Google Play Music’s podcasts are convenient but lack features

Google announced last fall that it would finally bring podcasts to Google Play Music, and last week a collection of shows debuted in the web app. This means that if you have a subscription to the service, all of your listening material is in one place — just like Spotify. You’ll no longer need to use Stitcher, Pocket Casts or the like to listen to shows. But is Google’s new integration the best option? I’ve been waiting for the feature to arrive on the Play Music Android app, and now that it has, I can offer some impressions.

A big thing Google’s new podcast offering has going for it is convenience, especially if you’re a Play Music subscriber. Podcasts are available from the Music app’s main menu alongside options for top music charts, your library, new releases and more. You don’t have to download another app and futz with the setup since podcasts appear just like other streaming content. As you might expect, the main podcast landing page is a top chart of the popular shows across all categories.

There’s a handy drop-down menu for categories above the list of popular podcasts, allowing you to filter out everything but the comedy options, for example. Each show tile on the web has a play button so you can fire up the latest episode immediately as well as options for subscribe and share. On mobile, you actually have to select a show and head to its page before you’re able to hit play.

On that main podcast page, there’s also a tab for “Your Podcasts,” where all the shows you’ve subscribed to reside. That personal library is a mirror image of the top charts on the main page: a grid of artwork and show titles with quick-play functionality that starts with the latest episode. This tiled arrangement of podcast options is common in other apps, including Pocket Casts and others. Again, you’ll have to tap through to a show’s landing page to hit play on mobile. Here you’ll also find a list of episodes with a brief description of the podcast itself.

Each selection has the usual title, description, date and run time, but if you want to see the full episode notes, you’ll have to click the information icon to browse them. Tapping that “i” icon also reveals the option to download an episode for offline listening inside the Play Music mobile app. Once you start an episode, the run time flips to show the time remaining if you’re listening on a desktop, letting you know if you can finish what you started at the office during your evening commute. Unfortunately, that run time doesn’t flip to a countdown on mobile, so the only way to see how much time is left is to swipe over to the audio player.

There are also podcast stations for all the times you can’t decide what you want to hear. Despite a mention and active links in Google’s announcement post, I wasn’t able to find the podcast stations inside the Music app. I think this could be a great tool for discovery, but right now it’s difficult to find on both the web and mobile. Stations function the exact same way as stations for Google Play’s music streaming (or any service, really), only the playlist is composed of podcasts instead of songs. For example, the “Learn Something New” option pulls content from shows like Stuff You Should Know, Planet Money and How Your World Works.

If you’ve used Play Music before, you know exactly what to expect in terms of the player. The UI is the same as when you’re streaming music or playing tunes from your library, complete with Google Cast support. The only difference is the addition of the “skip back 10 seconds” and “skip ahead 30 seconds” controls. Those controls are also available in the Android app on the main player interface and from the lock screen and by swiping down on the notifications bar. This means you won’t have to navigate to the app to skip around or hit pause, which will come in handy if you’re at the gym or using another app.

When you start a playlist or album, a menu icon on the player interface offers easy access to the queue. Here you can see the list of episodes and play them without having to head back to the show page. Unfortunately, you can only clear that playlist, and when you hit play on one episode, it automatically populates with more episodes from the same show. There’s no way to queue up the latest episode from It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Podcast to play after you finish listening to Welcome to Night Vale or to make a playlist so you won’t be interrupted by trying to find another show.

The addition of podcasts isn’t seamless, though, as some key features are missing that make apps like Pocket Casts so attractive. First, the search functionality is pretty terrible. If the podcast you’re looking for has a rather unique name, chances are it will appear at the top. I had no trouble finding Good Beer Hunting, for example. However, if what you’re after has some commonly used words in its name, you’ll see results for albums, songs, radio stations and video first. The podcast results will be all the way at the bottom. Pocket Casts and Stitcher both handle search much better; however, they’re only sorting through podcasts and not an entire streaming library. And no, there’s no way to search just for podcasts in Play Music on the desktop or in the Android app. Bummer.

There are also a few notable omissions from the podcast library. Serial, Fresh Air, This American Life and others aren’t available inside the app. It’s a bit odd, because other NPR shows like Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, Pop Culture Happy Hour and Bullseye show up in search results. For sports fans, only a smattering of local ESPN shows are available, so you’ll have to go to the network’s own app or another piece of software to stream those national radio episodes. I only listen to a handful of podcasts, and I was able to find them all save for two: Serial, which I already mentioned, and Men in Blazers from NBC Sports. Missing shows is one of the downsides to Spotify’s podcast library as well, and it’s the main reason I still use Pocket Casts.

I have two main gripes with the new Play Music integration: the inability to build custom playlists and the omission of a number of popular shows. Dedicated podcast search wouldn’t hurt, but I can survive without it. If a robust feature set is what you’re after, Pocket Casts is probably still the best option on Android. It’s worth the $4, in my opinion. Even so, Google’s new podcast offering is a massive improvement over Stitcher, an app that goes down for days and sometimes weeks at a time.

Podcasts are a welcome addition to the Google Play Music app on Android. Unfortunately, iOS users will have to wait to take advantage, and the company hasn’t said when that will happen. Of course, podcasts have been a part of iTunes and iOS since the jump, and they’re only now making it to Google’s Music app. By nesting podcasts inside the Play Music app, Google provides a convenient way to access the episodic content — as long as the shows you like are available there.

Tinder Social helps you and your crew mix and mingle

Tinder is working on a feature that will enable groups of friends to meet groups of new people while on a night out. The idea behind Tinder Social is that you and your chums will start planning your Friday night a few days in advance. The system will then try to match your #squad up with a similar one so you can all go hang out together. By making the connection ahead of time, you’ll all be able to break the ice and call shotgun on prospective partners well before the festivities kick off. The feature is currently being trialled in Australia and the company is pledging to bring it to the rest of the world in due time.

While that sounds a bit like a millennial version of one of those Match.com singles events where you wind up crying into a beer and going home at 10:30, for others the new feature is already turning into a privacy nightmare. When tapping the “Start a group” button, users are given a list of their Facebook friends who are also using Tinder, as well as those who have already jumped into a group chat. Users can opt out of the Group feature, but the default public setting is already getting some backlash for outing Tinder users to their Facebook friends.

“When I first saw that I could see everybody I was a little bit shocked because I figured that a big app like this would give a little more privacy than that,” Australian Chloe Mac told Business Insider, “especially considering when first signing up they make a big deal about no one on Facebook being able to see that you are using this app.”

the great thing about this ‘tinder social’ thing is it shows my facebook friends that have tinder including people already in relationships.

— Ally (@allygory) April 27, 2016

But the awkwardness doesn’t stop there. There’s also some confusion about what sort of dates, exactly, Tinder Social is meant to set up. While the company is positioning it as a way to meet more people and make new friends, the horny throngs are already celebrating (or mocking) Tinder’s pivot to orgy-facilitating hookup app.

@Tinder “Introducing Tinder Social,to socialise with more people around you”
1st group to show up “Let’s have an orgy”
Who saw that coming?

— Cameron Crossman (@cscstar6) April 27, 2016

On the other hand, the new feature does simplify things for at least one group of people: self-identifying polyamorists.

Tinder…social. So, orgies come to Tinder. And, actually, multiple partner relationsships? Kinda cool.

— Jolly Butternubs (@Riotcub) April 27, 2016

Via: Mashable

Source: Tinder

Watch the first full trailer for Oliver Stone’s Snowden biopic

Less than three years after Edward Snowden left the National Security Agency (NSA) and leaked thousands of classified documents, we’re getting our first theatrical depiction of his actions. Following a brief teaser last year, we’ve now got a full Snowden trailer showing Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the famous whistleblower. The edit gives a comprehensive overview of his life, starting with the military training that was cut short after Snowden broke both of his legs. It then shifts to his career with the NSA, his uncertainty with the government’s surveillance capabilities, and finally the decision to reveal its operations to the public through the press.

The film follows the Snowden documentary Citizenfour, which was put together by Laura Poitras. The new, dramatized version is being directed by Oliver Stone and features Nicolas Cage, Shailene Woodley and Zachary Quinto among its supporting cast. There’s a hint of promise in this new trailer — but similar to The Fifth Estate, Steve Jobs and The Social Network, we suspect the film’s creative liberties will make some people bristle.

Source: Snowden (YouTube)

iPhone Drops to 15% Market Share as Smartphone Market Goes Flat

The latest data from research firm IDC reveals that Apple’s smartphone market share dropped to 15.3 percent in the March quarter as the worldwide smartphone market fell nearly flat during the first three months of 2016.

Apple yesterday reported iPhone sales of 51.2 million during the three-month period ending March 26, compared to 61.2 million units and 18.3 percent market share in the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, overall smartphone shipments totaled 334.9 million during the quarter, a year-over-year increase of only 500,000 units.

Despite the plethora of new features found on the newer “S” models, current iPhone 6/6 Plus owners may feel that a 6S upgrade may not be warranted at the moment. Apple also announced the new iPhone SE, which looks to challenge similarly priced Android options in numerous emerging markets where Apple has traditionally been seen as too expensive.

Samsung continued to lead the market with 81.9 million smartphones shipped for 24.5 percent market share, down only slightly from 24.6 percent in the year-ago quarter. Huawei, OPPO, and Vivo rounded off the top five smartphone makers in the quarter as Chinese vendors continue to churn the top of the charts.

Huawei, which manufactures Google’s popular Android-based Nexus 6P smartphone, shipped 27.5 million handsets during the quarter for 8.2 percent market share as it attempts to compete with Apple and Samsung in the U.S. market and other regions beyond China. Its market share was 5.2 percent one year ago.

OPPO and Vivo, meanwhile, pushed out Lenovo and Xiaomi respectively for the fourth and fifth spots on the top smartphone vendors list.

Related Roundup: iPhone 6s
Tags: Samsung, IDC, Huawei
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone (Caution)
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Pizza Hut gives you delivery estimates before you order online

You know the score: you order from an unfamiliar pizza place and have little idea as to when your food will arrive until you’ve already made a purchase. Wouldn’t it be nice if you knew when that pie would show up before you spent your cash? Pizza Hut thinks it can help. It’s offering an estimated “Visible Promise Time” that tells you when your online order is likely to reach your door (or, for carry-out, when it’s ready) before you commit. The time varies based on the volume of orders, how many drivers are on hand and the typical drive time for your part of town. If you’re not sure that ordering at 6PM on a Friday is a wise idea, you’ll find out very quickly.

This is a marketing tool, of course. Pizza Hut hopes that the estimates will keep you coming back rather than leaving things to chance with companies that only tell you what to expect. However, it’s still a big deal — it shows that data can be used to improve the experience of something as simple as dinner. Don’t be surprised if other big delivery chains follow suit, since it’s doubtful that they’ll want to be seen as slowpokes.

Source: Pizza Hut

Google faces piracy accusation from Getty Images in Europe

Getty Images isn’t happy that Google search displays copyrighted full-screen, high-res photos. In the complaint it filed with the European Union’s antitrust commission, it accused Google of scraping images from third-party sources and promoting piracy, which is apparently hurting its business. The photo agency told Time that once people have already seen high-resolution photos through a Google search, “there is little impetus to view the image on the original source site.”

Getty Images’ general counsel Yoko Miyashita said that the company has been trying to negotiate with Mountain View for the past three years. The Big G, however, told the agency that its only options were to accept the new search layout or to opt out of Google Images altogether. Before its redesign in 2013, a search results page only showed thumbnails instead of high-resolution photos.

Miyashita said in a statement:

“Getty Images represents over 200,000 photojournalists, content creators and artists around the world who rely on us to protect their ability to be compensated for their work. Google’s behavior is adversely affecting not only our contributors, but the lives and livelihoods of artists around the word, present and future.”

This is far from being Google’s first dance with EU’s antitrust commission. The commission recently charged the tech titan for requiring manufacturers to pre-install the Search and Chrome apps on Android, as it believes the act stifled competition. In the past, it also charged the big G for using its status as the leading search engine to display its own products (like Google Shopping) more prominently in search results.

Ensuring a fair marketplace: why we’re lending our voice to proceedings against Google: https://t.co/MKnR3BxzDP #WorldIPDay

— Getty Images (@GettyImages) April 26, 2016

Source: Time

ICYMI: Bullet-stopping foam, all-terrain military car & more

Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers developed a new kind of armor called composite metal foam that’s stronger and lighter than the metals inside of it. DARPA is developing a military vehicle that should be able to travel over 95% of solid surfaces, and a Kickstarter project to explore the depths of the Yellowstone River has our attention, in light of the coral reef discovery outside of the Amazon River.

Make sure you send this video to your diehard Apple watch friend. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.

New software update fixes the Nextbit Robin’s sluggish camera

When the Nextbit Robin launched earlier this year, its auto-backup worked well but a few other things… well, they needed work. That’s where the company’s April update comes in. The new build packs Android 6.0.1, and with it comes a handful of security patches, plus 184 new emoji (like a middle finger) to gussy up your messages. More importantly, though, we’re also getting some much-needed improvements to the Robin’s audio and camera.

Once installed, you’ll start to hear meatier sound from the Robin’s twin front-facing speakers. It works better for some songs than others, obviously: EDM and rock feels more substantial, but lighter tracks sometimes sound thick to the point of being overly heavy. Most of the time, though, the speaker enhancements are welcome. You’ll hear those changes if you’ve got a decent pair of headphones too, which explains why Nextbit is teaming up with AiAiAi on a custom pair of TMA-2s meant to highlight punchy lows and crisp highs.

If you’re a Robin owner, you’ll probably get more mileage out of the update’s camera modifications. Between some under-the-hood tweaks and a cleaner interface, the difference is night and day: focusing and capturing shots are dramatically faster here than on the original Robin. We haven’t spotted any significant changes in image quality (though the company says low-light performance is better), but the boost in speed is plenty to get excited about. Bear in mind: when we first reviewed the Robin, it usually took over a second from screen-tap to photo-snap. Now it’s about twice as fast. Toss in some heat management tweaks that help the phone’s Snapdragon 808 run a little smoother, and one thing becomes immediately clear: this is the software the Robin should have shipped with.

‘Fallout 4’ gets official mod support on PC

Even before Fallout 4 was released, Bethesda was keen to stress that the latest instalment of the post-apocalyptic franchise would officially support mods. In February, it told us that PC support would arrive in April, and sure enough, it’s now delivered on that promise. The studio has released its first modding tool — called the Creation Kit — on Steam and launched a new hub where players can browse and download each others’ tweaks.

Bethesda stresses that the Creation Kit is the same tool it uses to create the core game. If you feel Fallout 4 is missing something, maybe a weapon or a flashy piece of armor, you can use the Kit to create it. Once they’ve been uploaded to Bethesda.net, other players can view the mods inside the game’s menu, rate them and install them without having to leave the game. Bethesda says it builds on the hundreds of third-party Fallout 4 mods that are already available by making them “easier and more accessible than ever before.”

To enable access on your PC, Bethesda says you’ll need to complete a couple of important steps. First, you’ll need to log into Steam and then right-click on Fallout 4 in your Library. After that, select Properties and Betas, and then select the beta from the drop down menu. The game should then update and re-appear as Fallout 4 [Beta] in your Library.

If you’re a console owner and eagerly waiting for mods to come to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, you won’t have too long to wait. Xbox One support will come in May, with PS4 tools following in June.

Source: Bethesda

Nintendo Launching ‘Animal Crossing’ and ‘Fire Emblem’ on Smartphones This Fall

Nintendo of America has announced that it will release two more smartphone games, based on its popular, long-running franchises Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem, later this year, as part of the Japanese company’s commitment to release five smartphone games by March 2017.

Nintendo fans are cautiously optimistic about the upcoming titles, which will not be direct ports of the console-based games but rather mobile-optimized spinoffs that could involve a series of in-app purchases. Nintendo declined to say whether the games will be free to download on the App Store.

Animal Crossing, based on a simulated world of animals, and Fire Emblem, a tactical RPG, are expected to be “more accessible” and “connected” versions of the traditional console-based games. The titles can currently be played on Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and multiple other Nintendo platforms.

As for the former app, while making it more accessible in comparison to the Fire Emblem games for Nintendo’s dedicated gaming systems, Nintendo aims to offer the great value of a role-playing strategy game. Nintendo will design the latter game so that it will be connected with the world of Animal Crossing for dedicated gaming systems. By playing both Animal Crossing games, users will find increased enjoyment.

Nintendo’s first iOS app Miitomo debuted on the App Store last month in partnership with Japanese developer DeNA. The social-based game allows players to create and customize avatars called “Miis,” chat with other players, play mini games to earn coins and tickets that can be used towards purchasing new outfits, and more.

Miitomo is believed to be off to a good start for Nintendo, earning the struggling game maker an estimated $280,000 per week in in-app purchases revenue, but the company’s most dedicated fans remain hopeful that it will eventually release smartphone games based on its most iconic franchises like Super Mario and Legend of Zelda.

For now, fans will have to make do with Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem.

Tags: Nintendo, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing
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