Apple Podcasts will soon have video. Fans can “seamlessly switch between watching and listening to a show”, and download videos to watch offline. Creators distribute their video through “participating hosting providers and ad networks" and dynamically insert video ads.

This is really concerning. As Scott Shambaugh points out, it doesn't matter if the AI was prompted to write the hit piece or not. "This is about our systems of reputation, identity, and trust breaking down." theshamblog.com/an-ai-agent-...

YouTube's Nate Koechley and Matthew Darby “what users say they want doesn’t always match what actually makes them happy on the platform" "[they're] exploring ways to give viewers more agency and control, including the possibility of using natural language to tune your feed"

New this week: ▶ Discord age verification ▶ Threads For You feed customization ▶ AdSense Vignette Ad triggers ▶ YouTube automatically enables captions on mute ▶ Animate Facebook profile image and post backgrounds ▶ TikTok US Local Feed requires precise location opt-in

You can manage YouTube live stream monetization from third party platforms. Stream yard just added this option and Restream added a similar feature last month. Your YouTube channel must have monetization with ads enabled to use this feature. Details http://new.streamyar... restream.io/learn/wh...

Search Off the Record: Do you still need a website in 2026? Google’s Martin Splitt and Gary Illyes discuss information discovery, monetization, the benefit when “you own the house”, social media and why "it depends". Transcript and podcast links: search-off-the-recor...

Twitch is testing pause ads: ads that appear at the bottom and side of the screen when the viewer pauses the stream. When the stream is un-paused, the ads disappear. www.tubefilter.com/2...

There are new triggers for AdSense vignette ads, which you can opt your site out of. These are overlay ads that pop up when people navigate between pages on your site. New triggers include the browser back button and pausing after scrolling the full page. Get details: support.google.com/a...

What do you know about YouTube auto-dubbing? Take this week's quiz! www.youtube.com/post...

Now you can save your Bluesky posts in progress as drafts!

Tech Topic 80 🆕 The Google AI Plus plan has just becfme available globally. 2️⃣ Translate a PDF file by uploading it to Google Translate. 3️⃣ Google's research on AI personalized textbooks, a demo on Google's "Learn Your Way" site. news.oneboard.network/2026/02/tech... #TechTopic #3Tips10Min

Discord will use the teen-appropriate experience by default, starting in March. Age verification will be required to change communication settings, access sensitive content or speak on stage. Options will be "privacy forward" video selfies or document submission.

New this week: ▶ YouTube auto-dubbing expansion ▶ Twitch Business Manager role ▶ Google Vids teleprompter, transcript trim and styled captions ▶ Google Discover Core Update to reduce clickbait ▶ Adobe Animate gets a reprieve All this week's updates:

"Googlebot crawls the first 2MB of a supported file type, and the first 64MB of a PDF file ... each resource referenced in the HTML (such as CSS and JavaScript) is fetched separately, and each resource fetch is bound by the same file size limit..." www.seroundtable.com/googlebot-fi...

YouTube auto-dubbing updates: * Available to all channels * 27 languages →English, English → 20 languages * Expressive Speech in 8 languages * Automatic Smart Filtering (won't dub when it shouldn't) * Won't harm discovery of the video in original language

Google Vids is expanding access to some formerly premium video editing features to all users (both Workspace & personal accounts): * Read-along teleprompter * Transcript trim editing * Styled captions workspaceupdates.goo...

Fascinating research on how often and for what reasons female economists are interrupted while presenting their work. Obviously this has applications outside economics. Nice to see actual hard data backing this up, instead of being gaslit about how it's all in our minds.

Seems like tools developed by the people who use them are more likely to take off, especially for platforms that don't expect to have millions of users.

New this week: ▶ US TikTok’s painful transition ▶ Global Google AI Plus subscriptions ▶ Project Genie generates 3D worlds in real time ▶ Patreon requires move to subscription billing ▶ StreamElements set up tip jar to “keep it free”

What do you know about the new US TikTok? Take this week’s quiz. www.youtube.com/post...

"100% free forever" is laudable, but not sustainable.

Hear him! and put your creative stuff on your on site outside of social media.

Australian startup UpScrolled has been attracting users globally over the past few weeks. It offers an Instagram-meets-TikTok experience but prioritizes authentic connection over algorithms. It is currently the #2 in the US, #2 in the UK, and #3 in the Australian App Stores.

I'm seeing multiple complaints that the new US TikTok is killing the reach of peaceful protest related videos. Which I guess shouldn't be a surprise. Either something is broken because they are retraining the algorithm, or it's intentional. Both are bad. www.threads.com/@thurber_sho...

TikTok alternative Skylight can also stream videos from Bluesky because of its AT Protocol integration.

An interesting and not overly technical talk about how YouTube is using Gemini for its recommendation systems. It takes into account video title, description, transcript and info from sampled frames. Plus user demographics, and watch and engagement history.

New this week: ▶ TikTok US deal finalized ▶ YouTube works to reduce AI Slop ▶ Simplified video management in the YouTube mobile app. ▶ Substack launches TV app ▶ Animated captions in Google Vids

Trump's buddies now control TikTok in the U.S. www.cnn.com/2026/01/22/t...

This is shocking in that an academic apparently didn't back up any of the work they generated from inside ChatGPT. And also didn't read the details about what would happen when they changed the settings. Back up anything important! Files can be lost from any device or platform or service.

🎬January Schedule OnEBoard @peggyk.bsky.social @imagewildlife.bsky.social and I are starting 2026 on Focus, in Symbiosis and Flourishing as per our Commitment. #TechTopic #Podcast #Livestream #January

Science fiction is about the present, but "by crafting entertaining stories, authors invent powerful metaphors that shape how we imagine our technological future and understand our technological reality"

It makes me sad to only learn about brilliant mathematicians and scientists when they pass.

New this week ▶ Monetize Controversial content on YouTube ▶ Simplified YouTube Search filters ▶ Apple Creator Studio creative suite subscription ▶ Choose your Instagram Reels algorithm ▶ Easier Spotify video podcast Partnership ▶ Google Veo 3.1 “Ingredients to Video”

Another pivot to video? The PressGazette reports that in the face of declining referrals From Google Search and Discover, publishers are putting more effort into YouTube, TikTok and AI Platforms. pressgazette.co.uk/m...

Google Trends Explore has a new Gemini side panel that can suggest additional search terms to compare related trends. You can edit the terms, and filter by date, country, and property (Web, YouTube, Images, News, Shopping).

If you live stream on Twitch, you can set up your Bluesky account to show a temporary LIVE badge on your avatar that people can click to go directly to your stream. While in beta, Live Now is limited to Twitch links. Support for other streaming platforms may follow.

Current AdSense for Content and Ad Manager issue: you may see error messages, high latency, or other unexpected behavior, and a systemic decline in Ad Exchange (AdX) match rates and delivery impacting Google demand sources (Google Ads, DV360). See the notice for details: ads.google.com/statu...

New Digg is meant for humans "Instead of simply offering verification checkmarks to designate trust, Digg will try out new technologies, like using zero-knowledge proofs (cryptographic methods that verify information without revealing the underlying data) to verify the people using its platform."

Add (almost) any blog or news source as a Preferred Source for Google Search Top Stories. To add my blog as a Preferred Source and manage all your Preferred Sources, click: www.google.com/preferences/... Get a Preferred Source button for your website or blog support.google.com/news/publish...

This week's Tech Tips *Me: Encourage readers to add your blog or site as a Google Search Preferred Source *@ninatrankova.com Google Workspace admins control Meet language settings *@imagewildlife.bsky.social Use Canvas in Google Search AI Mode as a travel agent news.oneboard.network/2026/01/tech...

Apple Creator Studio gives access to creative apps with a subscription * Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro * Motion, Compressor, MainStage * intelligent features, premium content for Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and later Freeform Apps can still be purchased individually

YouTube updated advertiser-friendly guidelines to allow monetization of some controversial topics (abortion, self-harm, suicide, domestic and sexual abuse) if non-graphic or dramatized. Content about child abuse or eating disorders are still ineligible for ad revenue.

Google Veo 3.1 Ingredients to Video lets you generate videos from reference images, with output up to 4K. Availability: * YouTube Shorts app (English) * YouTube Create app (Android, limited locations) * Google Vids (Workspace or AI subscription) * Gemini app * Flow

10 YouTube features to engage fans and build your audience * Communities * Posts * Collabs * Automatic Dubbing * Voice Replies * Hype * Courses * Playlist Voting * Top Fans * Dual Streams

YouTube improved search with local results and filter for Shorts and long form videos. www.threads.com/@neal_mohan/...

What do you know about the latest YouTube features? Take this week's quiz: www.youtube.com/post...

The Financial Times telling it as it is 😅

Always good for an end of year laugh/cry.

"Because of her love for San Francisco, opera’s grandest diva would gladly sing for free in the streets." A terrific recounting of Luisa Tetrazzini's famous outdoor concert on Christmas Eve 1910 for hundreds of thousands of listeners. (h/t @gmeline.bsky.social)

Write like blogging is alive. "You know the formula. Post length: 1,500+ words. Three internal links. Strategic subheaders. Bonus infographic. (...) And let’s be honest—most of that SEO content is just digital mulch. (...) If your blog exists solely to rank, it’s living on borrowed time."