Instagram is testing ‘unskippable ads’ according to reports from some users, a feature it is calling an ‘ad break’.

Screenshots shared on X, formerly Twitter, show a countdown timer on the feed, after which a video ad post appears. Users cannot scroll past the post until the video has played in full.

Clicking on the info button reveals the following message: ‘You’re seeing an ad break.

‘Ad breaks are a new way of seeing ads on Instagram. Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you can keep browsing.’

Unsurprisingly, people are not happy about this move to push even more advertising.

On X, one user, Allie, wrote: ‘Oh my god, Instagram has added “ad breaks” where they won’t let you scroll past an ad until you wait three seconds.

‘I guess they’ll be my “get off Instagram” notifications.’

Another, Pamela Morales, said: ‘The unskippable ad breaks on Instagram are making me want to scream!’

A Meta spokesperson said: ‘We’re always testing formats that can drive value for advertisers. As we test and learn, we will provide updates should this test result in any formal product changes.’

Metro

Ticketmaster is the victim of a cyber attack, its parent company, Live Nation, confirmed. The information stolen allegedly includes personal information from 560 million individuals, including names, numbers, addresses, and partial payment details. Hacking group ShinyHunters has demanded $500,000 in ransom money to prevent the data's sale and confirmed it held the 1.3TB of stolen data to Hackread.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Live Nation stated it had "identified unauthorized activity" on May 20 and subsequently started investigating it. On May 27, "a criminal threat actor offered what it alleged to be Company user data for sale via the dark web."

Live Nation claims to be working to lower the risks posed to its customers and its own business. "As of the date of this filing, the incident has not had, and we do not believe it is reasonably likely to have, a material impact on our overall business operations or on our financial condition or results of operations," the company added. "We continue to evaluate the risks and our remediation efforts are ongoing."

Ticketmaster has faced previous breaches, including a bot attack during Taylor Swift ticket sales. The company also has a history as a hacker, illegally — and repeatedly — accessing the computer system of its rival, Songkick. Ticketmaster paid a $10 million criminal fine rather than face prosecution. However, the company's former head of Artist Services, Zeeshan Zaidi, pled guilty to conspiring to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud due to his role in the scheme.

Engadget

Spotify announced on Monday it is increasing the cost of its premium subscription plans in the U.S., marking the Swedish music-streaming company’s second price hike in a year.

U.S. Spotify users will be notified about the new change to their subscription over the next month.

For users in the U.S., an “Individual” plan will cost $11.99. A “Duo” plan will cost $16.99, and a “Family” plan will cost $19.99. The “Student” plan will still cost $5.99.

Spotify said it is raising prices so the company can “continue to invest in and innovate on our product features,” according to a blog post.

In July 2023, Spotify increased the price of its Individual offering to $10.99. It also increased the prices of its Duo plan, Family plan and Student offering to $14.99, $16.99 and $5.99, respectively. The company said the market landscape has “continued to evolve” since Spotify launched, according to a release at the time.

Spotify competitor AppleMusic increased the cost of its subscription in late 2022. An individual subscription starts at $10.99 a month, according to Apple’s website.

CNBC

Sony's PlayStation VR2 headset and controllers may soon be compatible with PCs via a new adapter, if a Sony filing with a South Korean regulator is any indication.

Earlier this week, a PC adapter for the PS VR2 was certified with the Korean National Radio Research Agency, which examines, tests, and certifies tech products. The adapter now has a certification number, which suggests a public release could be on the horizon. The PC adapter for the VR2 would mark the first time Sony has enabled full PC support for its VR devices.

The PS VR 2 is currently only compatible with the PlayStation 5 console. It's not fully compatible with PCs and won't connect to a PS4 console. Sony's original PS VR headset will work with either the PS4 or the PS5, thanks to a different adapter it made for the 2016-era headset that connects it to the newer console.

If a PS VR 2 adapter comes to market, it could also mean that PC players might be able to access PS VR 2 games, though it's also possible PC users might be limited to a smaller library. Sony hasn't publicly confirmed or commented on the existence of this PC adapter yet, but it said it was testing "the ability for PS VR2 players to access additional games on PC" earlier this year. Sony also previously said it plans to roll out PC support sometime this year.

It's possible that Sony is opening up compatibility to better compete with its VR rivals like Meta, whose Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 2 headsets have long been able to connect to PCs to access PC VR apps and games. Sony's PS VR2 was first released back in February 2023.

PCMag

One of several AI features designed run on new high-powered Copilot+ PCs, Recall is like giving users a ‘photographic memory,’ says Microsoft.

Microsoft is bringing a new AI-powered search function to Windows 11 that lets users find and retrieve information across any app they’ve accessed.

The new feature, Windows Recall, essentially records all user actions on a PC, taking snapshots of the screen at 5 second intervals. This allows Recall to generate a searchable timeline of everything they’ve interacted with, whether that’s an application, website, document, image, or anything else. It could mean searching for anything from references to a work-related topic across different documents, or a conversation with a friend on a chat app, whether on a desktop app or via a web browser.

“We set out to solve one of the most frustrating problems we encounter daily — finding something we know we have seen before on our PC,” Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer, said Monday in a blog post. “Today, we must remember what file folder it was stored in, what website it was on, or scroll through hundreds of emails trying to find it.

“Now with Recall, you can access virtually what you have seen or done on your PC in a way that feels like having photographic memory.”

“If Recall works as well as planned, it will be a major productivity booster and probably one of the most useful productivity tools we’ve seen in years,” said Jack Gold, principal analyst with business consultancy J. Gold Associates.

“Being able to instantly find data you know you have ,but have no idea where you put it, or instantly recall that website that was so useful — but you can’t remember what it was — will be a game changer.”

Computerworld

Microsoft is touting new computers with advanced chips designed to run artificial intelligence features of software for Windows, without quickly using up battery life.

The company on Monday announced Surface Laptop and a Surface Pro tablet with a Qualcomm chip that can run some AI tasks without an internet connection. Other computer makers like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus, Acer and Samsung are also launching AI-ready PCs powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus processors, which promise longer battery life and will run Microsoft’s Copilot AI chatbot.

The computers adhere to Microsoft’s new Copilot+ standard and feature a minimum amount of performance, storage and memory. Copilot+ PCs with AMD and Intel chips will follow, Microsoft said during a press keynote address on its campus in Redmond, Washington. The PCs will be able to translate audio, recommend responses to incoming messages and suggest changes in the Settings app, and even talk with people about what’s on screen.

Copilot+ PCs will start at $999. Microsoft is accepting pre-orders as of Monday, and the devices will become available in June.

A Recall feature will be able to search through a log of previous actions on PCs. Recall relies on AI models that run directly on the device, so it can run offline, and an index of the data never goes to remote servers. AI models will be able to generate images based on written descriptions as well as drawings.

Microsoft is banking on Qualcomm’s energy-efficient Arm-based chips that can handle AI models to defend its Windows franchise. Apple has gained market share in PC shipments with MacBooks containing its Arm-based chips, having moved away from Intel, the top provider of computer processors.

Microsoft is expanding its effort to surround consumers and business users with ChatGPT-like capabilities. OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, released the ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022, and it took off as a tool for quickly obtaining computer-generated poems, email drafts and summaries of historical events.

Other large technology companies, including Microsoft, soon started augmenting their products with generative AI. A Copilot chatbot drawing on ChatGPT’s underlying AI models came to the Bing search engine, along with the Windows 10 and 11 operating systems. Those with Office productivity software subscriptions could pay extra to have a Copilot refer to their documents for written responses.

CNBC