Meta to shutdown its Substack competitor in early 2023

Source: Meta

Meta tried to go after Substack with its newsletter platform Bulletin. However, the company doesn't see a future for it, with plans to shut it down by "early 2023. Bulletin was announced back in June 2021, pitching it as a platform "focused on empowering independent writers, helping them reach new audiences and power their businesses." The idea was similar to Substack, where readers could subscribe to newsletters from the writers they liked, and the writers could charge money for their work and other perks.

Some writers Meta added to the service include Malcolm Gladwell and Tan France. The company promised it wouldn't take a cut from the subscriptions until 2023. Unfortunately, the service hasn't taken off as well as Meta liked. And now Bulletin joins some of the company's projects being shut down.

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BMW is going to build an Alexa-based custom voice assistant

BMW cars already have support for Amazon's Alexa. But the carmaker wants to take things a step further by building its own custom voice assistant based on Amazon's Alexa core technology. This upcoming voice assistant will be built using Amazon's Alexa Custom Assistant. It's a service that allows automakers and device manufacturers to create their own digital assistants using Amazon's tech.

This service will allow BMW to create its customized wake words, voices, and capabilities with Alexa as the base. BMW hopes it can "enable an even more natural dialogue between driver and vehicle." This is critical for ensuring the voice assistant reduces distractions for drivers since it can help with things like finding directions, changing music, or even adjusting the heating or cooling in the cars. BMW aims to roll out its custom-built voice assistant within the next couple of years.

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Disney+ relaunches on PS5 with 4K HDR playback support

Disney has brought back its streaming service app to the Sony PlayStation 5. And it brings with it 4K HDR playback, which wasn't available in the previous app. So, if you have the app on your console, it might be time to update. You can download the new PS5 Disney+ app from the media section of the homescreen.

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Ubisoft to help Stadia users transfer their purchases to PC

Source: Ubisoft

As Stadia shuts down, studios like Ubisoft are hoping to help abandoned Stadia users a way to access the games they've bought on the streaming service. Ubisoft announced it would help those who bought its titles on Stadia a way to transfer their purchases to the PC via Ubisoft Connect. The developer hasn't shared when it will offer Stadia players this option. We also don't know if the transferred games will include saved data. 

As Engadget pointed out, the Ubisoft+ subscription service includes a cloud save feature, so perhaps it can figure out a way to maintain players' progress if they switch to the PC. Of course, the gesture is appreciated. However, those without capable PCs might not be able to take advantage of the offer.