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Get ready to pay a bit more to watch live-streamers without being constantly interrupted by ads. Twitch’s ad-free Turbo subscription plan is raising its price, jumping from $9 to $12 per month in the US. Twitch has offered no feature changes or add-ons to accompany this price hike. The monthly cost for Turbo is increasing throughout the globe, so click this link to find your country’s modified pricing.

Current Turbo subscribers were informed about the pricing changes via emails sent out Thursday, but there’s some good news for long-time users. Some countries boast a new lower monthly price, though you’ll have to cancel and resubscribe. Also, current users get a three-month grace period until being forced to opt-into the new price. New subscribers get no such grace period.

This substantial increase comes just after the Amazon-owned Twitch got a new CEO and laid off around 400 employees as part of mandated cost-cutting measures throughout its parent company. Though no new features were announced alongside the price hike, Twitch did announce that updates are “on the way for Turbo to make it even better and more relevant.” Look for more information “in the coming months.”

The primary hook of Turbo is an ad-free experience across the entire Twitch platform, but it also offers some smaller perks, like more emojis, custom chat username colors and increased broadcast storage. The updated pricing model starts today. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitch-is-raising-prices-for-its-ad-free-turbo-service-185644399.html?src=rss 

Twitter’s API roller coaster under Elon Musk continues. The company announced a new “Pro” tier for developers today. At $5,000 per month, it falls between the $100 / month Basic and custom-priced Enterprise plans.

The new Twitter API Pro plan offers monthly access to one million retrieved tweets and 300,000 posted tweets at the app level. It also includes rate-limited access to endpoints for real-time filtered streams (live access to tweets based on specified parameters) and a complete archive search of historical tweets. Finally, it adds three app IDs and Login with Twitter access.

However, the $5,000 / mo. pricing for companies wanting to “experiment, build, and scale [their] business” leaves an enormous gap between it and the $100 / mo. basic plan, the next tier down. The latter only offers a tiny fraction of the access in the Pro plan, leaving small businesses to choose between a level that may not provide enough for a $100 monthly fee vs. a $5,000 plan that stretches beyond many startups’ budgets. 

Some users also voiced their belief that its limits were too tight for that price. “That’s cool, but you already killed most Twitter apps by now,” Birdy developer Maxime Dupré responded to Twitter’s announcement. “And 5K is still too much for most of us. A 1K plan could make sense… but then again it’s too late.” The pricing also doesn’t likely do much for researchers, who the platform has been trying to charge tens of thousands of dollars for access.

Twitter’s recent API changes have created quite a bumpy ride for developers who still want access to the company’s data. First, the company effectively killed most third-party clients in January before quietly updating its terms to reflect the change. Then, it announced in February that it was ending free API access, only to delay the move after widespread blowback while promising that a new read-only version of the free tier would remain available for “testing” purposes. (The old version of the free API was cut off entirely in April, although Twitter reenabled it for emergency services in May.) The platform rolled out the new API’s initial three tiers (free, basic and enterprise) in March before adding today’s $5,000 pro tier. However, as the company has already alienated many of the developers that once relied on its platform, it remains to be seen how effective it will be at luring new customers — especially smaller operations — into the expensive new plan.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-says-startups-can-experiment-with-its-data-for-5000-a-month-200705341.html?src=rss 

Google’s take on AI-powered search begins rolling out today. The company announced this morning that it’s opening access to Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) and other Search Labs in the US. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to sign up for the waitlist and sit tight until you get an email announcing it’s your turn.

Revealed at Google I/O 2023 earlier this month, Google SGE is the company’s infusion of conversational AI into the classic search experience. If you’ve played with Bing AI, expect a familiar — yet different — product. Cherlynn Low noted in Engadget’s SGE preview that Google’s AI-powered search uses the same input bar you’re used to rather than a separate chatbot field like in Bing. Next, the generative AI results will appear in a shaded section below the search bar (and sponsored results) but above the standard web results. Meanwhile, on the top right of the AI results is a button letting you expand the snapshot, and it adds cards showing the sourced articles. Finally, you can ask follow-up questions by tapping a button below the results.

Google describes the snapshot as “key information to consider, with links to dig deeper.” Think of it like a slice of Bard injected (somewhat) seamlessly into the Google search you already know.

In addition, Google is opening access to other Search Labs, including Code Tips and Add to Sheets (both are US-only for now). Code Tips “harnesses the power of large language models to provide pointers for writing code faster and smarter.” It lets aspiring developers ask how-to questions about programming languages (C, C++, Go, Java, JavaScript, Kotlin, Python and TypeScript), tools (Docker, Git, shells) and algorithms. Meanwhile, as its name suggests, Add to Sheets lets you insert search results directly into Google’s spreadsheet app. Tapping a Sheets icon to the left of a search result will pop up a list of your recent documents; choose one to which you want to attach the result.

If you aren’t yet on the Search Labs waitlist, you can tap the Labs icon (a beaker symbol) on a new tab in Chrome for desktop or in the Google search app on Android or iOS. However, the company hasn’t announced how quickly or broadly it will open access, so you may need to be patient.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-begins-opening-access-to-generative-ai-in-search-175550693.html?src=rss 

TikTok could soon have a new way for users to discover content. The company is in the “early stages” of testing an AI-powered chatbot, called Tako, which will be able to recommend videos and respond to queries about what users are watching.

The bot, which was first reported by TechCrunch, is currently being tested in the Philippines, TikTok said in a statement. “Tako is powered by a third-party chat assistant and is designed to help make it easier to discover entertaining and inspiring content on TikTok,” the company said.

Despite being in an early phase of testing, TikTok is apparently featuring Tako fairly prominently in the app. A shortcut to the assistant sits in the main right-hand menu alongside shortcuts for bookmarks, and likes, according to TechCrunch, which got a peek at the feature.

That’s similar to the prominence Snap gave its chatbot, My AI, in its app, pushing it to the top of user’s chats. But unlike My AI, it seems TikTok is positioning Tako as a way to find new content and learn more about what’s being discussed in the clips. Users should “feel free to ask me anything and I’ll do my best to help you find what you’re looking for,” the bot says in a screenshot of the chat interface.

Tako isn’t the only way TikTok is experimenting with generative AI. The company is also testing AI-generated avatars, but hasn’t announced plans for a broader rollout. However it’s for now unclear how serious TikTok is about the technology. In its statement, the company said it has “no current plans for this beyond these early tests” of Tako.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-is-testing-an-ai-chatbot-for-content-discovery-182119161.html?src=rss 

YouTube creators can wave goodbye to Stories, as the service is killing off its version of the feature. Starting on June 26th, it’ll no longer be possible to create a new YouTube Story. Any Stories you post before that date will vanish seven days after they’re uploaded.

YouTube first said in late 2017 that it was testing the format (funnily enough, YouTube Stories were originally called “reels”). The platform changed the name and it started rolling out the feature more broadly the following year.

We’ve seen many social platforms incorporate a Story feature over the last several years after Snapchat popularized the format, most notably Instagram. As with Twitter and LinkedIn, though, YouTube is ditching its take on the feature.

In truth, YouTube probably doesn’t need both Stories and its TikTok-style Shorts, which aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The service also noted creators can use Community posts to share quick updates with their audiences. YouTube said that, among creators who use “posts and Stories, posts on average drive many times more comments and likes compared to Stories.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-stories-are-going-away-on-june-26th-170034464.html?src=rss