YouTube TV finally supports picture-in-picture on iOS

Google has begun rolling out a new update to its iOS YouTube TV app that allows both iPhone and iPad users to take advantage of picture-in-picture functionality. To watch something in PiP mode, swipe up from the bottom of the screen. The video will then automatically resize and move across your device’s display.

Today’s update is long overdue, a fact Google acknowledged. “We really appreciate your patience while we worked on enabling this key feature for your iOS 15+ devices,” the company said on Twitter. To put the wait in perspective, Apple’s mobile operating system has supported picture-in-picture functionality on iPad since iOS 13 and iPhone since iOS 14. What’s more, the feature has been available through the company’s main YouTube app since last year.

Apple’s Studio Display guts feature a remarkable feat of over-engineering

It may look a lot like the redesigned iMac, but Apple’s new Studio Display is in many ways a more complicated device once you open it up. Next to the company’s all-in-one desktop, the monitor is about 50 percent thicker, and there’s an interesting reason for that.

Following its recent Mac Studio teardown, iFixit took apart the Studio Display to see the engineering that went into Apple’s first dedicated monitor since the Pro Display XDR. What ends up making the studio display thicker than the iMac is a complicated, multi-board power supply board that’s housed within the monitor. Unlike with the iMac, you don’t need an adapter to power the Studio Display. It’s one of those features that might seem small on the surface, but it ultimately leads to a better user experience.  

“If [Apple] had gone with an external power supply, this could have been the same design as the iMac,” iFixit said. It notes Apple likely invested a significant amount of engineering effort and cost to design a power supply that is as slim as the one found in the Studio Display. 

In taking apart the Studio Display, iFixit also discovered a few other interesting tidbits about the monitor. Almost every review of the Studio Display has complained of poor web camera quality. Apple has said it will release a software update to address the problem. In the meantime, iFixit says the Studio Display’s camera module looks nearly identical to the one found in the iPhone 11. “Hardware-wise, a three-year-old sensor is perfectly capable of packing a better punch than all these reviewers are seeing,” the company said. That’s something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about purchasing the Studio Display.

Former DeepMind employee acuses company of mishandling sexual abuse complaint

A former DeepMind employee has accused the company of mishandling a series of serious sexual harassment allegations. In a report published Wednesday, TheFinancial Times recounts the experience of a former female staff member who alleges she was se…

Spotify’s blended playlists now work with up to 10 people and artists

Last Summer, Spotify introduced Blend, a fun feature that allows you and a friend to compare your musical tastes. After inviting another Spotify user to take part, the platform generates a shared playlist that pulls songs from both your libraries. It also provides a match score and updates the playlist daily, allowing you to see how your tastes change over time.

One limitation of the feature was that you could only create a Blend playlist with a single friend or family member at a time. That’s now changing. Starting today, you can create a Blend playlist with up to 10 people, with Spotify taking into consideration all your disparate music tastes at the same time. Additionally, you can now also create Blend playlists with select artists, including BTS, Diplo, Mimi Webb and others. In that case, it’s partly a showcase of the artist’s latest music, but it’s still fun to see where you overlap.

As with Blend playlists you create with your friends, Spotify will generate a story you can share on Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms to show off how close you are two are on your favorite tunes. If you haven’t made a Blend playlist yet, you do so by typing “Blend” within the “Search” tab and then inviting the people you want to take part.  

Apple TV+ Friday Night Baseball doubleheaders start April 8th

Apple’s first Friday Night Baseball doubleheader will stream on April 8th. Announced at its recent “Peek Performance” event, the program will see Apple stream two exclusive MLB games every Friday through the end of the regular season. The first doubleh…

‘Among Us’ is back online following a DDoS attack this weekend

After a weekend of connection issues, Among Us is back online. “Ok servers look stable and good now!” developer Innersloth tweeted on Monday at 3:37PM ET. “Hopefully the sabotages don’t come back – will keep u updated if anything changes.”

For much of the weekend, Among Us players in North America and Europe could not connect to the game’s servers to play the popular Mafia-style title. When the connection issues first started, Innersloth blamed the problem on a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. According to the game’s official Twitter account, the attack began late Friday afternoon, and it seemed to take most of the weekend for Innersloth’s small team to address the situation. “Can’t believe I’m working on a Saturday right now, I was supposed to go and get a croissant,” the studio said in one poignant but lighthearted tweet.

Following its meteoric rise in popularity at the start of the pandemic, Among Us has seen its fair share of disruptive attacks. Before this weekend’s DDoS attack, the most significant incident involved a hacker named Eris Loris who targeted the game with a spam campaign that may have affected as many as 5 million players.