The Next Day: YouTube is Testing a New Subscription Option That Could Eliminate Most Ads.
The top news highlights this morning include a $105,000 robotic arm that, while not necessary, can prepare a tasty lunch. Additionally, a new trailer for the series Dune: Prophecy has been released.
YouTube has started testing a new version of its Premium Lite subscription in Australia, Germany, and Thailand, as confirmed by a Google representative. This new plan will include limited advertising, specifying that most videos will be ad-free, although users may encounter ads in musical content and Shorts, as well as non-intrusive ads while searching or browsing.
The original Premium Lite subscription was introduced in Europe in 2021, but its duration was brief, as it was removed in October 2023. This version was characterized by being quite "lite," lacking the option to view content offline or in the background, which is offered by the standard Premium subscription.
Regarding the pricing model for these initial tests, the Premium Lite subscription in Australia is set at $9 per month, compared to the $17 required for full access to Premium, aligning with the costs of the original Lite version.
Moley Robotics, on the other hand, has unveiled a robotic arm aimed at revolutionizing cooking, with a starting price of $105,000. Although it has yet to install any robots, the company hopes to begin the process in the next three to six months, and there are already interested buyers for the arm. The X-AiR does not feature integrated vision technology or sensors; instead, it navigates its space by learning from memory, knowing where ingredients, oils, and utensils should be. Despite its cooking capability, it cannot perform basic tasks like peeling carrots, leading to questions about whether this robot is limited to the entertaining aspects of cooking.
