Spotify’s pricing not sitting still after Apple Music announcement
The biggest announcement to come out of Apple’s WWDC 2015 keynote was the debut of Apple Music, a new music streaming service with various elements that will be available on Android. The pricing, considering what Apple Music offers, is very good. A single person can use Apple Music for $9.99 per month while $14.99 per month supports up to six people. Spotify and some of the other services facing Apple, though, do not even compare when it comes to the family plan price.
Both Spotify and Rdio cost $14.99 for two people and reach $20 or more beyond that. Clearly, it makes no sense to go for anything but Apple Music when needing access for multiple people. Spotify does intend to alter its family plan and Jonathan Price, Spotify’s global head of communications and public policy, offered the following statement to The Verge:
“We already have similar family pricing in some markets and we expect to offer competitive pricing everywhere in the near future.”
Price’s statement does not explicitly state that Spotify will lower its family plan pricing, but it seems inevitable.
Source: The Verge
Come comment on this article: Spotify’s pricing not sitting still after Apple Music announcement
New Samsung patent be further proof of Project Valley, a rumored foldable device
A couple of weeks ago, we covered a story on Samsung’s rumored Project Valley, a purported foldable device rumored to be in development behind closed doors. As the rumor went, the project was not a sure-fire candidate for release, and may be scrapped at any time. Today, we have a new patent filing with the USPTO and the schematic looks surprisingly like what one might expect from such a device, apparently a Galaxy Note variant given other pictures’ inclusion of a stylus.
The device described in the patent has two screens and a body that folds in half, and comes across as a design not unlike that which Toshiba used for its final/most-recent Libretto, NEC used for its Medius W, and Sony experimented with for the Tablet P.
It’s important to note that a patent filing doesn’t mean anything more than a desire to protect an idea or design that has been created. There is no guarantee this will end up in stores, of even behind the scenes. At the same time, given the rumor from last week, it would certainly seem possible that Samsung is working on a foldable tablet of sorts, at least behind the scenes, and this design more or less represents that.
Would you be interested in the prospects of such a device? Does it actually add anything unique that hasn’t been done before?
Major League Gaming finals head to New Orleans in October
The Major League Gaming World Finals, featuring championships for Dota 2 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, will be held in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center from October 16th to the 18th. The 2015 MLG Finals boast a prize pool of more than $500,000, and it will be the organization’s 100th live event (that’s some nice timing). MLG, founded in 2002, is the longest-running eSports organization in existence and it’s awarded more than $13.5 million in prize money across a range of games over the years. A General Admission pass for all three days of the Finals runs $50, or snag a Dota 2 or Advanced Warfare VIP pass for $200 each. Pro gaming fans, purchase tickets in the MLG store.
We are happy to announce MLG’s 100th event; the MLG World Finals October 16-18 in New Orleans! Info here-> http://t.co/axYaTX4uB9
– MLG (@MLG) June 8, 2015
Source: MLG
Homebuilt laser shotgun is every bit as dangerous as it sounds
If you thought building your own laser weapon at home was hot stuff, you haven’t seen anything yet. Do-it-yourself fan Styropyro has built a laser “shotgun” whose eight 5W beams are adjustable with lenses, much like you’d adjust the choke on a conventional shotgun to narrow or widen its buckshot spread. As you might gather, 40W of combined laser power is pretty powerful — and unbelievably dangerous. The gun can destroy everything from balloons to ping pong balls, and there are reflected beams that could easily smack someone’s eye. Don’t try this at home, folks. It’s still an impressive feat of homebrew engineering, though, and Styropyro is hoping to make something “even crazier” before long.
Filed under: Misc
Via: Boing Boing
Source: Styropyro (YouTube)
iOS 9 Tidbits: Battery Saving Features, Search for Settings, Keyboard Changes, Email Attachments, and More
Apple covered the major new features of iOS 9 during today’s keynote event, introducing a more intelligent and proactive Siri, split-screen multitasking for the iPad, major performance enhancements, Transit directions in Maps, a new News app, and more, but there are hundreds of other minor improvements that went unmentioned.
We’ve gathered up a list of some of the more notable changes and hidden new features in iOS 9 that have not yet been mentioned, to give you a better idea of what we can expect to see when the new operating system is released in the fall.
iCloud Drive – It wasn’t mentioned during the keynote, but there’s a new optional iCloud Drive app on iOS that can be turned on in the Settings menu. The app lets you access files stored in iCloud Drive.
Keyboard changes – The shift function has been altered once again, making it easier to determine when it’s activated and when caps lock is turned on. With shift pressed, all letters on the keyboard are now shown in upper case. With shift off, letters on the keyboard are lower case. On iPad, there are new edit controls, and the keyboard now uses the new San Francisco font.
Shift on at top, shift off at bottom
Find My Friends/iPhone – Find My Friends and Find My iPhone are both default apps with iOS 9 and come installed automatically. Before these needed to be downloaded from the App Store. Find My Friends can be added to the Notification Center, where it tracks the location of your friends.
Battery saving – Using ambient light and proximity sensors, your iPhone now knows when it’s facedown on a table and will not turn the screen on, even when a Notification is received. Other enhancements add an additional 1 hour of battery life to the iPhone with iOS 9, and there’s a new Low Power Mode that increases battery life another three hours.
Battery settings – To go along with all the new battery features, there’s a new dedicated “Battery” section in the settings app, where Low Power Mode can be turned on. It also displays battery usage information. With Low Power Mode, background activity, motion effects, and animated wallpapers are disabled. Battery information is also displayed in the Notification Center, for both Apple Watch and iOS device.
Apple Music to Support Saving Playlists and Songs for Offline Listening [iOS Blog]
Apple today announced Apple Music, a new all-in-one app and service for discovering and listening to music. Apple Music includes a streaming music service that delivers on-demand music for $9.99 per month, much like Apple’s existing Beats Music service.
Many users have wondered whether Apple Music will allow for song downloads for offline listening, and the answer to that question is yes. Apple did not give details on offline listening during its keynote event or press release, but according to an Apple representative that spoke to Re/code, content from Apple Music can be added to a playlist for offline listening.
“As an Apple Music member you can add anything from the Apple Music library — a song, an album or a video — to your collection,” Apple said in a statement to Re/code. “And that’s just the warm-up act. From there you can create the perfect playlist from anything you’ve added. You can save it for offline listening and take it on the road.”
Offline listening is also listed as a feature available on Apple’s new Apple Music page, which details what you get with an Apple Music membership. Apple Music subscribers will also get unlimited skips when listening to Apple Music radio stations, the ability to play and save Connect content, and the ability to add Apple Music content to one’s music library.
Apple Music will launch to the public on June 30, as part of iOS 8.4. It is priced at $9.99 per month for individuals and $14.99 per month for a family of up to 6.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan Runs on All Macs Capable of Running Yosemite [Mac Blog]
OS X 10.11 El Capitan, the successor to OS X Yosemite, is capable of running on all Macs that are able to run Yosemite, according to the OS X 10.11 release notes (via Ars Technica). The first developer beta is listed as supporting the following Macs, which are the same that are able to run Yosemite:
– iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
– MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
– MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
– Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
– MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
– Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
– Xserve (Early 2009)
OS X El Capital is focused heavily on performance improvements to make the Mac “snappier and more efficient.” According to Apple, apps launch up to 1.4x faster and app switching is up to 2x faster. Displaying the first Mail messages when opening mail is up to 2x faster, and it’s up to 4x faster when opening a PDF in preview.
El Capitan also brings Metal to OS X for the first time, improving graphics for more fluid performance in games, high performance apps, and key system-level graphics operations.
iOS 9, the upcoming update for iOS devices, has also been designed to work with all devices that run iOS 8. Even older A5 devices like the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4s will be able to run the new operating system, and in many cases, performance will improve over iOS 8 thanks to the optimizations being introduced.
Both OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 will be available to the public in the fall, with a public beta becoming available in July.
Mickey Demands Your Allegiance, Compels LG to Release Disney-Themed Phone
In what is either the best news ever or the worst news ever, LG has revealed the latest in its line of “Disney Mobile” phones, available exclusively in Japan. The phone, dubbed the “DM-01G,” because Disney Consumer Products clearly had no input on nomenclature, is the eighth Disney-branded phone sold through Japanese carrier NTT Docomo, Inc.
So here’s the thing: I refuse to say “DM-01G” throughout this article when referencing the phone, so my very Disney upbringing (I grew up next to Anaheim – season passes, yo) is giving me carte blanche to rename the phone for the purposes of conversation. Therefore, I give you the following potential nicknames, which I will use for the remainder of the article, and I leave you to vote on the best one in the comments, or better yet, add your own:
- LG Rescue Ranger™
- LG Pixie Hollow™
- LG We’re Tired of Princess Marketing™
- LG Frozen 2™
- LG DisFlex 8™
- LG WTF
The We’re Tired of Princess Marketing™ sports some solid specs, and it doesn’t quite line up as a repurposed version of an existing LG phone, like the Nexus 5 to the G2. Spec-wise, it’s reasonably close to a G3, but not quite on the money. Pixie Hollow™ has a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display powered by a Snapdragon 801 processor. Users will also enjoy a 13.2 MP rear camera, a 2.4 MP front shooter, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 2,920 detachable battery, all coming in at a reasonably svelte 149 grams.
But here’s where things get interesting. The phone, which even has a Mickey Mouse-shaped Home button, comes with a Mickey ears cutout cover through which some pretty rad-looking notifications come up. Admittedly, I’m torn on whether this is awesome or horrifying.
And if that’s not enough, your Rescue Ranger™ also comes with a Swarovski cover wherein crystals represent our dreams that will come true if we only but wish.
DisFlex 8™ runs on LG’s Android UI featuring custom themes based on popular Disney franchises, like Frozen, Cinderella (evidently the live-action one from this year, not the 50s classic), and Alice in Wonderland. Would the WTF™ be superior if it offered skins for The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron, and Song of the South? Objectively, yes, but that’s OK.
Frozen 2™ comes in blue, white, and pink. A launch date has not yet been announced.
If this were available outside of Japan, would you be all in?
All hail Burbank.
Source: The Korea Herald
Come comment on this article: Mickey Demands Your Allegiance, Compels LG to Release Disney-Themed Phone
Barclays doesn’t support Apple Pay, but it’s likely to
Nearly a year after it launched, Apple Pay is coming to the UK. Most major financial institutions were included in Apple’s WWDC 2015 keynote, but there was one notable exception: Barclays. It’s a weird omission, particularly as Barclaycard, the bank’s credit card arm, is already supported in the US. After news of the launch broke, Barclays has moved to confirm that it won’t be a part of Apple’s NFC payment revolution when it goes live in July, hinting that an agreement over terms is the reason for its absence.
Barclays explains on its Twitter account that it has “been talking with Apple about how our customers could use Apple Pay in addition to our existing mobile and payment services.” It already offers a capable smartphone banking app, but also pioneered a mobile payment service that lets customers send money using only mobile phone numbers. However, it does not yet provide an NFC payment platform that customers can use to pay for goods at a retail store.
The bank notes that “talks remain constructive,” which suggests that while customers might have to wait, an agreement could be reached. We’ve contacted the bank for more clarification on the matter and will update the article should we hear back.
Thanks for your tweets this evening. We can assure you that we’ve been talking with Apple about how our customers (1/2)
– Barclays UK (@BarclaysUK) June 8, 2015
could use Apple Pay in addition to our existing mobile and payment services, and that these talks remain constructive. (2/2)
– Barclays UK (@BarclaysUK) June 8, 2015
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Apple
Source: Barclays (Twitter)
Apple WWDC 2015: the numbers you need to know
It’s Monday. The work week just started and the last thing you need is to spend two hours of it watching Apple’s WWDC 2015 keynote address. But fear not, even if you missed it, you can still get all the juicy rumors, teasers and event highlights right here. Think of it as a tl;dr but, you know, for press conferences.
AIVAnet 