Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

There are many great video streaming services that are eager to take your money each month. But what if you’re just not keen on the all-you-can-eat buffet and would simply rather build your digital collection? That’s where Fandango At Home, formerly known as Vudu, comes into play.

While popular video-on-demand (VOD) services like Netflix and Hulu, deliver tons of great content, they come with an associated price tag. In the current era of streaming services, its easy to blow out your budget just because you want access to everything streaming online. However, there is another option. Free advertising-based streaming television (FAST) delivers tons of great programming, and it doesn’t cost you a single penny.

Fandango at Home is one of those FAST streamers, and has a library filled with content available to stream for free. Of course, if they have a movie you just have to have, you can outright buy them and watch anytime, on any streaming device.

Here we dive into what Fandango at Home / Vudu is all about, the prices you’ll see, and the platforms and devices it supports.

From Vudu to Fandango at Home

Vudu was a digital on-demand video service that first arrived as an internet-ready set-top-box, the Vudu Box, sold at Best Buy stores in 2008. However, the company decided to ditch the Vudu Box in favor of digital content sales and delivery through apps installed in Blu-ray players and HDTVs. Walmart acquired the company in 2010 after the retail giant failed to compete against Apple’s iTunes platform.

After several changes and incarnations, including a partnership with UltraViolet (a cloud-based digital movie locker that allowed anyone to unlock digital versions of purchased Blu-rays and DVDs) and Movies Anywhere, in April 2020, Vudu announced that it entered an agreement to be acquired by Fandango Media, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal.

The transition from Walmart to Fandango Media was completed in July 2020, with the full rebrand of Vudu to Fandango at Home happening in 2024.

Is Fandango at Home a subscription service?

No. It’s a digital content delivery platform only. You can create a free account and watch the platform’s free content (with commercials), or purchase content to watch anytime through the Vudu app or a compatible, linked platform. Rentals are available as well.

Layout

Fandango at Home provides a simplified, Netflix-like interface. On the website, categories line along the top: Movies, TV, Free, and My Library. The latter category is where all your purchases and rentals reside. This toolbar also provides a quick tool to redeem a digital copy or code and the means to access your account, settings, device management, and support.

The mobile app’s layout depends on the underlying device.

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On iPhone, it includes a toolbar along the top and along the bottom. The latter lists five categories similar to what’s provided on the website: Spotlight, Search, My Library, Free, and Settings. The top toolbar merely lists popular search terms like Rentals, Deals, TV, Horror, Action, Collections, and so on.

On an Android tablet, shown above, only the Home button is available with everything else tucked away in a hidden menu accessible only by a hamburger-style button.

The Xbox app places all categories and search terms along the top. The main toolbar resides at the very top, providing the My Vudu, Spotlight, Free, Movies, TV, Search, and Settings categories. Underneath is the Home button along with specific search terms like Rentals, Deals, Kids, Horror, Franchises, and more.

In all applications, Fandango at Home provides featured media in a sliding tile-based ribbon using general categories like Featured Films, Featured Rentals, Deals of the Week, In Theaters: Films Before DVD, TV Season Sale, Free: Ladies to Look Up To, and more.

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Highlight a tile and you have the option to watch a trailer, if available. Click/tap on the thumbnail and you’re led to the content’s page. You can then rent, purchase, or watch the content for free (if available). There are also options to add the content to your Wishlist and to redeem a code.

What content is available on Fandango at Home?

Fandango at Home provides two forms of paid content: Rentals and Purchases. This content is available in three resolutions:

• SD – 480p
• HDX – 1080p
• UHD – 2160p

Rentals

The cost depends on the media, but standard rentals range from $1 to $6. For early-access movies that are still in theaters, rental prices will be slightly higher. Some marked with the “Theater at Home” banner hit $20, like Deadpool & Wolverine and It Ends With Us. The video quality does not affect the rental price.

Unwatched rentals are available for 30 days. Once the content begins, you’ll have 24 hours to finish, with unlimited replays during those 24 hours.

Purchases

The cost of movies ranges from $5 to $30. Users can view this media anytime through the Vudu app or in some cases other platforms that support Movies Anywhere and UltraViolet. For the most part, while movies are available at different resolutions, you get access to all of them for the same price.

The cost of a single TV episode is $2 to $4. Seasons range from $17 to $44. Again, you can view this media anytime through the Vudu app or in some cases other platforms that support Movies Anywhere or UltraViolet.

Free content

Prior to selling the platform in 2020, Walmart introduced Vudu Movies on Us in 2016. This service requires a free account, the Vudu app, or a web browser. It streams movies and TV shows in 1080p with limited commercial interruptions. There are roughly three or four commercial breaks with up to three ads per break, depending on the content.

This content is made available within the platform’s Free section. Selections are also listed on the main page, each marked with a red Free with Ads banner. Click on the content’s image tile followed by the green Watch Free button on the following page.

Customers also have the option to rent or purchase free content, removing advertisements.

Disc to Digital

This service allows users to scan the UPC code found on Blu-ray and DVD packaging to unlock the digital version. It requires the Vudu app (Android) or a web browser (iOS) and permission to access the mobile device’s camera. For Apple devices, this option can be found under My Library on the website’s menu.

Here are the costs:

• Blu-ray to HDX – $2 + tax
• DVD to SD – $2 + tax
• DVD to HDX – $5 + tax

Code redemption

Many Blu-ray and DVD discs include redemption codes within the packaging. These can be used to unlock digital versions playable through the Fandango at Home app and website. Some are marked with the Play Anywhere logo while others do not — likely older UltraViolet codes that should still work.

To redeem these codes, users can load the content’s Fandango at Home page in the app or website and click/tap the Redeem button. The following page provides a text field to enter the code. Click/tap the Submit button to claim the digital copy.

How to access Fandango at Home

Vudu is available on most devices natively through dedicated apps. In some cases, you must use a web browser while the Chromecast requires an additional device to “cast” content. The Nintendo Switch does not support Fandango at Home.

PC

Mobile

Other devices

• Blu-ray players — LG, Samsung, and Sony.
• Consoles — Xbox and PlayStation.
• Smart TVs — LG, Samsung, Hisense, Roku, Sony, TCL, Xumo TV, and Vizio.
• Streaming devices/platforms — Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xfinity Flex and X1

Saying that Google’s road to AI dominance has been rocky would be an understatement. The company’s AI tools have led to several controversies, and one of them involved the company’s image generation model named Imagen. Regardless, it’s pressing forward. Google just released the new Imagen 3 image model.

If you saw Google I/O, then you’ve probably been waiting for this model for several months. The company announced the model during the event. All users had to tide them over in the meanwhile as a large controversy concerning the model producing racially inaccurate depictions of historic figures. Well, that issue has since been resolved. People using Gemini Advanced can generate images of people.

Google finally releases Imagen 3

As with any image generation model, the key focus is realism, and Google has long achieved that goal for the most part, making it a great alternative to DALL-E. However, that doesn’t mean that it can’t one-up itself. As you can guess, Imagen 3 can create images with more detail and fewer artifacts than its predecessor. The images won’t have as much AI jankiness like traumatizing amorphous figures popping up all over the image like we saw from AI-generated images of old. Also, you can expect higher-quality HD images. This is in case you want to zoom into the images for whatever purpose.

One of the main issues plaguing AI images is text generation. We’re used to seeing images of “STTOP” signs and “Bookk” stores. Well, Imagen 3 brings better text generation. You won’t need to worry about messed-up text in the background.

Don’t you hate when you type something like “statue made of glass”, and you get an image of a statue behind a sheet of glass? Well, Imagen 3 comes with enhanced prompt understanding. This means that it will be better able to understand the prompts that you write.

When it comes to safety, Google went the extra mile to filter potentially harmful material, so you won’t have to worry about producing inappropriate images by accident. Not only that, but the company has a watermarking tool that makes it easy to identify that the images are AI-generated.

You can try Imagen 3 out now for free using Gemini. Simply go to the Gemini site or app, and type the type of image you want it to pop out.

If you’ve got a Fire TV video streamer, you already know how great it can be to access all of the major streaming platforms and thousands of shows and movies in one centralized hub. And seeing all your favorites on a big-screen TV is way better than watching it on a smaller laptop or smartphone screen.

But what if you wanted to watch a show or movie and discovered it was unavailable in your country? Or what if you wanted to watch an award-winning BBC documentary but it was only available on the BBC’s iPlayer — and you don’t happen to live in the United Kingdom?

That’s where a VPN (virtual private network) comes in. Using a VPN can let you unlock geo-blocked content for streaming even if you’re outside of a given area. And here’s the best part: Unlike archrival Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV system offers VPN apps straight through its built-in app store. We’ll explain the details and tell you how it works.

Choose the right VPN for your Fire TV

For starters, we’re going to assume you have a Fire TV device. If you don’t, we have good news: If your TV doesn’t already have , the add-on devices are frequently on sale at Amazon for as little as $25 or less. Grab the if you want a good balance of price versus performance — just make sure it’s on sale for $40 or less. (See how the Fire TV streamers compare to rivals from Roku, Google, Apple and more by checking out our list of .)

Once you have your Fire TV hardware set up, it’s time to choose a VPN — and that’s where the Fire TV operating system shines. A long list of VPNs, including all of our current top picks for the , are available on the platform and they’re as easy to download and install as any of the video apps.

The Engadget-approved VPNs currently available on Fire TV include:

We’ll leave it to you to research which VPN offers the best combination of features and value for you, but a word of warning: With the exception of the first two listed above, we don’t recommend using a free VPN, as they’re notorious for collecting and selling your data to advertising networks to fund shoddily-protected servers. Note you can install as many VPNs as you’d like on Fire TV, if you’d like to cross-test them at your leisure.

Installing the VPN

Installing it is easy once you know which Fire TV VPN you want to use. Head to Find > on the main menu and simply search the name of your preferred VPN – just type “VPN” if you’d like to scroll through all of the options available. There, you can find the service you want (or are already subscribed to) and start installing. The process shouldn’t take too long. Once it’s completed, you’re ready to start using it.

Using your Fire TV VPN

Once you’ve downloaded the app, navigate to it on your Fire TV dashboard. You’ll have to enter your username and password or sign up to create an account. Some VPNs might require you to create an account on your smartphone or computer beforehand.

Once logged in, you can either click the “Connect” button on your VPN or browse the server list to choose which country you want to tunnel to. Once connected, return to the Fire TV home screen and reload your streaming platform of choice to verify if the content is different. If it is, your VPN is working and you’re ready to stream.

Google will soon offer a paid version of its AI research tool NotebookLM, specifically targeting businesses. 

NotebookLM Business will have “enhanced features for businesses, universities, and organizations.” For now, access to NotebookLM Business is through a pilot program for early access to its features, training and email support. 

Google told VentureBeat in an email that participants in the NotebookLM Business pilot “will gain a significant advantage with enhanced capabilities designed to boost productivity and collaboration.” These capabilities include higher usage limits and new features such as customization and sharing notebooks with team members. The company said these features could unlock new use cases for businesses using the tool.

“We’ve seen this early feature streamline onboarding, shared understanding of complex projects, and building a centralized repository of your team’s collective intelligence all within a collaborative notebook environment,” a spokesperson said. 

Another feature that will be part of NotebookLM Business is Audio Overview, which lets users create a narrated study guide.

Google said the paid version will continue to have robust data privacy and security. 

NotebookLM, built with Gemini 1.5, lets people upload source material to “notebooks” to gather information and ask the Gemini chatbot questions about the research. First announced in July last year, NotebookLM became generally available in December. 

Google will also remove the “experimental” tag on the tool. 

NotebookLM product manager Raiza Martin previously told VentureBeat that the team saw many different uses for the platform, including some for enterprises. While NotebookLM was never intended for a specific audience, Martin said many researchers and students embraced the product. Many businesses have also begun using NotebookLM as a repository of information for teams. 

Google will announce general availability and pricing for NotebookLM Business later this year. 

Additional control over audio 

Along with announcing NotebookLM Business, Google updated the Audio Overview feature of NotebookLM. Audio Overview lets people generate podcasts about their research. Google characterized Audio Overview as a spoken research or study guide rather than a podcast. However, its first version featured two voices (one male, one female) conversing about the information in the notebook, reminding many of podcasts. 

Audio Overview proved popular among some users, with many posting their generated audio on social media. Martin had previously promised additional controls over Audio Overview and said the company’s research showed conversations helped people retain more information.

Users can now guide more of the conversation of Audio Overview, including prompting the model to focus on specific topics or levels of expertise. Audio Overviews will also continue to play while users query their sources or ask questions with its chat feature. 

I got to explore the updated capabilities of Audio Overviews early. In a notebook with sources around AI Orchestration, I told it to focus on the definition of orchestration and how different frameworks like LangChain work. The final product did talk about AI orchestration based on the different blog posts and YouTube videos I had uploaded. The two “hosts,” however, spoke about frameworks as if LangChain was the only orchestration framework out there. This might be a misunderstanding of my prompt where I specifically named LangChain because the source documents definitely talk about available tools. 

Google does point out that Audio Overviews “are generated discussions and are not a comprehensive or objective view of a topic.” It only takes into account information found in the uploaded source materials. 

Open NotebookLM, an open-source competitor to NotebookLM, launched last month and included an audio recap function. While Open NotebookLM does not have the same fact-checking capabilities as NotebookLM, it represents a shift in the ease of deploying complex AI-driven platforms. 

Mira Murati, the OpenAI CTO who announced her departure last month, is raising VC funding for a new AI startup, according to Reuters.

This startup will reportedly focus on building AI products based on proprietary models and could raise more than $100 million in this round.

When she left, Murati wrote on X that OpenAI had “fundamentally changed how AI systems learn and reason through complex problems” in its recent releases. She said, “I’m stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration,” but didn’t offer details about her plans.

Before joining OpenAI as VP of applied AI and partnerships in 2018, Murati worked at Tesla and Leap Motion. She was promoted to CTO in 2022 — and was even named interim CEO during co-founder and CEO Sam Altman’s brief ouster.

Murati is among several OpenAI executives to leave recently; OpenAI’s chief research officer and research VP announced their departures hours after she did. A week later, OpenAI said it had raised $6.6 billion in the largest VC round of all time.