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HBO Max App Now Available on Vizio SmartCast TVs

Charlotte Henry ·

There is now a dedicated HBO Max app available on Vizio SmartCast TVs, The Verge reported. It means users can access the service directly instead of having to find workarounds like AirPlay.

Prior to today’s announcement, Vizio TVs lacked a native app within SmartCast, Vizio’s smart TV interface. Instead, they’d have to cast its content to their televisions using Apple AirPlay or by casting with Google. The addition of the app directly from the apps menu should make accessing HBO Max far more intuitive for SmartCast users. To mark the launch of the app on its sets, Vizio will also introduce a custom homescreen carousel to showcase HBO Max’s new teaser freebies. HBO Max no longer offers free trials, though it recently announced a limited sampling of the pilot episodes of more than a dozen of some of its most popular series, which can be streamed in-app without paying for an HBO Max subscription. Vizio users will be able to access these rotating teasers directly from the Vizio carousel.

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AccuWeather Creates Alert System Exclusively for T-Mobile Customers

Andrew Orr ·

AccuWeather announced a new alert system called AccuWeather Alerts. Exclusively for T-Mobile customers, it pushes severe weather alerts for iPhones and Androids.

With this newly developed system, T-Mobile customers can received Up to the Minute alerts that read “Severe Weather Potential,” “Severe Weather Threat,” and “Dangerous Weather Imminent!” on their iOS or Android mobile phones for free. Integrated into AccuWeather’s award-winning app, these alerts provide details on upcoming and developing severe weather events, including notifications for hurricanes, snow, tornadoes, flooding, hail, heatwaves, cold waves and other types of threatening weather.

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New Twitter Safety Mode Filters Replies, Blocks Accounts

Andrew Orr ·

Twitter is rolling out a new feature called Safety Mode. When you enable it for your account, it temporarily blocks accounts for seven days for using potentially harmful language or sending repetitive and uninvited replies or mentions.

You can find information about the Tweets flagged through Safety Mode and view the details of temporarily blocked accounts at any time. Before each Safety Mode period ends, you’ll receive a notification recapping this information. We won’t always get this right and may make mistakes, so Safety Mode autoblocks can be seen and undone at any time in your Settings. We’ll also regularly monitor the accuracy of our Safety Mode systems to make improvements to our detection capabilities.

I think a lot of things can be said about Twitter, but at least they’re trying (unlike Facebook).

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Spotify Makes 'Blend' Personalised Shared Playlist Feature Available

Charlotte Henry ·

Spotify announced Tuesday that Blend, which allows two users to create a shared playlist that combines both their musical tastes, is now available. It was released in beta in June and is now accessible by both free and premium users.

The experience includes new cover art to easily identify each of your Blend playlists, taste match scores to see your listening preferences compared to your friends’, and shareable data stories that are unique to every listening pair and can be shared across social channels. Blend, which will be updated daily and adapts based on what listeners stream, combines the best of Spotify’s personalization capabilities and collaborative playlist functionality into a single shared playlist, making it easy for users to get into a social listening session that is made just for them. But creating this experience was no simple feat. There’s a massive team behind the experience, blending their own different skills and expertise to bring it to life.

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Flipboard Gives People Tools to Prevent 'Doomscrolling'

Andrew Orr ·

Flipboard is rolling out a series of personalization tools to help people cut back on doomscrolling.

The company announced this morning the launch of a new controller on the cover of its own main newsfeed, aka the “For You” feed, which now allows users to select new topics to follow and deselect those they no longer want to hear about. The feature, which Flipboard dubs “an antidote to doomscrolling,” allows users to customize their For You feed to deliver a wider selection of stories related to their various interests, instead of focusing their home page on breaking news and politics.

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Bose Launches 'QuietComfort 45' Noise Cancelling Headphones

Andrew Orr ·

On Tuesday Bose has announced the launch of its latest pair of noise cancelling headphones – QuietComfort 45.

The QuietComfort 45 maintain the hallmarks of their predecessor with amazing audio performance, all-day comfort and stability, super- simple controls, rock-solid connectivity, and an update to the iconic design that made QCs one of the most recognizable wearables ever. The QuietComfort 45 headphones will be available starting September 23rd for $329.95, and pre-orders start today at Bose.com and select resellers.