When users click the three dots on the side of the ad in an attempt to dismiss it, nothing happens, no matter how many times they click. Some are unable to access a "Dismiss" command at all. Still other users report the ads going away by themselves in around 30 seconds or a minute. But sometimes, the ads persist.
Previously, users only saw a generic "Learn More" button beneath an ad for a movie or show. You couldn't tell whether the content was free or carried a price tag. Now, Amazon introduced more buttons to make things less ambiguous. They launched buttons titled "Watch Free," "Watch Now," or "Watch Live" that are supposed to improve transparency.
At some point, the industry stopped arguing about whether content drives commerce and started living in the reality where the two are indistinguishable. "Content, commerce and technology are really coming forward in a special way and recognition that there aren't disparate separate systems any longer," says Cara Pratt, president of global retail and media at Circana. "There really is one connected, cohesive, intelligent ecosystem that is fueling discovery, fueling conversion and purchase."
Content delivery network provider Netskrt's "State of the ISP Survey" found that live sporting events are the global infrastructure's most daunting streaming challenge and that the biggest worry is traffic generated by American football. The long-term study - conducted between May and August 2025 - includes input from 55 global internet service providers (ISPs). Almost eight in ten survey respondents (78%) said sports cause them the most concern related to streaming reliability. Of these, 70% pointed to American football as the most challenging sport to deliver. International football (soccer) is quickly approaching similar levels.
The agency is flush with cash; it now has a larger budget than the FBI. To the point that ICE has, in fact, acquired two mobile data-capture companies, including Penlink, a longtime Department of Homeland Security vendor. The company tracks and maps purchasable or scrapable data from data brokers, pictures or videos posted on social media and geo-fencing, to name a few. Penlink's tech can even delve into or extract info from someone's phone, such as contacts, calendar events, chat messages and more.
Publishers' adoption of generative AI is reducing the friction between content and format, making it easier for the same story to appear as shorter summaries, audio, or video, often in real time. To some publishers, a text article may soon be more of a vehicle for original reporting, not a final product. That information could become no longer available strictly in a static piece of content, but transformed into different shapes and formats, based on a reader's signals and preferences.
Ever since the Opera browser introduced Workspaces, it's been my go-to browser for staying seriously organized. When you have 50 tabs open, they can badly crowd your browser window, so Workspaces has become a must-have feature for any browser I use. Opera does workspaces better than any other browser. Also: Opera's sidebar upgrade makes it easier to access your favorite apps - here's how Soon, Opera (aka Opera One) will add even more features to help you become better organized, more creative, and more productive.
The app allows users to stream games directly to their smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, and laptops via browsers. People can even play AAA titles without having devices with high-end hardware specifications, merely requiring a stable internet connection. The cloud gaming service is coming soon in India. Ahead of its launch in the country, the US-based tech giant has announced that it is rolling out the dedicated GeForce Now app to select Amazon Fire TV devices, bringing cloud gaming to the streaming sticks.
Instead, my family and I have been jumping around and slicing flying fruit in our living room using the Nex Playground. It's a tiny gaming system built entirely around Kinect-like games. With its camera and onboard computer vision processing, the $249 Nex Playground can track up to four players as effectively as Microsoft's clunky old Xbox motion tracker. Simply put, the dream of the Kinect, as well as Nintendo's Wii, lives on in the Nex Playground.
Akhil Savani has joined the company as vice president of publisher development, while longtime OpenX leader Rebecca Bonell has been elevated to regional vice president of publisher development, The Americas. Together, they will shape OpenX's next phase of publisher growth, working with publishers to innovate and increase monetisation while driving fair value exchanges. As publishers face critical challenges, including zero-click search and advancements in large language models (LLMs), OpenX is innovating to support publisher revenue and data strategies.
After the initial setup, most people rarely engage directly with their smart TV. With wireless connectivity, phone apps, and remote controls, there's little need to. Tucked next to the essential HDMI ports, a USB 2.0 port -- likely sitting unnoticed on the back or side panel -- offers more potential than you might expect. USB ports are easy to overlook, but they're a standard feature on most TVs -- and more useful than you might think.