19/05/2025

LYFE MONDAY | MAY 19, 2025

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Features coming soon with Android 16

Women podcast listeners triple over 10 years

IT is a media centred around voices. Voices that soothe, intrigue or inspire. In the space of 10 years, women have fallen under the spell of podcasts. In 2015, only 15% tuned in to this type of programme each month. By 2025, that figure had risen to 45%, according to the Women’s Audio Report published by Edison Research and SiriusXM Media. It might be a reassuring voice – a voice that resonates with you. So, you choose to take it everywhere with you, speaking to you through your headphones during a walk, a subway ride or between loads of laundry. For the past 10 years, podcasts have become a part of women’s lives – at first in small numbers, now on a massive scale. According to the report, three times as many women listen to podcasts today as they did 10 years ago. From 15% in 2015, they have risen to 45% in 2025. This figure climbs even higher when video formats are included, which are increasingly popular on YouTube and Spotify. In 2025, 52% of women aged 18 and over say they listen to or watch podcasts every month. Whether it is immersive storytelling, lifestyle advice or unfiltered discussions, the voice (whether it comes through headphones or a screen) has become an essential part of everyday life. Connected generation The profile of the typical female listener speaks volumes about the trend. 39% are between the ages of 18 and 34. Young and very digitally savvy, they listen to podcasts as naturally as they scroll through Instagram or launch their

favourite playlists. They spend an average of more than 1 hour and 40 minutes a day listening, the study also revealed. Many are mindful of their health, with 64% of regular female listeners turning to podcasts to cope with everyday challenges, and 44% even using them specifically to manage their mental health. This phenomenon highlights the importance of podcasts as a source of encouragement and solace. Another striking finding is that listening to podcasts is strongly correlated with level of education. More than half of female listeners (51%) have a college degree, a figure that underscores women’s appetite for in-depth, educational or socially conscious content. In terms of expectations, 53% listen to podcasts to explore a topic in depth, 46% to learn and 44% simply for entertainment. This engagement and dedication of personal time obviously has not gone unnoticed by brands. After hearing an advertisement in a podcast, 75% of listeners say they took action by seeking out information about the brand or talking about it to others. Finally, the study highlighted another major trend: women are also picking up the microphone. Of the 25 podcasts most listened to each week by female listeners, 48% are hosted or co-hosted by women. This significant proportion reflects a growing demand for authenticity and common ground: we listen to what we relate to, delivered by voices we can connect with. In fact, 79% of women said that it is important for them to like the podcast host. – ETX Studio

o New design, improvements to security, privacy

G OOGLE unveiled the main new features of Android 16 at its The Android Show: I/O Edition event, ahead of its annual Google I/O conference, scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday. This enhanced version of Android introduces significant design changes, places artificial intelligence (AI) at the heart of the system and is much more secure. Android 16 will first bring a new design, dubbed “Material 3 Expressive”. This is the most visible evolution to the system, with its vivid colours, new typography and fluid animations, promising a more dynamic and personalised user experience. The idea, of course, is to appeal to an ever-growing audience, especially young people. The system also introduces “Live Updates”, a dynamic notification system reminiscent of “Live Activities” on iOS. These notifications enable users to track activities such as journeys or deliveries in real time, directly from the smartphone’s lock screen. Unsurprisingly, Google’s Gemini AI will be more than ever at the heart of the user experience, becoming the operating system’s new intelligent assistant. The aim is to offer more natural, contextual interactions across Google’s various applications, such as Gmail and Photos. Last but not least, Google intends to make significant improvements in terms of security and privacy. The most striking announcement concerns the detection of fraudulent calls, as well as unprecedented protection against unauthorised

Android 16 is slated to launch at the beginning of next month.

system usually roll out in the fall. Google’s Pixel devices will be the first to benefit, gradually followed by devices from other smartphone manufacturers. Google claims that there are now more than three billion active Android-powered devices worldwide. – ETX Studio

system modifications during phone calls. Similarly, AI should make it easier to identify and report fraudulent SMS messages in Google Messages. Android 16 is slated to launch at the beginning of June – a major first, since new versions of the operating

AI assistant for Windows settings MICROSOFT has announced a host of new features for PCs, including the arrival of an AI assistant specially dedicated to managing Windows settings.

answers. With the user’s consent, it can even perform or automate certain tasks. This new feature will soon be available to members of the Windows Insider programme, who can test new features of the operating system in advance – so long as they have recent hardware, which is a Copilot+ PC equipped with a Snapdragon processor. Other users will have to be a little more patient, as no official roll-out to the general public has yet been announced. Generally speaking, AI is set to integrate most native Windows applications, including Photos and Notepad. This is already the case in Paint with the “Cocreator” function, which generates images from text descriptions. Finally, Microsoft has confirmed the forthcoming roll-out of Recall, its controversial optimised search functionality based on screen captures at regular intervals, raising questions about privacy. It will nevertheless be possible to deactivate this function at any time. – ETX Studio

With Windows 11, Microsoft is aiming to simplify access to the operating system’s many settings. And in the age of artificial intelligence, the Redmond firm is taking things to a new level, as it will soon be offering a special AI assistant tasked with responding to users’ natural-language queries. The idea is to be able to report a problem (“the text on the screen is too small”) or launch a command (“control my PC by voice”) directly via the search field dedicated to settings. Novices can simply describe what they want to do, and the agent will suggest one or more solutions. This avoids the need to spend time searching through Windows settings, looking for the right option in the right menu. The experience should be much less frustrating, as the AI assistant is designed to provide all the relevant

Microsoft is aiming to simplify access to the operating system’s many settings.

64% of regular female listeners turn to podcasts to cope with everyday challenges. – ALL PICS FROM PEXELS