Apple News+ has introduced the ‘Emoji Game’, an interactive game designed to entertain users while they read news. The game challenges users to guess movie titles, popular phrases, or news headlines using emojis as clues. The casual and fun game enhances user retention and encourages subscribers to spend more time within the app. Apple News+ aims to differentiate itself by blending informative content with interactive features, aligning with its strategy to make news consumption more dynamic, personalized, and enjoyable. The game appeals to a broad audience, including news junkies and casual users who appreciate gamified content. Since its launch, the game has garnered positive reactions from subscribers, with social media buzz indicating growing enthusiasm for the feature. Apple plans to expand the game’s content themes and introduce new challenges, seasonal puzzles, and reward systems to maintain subscriber interest.
Gemini drag handle overlay brings back shortcut to open full app on Android
After removing earlier this year, the Gemini overlay on Android is bringing back a shortcut to quickly open the full app. It takes the form of a drag handle at the top of the Gemini overlay. Just swipe up and let go to open the Gemini app for chat history, Gems, and settings. The full prompt bar lets you access the Video, Deep Research, and Canvas chips. The ‘plus’ menu is the same, though the design differs. (Last week, Gemini on the web gained an “Image: Generate with Imagen” chip. It’s not available on mobile yet.) Google last updated the overlay in January, with the previous design being taller. This shortcut saves you from having to place the app icon on your homescreen. This overlay shortcut to access the full Gemini app is widely rolling out with version 16.27 (stable) and 16.28 (beta) of the Google app. Force stop if you’re not seeing it yet. It follows the Gemini overlay going right-aligned on tablets and foldables with the launch of Samsung’s latest devices. Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for Google to widely roll out the four-color glow.
Kantar launches ExperienceEvaluator to help brands fast-track CX improvements using direct customer feedback from Kantar’s high-quality, privacy-compliant consumer access panels
Kantar, a marketing data and analytics company, has launched ExperienceEvaluator, a cost-effective Customer Experience (CX) solution that enables brands to benchmark and optimize customer experiences, accelerate business growth, and ultimately win against competition. The solution delivers results in as few as four days, allowing CX teams to quickly evaluate how audiences react, engage, and connect with brands. It uses direct customer feedback from Kantar’s high-quality, privacy-compliant consumer access panels, allowing clients to analyze what is influencing people’s experiences, pinpoint areas for improvement, and prioritize next steps based on data-driven insights. ExperienceEvaluator is available on Kantar Marketplace, Kantar’s agile market research platform, making it easier and more cost-effective for CX teams to continuously refine and enhance their offerings in response to customer feedback. Kantar’s proprietary Meaningfully Different Experiences (MDX) methodology links strong consumer experience to measurable business outcomes such as increased market share, reduced churn, higher pricing power, and stronger customer retention.
Bloomreach personalization platform offers native Snowflake integration to securely sync customer attributes, event data, and product catalogs
Bloomreach, the agentic platform for personalization, announced a new partnership with the Snowflake AI Data Cloud, empowering businesses to activate enterprise-grade data infrastructures across marketing channels. With Bloomreach and Snowflake, businesses can combine customer engagement with maximum personalization, connecting customer data stored in Snowflake with Bloomreach’s AI-powered marketing solutions. Bloomreach’s native Snowflake integration is already available to businesses today. It securely syncs customer attributes, event data, and product catalogs from Snowflake into Bloomreach. Businesses unlock the full value of their customer data, breaking down silos between storage and activation, and enabling personalization powered by AI. Additionally, this integration enables marketing teams to: Power Loomi AI agents in Bloomreach with enriched customer and product intelligence; Automate campaign triggers based on Snowflake events; Deliver timely personalization with fresh data and hyper-relevant insights; Safeguard sensitive data through selective import capabilities, transferring only the specific data required for a given use case.
Meta is developing a wristband that lets people control a computer using hand gestures that includes moving a cursor, opening apps, and sending messages by writing in the air as if using a pencil
Meta researchers are developing a wristband that lets people control a computer using hand gestures. This includes moving a cursor, opening apps, and sending messages by writing in the air as if using a pencil. Meta’s wristband employs a technique called surface electromyography (sEMG), which detects electrical signals generated by muscle activity to interpret user movements, as explained in a research paper published in the journal Nature. These signals can sense a person’s intended actions, even before they do them. The goal of this wristband is to provide less invasive tools to interact with computers for people with motor disabilities. The company is collaborating with Carnegie Mellon to test the wristband with people who have spinal cord injuries, enabling them to use computers even if they are unable to fully use their arms or hands. Douglas Weber, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Neuroscience Institute, noted that even people with complete hand paralysis still exhibit some muscle activity. As a result, the device is able to interpret their intended actions. The wristband is a simpler alternative to other invasive projects such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink. Meta’s wristband could be used immediately without surgical intervention, and its use of sEMG signals means it operates at a higher frequency than EEG.
Pulsate’s mobile-first engagement platform taps customer intent signals to enable community banks recognize and act on customer micro-engagements through delivering highly personalized, differentiated and contextual offers directly within existing banking platforms
Sarah Martin is CEO at Pulsate, a mobile-first, personalized consumer engagement platform tapped largely by community banks and credit unions. Pulsate’s data, for instance, capitalizes on banking customer intent signals to recommend next-best products that convert interest into action. Martin says to compete in a widening financial services market, institutions of any size must believe they too can attract and retain customers, drive deposit growth and loan balances, as well as react to dynamic market fluctuations just like their neobank competition, money centers and others. Regional banks, community banks, credit unions and banks of all sizes can expand their approach and smartly use the resources they have by thinking as their customers do. Yes, data and technology are key, she says, but institutions should strategize how they can best leverage in-house capabilities, often with partnerships. She says the design of her platform targets a specific goal, however, one she believes too many financial institutions take for granted: recognizing and acting on customer micro-engagements. Finding value not just in product, but in service, in overall experience, in empathy, in message, in brand, in differentiation, in delivering highly personalized, contextual offers and communications directly within a bank or credit union’s existing mobile and digital banking platforms is what Martin has found can effectively transform a mediocre or even satisfactory digital or mobile banking channel into a comprehensive profit center. Every encounter is an opportunity. Feedback is data and data informs what can happen next.
Adobe Photoshop’s new AI tools let users increase resolution up to 8 megapixels without major quality loss, group and share files within a centralized workspace and help blend added elements into a composition by auto-adjusting lighting, color, and shadows to match the surrounding scene
Adobe is bringing more AI-powered image-editing and enhancement features to Photoshop using its Firefly models. The company is rolling out an image-upscaling feature, an object blending, and an upgraded object remover to Photoshop. The Generative Upscale feature will enhance an image up to 8 megapixels. This is useful for restoring details to old photos, upscaling images for prints, or adopting assets for various platforms. Adobe is rolling out this feature under the Harmonize moniker, letting you place an object in a scene, remove its background, and have Photoshop use Firefly models to adjust color, lighting, shadows, and visual tones to fit the object in the scene. The company is also rolling out an improved object-removal tool. Previously, when you used generative fill to remove the object, the tool considered the whole scene to fill in the gap of the removed object and at times, that resulted in unwanted artifacts in the image. The company has reworked the algorithm to have it focus on just removing the object and filling the gap with the background. Adobe is also adding a few small features to Photoshop, including a better way to manage putting assets in a shared and organized space. Plus, the company lets you choose the version of the Firefly model you want to choose while using AI features.
Now, with Plaid Layer natively integrated into its platform, fintech MANTL can provide a one-minute account opening time for its deposit and loan workflows
MANTL is the first fintech to resell and offer Plaid Layer, Plaid’s instant onboarding technology used by the most innovative neobanks. Through this first-of-its-kind integration, MANTL empowers regional and community financial institutions to deliver the same seamless digital onboarding experiences as tech-first neobanks while unlocking faster growth and stronger conversion. MANTL already delivers a best-in-class account opening experience, with average account opening times of under five minutes for consumers and under ten minutes for businesses. Now, with Plaid Layer natively integrated into its platform, MANTL can provide a one-minute account opening time. By embedding Plaid’s technology directly into its deposit and loan workflows, MANTL streamlines the entire onboarding process, accelerating time to open and enabling more users to successfully reach and complete applications—all within a secure, optimized experience. Key benefits of the MANTL–Plaid Layer integration include: Increase in conversion: Plaid customers using Layer have seen up to a 25% increase in end-to-end conversion rates. Faster onboarding: Layer can onboard an account holder in one minute by unifying the collection of identity data for verification and account linking into one conversion-optimized flow, streamlining the signup process by as much as 87%. Secure, scalable growth: MANTL paired with Plaid Layer unlocks an even more seamless, secure, and scalable path to customer growth.
With Perplexity’s new web browser a user can directly ask Comet which website provides the ability to ship something they need faster than others; it can also connect the dots and submit relevant responses to different types of questions after assessing multi-site information on its own
Perplexity recently announced the launch of Comet, a web browser built for the modern internet which, aims to be a more responsive and fluid option for modern internet users. Comet, serves to be an intelligent interface that works in tune with the user’s mind. It helps ease the challenges of switching between dozens of sites, applications and website to create a more seamless experience. The Comet intelligent assistant allows a user to focus on what really matters while taking care of actual browsing sessions. For instance, a user can directly ask Comet which website provides the ability to ship something they need faster than others. It can also connect the dots and submit relevant responses to different types of questions after assessing multi-site information on its own. Comet does away with complex workflows. Instead of simply searching for information, Comet allows users quick analysis at their fingertips and makes the internet an extension of their mind. One of the best things about Comet: accurate and trustworthy responses. Comet allows users to do a range of things at a faster pace than before, from compare insurance coverage plans to analyzing which technology is best to invest in for a business.
Kantar’s solution enables brands to benchmark and optimize customer experiences by analyzing factors influencing customer engagement and reaction using direct customer feedback from high-quality, privacy-compliant consumer access panels
Kantar, a leading marketing data and analytics company, has launched ExperienceEvaluator, a cost-effective Customer Experience (CX) solution that enables brands to benchmark and optimize customer experiences, accelerate business growth, and ultimately win against competition. The solution delivers results in as few as four days, allowing CX teams to quickly evaluate how audiences react, engage, and connect with brands. It uses direct customer feedback from Kantar’s high-quality, privacy-compliant consumer access panels to analyze what is influencing people’s experiences, pinpoint areas for improvement, and prioritize next steps based on data-driven insights. ExperienceEvaluator is available on Kantar Marketplace, Kantar’s agile market research platform, and is built on Kantar’s proprietary Meaningfully Different Experiences (MDX) methodology. MDX links strong consumer experience to measurable business outcomes such as increased market share, reduced churn, higher pricing power, and stronger customer retention. Kantar’s CEO Amy Cashman emphasizes the importance of customer experience in achieving business growth. Global telco giant Orange is using Kantar’s MDX metrics to demonstrate the positive business impact of its relationship CX programs.