Deutsche Telekom to Offer Subscribers Six Months of Apple Music for Free
German carrier Deutsche Telekom is planning to lure new customers by offering six months of Apple Music service for free, reports iPhone-ticker.de [Google Translate]. Aimed at customers who have not yet tried Apple Music, the offer will be announced at IFA in Berlin, set to take place from September 2 to September 7.
According to the report, new Apple Music subscribers on Deutsche Telekom will get the standard three-month free trial and then an additional three months of service paid for by the carrier.
Following the conclusion of the six month trial period, customers will be able to continue their subscriptions and pay for them via their personal phone bill, making it easier to maintain a subscription. It is not known if Deutsche Telekom will only be covering individual subscriptions or if customers are also eligible for family plans.
For its Apple Music service, Apple offers extended three month free trial periods in an effort to get people accustomed to using the service, a longer trial period than the one month offered by most streaming services. Apple’s strategy has been somewhat successful, and as of June 2016, Apple Music had more than 15 million paying subscribers.
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Apple Dragged Into Lawsuit Involving Singer Ariana Grande
Canadian songwriter and producer Alex Greggs, who has worked with several renowned artists such as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and the late Michael Jackson, is suing Apple in a larger lawsuit filed against singer Ariana Grande, electronic artist David Guetta, publisher Universal Music Group, and others, according to court documents filed electronically this week.
Greggs claims that Grande’s single “One Last Time” from 2014 infringes upon the 2011 single “Takes All Night” by Skye Stevens, said to be the subject of a valid pending U.S. copyright registration in Gregg’s name. He added that the defendants had access to “Takes All Night” before composing “One Last Time,” and that it’s “highly likely” the songs were not created independently of one another.
Skye Stephens performed the song on tour and in live performances at festivals and in clubs throughout the United States and Canada in particular, and also appeared on numerous radio shows, in addition to promoting the song through social media. Moreover, the similarity between Takes All Night and One Last Time is so striking that it is highly likely the works were not created independently of one another.
Greggs accuses Apple, as the operator of iTunes, of failing to verify that Grande and the other defendants had reached copyright and synchronization license agreements, and other contractual agreements, with him prior to releasing “One Last Time” as a digital download on iTunes and for streaming on Apple Music. He filed a similar claim against Universal Music Group as distributor of the single.
Songwriter and producer Alex Greggs, left, and singer Ariana Grande
Greggs has demanded a jury trial with the U.S. District Court for Central California, and is seeking adequate monetary damages and a permanent injunction that would see “One Last Time” removed from iTunes, Apple Music, and other music distribution and streaming services. The complaint was filed in Santa Monica on Tuesday, and it will have to be accepted by a judge before proceeding.
Tags: lawsuit, iTunes
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macOS Sierra Code Confirms Thunderbolt 3 and 10Gb/s USB 3.1 Transfer Speeds in Future Macs
Code discovered within the macOS Sierra beta suggests the operating system will include support for second-generation USB 3.1 transfer speeds of up 10Gb/s, hinting at hardware upgrades that will be included in future Macs set to be released later this year.
Found in a localizable text string in macOS Sierra by 9to5Mac, the code points to support for “Super Speed Plus,” another name for the faster 10Gb/s USB 3.1 Gen 2 specification. Current Macs (and OS X El Capitan) only support current-generation USB 3.1, capable of reaching transfer speeds of up to 5Gb/s, so the obvious conclusion is that Apple is planning to add USB 3.1 Gen 2 support to its upcoming Mac machines.
Apple’s new Macs almost always include support for the latest USB and Thunderbolt specifications to maximize performance, so it should come as no surprise that Apple is planning the same upgrades for Macs to be released in 2016. Rumors have also previously suggested Thunderbolt 3, which includes support for 10Gb/s USB 3.1 and DisplayPort 1.2, will be introduced in Apple’s most highly anticipated machine due for a refresh, the MacBook Pro, so the code found today is in line with what we’d expect to see.
There is no word on when Apple plans to debut its new MacBook Pro, and if there are other Mac updates in the works, but it is rumored to be debuting before the end of the year, perhaps at an event set to be held in October or November. The machine is said to feature a thinner, redesigned body with an OLED touch panel and Touch ID support.
Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer’s Guide: Retina MacBook Pro (Don’t Buy)
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Best clear cases for the Galaxy Note 7
What are the best clear cases to show off your Galaxy Note 7
You just got your brand new Galaxy Note 7 and while you want to show it off, you also want to make sure it’s protected from scratches and scuffs. Some bulky opaque case that’ll turn your phone into a brick? Out of the question!
If you want to preserve the look and sleek feel of your new phone, you’re best bet is to get a clear case. That way you can keep your phone protected while still being able to show it off to all your friends. It’s the best of both worlds!
- Spigen Neo Hybrid Crystal
- Caseology Skyfall Series
- Trianium Clarium Series
- Spigen Ultra Hybrid S w/ metal kickstand
- Ringke FUSION Crystal Clear
Spigen Neo Hybrid Crystal
If you refuse to sacrifice style for protection — and vice versa — the Spigen Neo Hybrid Crystal lets you have it all.
This two-piece case consists of a clear TPU shell that shows off your phone’s design, and a polycarbonate bumper that adds an extra layer of protection if you happen to drop your phone on its edge. Spigen claims this case is Military Grade Drop Certified, putting it into a similar category as other more heavy duty options they provide. The TPU shell features air space technology in each corner that help to mitigate the shock from a drop, so along with the bumper your phone should be well protected from drops.
The Neo Hybrid Crystal also provides a 1.2mm lip of clearance around the screen, and a 1.4mm bezel around the camera on the back to keep them safe when you put your Galaxy Note 7 down on surfaces. The bumper is available in four stylish color options, each with precise cutouts at the bottom for easy access to the S-Pen, ports and speaker. And the case itself offers a bit more grip to help prevent the phone from slipping from your hands.
See at Amazon
Caseology Skyfall Series
Another clear option comes from Caseology, known for their stylish phone case. Their Skyfall Series features a 1.3mm TPU shell and a 1.5mm polycarbonate bumper, which is available in four stylish colours.
The bumper on this case wraps around the back edge of the phone a bit for enhanced sturdiness. There are precise cutouts for the volume and power buttons, which are made of hard TPU for good responsiveness and tactile feedback, which will come in handy when you need to quickly silence an alarm without everyone knowing it was you.
With big cutouts around the charging port and headphone jack, this case will easily accommodate all your accessories while ensuring your S-Pen is always accessible. And with air-space technology in the corners, the case’s dual-layer protection will keep your phone safe when it drops to the ground.
See at Amazon
Trianium Clarium Series
If pure minimalism is what you’re after, the Trianium Clarium Series case will offer you a clear view of your phone from every angle, while also offering protection guaranteed with a lifetime warrantee.
This case features a two-piece design, with a hard TPU shell and a rubberized bumper to help absorb the shock of any drop. Molded to hug your Galaxy Note 7 tight and protect it from scratches and scuffs, you’ll be able to show off your stylish new phone without worrying about it getting damaged. It’s also a very slim option, so you won’t be adding too much bulk.
See at Amazon
Spigen Ultra Hybrid S with kickstand
What? Another Spigen case on this list? Absolutely. Spigen offers a whole variety of clear cases, but what sets the Ultra Hybrid S apart from the others is the built-in kickstand. This added functionality is exceedingly rare in the clear case category, typically reserved for more heavy duty options.
The kickstand appears to be essentially the Spigen U100 universal kickstand Spigen we recently reviewed, which is made of metal and extremely easy to use.
Spigen went with a one-piece TPU shell design for this case, so it won’t offer as much protection as the two-piece options on this list. But with the kickstand allowing for easy media viewing and the TPU shell still providing full protection from any drops, scratches or scuffs, it’s a damn fine compromise to make in this case.
See at Amazon
Ringke FUSION Crystal Clear
Another trusted name in phone cases, Ringke offers the FUSION Crystal Clear case for your Galaxy Note 7. This case comes in two style options — Crystal Clear or Smoky Black — but regardless you go with, your phone’s beautiful design will always be on full display.
That’s due in part to Ringke’s claimed twice the clarity coating which they say enhances the original look of your Galaxy Note 7 without adding minimal bulk. With added TPU cushioning in the corners and certified military grade drop protection, this case will keep your phone protected and looking stylish. And if you ever get bored with looking at the backside of your phone, Ringke also includes a free DIY template for cutting out an image to place between your phone and your case, letting you express your creative side if you so choose.
See at Amazon
What do you think?
Is keeping your phone looking stylish as important as keeping it well-protected? Will you be picking up a clear case for your Galaxy Note 7? Let us know in the comments!
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
- The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
- Here are all four Note 7 colors
- Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
- Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!
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Celebrate the release of Nougat with these Nexus wallpapers!
It’s release week in Android land. It’s kinda like Christmas… if the presents took months to reach some of the good little geeks and nerds.
If you’re rocking Nougat right now, I’m happy for you. This is the benefit of buying a Nexus. For the rest of us, we’ll be waiting a little while for Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and the rest to get updates to our phones. Okay, some of us will be waiting a lotta while, but in the meantime, we’ve got a little piece of Nougat you can taste on your own device: a rocking new wallpaper, pulled from the Google Now Launcher that pushed with Nougat on the Nexus 6P and 5X.
It’s pink. It’s glorious. It’s dusky. And even though it’s not the most exciting wallpaper, it’s a wallpaper with a subtle grace and simplicity to add some class to your home screen.
Download: Dusk
I’m not entirely sure if this is sand or a coarse rock wall, but the lights and shadows at work here are breathtaking. I’d use two icon packs with this wall, one with the shadows and one with that beautiful golden rock.
Download: Sandy
This thin strip of sand along the deep, dark blue of the ocean is mesmerizing. It reminds me of trying to walk a delicate knife edge… Whether keeping balance or just remembering how thin the target you’re reaching for is, this wallpaper has you covered.
Download: Islet
As we navigate our lives, and the Android world, there’s always rocks we have to steer away from, and while lighthouses sometimes help, we all must be vigilant as we try to traverse our own oceans.
Download: Rocky
Waves are enigmatic things. Taming them is impossible. Riding them takes the experience and the faith to let it carry you away. Wave represent tension, conflict, and yet they are quite peaceful to watch, and especially to hear.
Download: Wave
Honor 8 is coming to Europe: First UK pricing and release info
New flagship Honor phone available from August 24, priced £369.99.
The latest high-end phone from the Huawei-owned Honor brand is officially coming to Europe. At an event in Paris today, Honor announced that the Honor 8 — recently unveiled to an American audience — will be available from today, Aug. 24, priced £369.99 in the UK. Huawei’s vMall outlet will get it first, along with an “anniversary package” of bundled goodies. In addition, the unlocked Honor 8 will be carried by the usual suspects, including Clove, Ebuyer, Expansys and Amazon. (Amazon’s throwing in a free Fire TV stick while stocks last.)
And on the carrier side, Three will offer the Honor 8 for sale “in the coming weeks.”
The Honor 8 brings many of the internals we’re already familiar with from the Huawei P9 family — Huawei’s high-end Kirin 950 chip, 4GB of RAM and a dual-camera setup combining both color and monochrome sensors for improved detail and clarity. Unlike the Huawei phone, the Honor 8 bears no Leica branding, but it appears to be much the same hardware on the inside. Naturally, Honor’s trademark fingerprint security makes a return, with another rear-mounted sensor.
The Honor 8 also sees the brand adopting a new metal-and-glass design language, with a metal trim sandwiched between two sheets of “2.5D” tapered glass. As Daniel Bader explains in our preview of the U.S. model, it’s a surprisingly compelling package.
I didn’t expect to be as impressed by the Honor 8 as I am. While I haven’t been able to do sufficient battery testing to determine whether the 3000mAh battery lives up to the competition, the phone has shown promise, refusing to drop below 20% in any of the days I’ve used the phone.
More than that, the Honor 8 consistently performs well, has a great screen, and captures fantastic photos, at a price that is sure to be significantly lower than the phone it is gunning for — the Galaxy S7.
The Honor 8’s launch price is a good bit higher than previous Honor phones, reflecting the improvements in build quality and higher-end internals than previous offerings such as the Honor 7 and 5X. The key difference between the U.S. and British pricing is that it’s more expensive than major rival OnePlus in the UK, whereas the American price tag of $399 exactly matches the OnePlus 3.
We’ll have more impressions on the European Honor 8 coming soon, as well as comparisons with its Huawei-branded brethren, so stay tuned. (We’re also updating our Instagram story live from the event, if you’re into that sort of thing.)
Honor 8
- Honor 8 hands-on
- Honor 8 specs
- Pre-order the Honor 8
- All the Honor 8 news
- Join the discussion in the forums
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The bottom line: Our quick verdict on the BlackBerry DTEK50
With a review headline that reads “cheap, secure and better than expected,” you might expect the device in question to have earned a high score. As it turns out, this is a BlackBerry we’re talking about, which is to say, “better than expected” doesn’t necessary mean you should actually buy one. The good news is that the new DTEK50 offers solid build quality at a reasonable price: just $299. For the money, you also get improved security over typical mid-range Android phones — a potential selling point for prospective business customers. While this is indeed a decent choice for IT departments, individual users can get more for their money at a similar or slightly higher price (read: faster performance, longer battery life and superior image quality). Basically, then, while the DTEK50 surpassed our admittedly modest expectations, you can still do better.
Moto Z’s Hasselblad camera add-on surfaces in fresh photos
When Motorola and Lenovo unveiled the Moto Z, they unveiled a host of MotoMods… except for one. Where was that camera add-on we’d seen in leaks? Apparently, it’s still coming — and it might be more than you were expecting. Moto G3 has come across community photos showing that the camera module is not only Hasselblad-branded as anticipated, but packs a 10X optical zoom lens. There aren’t any clues as to the sensor, alas, but we suspect that this is more likely to be a point-and-shoot quality (maybe mirrorless) sensor given the size, rather than Hasselblad’s signature medium format. You’ll be taking better photos than you would with the stock camera, then, but we wouldn’t count on magazine-quality Instagram shots.
If leaks are accurate, you won’t have to wait long for more details. The Hasselblad MotoMod may be announced at Germany’s IFA show, which officially starts on September 2nd. There aren’t any clues as to the price, but we can’t imagine that Hasselblad camera hardware will come cheap. We’d expect something in the ballpark of a previous photography add-on like Sony’s QX10, which cost about $230 when new.
Via: TechnoBuffalo, PetaPixel
Source: Moto G3
Dyson’s latest smart fan heats, cools and purifies the air
Dyson has expanded its lineup with The Pure Hot+Cool Link, a very expensive WiFi enabled fan that combines all the features of the Dyson Pure Hot+ Cool fan and Pure Cool Link. It can thermostatically cool, heat and purify the air, and connect with your home network. You can then control everything using the smartphone app introduced with the Pure Cool Link model.
The device sucks air in through the bottom and can either heat it with an element or cool you down using the so-called air multiplier technology. On the way, a HEPA glass filter scrubs 99.95 percent of harmful particles, including formaldehyde, dust, dead skin and pollen.
A built-in thermostat keeps the air temperature constant, Dyson says, though it’s not an air conditioner, so don’t expect it to save you on a super-hot day. The included app lets you tweak settings like fan speed and temperature, or set up a timer that it shuts off at night. It can also monitor air quality, and let you specify how often you want it to scrub the air. The app will notify you when it’s time to change the filter.
The Dyson Pure Hot+Cool Link fan will be available in the UK on September 5th for £500 and the US on September 6th for a (cool) $600. That’s $100 more than the Pure Cool Link model, but if you’re spending $600 on a fancy fan, that probably won’t phase you.
Why young-adult video games are thriving
In the recent hit game Inside, you play a child on the run through a mysterious and horrifying surveillance state straight out of 1984. Oxenfree stars a group of teenagers with a complicated history arriving at a spooky island for an ill-advised camping trip. Life Is Strange puts you in the shoes of a young girl at a boarding school with burgeoning time-warp powers and messed-up friends. The common thread among these three highly acclaimed indie games is obvious: They star youthful protagonists facing confusing coming-of-age moments in worlds tinted by magic and mystery. They’re what you might call “young adult” video games.
But these games — and popular “YA” works in other mediums, such as the Netflix series Stranger Things — tell us something about what YA has become. Over the past few years, “young adult fiction” has become less of a demographic for book readers, and more of a genre in its own right, like sci-fi or true crime. It used to be that young adult fiction was regarded strictly as books aimed at children aged 13 to 17, but many of those titles appeal to a much broader age range. In fact, young adult fiction is hugely popular among grown-ups too, with Nielsen reporting last year that over 80 percent of all YA book sales were made to adult readers.
With such broad appeal, it was inevitable the young adult genre would soon colonize film and television with massive multimillion-dollar franchises. Now YA has taken root in video games too — and it’s thriving.
What defines “young adult” as a genre? Settings span from high fantasy to science fiction to magical high schools, while a lot of stories are set in ordinary places with ordinary people. But there are two common elements. First, while any good story is about change, YA embraces a kind of all-consuming transformation as its core theme. It is, in essence, about leaving behind an old self and (sometimes reluctantly) embracing a (sometimes frightening) new one. You could call it growing up.
The second tenet of young adult is, of course, youthful protagonists. With young characters as its focus, the transformative moments — whether they’re about graduating high school, falling in love or leading a postapocalypse rebellion — are new to them as they enter a larger, more disorienting world. And the emotional stakes are therefore heightened: Sometimes falling in love or becoming unpopular really is the end of the world. The effect of these stories, when executed well, is that they stir emotions not just in young readers/viewers/gamers, but in adults as well, who might remember their own first encounters with this “young” kind of startling transformation.
Video games are in an ideal position to tap into the transformative power at the center of young-adult stories. This is partly thanks to the way video games demand that the player directly interact with and exert control over the characters. In Inside, you’re pushing your young child protagonist forever toward the right of the screen. He is pursued by dogs, murderous soldiers and plenty of other brutal obstacles, but the boy never stops pushing right. The child remains largely unknowable throughout his journey, but as you put together pieces of the story, you begin to see that this is — at the risk of spoilers — a journey of complete transformation from a young boy into … something else entirely.
The puzzle portions of Inside are more recognizably “video gamey,” but I think they detract from the experience. A far more subtle game mechanic is all Inside needs to invest the gamer with the story’s transformative core: pushing right on the control stick. In a side-scrolling video game, it’s inevitable that you push further and further right, even if you don’t understand why; even if you don’t want to. It’s like growing up. You have no choice. And Inside is fundamentally about the young boy’s lack of choice in becoming something else.
Oxenfree is blessedly lighter on puzzles. In the game, you control Alex, a young girl who stands on the precipice of major life changes with the recent passing of her brother and the introduction of her new stepfamily. Oxenfree is built around a unique gameplay mechanic: conversation. Usually, video game dialogue choices boil down to three Bioware-style choices: positive, negative or neutral. Instead, Oxenfree’s dialogue offers nuanced choices (a favorite line: “You think contemplating annihilation makes you special?”). Also, the conversation doesn’t wait for you; the other characters will move on with or without main character Alex’s participation. In this way, Oxenfree’s story is all about the navigation of complex, burgeoning relationships. Through your dialogue choices, you can steer Alex over the course of the game’s magical-realist events to become wiser and more mature by the end of the trip, or just more jaded.
Life Is Strange takes a more heavy-handed approach to conversation, with plenty of painfully awkward stabs at “hip” dialogue, but its earnestness has its own kind of endearing charm. More successful is its time-warp mechanic, which allows the main character, Max, to come to terms with choice and consequences. As the player, you steer Max as she travels back and forth through time, grappling with the realization that even seemingly simple choices can lead to major consequences for her and her friends. In the game, your actions shape the world that Max inhabits, and who she and her friends ultimately become.
A still from Life Is Strange.
These games strike markedly different tones: Life Is Strange is more earnest and didactic, like an after-school special, but is populated with several well-drawn characters, particularly Max’s troubled and rebellious best friend, Chloe. Oxenfree remains truer to the spirit of real-life teens, so much so that their web of relationships overshadows the light horror story that underpins it.
Inside, meanwhile, is a horror story that has more in common with Lars Von Trier than The Hunger Games, but nonetheless it crafts a unique young-adult story that’s effective only in the form of a video game. (This same story, I suspect, might be too much of a tough sell for even the most adventurous book publishers.)
In their marketing, these games were free from the baggage of demographic targets or any cynical big-budget Divergent-style franchise agenda. They have been exempt from any conversation about which bookshelf they would belong on, or what their MIAA rating would be. They were small, beautifully told stories marketed to all gamers, and warmly received by the press as fine examples of the medium. They are artistic creations that further establish “YA” as a genre, and not just a demographic.
AIVAnet 