Don’t worry if you notice your doctor doesn’t seem to be writing down anything you tell them during a Zoom video call anymore. Thanks to a new deal between Zoom and medical AI assistant creator Suki, there’s an AI assistant on top of things.

The two companies have agreed to embed Suki’s AI notetaker and administrative assistant into Zoom’s telehealth service. That means your doctor can focus on what you’re telling them without needing to split their attention by writing notes and possibly missing something you’ve said.

Krafton and PUBG Studios unveiled Project ARC today. It’s a spinoff of the popular game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, but trades in the third-person battle royale gameplay for that of a 5v5 top-down shooter.

Currently intended as a multiplayer-only title, Project ARC is trying to stand out by implementing realistic shooting mechanics into a top-down shooter. Things like target height, hit zones, destructible environments, and gun recoil matter in Project ARC when they typically don’t in top-down shooters. Players choose a character, each of which uses a unique weapon from PUBG and has a gadget like a Med Kit or Grenade Launcher. Right now, the only confirmed game modes are Team Deathmatch and Demolition, which has the same rules as the primary mode of games like Valorant or Spectre Divide, but swaps the bomb for a Decrypter hacking device.

Unlike The Callisto Protocol, which started as a PUBG spinoff, but developed into its own universe, Project ARC is a direct PUBG spinoff set in the same world as the battle royale. That connection will mainly be seen through weapons and gadgets like the Blue Zone Grenade and Folded Shield. When it comes to expanding PUBG as an IP, developers said in comments provided to Digital Trends that “PUBG Studios is currently working on several new projects, including Project ARC. As a small team, the ARC Team will continue to pursue swift and bold experimentation.” A team of less than 15 people is working on Project ARC. 

Project ARC will be released into early access on PC in 2025. The developers will consider a console release after they add controller support, but don’t plan to bring the game to mobile. The developers are still deciding whether Project ARC will be a free-to-play or premium title.

Google has confirmed the general availability of Google Vids. The AI-powered platform allows users to quickly create videos with features such as automated storyboards, voiceovers, and media suggestions.

Google confirms general availability of Google Vids for paying Workspace users

Google has officially confirmed the general availability of Google Vids. It is powered by Google’s Gemini Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI).

Google has integrated Google Vids into its Workspace suite of apps. The AI-powered video creation tool was previously available only to Gemini for Google Workspace customers. Moving forward, several more Workspace subscription plans will include access to Google Vids.

According to the search giant, Google Vids is an AI-powered video creation app for work. The company assures it will help teams in customer service, learning and development, project ops, and marketing, “tell more engaging stories at work through video”.

Specifically speaking, select editions of Google Workspace, including Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise tiers, and Education Plus, as well as Gemini add-on customers will have access to Google Vids.

How to use Google Vids?

Google Vids essentially combines multiple powers of Gemini to quickly create videos that businesses can use. With the “Help me create” feature, Gemini can generate an initial storyboard from a text prompt and a Google Drive document.

Users can quickly and effortlessly add animations, transitions, photo effects, and royalty-free stock content. If that’s not impressive enough, the platform offers AI-powered voiceovers with a selection of preset voices. Users can also record voiceover in their voices. Google Vids has a read-along teleprompter and Gemini AI rolling feature.

Currently, the main AI-powered features such as “Help me create” and the read-along teleprompter, are limited to English. However, the application is available in multiple languages, and Google has assured it will expand language support in the near future.

All Google Vids features are reportedly available to paying Google Workspace customers until December 31, 2025. Google has indicated it may impose limits on some features starting next year. The company should start alerting businesses about the changes later this year.

We’re in a new age of AI now. Google has an AI video maker available on select Workspace editions.

runs on Google’s AI model Gemini to create workplace and marketing videos from Google Drive files and descriptions. You can either start a video from scratch or use to get a first draft going. There’s even a option in which Gemini can suggest scripts to get you started on your video.

You aren’t just limited to what’s in the templates. Google Vids allows you to use your own photos and videos. It also has a virtual recording studio so you can add your own photos and videos, record videos of yourself or just make audio tracks of your voice to accompany your video.

Google announced its new using the Gemini AI model. Google Vids doesn’t make videos from the ground up like Runway’s Gen-2 or that created one hell of a creepy . Google Vids creates a slideshow of sorts using different types of media and compiles them based on the content of the source documents or the suggestion you type into it. As Google Vids is part of Google Workspace, you can collaborate on a video project in real time with other team members.

Google Vids is coming to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus members.

Yelp, which made a name for itself giving restaurant recs, just bought an auto services website.

In the company’s earnings report on Thursday, Yelp revealed that it agreed to buy RepairPal, a site for car repair estimates, for $80 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions.

“We believe RepairPal will accelerate our broader services efforts by expanding our offerings in the multi-billion dollar U.S. auto services advertising vertical,” Jeremy Stoppelman, Yelp’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement.

While it might not seem like an obvious marriage, RepairPal fits into Yelp’s ambition to become a major home services funnel.

In recent years, Yelp has added functionality beyond restaurant and business search tools, like an AI-powered feature that suggests plumbers, repairmen, and other home service providers to users potentially in need of them. Yelp has also introduced programs like Yelp Guaranteed, which offers up to $2,500 of coverage for qualifying projects in case of problems.

Yelp makes money through fees it receives from service providers for certain leads — and through ads. In the company’s most recent fiscal quarter (Q3 2024), advertising revenue from services businesses increased 11% year-over-year to a record $228 million, with revenue growth of around 15% in the home services category alone.

In its shareholder letter, Yelp says that RepairPal generated approximately $30 million in revenue and was roughly break-even on cash and net income. 

“We believe there are clear synergies between Yelp and RepairPal,” the letter reads. “RepairPal brings deep knowledge of auto repairs and pricing, which we can leverage to improve our offerings for auto services businesses. They also maintain a robust partner network, including CarMax, USAA, and Endurance Vehicle Services. Meanwhile, Yelp has a large consumer audience and expertise in areas like search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and AI, which we believe will provide value to RepairPal going forward.”

The acquisition is a nice exit for San Francisco-based RepairPal, which managed to raise $21.3 million in funding from Cars.com, Tugboat Ventures, and others in the 17 years since the company’s founding. In its press release, Yelp didn’t say whether founders Aaron Tavistock, David Esser, and David Sturtz will be joining Yelp corporate.

A Yelp spokesperson later confirmed to TechCrunch that all RepairPal employees, including the leadership (but not the founders, who no longer head the company), will be joining Yelp.