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Spotify announced Tuesday that it hit 751 million total monthly active users (MAUs) for quarter-four of 2025. That record-high is an 11 percent jump from the year before and a significant bump from the third quarter's 713 million MAUs. The quarterly earnings report also showed a 10 percent jump year-over-year in Premium subscribers, from 263 million to 290 million. Europe makes up the greatest number of the Swedish company's premium subscribers (36 percent), with North America coming second at 25 percent. Spotify contributes a few factors to its growth, including AI. "We consider ourselves the R&D department for the music industry. Our job is to understand new technologies quickly and capture their potential, which weve done time and again," Gustav Söderström, Co-CEO of Spotify, said in a statement. The entire industry stands to benefit from this [AI] paradigm shift but we believe those who embrace this change and move fast, will benefit the most. In late 2025, Spotify announced it would get rid of some of the AI "slop" on its platform and have "artist-first AI music products" though the specifics were very vague. The company also claims that December's Spotify Wrapped was bigger than ever, with over 300 million engaged users and 630 million shares across 56 languages. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotify-now-has-more-than-750-million-monthly-users-124103630.html?src=rss
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The House Judiciary Committee wants the US Department of Justice to turn over all its communications with both Apple and Google regarding the companies decisions to remove apps that shared information about sightings of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Several apps were removed from both Apples App Store and Googles Play Store in October. Politico reported that Raskin has contacted Attorney General Pam Bondi. The coercion and censorship campaign, which ultimately targets the users of ICE-monitoring applications, is a clear effort to silence this Administrations critics and suppress any evidence that would expose the Administrations lies, including its Orwellian attempts to cover up the murders of Renee and Alex, Raskin wrote to Bondi. Mat SmithThe biggest stories you might have missedThe iPhone 17e will reportedly bring some key upgrades without raising the priceHBO Max is finally coming to the UK and Ireland SpaceX is pivoting to focus on a Moon base before MarsHow to disable Rings creepy Search Party featureSay goodbye to AI-assisted mass surveillance for now.RINGRingRings Super Bowl ad showcased its Search Party feature, scaring the pants off anyone concerned about a mass surveillance state and, well, the state of everything at the moment. Search Party turns individual Ring devices into a surveillance network. Each camera uses AI to detect pets running within its field of view, and feeds are pooled to help identify lost animals. If it can handle pups, why not people? Heres how to disable it. Continue reading.Inside the Ive-designed interior of Ferraris luxe EVThe Luxurious Luce.FerrariFerrariOn a lighter note, consumer tech! Ferraris new car is no Apple Car. This is the Ferrari Luce (light in Italian), the actual name for the EV formerly known as Elettrica, and we (well, Tim Stevens) were lucky enough to get a walkthrough with Sir Jony Ive himself. Thats because the interior was designed by LoveFrom, founded by Ive after leaving Apple in 2019. OpenAI acquired the design firm for $6.5 billion, and while the company has had numerous projects, the Luce could be its biggest yet. Its filled with playful touches and a lot of, well, glass. If that tilting screen doesnt shout iPhone design, what does?Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-doj-may-face-investigation-over-removal-of-ice-agent-tracking-apps-121500737.html?src=rss
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Waymo has gotten a step closer to offering robotaxi rides to the public in Nashville, Tennessee. The company the city and making sure they can operate as fully autonomous rides before launching a paid service in the location. Waymo announced that it was planning to bring its robotaxis to Nashville in September 2025, with the intention opening up rides to the public sometime this year. The company has been testing its technology in Nashville since then, but it has yet say when itll start accepting bookings for rides.The company conducts extensive testing in every new city before deploying its robotaxi service. It starts by having safety drivers map the area and then updating its software with information learned from those tests, since each city has its own driving rules and conditions. Despite its testing, Waymo has had to issue a software recall several times in the past after its vehicles malfunctioned when faced with real hazards on the road. Its vehicles were previously seeing hitting gates, chains, telephone poles and stationary vehicles. Most recently, it issued a recall because its robotaxis failed to stop for school buses.At the moment, Waymo vehicles are already open to the public in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Phoenix, as well as in Atlanta and Austin through a partnership with Uber. Its active in a lot more locations, including New York, New Orleans, Seattle and even Tokyo, Japan, but its not serving riders in those locations yet. Nashville is in the list of new locations where Waymo is conducting or planning to conduct driverless trials, along with Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, Washington and London, UK. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymos-vehicles-are-now-fully-driverless-in-nashville-120412343.html?src=rss
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