Ring’s AI-powered “Search Party” feature, which links neighborhood cameras into a networked surveillance system to find lost dogs, was never intended to stop at pets, according to an internal email from founder Jamie Siminoff obtained by 404 Media.

Siminoff told employees in early October, shortly after the feature launched, that Search Party was introduced “first for finding dogs” and that the technology would eventually help “zero out crime in neighborhoods.” The on-by-default feature faced intense backlash after Ring promoted it during a Super Bowl ad. Ring has since also rolled out “Familiar Faces,” a facial recognition tool that identifies friends and family on a user’s camera, and “Fire Watch,” an AI-based fire alert system.

A Ring spokesperson told the publication Search Party does not process human biometrics or track people.

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Ticketing marketplace SeatGeek has announced a partnership with Spotify that will direct an artist’s fans to its platform from the Spotify app. The integration is currently limited to a few participating venues for which SeatGeek is the primary ticket seller.

While SeatGeek is one of the largest online marketplaces for the secondary ticketing market, the company’s announcement makes clear that this Spotify integration only applies to venues where it’s the primary ticketing company. For now, that’s just 15 US partner venues, primarily professional sports arenas like AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Spotify has experimented with direct ticket sales in the past, but now focuses on signing on partners to integrate into the streaming experience. The company currently lists 46 ticketing partners, including Ticketmaster, AXS and others. The app also allows users to follow specific venues to be notified about upcoming concerts and events.

The world’s largest music streaming service has added a glut of new features recently. One helps listeners learn more about a song, while another new addition finally added group messaging. The platform, which now boasts some 750 million monthly users, has also been trying to address AI slop in its library, although not very hard by the looks of it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/spotify-debuts-seatgeek-integration-for-concert-ticket-sales-162248870.html?src=rss

The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called music “the universal language of mankind.” Is that still true when the so-called music is being generated by a probabilistic robot instead of a human? We’re about to find out. Google has announced its latest Lyria 3 AI model is being deployed in the Gemini app, vastly expanding access to AI music generation.

Google DeepMind has been tinkering with Lyria for a while now, offering limited access in developer-oriented products like Vertex AI. Lyria 3 is more capable than previous versions, and it’s also quicker to use. Just select the new “Create music” option in the Gemini app or web UI to get started. You can describe what you want and even upload an image to help the robot get the right vibe. And in a few seconds, you get music (or something like it).

In case there was any uncertainty about whether Lyria tracks still counted as a human artistic endeavor, worry not! Unlike past versions of the model, you don’t even have to provide lyrics in your prompt. You can be vague with your request, and the model will create suitable lyrics for the 30-second song. Although with that limit, “jingle” might be more accurate.

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Google Gemini can help you write text, generate images and video, and write code. Now, the AI bot can generate music too, taking on the likes of Suno when it comes to producing tunes from a simple text prompt. The update is courtesy of the new Lyria 3 audio generation model, which is built into Gemini as of today. Developed by Google DeepMind, Lyria has been accessible in other Google products (such as Vertex AI and YouTube Shorts) to a select number of users, but this is the first time Google is making the model widely available to anyone who wants to try it.

There’s a new Create music button in Gemini.
Credit: Google

Lyria works the same way as creating images or video: just describe what you want, and the AI does the rest. You might want to hear “a comical R&B slow jam about a sock finding their match” (as per Google’s own example), or perhaps “a sea shanty about the dangers of AI slop”—it’s up to you.

When you click the “Create music” button inside the Gemini app, you also have the option to pick an existing track to remix, rather than starting from scratch—If you’re perhaps stuck for inspiration. These presets cover everything from folk ballads to Latin pop, so you can see the kind of musical scope covered. You can also supply Lyria 3 inside Gemini with an image or video, and get it to compose something that matches the mood of the content you’ve supplied, including both music and lyrics. The example Google gives is supplying Gemini with a few photos of your dog, and then having it come up with a tune about the pooch and their adventures.

You can get some help with your prompting if you need it.
Credit: Google

The tracks are limited to 30 seconds each at the moment, and while music making is available to all Gemini users, if you’re paying for the Plus, Pro, or Ultra subscriptions, you’ll get higher usage limits (though it isn’t specified what these are). As per the official announcement blog post, the aim “isn’t to create a musical masterpiece, but rather to give you a fun, unique way to express yourself.” You’re not going to be able to set up your own AI-generated band on Spotify with this, but you can churn out a few entertaining tracks for your own (or someone else’s) amusement.

I haven’t been able to try out the feature as of yet, but I have heard a few samples that Google supplied. They come across as rather generic and ordinary, exactly as you might expect something to sound that’s the averaging out of vast amounts of audio training data—like song genres distilled into their most common ingredients and repackaged.

You also get cover art with your artificial tunes.
Credit: Google

Google says all created tracks will contain invisible watermarks powered by SynthID, flagging them as AI creations, and you can upload audio tracks to Gemini and run a SynthID check on them. The updated Lyria 3 model is also coming to the Dream Track music maker for YouTube Shorts creators. Lyria 3 is now rolling out inside Gemini, and is available to users aged 18 and above in English, German, Spanish, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese. It’s available first on the web app, and will show up on the mobile app over the next few days. Expansions in “quality and coverage” are planned in the future, Google says.

WordPress has started rolling out an AI assistant built into its site editor and media library that can edit and translate text, generate and edit images through Google’s Nano Banana model, and make structural changes to sites like creating new pages or swapping fonts.

Users can also invoke the assistant by tagging “@ai” in block notes, a commenting feature added to the site editor in December’s WordPress 6.9 update. The tool is opt-in — users need to toggle on “AI tools” in their site settings — though sites originally created using WordPress’s AI website builder, launched last year, will have it enabled by default.

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You don’t have to want to live forever (a la the millionaire-immortality-influencer Bryan Johnson) to want to live longer. I’ve seen a larger shift in the fitness industry lately, where a focus on “longevity” has replaced where you might have once seen the words “beach body.” All around us, the language has shifted from “get shredded” to “increase healthspan,” from “tone up” to “build bone density.” In this new era, the goal isn’t just looking good at the beach, but making sure you can still walk on that beach when you’re ninety. 

On its face, this is a welcome change. I’ll always advocate for metrics of success that are less about how you look in a mirror, and more about how well your body functions across decades. At the same time, I’m skeptical of the ways “metabolic flexibility,” “muscle mass preservation,” and “inflammation control” are replacing “beach body” in the wellness lexicon. Is this truly progress in how we think about health? 

Again: A fundamental reimagining of why we exercise is not altogether bad. I’m just not convinced that’s what’s happening here. Is this obsession with longevity actually in good faith? Or are we being sold the same old products and insecurities, now wrapped in shiny new scientifically sounding packaging?

What is the science behind longevity fitness?

Beneath the fresh terminology, much of the longevity fitness advice in my algorithm is pretty familiar. Lift weights, do cardio, eat whole foods, get enough sleep, and manage stress? These are all the same recommendations that have anchored public health guidance for decades.

Going a little deeper, studies do consistently show that muscle mass is one of the strongest predictors of longevity and independence in older age. Cardiovascular fitness is so strongly correlated with lifespan that some researchers have called it the single best predictor of mortality. 

“Instead of optimizing for short-term aesthetics or peak performance, longevity-focused movement optimizes for metabolic health, hormonal stability, and functional strength over time,” says Dr. Katheleen Jordan, chief medical officer at Midi Health, a virtual care clinic focused on women in midlife. “Resistance training preserves muscle mass and bone density, which are critical predictors of fall risk and independence as we age. Muscle mass itself and cardiovascular fitness improves our metabolism and insulin sensitivity.” This matters especially for women, who face specific challenges as they age. Women lose muscle mass faster than men after menopause and are at higher risk for osteoporosis. Plus, the cultural pressure to stay small has historically steered women away from the heavy lifting that could protect their bone density. 

“Fitness used to often be defined by one number on a scale, so it’s exciting to see that we have gone beyond that with a greater understanding that many things define fitness,” Jordan says. In this way, the longevity fitness framework pushes a truly helpful counter-narrative to diet culture, one where strength is more than just aesthetics.

How longevity fitness can be used to rebrand products you don’t need

So, on one hand, a focus on longevity does feel like progress: valuing strength over skinniness and thinking in decades rather than weeks. On the other hand, it’s yet another set of standards to meet, and another source of anxiety about whether you’re doing enough.

“A lot of what’s being marketed as new longevity or biohacking is actually reinforcing long trusted ideas around fitness, but with new language,” Jordan says. This isn’t necessarily nefarious—reframing exercise around long-term health rather than short-term aesthetics is genuinely valuable. But it does raise questions about who benefits from this linguistic shift. Often, it’s the same wellness industrial complex that previously profited from body insecurity, now profiting from aging anxiety. 

In this way, the fitness industry has found a way to rebrand the same old products—like supplements or wearables—along with hawking some new ones, like direct-to-consumer “biological age” tests. But even a seemingly legit “biological age” test won’t really give you any actionable insights into living longer. That company will, however, try to sell you a supplement that you certainly don’t need.

“As with any industry, there are some bad actors and we should be mindful of interventions that promise outsized results,” Jordan says. “Healthspan cannot be hacked quickly or swallowed in one pill.” The interventions proven to have some impact on healthspan—exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress management, not smoking—are decidedly unglamorous.

Myths about longevity fitness

It’s no surprise that the longevity fitness space is rife with oversimplifications and outright myths. Here are some I kept coming across in my research that warrant skepticism:

• The idea that you can “biohack” your way to dramatic life extension. Despite the promises of longevity influencers, there’s no evidence that any supplement, cold plunge protocol, or red light therapy device will add decades to your life. 

• That more data equals better health. Obsessively tracking every health metric can become counterproductive, leading to stress that ironically undermines the benefits of all the healthy behaviors you’re tracking. 

• That longevity fitness can compensate for structural inequality. Your zip code is a better predictor of your lifespan than your VO2 max. Access to healthcare, safe places to exercise, fresh food, and economic security matter enormously. Individual optimization can’t overcome systemic disadvantage.

The pros and cons of the longevity fitness movement

So where does this leave us? The longevity fitness movement contains both genuine progress and, predictably, a lot of repackaged hype. The emphasis on strength, cardiovascular fitness, and metabolic health rests on solid science. And the shift from pure aesthetics to actual health-focused goals is meaningful, particularly for women escaping a lifetime of diet culture. 

But this shift isn’t perfect. In many ways, “healthspan” allows us to talk about the same old snake oil supplements and unattainable beauty standards, just with fancier language. It’s yet another arena for optimization, full of expensive and often unnecessary interventions. 

I recommend a middle ground. Embrace the core insights of longevity fitness—that exercise is about building a resilient, capable body for the long haul—while rejecting the anxiety and consumerism that often accompany it. Because in the end, what’s the point of extending your healthspan if you spend all those extra healthy years anxiously monitoring whether you’re doing it right?

An anonymous reader shares a report: In 2013, scientists unveiled the first lab-grown burger at a cost of $330,000. By 2023, the FDA approved cultivated chicken for sale. The price had dropped to around $10-$30 per pound, and over $3 billion in investor money had poured into more than 175 companies developing meat grown from animal cells instead of slaughtered animals.

The promise is straightforward: real meat, no slaughter required. You could eat beef without killing cattle, chicken without industrial farming, steak without ethical compromise. The technology works. Federal regulators approved it as safe. And nearly a third of US states have banned it or are trying to. Not because it’s dangerous — because it threatens something deeper than food safety.

Start with a small sample of animal cells — a biopsy, not a slaughter. Place them in a bioreactor with nutrients. The cells multiply, forming muscle tissue identical to conventional meat at the cellular level. Nutritionally comparable, same protein content, but grown without raising and killing an animal.

The process uses 64-90% less land than conventional meat production and drastically reduces greenhouse gas emissions. No factory farms, no slaughterhouses, no ethical compromise for people who love meat but hate industrial animal agriculture. For vegetarians who gave up meat for ethical reasons, it offers something impossible before: guilt-free steak.

[…] Here’s where the dream hits reality. Consumer surveys show people perceive conventional meat as tastier and healthier than lab-grown alternatives. Fewer consumers are willing to try cultivated options than expected. The words “lab-grown” and “cultivated” don’t exactly make mouths water.

Something about meat grown in a bioreactor triggers deep discomfort for many people, even those who claim to care about animal welfare and environmental impact. It’s the same psychological barrier that made “Frankenfood” stick as a label for GMOs. Meat is supposed to come from animals, raised on farms, connected to land and tradition. Growing it in a facility feels wrong to people in ways they struggle to articulate.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.