ICYMI: The 7 biggest tech stories of the week from AI grandmas challenging scammers, and Amazon shutting down freevee
This week we were treated to plenty of excellent early Black Friday deals, Amazon launched a new TV and freevee was killed.
To find out more about these and other stories you might have missed, we’ve rounded up the seven biggest tech news stories from TechRadar.com over the past week so you can catch up in no time.
Once you’re done here, don’t forget to check out our picks of the seven new movies and TV shows you can stream this weekend (November 15).
1. Black Friday deals have gone into full effect
Although we’re still a few weeks away from the big day itself, Black Friday 2024 deals are starting to hit the internet.
The PS5 Pro received a surprising price drop, as did the Meta Quest 3S, even though they were both released so recently. The Apple Watch 10 crashed at a stunning price, and we’ve seen deals across several tech sectors, such as savings on tablets.
As Black Friday approaches, follow our guides for help finding the best deals during this sale period.
2. AI grandmas wasted scammers’ time
One of the most original applications we’ve seen for AI so far is Daisy the AI Grandma. Daisy takes advantage of the fact that phone scammers often target seniors and try to get them to enter their credit card information on fake websites. Daisy is an AI designed to keep them on the phone for as long as possible with an endless series of winding stories. that ultimately lead nowhere.
The goal is simply to waste as much of the scammers’ time as possible, because it means that time is not spent trying to trap real people in their nefarious scams. Listening to Daisy deliberately get confused and drive the scammers crazy by calling them “honey” all the time has to be one of the most satisfying things we’ve ever heard.
3. Amazon has canceled its Freevee TV service
Amazon Freevee will soon cease to exist, and that has everything to do with the increasingly popular ad-supported tier of Prime Video. The news that Amazon is pulling the plug on its free streaming service was first revealed in an exclusive article from Term on Tuesday, detailing plans to phase out the app in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Austria in the coming weeks.
To be honest, we weren’t entirely surprised by this announcement. Since Prime Video introduced a new and cheaper ad-supported tier early this year, there’s been no real difference between the two services, especially considering there’s a lot of Freevee content available on Prime Video. A full library migration is underway, but if you still have the app, check out these three movies on Amazon Freevee with over 83% on Rotten Tomatoes before they disappear.
4. Amazon also made a mini LED TV
This week, Amazon announced that it is adding two new products to its Fire TV lineup: the Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED Series TV and the Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus. It also renewed the Amazon Fire TV 4 series.
Amazon says the Omni Mini-LED series can deliver a peak brightness of 1,400 nits and has 1,344 local dimming zones for improved backlight control over standard LED and QLED models in the Fire TV range. It will also feature what Amazon calls ‘Intelligent Picture Technology’, which combines AI with the new mini LED backlight to optimize and analyze on-screen scenes and adjust color and detail.
The Amazon Omni Mini-LED and Amazon Soundbar Plus are available in the US and UK, starting at $819 / £649.99 for the 55-inch TV and $249.99 / £249.99 for the new soundbar.
5. Sony teased its first major camera launch of 2024
Sony’s camera division’s quietest year could go out with a bang before 2025 kicks off, after it was officially announced that the A1 II will be its next mirrorless camera, with a live event on November 19 at 9am EST / 2pm GMT (that’s November 20 at 1am AEST) when all will be revealed. Succeeding Sony’s current flagship, the Alpha A1, will not be an easy task.
When the A1 launched in January 2021, it was a real game changer and became the first And high speed camera. With 50 MP photos and burst shooting up to 30 fps, professionals no longer had to choose between detail and speed; they had both in one hybrid camera.
We don’t yet know how the A1 II will upgrade the A1, but expect it to be Sony’s most powerful and versatile mirrorless camera yet.
6. Disney Plus has released its 2025 teaser trailer
As we near the end of 2024, Disney Plus dropped its 2025 teaser trailer, which gave first looks at some of the most anticipated shows of the next year. In its lineup of new and returning titles, Disney unveiled a sneak peek at its brand new Marvel shows Daredevil: Born Again And Iron heartwhile it is a new science fiction series Alien: Earth refers to an action-packed expansion of the beloved film franchise.
In addition to these new titles, there were also returning shows that are fan favorites among subscribers. Most noticeably, The Bear Season four sees Jeremy Allan White and Ayo Edebiri return to their roles in the comedy-drama – with the added comeback of Jamie Lee Curtis. Star Wars fans will too Andor season two to look forward to, which is heavily speculated as a reminder of the four years leading up to the discovery of The Death Star.
7. More people ditched Twitter and joined Bluesky
Bluesky continues to add millions of new users as people and organizations flee Twitter (now known as Twitter boss Elon Musk will soon take on a newly created role in the new administration of Donald Trump, who appears to have turned a good number of users away from the social media platform he acquired in 2022.
As a decentralized platform, Bluesky is not fully controlled by any individual or organization; instead, users and communities can set up their own ‘instances’ of the network. It is also very similar to Twitter and started as a spin-off of the site led by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Although Dorsey is no longer involved, Bluesky has maintained its initial momentum, with a few unofficial tools now available to help Twitter users make the transition.
