kb/s).

Again, there are some service specific settings available. For YouTube, you may set a preferred dub language. For TikTok, you may enable the downloading of original sound.

Filenames are set to be “pretty” by default. You may change that to classic, basic, or nerdy. There is also an option to disable the saving of file metadata, and to change the default saving method from download to ask, share, or copy.

Last but not least, you may enable custom instances, which need to be provided. This should give the service some breathing room when a site blocks the main download servers.

Closing Words

Cobalt is an easy to use downloader for video and audio content from more than a dozen of the most popular websites on today’s Internet. It is great for users who download videos occasionally, or have troubles downloading a specific video using another service or tool.

All in all, a great service that is well worth a bookmark.

Amazon Prime Video Recaps

Amazon uses AI to improve TV show recaps on Prime Video

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

I dislike recaps. Not as much as precaps, which give you a summary of what you are about to see, but still. Whenever they come up, I immediately activate the skip button to get past them.

Amazon is now experimenting with AI to improve recaps for viewers on Amazon Prime Video. The feature, which has launched for Prime Video customers in the United States, is part of the service’s X-Ray feature.

Related News:

Amazon launches the AI Clerk Rufus

Amazon calls the feature X-Ray Recaps; it is designed specifically to help customers who forgot where they left off. While that may not happen when you binge-watch a TV show or season, it may happen when you pause watching a show for weeks or months.

Amazon says:

Prime Video will deliver summaries of memorable moments and important plot points so our customers can quickly jump back into what they were watching or rediscover why they fell in love with a series in the first place.”

I have no idea how well this works. I do not use Prime Video, but it would be interesting to know if this works better than the regular recaps that you get.

Amazon says that recaps are only available for select MGM Studios Original series at the time.

To use the feature, select the recap icon on the TV shows starting page. There you get options to get a recap of the current episode, current season, or previous season.

The ability to get full season recaps could be helpful. The option to get a recap up to the minute you watched the show seems to be missing though.

In the future, Amazon could very well link these recaps to a customer’s viewing habits or purchases. Guesswork.

You may check out Amazon’s post on its About Amazon website for images and additional information on the feature.

What is your take on this new feature? Would you use it or ignore it? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Opera

People love Netflix with ads

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Netflix’s reported strong earnings, revenue, and an increase in subscribers for the third-quarter of this fiscal year.

One of the most important takeaways is that people seem to love the ad-powered Netflix plan. Netflix says that more than 50 percent of all subscribers in the third-quarter selected the Standard with ads plan. Compared to last quarter, membership of the ad-powered plan rose by 35% alone.

The development is not really that surprising, here is why: Standard with ads is available for less than half the price of the Standard plan. In the US, it is available for $6.99 instead of $15.49.

It is all about the price of membership. Standard with ads and Standard offer nearly identical features. The only difference that matters is that some movies and TV shows are not available in the ad-driven plan.

Everything else, including downloads on two supported devices and 1080p streams are identical. So, a nearly identical feature set for users.

Ad-powered plan subscribers pay less to Netflix each month, but they have to sit through advertisement whenever they tune in. This means, effectively, that they pay with their time, as it takes longer to watch a movie or show, as the playtime of ads needs to be added to the total time.

The next couple of quarters

Here are my top predictions:

  • Netflix will continue to see growth, especially when it comes to the ad-powered plan, in the next quarters.
  • Growth will slow down eventually. Netflix may then increase the price of the ad-powered plan for the first time to make up for this or increase the number of ads.

Closing Words

I do not have much use for streaming services nowadays. Most shows and movies that they produce are bland, in my opinion. There is the occasional exception, but this almost feels like winning the lottery nowadays.

This is not a Netflix-specific problem. When I look at Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video, I come to the same conclusion.

I’ll stick to my subscribe for a month every now and then strategy, but it has changed from switching every second or so month to maybe subscribing once or twice a year only for a month.

What about you? Are you subscribed to any streaming platform? If so, is it an ad-powered plan or an ad-free plan? Feel free to leave a comment down below.