While there are plenty of video editing tools built into smartphones, it can take some skill to pull off an edit that’s pleasing to the eye. But Google Photos looks set to change that.
By digging into an upcoming version of the Photos app, Android Authority contributor and code-diver Assemble Debug found a feature called “Enhance your videos”, and with a bit of work, got it up and running. As one would guess from the name, the feature is used to enhance videos accessed via the Photos app in a single tap.
Enhance your videos can automatically adjust brightness, contrast, color saturation and other visual parameters for a selected video in order to deliver an edited version that should look better than the original, at least in the eyes of Google.
While this feature isn’t official yet, it may be somewhat familiar to Google Photos users, as there’s already an option to enhance photos in the web and mobile versions of the service. In my experience, the enhance option works rather well, though it’s far from perfect and can overbake its enhancements.
But it makes sense for Google to extend this enhancement function to videos, especially in the TikTok era; do go and check out the TechRadar TikTok for news, views and reactions to the latest tech.
One neat thing about Enhance your video, according to Android Authority, is that all the processing happens on-device, thereby bypassing the need for an internet connection and cloud-based processing. Whether this will work on older phones without AI-centric chipsets remains to be seen.
Given that Assemble Debug got the Enhance your video feature up and running, it looks like it could be nearing an official rollout. We can expect to hear more about this and other upcoming Google features, as well as Android 15, at Google I/O 2024, which is set to kick off on May 14.
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WhatsApp is the most popular instant messaging app in the world, which means billions of people depend on it in their daily lives. Even a single issue can cause problems for millions of people. One such WhatsApp issue has surfaced recently, and several users are complaining about it online.
There are growing complaints from WhatsApp users that they are facing issues while sending videos. The folks at 9To5Google faced the same issue while trying to replicate the problem on Galaxy S series phones. When you try to send a video, WhatsApp throws an error that says, “Can’t send this video. Choose a different video and try again.” This issue appeared in the latest version (v2.24.9.34) of WhatsApp.
Another annoying thing about this issue is that this error appears after processing the whole video. It means you spend more time and still fail to send videos. This issue doesn’t appear while sending photos or other file types. It appears that videos shot or downloaded locally are facing this issue.
However, not all Android smartphones are facing this issue. A temporary solution is to downgrade to an older version of WhatsApp, and testing has revealed that the issue doesn’t appear on it.
The easiest way to convert a YouTube video to an MP4 for free is with an app called 4K Video Downloader for Mac and PC. This tool gives you all kinds of options for converting video and audio from YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Soundcloud, Twitch and more.
If you want to save videos or podcasts to your computer to include in a video of your own, this app is the easiest way to download the highest-quality original.
It has other uses, too. If you’re going on a flight, or if you simply have a slow internet connection, you can use it to download what you want to watch in advance. If you’re privacy-conscious but you still want to watch a TikTok sent to you by a friend, you can download the clip without visiting the website.
Here’s how it works.
How to convert YouTube videos to MP4 for free
4K Video Downloader+ can do it all in one app. Image: Open Media
First, you need to install the 4K Video Downloader app. On a Mac, installing the app downloads the Intel version automatically, but it’s not the only version available.
If you go to the Downloads page and click the small arrow next to “macOS with Intel Installer,” you’ll see another option to download the “macOS with Apple Silicon Installer.” That’s what I strongly recommend to everyone with a newer Mac, as it’ll run with better performance.
The download page — and also the page that opens automatically when you first launch the app — prompts you to enter an email address, but this isn’t necessary.
Launching and using the app
Click a site to start browsing or click Paste Link. Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
When you first launch 4K Video Downloader, you’ll see some helpful onboarding screens that teach you the basic functionality. There are a few different ways to download videos:
You can copy a URL and paste it into the app.
You can use the built-in browser to search and download the video all in one.
You can enable Smart Mode to quickly set your preferences for video quality and platform compatibility. Advanced Mode gives you more options for video formatting and subtitles.
Add YouTube channels or playlists and new videos will be converted automatically.
Just paste a URL
Converting a YouTube video to an MP4 from its URL is super easy. Copy the address out of the address bar in your browser, or when someone sends you an iMessage, right-click and click Copy.
In 4K Video Downloader, just click Paste Link. It’ll instantly convert the video.
It supports YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Twitch, Soundcloud, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Naver.tv, BiliBili, Rumble and Likee.
To download an age-restricted video from YouTube, you will have to sign into your Google account first.
Use the built-in browser
Download content directly inside the app. Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
You can also look up and browse inside the app to download what you want. I clicked the Soundcloud button, found Driftless Pony Club, clicked on a song and clicked the big green Download button.
The browser window will minimize and you can watch the download in progress. Click the browser toolbar to bring it back up again and start another download. The Home button on the left takes you back to the shortcuts.
Download subtitles and change specific settings
Pick video format, quality, subtitles and more using Advanced Mode. Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If you want to convert a YouTube video to MP4 with persnickety choices about the video codec, frame rate or which subtitles to download, uncheck the light bulb toggle switch. This switches from Smart Mode to Advanced Mode.
For downloading subtitles, you can pick any language available in the original video. It’ll download an SRT file alongside the video file. Most video players like VLC and IINA will recognize it with the same file name and turn on subtitles automatically.
Download whole playlists or channels
If you copy a link to a YouTube channel or playlist, click Paste Link to see two options. You can download the entire backlog or subscribe to have new content automatically converted.
Manage your subscriptions from the downloads page. Subscribed playlists and channels have a special icon on the right. Hover over it, click the ⋮ button and click Remove to unsubscribe.
If you sign into your Google account, you can also access your existing YouTube subscriptions, Watch Later playlist and private videos shared with you.
Clean privacy practices
The Mac App Store has a privacy report card that lets you know if the developer is collecting and selling your personal information. I’m always a little wary about apps that I download outside the App Store, because they don’t need to make the same disclosures.
Skimming through their privacy policy, it seems to be good news. Open Media “does not draw any conclusions about the data subject,” any data collected is kept “only for the period necessary.” In compliance with European regulations, you can always request to have all your personal information deleted.
Where to get 4K Video Downloader+
Download from:https://4kdownload.com/vd/ Price: Free with basic features, $25 lifetime unlock for personal use
If you’re a fan of historical dramas featuring quick wits and absolute… bad people, Prime Video‘s My Lady Jane looks like it should be at the top of your watch list. Inspired by the best-selling book of the same name, the new series is set in an alternative version of the Tudor world where Lady Jane Grey didn’t lose her head after just nine days on the throne.
It turns out that not being beheaded is a pretty good career move, but after Lady Jane finds herself crowned Queen of England, a move that is not universally popular, it doesn’t take long before ne’er-do-wells, ruffians and other scoundrels come for her crown and her head.
According to Prime Video, the series is an epic tale of true love and high adventure, where the damsel in distress saves herself, her true love and then the Kingdom. The streamer has said that the show will be released in late June, which sets up a tasty royal clash with Netflix’s own period drama Bridgerton. The second part of the hit show’s season three is set to launch on June 13.
Heads you (don’t) lose
Unusually for a prestige drama, the lead actor here is a newcomer: Emily Bader, who plays the titular Lady Jane. Her rascally husband Guildford is played by Edward Bluemel of Killing Eve and Jordan Peters from Pirates plays the scheming King Edward. The cast also includes the always watchable Dominic Cooper from Preacher as Lord Seymour, Anna Chancellor (Pennyworth) as Jane’s mother, and Rob Brydon (The Trip) as Guildford’s father.
With a behind the camera team including showrunner and creator Gemma Burgess (Brooklyn Girls), co-showrunner Meredith Glynn (The Boys) and producing director Jamie Babbitt (Only Murders In The Building), this looks likely to be a particularly irreverent take on the genre. In this telling, the damsel in distress saves herself.
My Lady Jane will be streaming from Thursday, June 27.
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Something strange is going on with Amazon Prime Video. A report from news site Cord Busters originally claimed that the tech giant quietly pulled the plug on the service in the United Kingdom. If you head over to Amazon Prime’s UK page, you’ll notice that Prime Video isn’t among the list of plans near the bottom. All you see are Prime Monthly and Prime Annuals. The same thing is happening on the American website. Scroll down to the “Choose Your Plan” section and it’s not there.
As it turns out, Prime Video continues to exist although it’s being obscured. If you go down to the bottom of the UK website, you’ll find Prime Video listed among the other subscription plans with a direct link to sign up. This isn’t the case with the US page, however. There isn’t a clear indicator of Prime Video’s availability in the States; not a cornered-off section or even a small hint. Luckily, the subscription’s signup page is still live if you know where to look or if you have a link. The cost of the subscription hasn’t changed. It’s still $8.99/£5.99 a month.
On the Amazon mobile app, it’s featured more prominently. Prime Video is tucked away in the settings menu behind a single expandable tab and it’s still available for download from app stores. All seems good, right? Not exactly, as on mobile, we couldn’t purchase Prime Video by itself. Instead, we were being pushed to buy the regular Amazon Prime plan at $14.99 a month. There was no option for the cheaper service.
Amounting problems
We don’t know what to make of this. On one hand, it may be the start of a new effort to drive up more revenue. By hiding or possibly even ending the service, the platform could be forcing people to purchase the more expensive Amazon Prime if they want to watch shows like Fallout. It’s entirely possible. Back in late January 29, Prime Video introduced an ad-supported plan as the new base service which understandably annoyed a lot of people. They had to cough up an extra $2.99/£2.99 a month to get rid of commercials.
However, the sudden disappearance of Prime Video could be the cause of recent bugs. Recently, people have begun to notice weird problems with the service. Second episodes for certain shows are coming out before the first, audio for entire languages is missing, and translation errors are just some of the issues viewers have run into.
We’re leaning towards the glitches as the source of Prime Video’s disappearance. Amazon has reportedly disputed Cord Busters’ claim in a statement to Engadget saying Prime Video is “still available in the US as a standalone… subscription.” Hopefully, this will remain the case. It’s currently one of the cheaper streaming options out there as compared to the other major services. The whole situation could be a bug or bad code wreaking havoc. But something tells us there’s more to this story.
If you’re looking for something to watch over the weekend, check out TechRadar’s latest roundup of the seven newest movies and shows on Netflix, Prime Video, and Max.
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That’s because the VR version of the video-sharing platform now supports 8K video playback on Quest 3 – up from the previous max of 4K.
To turn it on make sure you’re running YouTube VR app version 1.54 or later, then boot up a video that supports 8K, tap on the gear icon, and where it says Quality you want to change the resolution to 4320p – or 4320p60 if you want 8K at 60fps instead of the usual 30fps. If 4320p isn’t an option in this list unfortunately the video you want to watch isn’t streaming in 8K.
There are a few extra caveats. First, you’ll want a strong internet connection, because even if the video supports 8K playback you’ll struggle to stream it over weak WiFi – unless you like waiting for it to buffer. Oh, and one other important detail; the Quest 3 doesn’t have 8K displays. But that’s not as big a problem as it might seem.
Method in the 8K madness
The Quest 3 has two displays (one for each eye) that boast 2,064 x 2,208 pixels each; 8K resolution is 7,680 × 4,320 pixels. Even if we combine the two displays they still boast only just over 25% as many pixels as an 8K display.
So is 8K streaming pointless? Well, not entirely.
Spatial video is 3D, but not as immersive as 360 video (Image credit: Meta)
For flat YouTube videos, playing them in 8K probably is worthless on Quest hardware. The only advantage you might find is that you’ll be seeing a downscaled video – the opposite of upscaled, where a higher resolution source is played at a lower resolution – which can sometimes lead to a more detailed image than simply streaming a video at the lower resolution.
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The real improvement can be found instead with immersive 360-degree videos.
To explain things simply: when you see a flat video you see the whole resolution in that 16:9 frame. In 360 videos the resolution is spread across a much larger image, and you only see portions of that image based on where you’re looking. That’s why – if you’ve watched 360 videos in VR – 4K content can look more like HD, and HD content can look like blurry messes.
By bumping things up to 8K you’ll find that immersive 3D video should look a lot more crisp – as the sections you’re looking at are now effectively 4K. So while you’re not seeing 8K, you’re still getting a higher resolution.
This update may also be a good future-proofing update for the next Meta hardware. With rumors that a Meta Quest Pro 2 could up the display game for Quest hardware, there’s a chance that it’ll get closer to having actual 8K displays, though we’ll have to wait and see.
Fallout, Prime Video’s adaptation of the beloved game franchise, appears to be a hit: it’s currently sitting with 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a whole bunch of rave reviews.
Inverse says it’s “as utterly addicting as it is innovative, and could very well become the new benchmark for the video game prestige series as we know it”, while Uproxx says “it manages to tread new ground within a genre that’s been covered almost too extensively thus far, mining comedy from its most mundane horror elements”.
With just eight episodes to binge in your bunker, however, it’s a pleasure that won’t last much longer than a cool bottle of Nuka-Cola. So here are three more sci-fi suggestions for you to stream on Prime Video.
Invincible
It’s hard enough being a teen without having a superhero for your dad, but that’s the cross Mark Grayson has to bear: he’s the kid of Omni-Man and has inherited powers of his own. This smart, violent and funny sci-fi animation has a whopping 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Jessie Gender says it’s “Game of Thrones for the superhero genre”, while Consequence says “this is so much more than just another superhero cartoon. No, this is humor, mystery, drama, romance and science fiction, all rolled up into one absolutely addictive treat.” According to Ars Technica, “not even Smallville could combine YA [young adult] drama and superhero DNA this well.”
The Peripheral
Gamer Flynne Fisher is stuck in a dead end job supporting her brother and her ill mother – but when her brother asks for her help with a game, she gets dragged into something strange and dangerous. The show comes from the same creators as Westworld, and stars Chloe Grace Moretz as Flynne in a story that’s often deeply odd. io9 says “It’s a lot to take in—but hardly any of it is extraneous, and nearly every nugget of information… becomes important.” The Peripheral is an adaptation of a William Gibson novel so it’s smarter than a lot of cyberpunk sci-fi, and according to The Wrap it’s “a joy to watch” for fans for cyberpunk crime drama anime. Isn’t that everyone?
Outer Range
Josh Brolin stars in this visually stunning sci-fi western that CNET says is “intense and unnerving” and that Inverse describes as “one of the boldest, weirdest, and most affecting sci-fi shows of the 21st century”. There are some pretty strong Stranger Things vibes here, and maybe some Lost and a bit of Westworld too, and while not everybody who watched it loved it – IndieWire isn’t a fan of the sci-fi elements – The Mary Sue says it’s well worth a watch: “What’s so great about Outer Range is that it’s something fresh while having the feel of a western in all the right ways.”
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Samsung’s new Bespoke AI appliances really seem to be the perfect choice for anyone, especially Galaxy fans and tech enthusiasts. I never thought I’d be interested in a home appliance like I’ve been in Samsung’s Bespoke family recently, but here we are. The more I learn about Bespoke, the more I want a dream kitchen enabled by Samsung’s clever technologies.
Samsung’s new home appliances are smarter and adopt mobile technologies to a greater extent than you might think. And one of the things that really caught my eye when I saw Samsung’s new Bespoke Range with Smart Oven is that it can live stream to the user’s phone.
That’s right! The Bespoke Range is equipped with what Samsung calls a “Smart Over Camera.” The Range connects to the internet via Wi-Fi, and with the help of the Smart Oven Camera, it can live stream videos to your phone through the SmartThings app anytime, anywhere. You can even record your cooking remotely.
This feature is extended into the social media world. Users can take snapshots and create time-lapse videos of their cooking, which they can then share on social media.
And because the Bespoke range is integrated with SmartThings, it also makes cooking easier. Users can download settings for various cooking modes, such as “Spare Rib,” Brownie,” or “Pizza,” to name a few, directly to the oven. When a mode is picked, the oven sets the optimal temperature automatically.
An oven that cleans itself
I must admit I’m not the best of cooks, and in small part, that’s because I find traditional kitchen appliances rather dull and because I don’t enjoy the cleaning process nearly as much as I enjoy the cooking. I’d use my oven more often if the cleaning part was less tedious.
You can imagine my surprise when I learned that Samsung’s Bespoke Range — whether it’s gas-powered or electric — has a “Self Clean” oven. Samsung says this mode, called Self Clean, “deeply cleans your oven with high heat that breaks down grease and food residue.”
And if you don’t want to go all-in on the deep-cleaning process, the Bespoke Range with Oven has a “Steam Clean” mode for a lighter cleaning process that’s only 20 minutes long. This Self Cleaning mode alone kind of makes me want to have a smarter kitchen. I’m not sure it would make me a better cook, but it would probably make the cooking process a lot more fun.
Samsung’s Bespoke kitchen appliances are more than just simple equipment for cooking food. And the way they integrate with mobile technology is something some of us could only dream of a few years ago. I never thought I’d say this, but they probably are the best choice for tech enthusiasts and smartphone users.
If you want to buy a new Bespoke Range from Samsung, you can now save up to $900 on the new models with Smart Oven Cameras.
Apple has seeded the new account with a selection of videos from WWDC 2023, and this gives us an idea of the kind of content that we can expect to see during the WWDC 2024 season.
Videos are organized into playlists by topic, making it easy to find content on the App Store, Swift, Spatial Computing, Safari, and more.
In the WWDC 2024 announcement, Apple said that developers can experience WWDC24 throughout the week on YouTube, referencing the new YouTube channel. Apple also plans to share content on the developer website and the Apple Developer app. Videos uploaded to YouTube will include all of the different video sessions that Apple holds on the latest software updates.
WWDC 2024 is set to kick off on Monday, June 10, and we are expecting to see iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, and more.
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce…
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WhatsApp allows you to post videos of up to 30 seconds in length in your status, and people have been requesting the platform to increase the limit. Well, the company has heard and it is extending the limit of videos that you can post in your status.
According to a new report from WABetaInfo, the latest beta version of WhatsApp for Android (version 2.24.7.6) allows you to post videos of up to 60 seconds or one minute in length in your status. The publication says that the company is rolling out the feature to a limited number of users and that you will need to have the latest version of the app not only for posting longer videos but also for watching videos that have a duration of more than 30 seconds.
Up until now, people had to post multiple status updates to share a video that’s longer than 30 seconds in length. With the latest change, if the video they want to share has a duration of one minute or less, they can share it in a single status update. At the moment, there’s no information about when WhatsApp will start rolling out the latest update to the stable version of the app. Expect it to happen after it thoroughly tests the feature, which could take a few weeks.
