$SPOT

TechRadar roundup of seven tech stories. It covers Garmin’s Fenix Pro 8 smartwatch review, Spotify’s AI Persona tags (mid-September rollout, default exclusion from personalized recommendations), Honor’s Robot Phone hands-on, Google’s Pixel Tag tracker pricing ($29 single, $99 four-pack, launches November), Google Pixel Watch 5 features, and Google’s Pixel 11 lineup with a new HiLight LED camera flash feature and 12GB standard RAM.

Spotify’s Ringer unit has begun live-streaming “Ringer Wise Guys” on Twitch, starting Aug. 10, according to The Ankler. The show, renamed from “The Ringer Gambling Show,” will stream live on Twitch while staying available on podcast platforms, with episodes also listed on YouTube. Twitch revived a dormant Ringer channel.

Harvard Management Company disclosed a $2.21 billion stake in SpaceX, holding 12,935,100 shares valued as of June 30, making it over half of HMC’s reported $4.26 billion portfolio. SpaceX IPOed June 12 at $135, briefly hit about $225, and traded near $140 on Aug. 14. HMC also reported changes in TSMC, Nvidia, AI holdings, reduced Ethereum and Bitcoin, and gold fund shifts.

ValueAct Holdings increased its Spotify stake by 46.9% to 526,800 shares in Q2, according to an SEC filing. It also raised its KKR position by 8.5% to 3.6 million shares and reported holding 2.2 million sponsored ADS in PayPal. Holdings were as of June 30, 2026.

Spotify said it will roll out an “AI persona” badge in mid-September to label artist and creator profiles that are AI-generated. The company cited listener feedback about human-looking profiles that later proved machine-made. Spotify also said it will not include AI personas in editorial or personalized recommendations unless users follow them.

Spotify and Depop announced six artist-curated Depop shops, led by Eve, Amira Elfeky, Estevie, Frost Children, House of Protection and Lily Meola, launching Aug 12 with a Spotify playlist and a two-day Los Angeles pop-up. Depop was acquired by Etsy in 2021 for $1.6bn, then sold to eBay for $1.2bn, closing recently after regulatory approval.

Spotify’s Sam Duboff, global head of artists, marketing and policy, discussed Australia’s AI and copyright stance and Spotify’s AI protections. Spotify said it is partnering with Universal Music Group and Merlin for AI remixing as a paid add-on for Premium subscribers, and creating an “AI Persona” label to exclude such music from personalized recommendations. Spotify cited Turn Up Aus Live results, including 223 million more streams of domestic music in 2024-25.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Spotify will introduce labels for AI-generated “personas” and will exclude AI-labeled music from appearing in users’ algorithmic recommendations. UCLA’s Tiffany Naiman said the key issue is how Spotify will distinguish AI personas from real artists. The article also lists other UCLA-related news items.

Spotify (SPOT) and Merlin announced a licensing deal letting independent artists opt into Spotify’s upcoming fan remix and cover tool, with participating artists credited and compensated. The article cites Spotify Q2 results: revenue up 14% to about $5.56B, net income about $634M, and subscriber growth. It also notes a co-CEO share sale and SPOT’s forward P/E of 35.34.

Spotify said it will add “AI Persona” badges to some artist profiles starting mid-September to improve transparency about whether the artist is a real person, Reuters reported. The badge will appear in profile banners, About sections, Search, and track rows. Spotify will exclude AI Personas from recommendations by default unless followed, and will review flagged profiles.