Songza taps Weather Channel data to suggest mood-enhancing music
Songza is the psychiatrist of music apps, trying to figure out how you’re doing and come up with just the right music fix. It’s now teamed up with the Weather Channel, using its data to figure out if a sunset or rainstorm might be in your area. The concierge feature will then ask how you feel about that and come up with a playlist to either break or sustain the mood. You can grab the app for Android, iOS or the web, either free with ads or via the Club Songza subscription — depending on how you feel about paying 99 cents a week.
Filed under: Software
Amazon’s Apple TV Competitor Expected to Debut at April 2 Media Event
Following rumors of a March launch, it looks like April 2 will be the day Amazon introduces its Apple TV competitor, as Re/code notes that the company has sent out invitations to a “video business” media event for that date. The invitations feature a photo of a couch and popcorn, strongly suggesting that the event will indeed involve the rumored streaming video device, and Re/code‘s sources indicate that this will indeed be the topic for the event.
The e-commerce giant has invited reporters to gather for an “update for our video business” in New York next Wednesday, April 2.
The popcorn and couch in the image give you a pretty good idea of what to expect, as does our previous reporting, which explained that Amazon has been preparing a Web-to-TV gadget for many months.
A recent report from TechCrunch indicated that Amazon’s device is expected to be a dongle similar to Google’s Chromecast, which plugs directly into an HDMI port on the back of the user’s television and then connects to either a USB port or outlet for power.
Amazon’s launch comes as Apple users continue to await the introduction of a revamped Apple TV. Rumblings had suggested Apple was considering a launch late last year, but nothing materialized. Newer rumors have suggested that Apple might make a March or April announcement ahead of a launch later in the year, but there have been no specific signs of an imminent event from Apple.
     |
Microsoft Launching Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iPad Today
In his first major public event as Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella today headlined a media event to introduce Office for iPad, in line with earlier rumors. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iPad will go live today at 11:00 AM Pacific Time. Microsoft’s press conference is ongoing, and we will update this post with additional details as they are revealed.
Word for iPad
Microsoft acknowledged soon after the introduction of the original iPad back in 2010 that it was looking at the possibility of bringing its Office suite to the tablet, and by early 2012 a reported prototype shown by The Daily. Microsoft’s plans remained in flux, however, with the company reportedly reluctant to embrace the iPad as it sought to push forward with its own Windows tablet initiative with Surface.
With Nadella now running Microsoft, the company has finally committed to releasing Office for iPad, although some argue that it is too late given that an entire generation of users have already moved on to embrace other mobile-friendly productivity solutions.
| |
iPhone 6 Reportedly Launching ‘As Early As September’ in 4.7- and 5.5-Inch Sizes
Apple’s iPhone 6 is expected to launch “as early as September”, according to a new report from Japanese business newspaper Nikkei. The paper claims that the device is “expected” to be called the iPhone 6 and is “likely” to be offered in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch display sizes, in line with circulating rumors.
Manufacturers have apparently begun making such components as fingerprint sensors and chips for liquid-crystal drivers.
Mass production of LCD panels will start as early as the April-June quarter at Sharp’s Kameyama factory, Japan Display’s Mobara plant, and at other facilities, according to sources. LG Electronics will supply panels as well. The new handset’s display resolution is expected to be significantly higher than that of current models.
Earlier this week, UBS analyst Steve Milunovich claimed that the 4.7-inch version might be the only model to launch later this year, with a timeframe for the larger 5.5-inch version unclear.
| |
Amazon Invites Being Sent out, Set-Top Box Announcement Expected
Amazon has long been rumored to be launching a Amazon phone and a set-top box of sorts. Various leaks supported the notion. When Amazon raised the rate for Prime from $79 a year to $99 a year, I had a sneaking suspicion that they might be ramping up for a new product launch. Primarily a set-top box for your TV. Increasing the cost of Prime by $20 would help offset the cost and profit margins for what is sure to be an extremely affordable device that will bring Amazon Prime video functions to your TV.
Right now Amazon is sending out invites to the media to attend an event on April 2nd. The invite tosses out the line “Please join us for an update on our video business.” It is hovered over a couch and has some stray popcorn pieces laid about. Since couches are typically found in a living room, and popcorn is enjoyed while watching movies, one could easily assume that they plan to take the wraps of a new set-top box of sort that will bring the video library from Amazon to your living room.
It is a tricky thing to speculate what the box will be all about. It will certainly be built on Android, but be forked around a bit like the Kindle line is. We bet their will be a ad display version and one without that costs a bit more. It will most likely have access to the Amazon app store for additional apps and game installs. The rumored name was the FireTube when Amazon trademarked the name back in October, sticking to the Kindle Fire and ‘Fire’ branding that they have been working with for some time. I bet their will be a compatible Kindle Fire app for controlling the unit, along with additional functions only found on a Kindle Fire, but I am fairly certain Amazon will have their own controller as well.
It should be a rather interesting release to say the least. April 2nd is just a few short days away and we will be sure to relay what happens to you guys when we know more.
via 9to5Google
//<![CDATA[
ord = window.ord || Math.floor(Math.random()*1E16);
document.write('’);
//]]>
Twitter and Billboard team up for real-time tune-tracking charts
Billboard has long been the go-to for charting an artist’s or song’s popularity week to week. Now, the outfit has announced “an exclusive, multi-year partnership” with Twitter to create real-time charts monitoring tweets about music in the US. Billboard Twitter Real-Time Charts (catchy name, eh?) look to be the standard for tracking tune-based conversations as they happen. While the tallies will be housed at Billboard.com, the two have also agreed to a Twitter Amplify partnership that includes in-tweet charts and weekly video roundups — just in case you happen to miss anything. “Our goal with these efforts is to give artists who share songs and engage with their audience on Twitter a way to get noticed by even more fans, other musicians and industry decision-makers in real time,” said Twitter’s head of music Bob Moczydlowsky. No word yet on an exact launch date, but Billboard says charts should go live “in the coming weeks.”
Filed under: Internet
Watch Satya Nadella’s first major appearance as Microsoft CEO live
Rumor has it, Microsoft is getting ready to take the wraps off of Office for iPad. Despite that move potentially signaling a shift away from a Windows-first software strategy, the iOS app won’t be the only star of the show. It’s going to have to share the limelight with yet another, largely untested asset: CEO Satya Nadella. Given his track record at the company and recent statements, we expect to hear plenty about mobile, the cloud and Microsoft as a devices and services company.
Chances are, he won’t come out sweating and screaming like his predecessor, but if you’re curious to see how Nadella stacks up or, you know, have a thing for Redmond’s productivity suite, you can watch it all play out here or at the source link below. And get ready for even more of Nadella and the Microsoft crew when they hit the mean streets of San Francisco for the Build developer conference next week.
Watch Satya Nadella Live @ 1PM ET
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Amazon to hold video business event April 2nd, could involve a media streamer
Amazon’s name has been circulated pretty heavily in the rumor mill as of late, especially when it comes to a streaming music service and set-top box. So we aren’t necessarily surprised to see the company send us an invite to an event April 2nd for “an update to our video business.” That’s the only clue we have — unless you count the image of a couch as a hint — but given the aforementioned rumors, it seems very likely that we’re going to see the set-top box that’s been rumored for so long. If so, this should be Amazon’s answer to other media streamers like Apple TV and Roku. We’ve heard whispers that the new box will run on a forked version of Android, much like the Kindle Fire, and will feature Netflix and Hulu Plus apps. Whatever Amazon does announce, we’ve got the event on our calendars and we’ll be there to get you the latest updates.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Amazon
OS X Mavericks Adoption Pushing Toward 50%
Just five months after its release, OS X Mavericks is seeing adoption rates in the range of 40 percent to almost 50 percent depending on the tracking source. The significant growth in Mavericks users demonstrates the benefits of Apple’s move to drop the price of its latest OS X update to zero in an effort to encourage users to upgrade.
Analytics firm Chitika is out with a new report today showing Mavericks usage at 40 percent of page impressions in the United States and Canada over the week of March 17-23. Apple’s three previous operating system versions split almost all of the remaining 60 percent of the Mac user base nearly evenly.
Almost exactly five months following Mavericks’ release, the operating system’s users are generating 40% of U.S and Canadian Mac OS X-based Web traffic, a figure that dramatically outpaces Mavericks’ predecessor, OS X Mountain Lion. At 40%, the share of OS X Web traffic generated by Mavericks users is approximately six percentage points higher than what OS X Mountain Lion achieved nearly 14 months following its public debut, and 13 percentage points higher [than] what was recorded at the seven-month mark.
The report notes that while Mavericks is seeing strong upgrade rates relatively to previous versions of OS X, Mac adoption rates are much slower than seen for iOS, where 85 percent of devices are now running iOS 7. This disparity is likely due to a number of factors, including longer lifespans for Macs that may leave a higher percentage of machines ineligible for the latest OS version, as well as a more varied user base than may not be as tech savvy as mobile users and thus less likely to upgrade.
Chitika is not the only analytics company tracking OS X usage, as GoSquared continues to maintain its tracker offering a real-time look at the distribution of OS X versions appearing on its network of sites. GoSquared is seeing an even higher rate of adoption for Mavericks of around 48 percent, with a similar even split of the three previous versions all around 15-16 percent.
Net Applications is yet another analytics firm with a significant user base to measure data from, and that firm saw Mavericks with a 45 percent share of the OS X base in its February data.
| |
Fuse lets you put your own 3D characters into Steam games
If, like us, you believe that true individuality can never be expressed through four different choices of goatee, then listen up: Fuse, the character creation tool on Steam, now supports fully user-generated imports for the first time, making it possible for artistic souls to create clothing, body parts and “texturing substances” for more memorable designs. The $100 utility then lets you transplant your animated models into compatible Steam titles based on the Source Engine, including Garry’s Mod and Source Filmmaker. Now, if we could just couple this with Project Spark‘s customized movements and mannerisms, we’d have everything we need to prep our personal avatars for the impending Age of VR.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: Steam
AIVAnet 