Meta is testing an app that uses AI to automate bedtime stories for children. The future is here, folks — and boy, is it depressing.

The app, first caught by 9to5Mac, is called “StoryKit.” (It’s not yet available in the US; Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s currently testing StoryKit in pilot countries.) Per a webpage for the app, parents pick a character either by creating one or taking a “photo of their favorite toy or person to bring them to life,” then describe a setting or world for the story to take place in. They can also ask the story to include a specific lesson or moral, which the app says will allow it to “weave in values like kindness, courage, or empathy without it feeling like a lecture.”

The resulting story can be read aloud by a human — or, of course, an AI voice can narrate instead. According to Meta, this is a lifeline for exhausted parents.

“Tired after a long day but want to give your kids a special bedtime story?” reads the app’s webpage. “StoryKit uses Al to help you create personalized bedtime stories in seconds. No more guilt about screen time. Just beautiful, unique stories made with love.”

Let’s be real: this app is amazingly sad. There are a lot of busy and exhausted parents, but outsourcing the emotional and creative labor of bedtime stories to machines is a wildly bleak proposition. Meta claims that this app will help parents feel less guilty about their kids’ screen time, but is having an AI voice read an AI-generated bedtime story to your kids that much different from plopping them in front of an iPad?

There are also countless human-written children’s books out there to choose from, if parents don’t enjoy coming up with stories with their kids on the spot. If you’re feeling guilty about screens, perhaps the answer is paper-bound books, not robots.

All in all: kids’ bedtime stories — bonding moments between parents and their children, in which parents can foster creativity and impart what they believe to be important lessons — aren’t exactly spaces begging for tech disruption. In fact, this is an area where we probably need less tech, not more.

More on kids and AI: The Proliferation of Deepfakes Is Profoundly Changing the Way Teenagers Use the Internet

The post Meta Working on Crushingly Sad AI App That Tells Bedtime Stories to Children, for “Tired” Parents appeared first on Futurism.

The company has comitted to 10 natural gas plants since last year.

Remember when Meta was planning to charge a $20 monthly subscription fee for the smart glasses feature that lets people hear each other more clearly - even though that feature runs locally on your glasses and doesn't require the cloud? Meta has paused those plans, spokesperson Tyler Yee confirms to The Verge.

The company is not giving up on the idea of a subscription fee for certain features - that's still moving forward. Yee confirms that "some premium features will be subscription-based over time."

But Conversation Focus, the accessibility feature, "will remain available for free through our Early Access Program for early testers while w …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Meta's smart glasses have been a PR headache for the company. Public backlash has been swift, and fierce; people are concerned about the erosion of privacy and expansion of surveillance. Some especially bad actors are using the glasses to film themselves "pranking" random strangers. Women have become unsuspecting social media content for men filming themselves hitting on them without their knowledge. When your product is being referred to as "pervert glasses," you have a problem on your hands.

On Thursday, Business Insider reported that Meta was taking the fairly extraordinary step of banning some content filmed with Meta glasses from the c …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Meta introduced a standalone app for sellers on its Facebook Marketplace platform, adding AI tools and sales management features to enable merchants to manage listings, reach buyers, and grow their business.

Sellers, the dedicated app, brings together listing management, buyer communications, inventory tracking and sales insights, while syncing with existing Marketplace accounts so users can carry over listings, messages and sales history.

The new app includes AI-powered listing creation, allowing sellers to upload photos and have Meta AI generate details including titles, descriptions, suggested pricing and categories. It also provides a unified inbox for buyer conversations and analytics covering views, clicks, messages and completed sales.

Meta said its original platform Marketplace, which launched a decade ago integrated directly in Facebook, now handles 430 million item listings each month globally. The existing Marketplace platform will remain available through Facebook, with a web version being tested for Seller app users. Android testing is also underway.

Seller is available through the App Store for US users aged 18 and over.

The launch comes as Meta seeks to expand Marketplace’s capabilities and compete more directly with established e-commerce platforms including eBay. The company has previously focused on improving commerce and community features across its platform, including the release of a dedicated Facebook groups app called Forum in May.

The post Meta launches dedicated Sellers app appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Meta today announced Facebook Verified, a free badge designed to confirm that a Facebook profile belongs to a real person rather than an AI-generated fake.


The feature uses a selfie-based verification process: users record a short video selfie, which ‌Meta‌ checks against their existing profile photos to confirm a match. ‌Meta‌ says the process is free and typically takes just a few minutes to complete, though accounts must meet the company's trust and safety standards to qualify.

Facebook Verified is limited to users 18 and older who are in good standing with ‌Meta‌'s Community Standards around fraud, scams, and deceptive practices, and who show no evidence of inauthentic behavior. The badge is not available for Pages or ProMode accounts, positioning it squarely as a personal-profile feature rather than one aimed at creators or businesses.

Once verified, the badge will appear on Marketplace, Dating, Groups, and Profile, with ‌Meta‌ planning to extend it to Feed posts over time. There is no subscription fee for the feature, and the badge carries across the platform once a user has completed the one-time verification process.

The launch is separate from ‌Meta‌ Verified, the company's existing paid subscription that bundles a verified badge with extras like impersonation protection and direct account support. Facebook Verified is free and narrower in scope, aimed specifically at signaling humanity rather than offering premium account features.

Facebook Verified is rolling out in phases, starting in select markets, with ‌Meta‌ planning to expand availability globally over time.
This article, "Meta Launches Free 'Facebook Verified' Badge to Confirm Real Users" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has released the second public beta versions of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and MacOS 27 Golden Gate, to users who are eligible. If you’re interested in installing those betas on your device, you can read instructions for iPhone and iPad here, or for Mac here. MacOS 27, iOS 27, and iPadOS 27 have an ... Read More

The post 2nd Public Beta of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, & MacOS 27 Golden Gate Available for Testing appeared first on OS X Daily.

WhatsApp’s latest feature drop brings account sign-ups to the iPad, a major CarPlay upgrade and music sharing through Status.

(via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

With the launch of the MacOS 27 Golden Gate public beta program, now even more users can experience MacOS 27 as it’s actively being worked on by Apple. MacOS 27 Golden Gate has a heavy focus on performance improvements, but there’s also refinements other than the Liquid Glass interface look, improvements to Spotlight and Mail ... Read More

The post How to Install macOS 27 Golden Gate Public Beta on Mac appeared first on OS X Daily.

The Release Candidate builds of MacOS Tahoe 26.6, iOS 26.6, and iPadOS 26.6, are now available for those engaged in beta testing for current generation versions of Apple system software. There are also RC builds for MacOS Sequoia 15.7.8 and MacOS Sonoma 14.8.8, though it’s hard to imagine many people aside from some devs are ... Read More

The post RC Builds of MacOS Tahoe 26.6, iOS 26.6, iPadOS 26.6 Available for Testers appeared first on OS X Daily.

I test a lot of apps, so I have strong opinions about TestFlight. However I usually keep those opinions to myself because despite the fact that it’s critical to my work, TestFlight wasn’t built for app reviewers. Most people haven’t accumulated hundreds of active and inactive betas in the app like I have, and for them, TestFlight is probably fine. However, for me, TestFlight is a constant source of frustration.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I read a post by Zac Hall at 9to5Mac that a search field had been added to TestFlight. “Finally,” I thought to myself. I stopped what I was doing and updated the app immediately. After all, search was my number one request for TestFlight back in 2024.

That 2024 wishlist was published in the wake of a bad stretch the app had beginning in 2023. At the time, TestFlight was plagued by laggy performance if you were on a lot of betas. To Apple’s credit, they fixed the performance issues, though the issues have begun to creep back into recent releases. Still, the past couple of years as a TestFlight user have been fine despite all the ways the app could be made better for users.

When the TestFlight update finished installing, I eagerly opened it on my Mac and then my iPhone. Sure enough, there was the search field at long last. Lists practically beg for a search field, and finally someone at Apple added one, and to whoever built that feature, a huge thanks from me and the MacStories team.

Unfortunately, this story comes with one very big “but.” Previously, TestFlight betas were listed in reverse chronological order, which I liked. The newer beta releases were at the top of the list and the older ones that were on the verge of being replaced by an App Store release were at the bottom, along with expired betas, a list that I never really understood the purpose of.

Well, those expired betas are now scattered among the active TestFlight betas in an alphabetical list and it seems that the expired beta list has been expanded to include every single beta I’ve ever been a part of. I did a rough count and for me that’s nearly 800 app listings. As you can imagine, the active betas in that list are few and far between. Search helps, but scrolling is no longer an option.

I get that this is a very “me and a few of my friends” problem, and search does help, but it’s not enough. The active to inactive beta ratio is so bad that few iPhone screens include more than two or three active betas. So here’s my proposal:

• Add a toggle in TestFlight’s settings that hides inactive betas.

That’s it, that would make all the difference in the world. I’d love to have the reverse chronological ordering back, a performance tune-up, and the other things I wished for back in 2024, but I’ll live with hiding all the noise from my beta list.

iOS 27 beta 4 for iPhone, and iPadOS 27 beta 4 for iPad, have been released for users engaged in the OS 27 developer beta system software testing programs. A concurrent public beta testing program is also now ongoing, though those betas are typically delayed a day or few behind dev betas, but otherwise match ... Read More

The post iOS 27 Beta 4 Update Available to Download for iPhone & iPad appeared first on OS X Daily.

For Mac users who are currently running MacOS 27 Golden Gate beta, Apple has released the 4th beta version of MacOS 27 developer beta. The latest beta build is available to download now through Software Update, as an IPSW file, or as the full installer. MacOS 27 Golden Gate has a heavy focus on performance ... Read More

The post MacOS 27 Golden Gate Beta 4 Available to Download appeared first on OS X Daily.

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses are quickly earning a far less flattering nickname: “pervert glasses.”

A new investigation has exposed how highly personal videos captured by users — including people undressing or using the bathroom — are being sent to contractors in Kenya for AI training, often without the subjects’ knowledge. The revelations have sparked widespread outrage online, with many accusing the devices of turning everyday wearers into unwitting voyeurs and reigniting deep concerns about privacy in the age of always-on AI surveillance.

Victor Tangermann for Futurism:
‎

Automated systems designed to blur faces often failed, the contractors claimed, effectively giving them a front row seat of somebody’s most intimate moments.

“I don’t think they know, because if they knew they wouldn’t be recording,” one contractor said.

Many have quickly embraced a term for the devices that’s presumably sending Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg into paroxysms of fury: “pervert glasses.”

“Glad people are settling on the term ‘pervert glasses,’” another agreed. “Bonus points if you also say it while posting a picture of Mark Zuckerberg or call them Mark Zuckerberg’s pervert glasses.”

“Not a fan of Mark Zuckerberg’s pervert glasses,” wrote yet another. “I would prefer technology to make it more difficult to skeez, creep or perv on the world. I would like tech to protect me from creeps, not smooth the runway for them.”

The threat of simple smart glasses being used for surveillance isn’t some dystopian vision of a far future. Researchers have already shown that Meta’s smart glasses can be used to instantly reveal the identities of strangers in public — tech that Meta has reportedly been working on itself.

All told, smart glasses are a product category rife with uncomfortable connotations, especially when worn in the presence of others who may not know they may be recorded.

‎
MacDailyNews Take: Unless their goal was to trash their reputation as quickly as possible, we bet Ray-Ban is rethinking its poor decision to tie up with an outfit like Meta.

Meta is to privacy as Chernobyl is to nuclear power. – MacDailyNews, December 19, 2024

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The post Meta Ray-Bans are being called ‘Mark Zuckerberg’s Pervert Glasses’ appeared first on MacDailyNews.