Streaming is now the US music industry’s biggest money maker

It may have just been a matter of time, but it finally happened: streaming music is now the biggest cash cow for the American music industry. The RIAA’s latest year-end sales report reveals that streaming accounted for 34.3 percent of US music revenue in 2015, barely edging past the 34 percent of downloads. Physical sales, meanwhile, were down to 28.8 percent. And despite concerns about free listening hurting the bottom line, paid subscriptions were the star of the show. While ad-based streaming pulled in 30.6 percent more cash versus 2014, paid subscriptions jumped 52.3 percent — suddenly, forking over $10 a month for unlimited music wasn’t such a far-fetched idea.

The label-backed organization partly credits the boost to the rise of new entrants like Apple Music and Tidal. Streaming was simply the hot space last year, and everyone stood to gain whether they were fresh or an incumbent like Spotify. Internet radio (think Pandora and SiriusXM) and music videos also played roles, but only tiny ones. No matter what, online tunes were enough to offset the drop in demand for hard copies, as the entire industry’s revenue grew a modest 0.9 percent.

It’s hard to say that streaming will keep growing at the pace it has, since there are only so many people willing to either subscribe or put up with ads. Even so, the data might be enough to have labels changing how they distribute and push music. Rather than treat streaming as just one of multiple options, they may be more likely to steer you toward the on-demand services first and foremost.

Via: Wall Street Journal

Source: RIAA

Tesla Ludicrous Mode now available as retrofit for Model S P90D

When Tesla first introduced the Model S P90D with Ludicrous Mode, P85D owners no longer had the top-of-the-line performance version of the electric sedan. To make it up to owners, Tesla eventually offered a discounted Ludicrous Mode retrofit for the P85D (priced at $5,000, rather than the $10,000 upgrade in the P90D). The Ludicrous Mode upgrade for the P90D was only available when configuring the vehicle – you snooze, you lose. Not anymore, though, as Tesla is now extending the option of a Ludicrous Mode retrofit to P90D owners who passed on the upgrade when originally ordering the car.

The P90D retrofit costs the full $10,000, plus whatever taxes and labor costs are involved with its installation. The upgrade, as Electrek details it, replaces the standard fuse with an “advanced smart fuse” that monitors and manages current more precisely (to the millisecond). The main steel battery pack contactor gets replaced with the same Iconel superalloy that Elon Musk’s other venture, SpaceX, uses for its SuperDraco rocket engine. Combined, the changes increase the maximum output from 1,300 to 1,500 amps, which translates to better performance from the car.

The result: the upgraded P90D sheds 10 percent of its 0-60 miles per hour time, dropping it down to 2.8 seconds. Tesla puts the updated quarter-mile time at 10.9 seconds, and says the time to 155 mph is “20 percent faster than a standard Model S Performance.”

And, of course, Tesla doesn’t leave out the all-important underline to the P90D badge. Somehow, it just wouldn’t feel as fast without it.

Related Video:

Source: Electrek, Tesla Motors

Google Drive for Android gets a file editing shortcut

Many people adopt Google Drive because they’re already invested in the company’s other products, like Docs and Photos. They all play nice with one another, however on Android the Drive app is mostly a management tool — to do some actual editing, you often need to open another app. To make your life a little easier, Google has added an editor shortcut to file previews. Just open a document or photo in Drive, tap the blue button and you can jump directly into another editing app installed on your phone.

In a blog post, Google mentions that “some common editor apps include Google Photos, Google Docs, and more.” Other apps are definitely supported — on my Moto X Style, for instance, I have the option to choose between Google Photos and Motorola’s own photo editor. Such an addition, while small, should make Google Drive simpler and faster to use for Android users. It should also make Google’s productivity suite feel more like a cohesive whole, and less like a series of siloed products.

On a separate note, the latest version of the Drive for Android app also adds the ability to reverse sort your files. Just tap the downward facing arrow that’s visible in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Voila!

Via: Google (Blog Post), 9to5Google

Source: Google Drive (Android)

‘Hyper Light Drifter’ is set to launch at the end of the month

Heart Machine announced via Kickstarter on Tuesday that its forthcoming retro 2D RPG, Hyper Light Drifter, will be released at the end of March. The game, with a style that harkens back to 16-bit action-adventures, follows a helmeted hero as he hacks, slashes, dashes and shoots his way across a massive, dream-like world map in search of a cure for his debilitating disease. Heart Machine is offering HLD on Mac, Windows and Linux through Steam (though there is a small chance the Linux build will be delayed slightly). You can check out the latest trailer below.

Via: Kickstarter

Source: Steam

Google is giving Chrome’s app launcher the axe

Folks who favor launching Chrome apps from their dock on OSX or the taskbar on Windows rather than through the browser itself are bound to be disappointed by today’s news. Google has announced that the Chrome App Launcher will be removed from the Apple, Linux and Microsoft operating systems. It’s still safe on Chrome OS, though.

The internet juggernaut says that the removal will take place gradually over the coming months, starting with disabling the launcher upon initially installing a new application in a few weeks. The full-on end point is July — three years after the launcher hit Windows. And in case your friends don’t read Engadget, Google says it’ll notify users that the launcher is going the way of the Tyrannosaurus.

It’s part of Google’s moves to make its browser less bloated, with the blog post explicitly citing last summer’s removal of the Chrome notification center as an example of those efforts. Here’s to hoping that some of this results in the browser being less of a resource hog that strains even the most resilient ultrabook’s battery life.

Source: Chromium blog

Password-Stealing Instagram App ‘InstaAgent’ Reappears in App Store Under New Name

Last November, a malicious app called InstaAgent was caught storing the usernames and passwords of Instagram users, sending them to a suspicious remote server. After the app’s activities came to light, Apple removed it from the App Store, but it now appears Turker Bayram, the developer behind the app has managed to get two new apps approved by Apple, (and Google) both of which are stealing Instagram account info.

Peppersoft developer David L-R, who discovered the insidious password-sniffing feature in the first InstaAgent app, last week wrote a post outlining new password stealing apps created by Bayram. Called “Who Cares With Me – InstaDetector” and “InstaCare – Who Cares With Me,” the apps are available on Android and iOS devices.

The original InstaAgent app attracted Instagram users by promising to track the people who visited their Instagram account, and the two new apps make similar promises. Both apps say they display a list of users who interact most often with an Instagram account, asking users to log in with an Instagram username and password.

David L-R investigated Bayram’s new apps discovered a suspicious HTTPS packet, leading him to uncover a complex encryption process used to covertly send usernames and passwords to a third-party server and hide the evidence. He found both the Android and iOS versions of the app send Instagram account information to unknown servers.

As I had a closer look to the iOS app I found out that the app steals the Instagram password & username to send it encrypted to “unknown” servers. The “password-stealing” algorithm and the encryption seems to be the same as in “InstaCare – Who cares with me?” a new iOS app from the “InstaAgent” developer, which malicious behaviour I discovered a few days ago. A working PoC (Proof of concept for the iOS version) can be found here.

Multiple reviews on the iOS App Store claim that after using the malicious Instagram apps, their accounts were compromised with spam photos advertising the app that were uploaded to their feeds. As with InstaAgent, the apps show up prominently in the Top Charts in some countries, though not in the United States.

Bayram’s ability to get multiple new apps approved by Apple after having been found guilty of harvesting Instagram account information speaks towards the glaring issues in Apple’s app review policies. It is unclear how a developer who was caught operating a malicious app was able to get additional apps past Apple’s radar.

There are dozens if not hundreds of low-quality third-party apps that promise to provide Instagram users with followers and other perks, which should be avoided to avoid having account information stolen. Instagram cautions against installing third-party apps that don’t follow its Community Guidelines and says such apps are “likely attempts to use your account in an inappropriate way.”

(Thanks, Şizofrenik!)

Tags: App Store, Instagram
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Google Developing Search-Focused Third-Party Keyboard for iOS

Google is working on a third-party keyboard designed for iOS devices that would incorporate search functionality, reports The Verge. Citing people familiar with Google’s plans, The Verge says the keyboard, which has been in development for several months, “incorporates a variety of search options” to attract more Google search users on iOS devices.

The keyboard is said to feature gesture-based typing like Swype, allowing users to slide their fingers across the keyboard to enter letters. Tapping on a built-in Google logo brings up a web search bar, and there are also options for searching for pictures and GIFs. Design elements are not clear, but it is apparently “visually distinct” from the standard keyboard available on Android devices.

News of Google’s work on an iOS keyboard comes just a few months after images surfaced of a Word Flow Windows Phone-style keyboard Microsoft is developing for iOS devices. It is not known when Google might release its keyboard, and a release date for the Microsoft keyboard is also unavailable.

Google and Microsoft’s effort to develop keyboards for Apple devices is curious, as third-party keyboards have not proven to be particularly popular with iOS users due to ongoing issues with slowness, crashing, and other bugs.

Tag: Google
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Showbox lets you earn real rewards by trying out apps [Review]

Overview There are apps for all kinds of things in the Play Store. Apps that let you play games. Apps that make you work more productively. Apps that help you

Hound – The next generation of voice assistance [Review]

Overview – Hound is a voice assistance app from SoundHound Inc, the developers of the Sound Hound music recognition app. Hound aims to set itself apart from the competition by

Backstage with the winners of the IGF and GDC Awards

The Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards are the highlight of GDC week. They both honor the best games of the past year in two glamorous, back-to-back ceremonies in downtown San Francisco. This time around, Her Story took home the IGF’s $30,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize, and The Witcher 3 nabbed the coveted Game of the Year prize during the GDC Awards.

Other winners across a range of categories include Undertale, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rocket League and Life is Strange. Nine members of the Girls Make Games program, which offers summer camps designed to encourage young women to break into game creation, walked away with the ID@Xbox Rising Star award for their project, The Hole Story.

We spoke with some of the big winners on-camera directly after they received their awards, and they had plenty to say (and celebrate).

A lineup of independent developers right after their big wins (plus, IGF host Nathan Vella):

Sam Barlow, creator of Her Story:

2016 IGF winners:

• Excellence in Narrative ($3,000) – Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Excellence in Audio ($3,000) – Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club)
• Excellence in Design ($3,000) – Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Steel Crate Games)
• Excellence in Visual Art ($3,000) – Oxenfree (Night School Studio)
• ID@Xbox Rising Star Award – Girls Make Games, The Hole Story
• Nuovo Award ($5,000) – Cibele (Star Maid Games)
• Best Student Game ($3,000) – Beglitched (Jennifer Jiao Hsia and Alec Thomson)
• Audience Award ($3,000) – Undertale (Toby Fox)
• Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($30,000) – Her Story (Sam Barlow)

2016 GDCA winners:

• Best Debut – Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest)
• Best Audio – Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games)
• Innovation Award – Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Best Technology – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED)
• Best Visual Art – Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios)
• Best Narrative – Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Best Design – Rocket League (Psyonix)
• Best Handheld/Mobile Game – Her Story (Sam Barlow)
• Audience Award – Life is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment)
• Game of the Year – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED)
• Pioneer Award – Markus “Notch” Persson
• Ambassador Award – Tracy Fullerton
• Lifetime Achievement Award – Todd Howard