Deezer’s family streaming plan is now available across Europe

Like most streaming services, music or otherwise, Deezer has a family plan that offers enough individual accounts to cover your whole household for a significantly discounted price. This particular subscription option, however, was previously exclusive to users in France and T-Mobile customers in the Netherlands, but as of today, it’s now available throughout Europe — apart from in Sweden, for whatever reason. For €15 or £15 per month, the family plan gets you six separate Premium+ accounts (€10/£10 on their own), each of which can be used across three devices.

Compared to Deezer’s free tier, a Premium+ account lets you listen to all of the service’s 40 million tracks in the highest quality on any device, as well as offline and without ads interrupting your session. The main benefit of the family plan, though, is that all members can build their own playlists and train Deezer’s various personalization and recommendation features without tainting each other’s accounts. That being said, subscribers do get a special “family mix” so parents can pretend they’re down with the kids, and the kids can hear what real music sounds like.

Despite Deezer recently launching in the US, finally entering the major market it had been notably absent from, the family plan isn’t available in the region yet, with no word as to when it might be.

Source: Deezer

U.S. unlocked Moto Z now up for pre-order for $699, shipping next week

You now have a choice beyond Verizon if you want the new Moto Z.

The Moto Z was announced to the world back in June. A little over a month later, it (and the Moto Z Force) hit Verizon. Two more months after that, we now have the U.S. unlocked version available for anyone to buy, regardless of their carrier affiliation. The price is $699, roughly equivalent to the price in the UK, which for those following along at home is $75 more than the “Droid Edition” of the phone. And just as a reminder, there’s no choice of getting a Moto Z Force unlocked — that huge-battery shatterproof model still remains exclusive to Verizon.

But if the idea of the svelte Moto Z with its MotoMod swappable components is appealing, and you want to use it on AT&T or T-Mobile (and their associated MVNOs), this is your choice.

As you’d expect you have the Moto Maker-style experience here, where you can choose to include some Mods during the shopping process. Moto has the battery backs for $60-90 each, the speaker for $80 and your choice of the projector or Hasselblad camera mod for $300 each. Interestingly, at the time of writing the simple $20-25 Style Shells are not available to order — though you get the “charcoal ash” wood Style Shell in the box with your order. If you add some Mods and your shopping cart starts tipping north of $1000, you may consider Moto’s nice 0% financing options as well.

Though Moto is technically listing the unlocked Moto Z as a “pre-order,” going through the ordering process we’re seeing a delivery time for September 30, which is just a week away. Presumably if you load up your order with some extra Mods or wait a couple days you’ll be dipping into early October. Waiting for nearly four months to get a Moto Z after it was unveiled is mighty frustrating, for sure, but if you’ve held out, now is your time to drop the cash and get the latest from Moto.

See at Motorola

Moto Z & Moto Z Force and Moto Z Play

• Our Moto Z review!
• Moto Z Play preview
• The Hasselblad True Zoom is a Mod to remember
• Moto Z specs
• Moto Mods custom backs
• The latest Moto Z news
• Discuss in our Moto Z forums

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Evening brief: Android apps hit Chrome OS and Samsung’s Milk Music goes sour

The day’s latest Android news, now with more green battery icons and one fewer music streaming service.

Another day, another evolution of the Galaxy Note 7 recall situation. But this is good news this time around — U.S. Note 7s are getting the new software update that will give recalled Note 7 owners additional warnings about using their phone, and change the battery icon green on new safe Note 7s. Good news all around.

On the other side of things, if you chose to return your Note 7 for a full refund, you can now drop that hefty sum of money on an unlocked Moto Z or Xperia XZ — you’ll pay $699 for either one. Or maybe you’ll save a bit of money and buy a Chromebook instead — two more models have access to the Play Store in the Chrome OS stable channel

Let’s all take a minute to pour one out, as Samsung also finally killed off Milk Music — which let’s be honest was probably the best thing to happen at this point. As you collect yourself from that sad news, read on for the rest of the happenings from the day!

Samsung’s green battery icon update in hitting North American Note 7s

Samsung and its carrier partners have begun rolling out an important update for new and recalled Note 7s, adding a green battery icon and other explicit indicators for devices with certified new batteries. Those stubbornly holding onto recalled, potentially dangerous Note 7s will have to deal with warning messages every time they start up or shut down. More

U.S. unlocked Moto Z now available for $699

If you managed to hold out nearly four months after the announcement of the Moto Z, you can now buy a U.S. unlocked model. The price is steep, but then again you don’t have to deal with Verizon. More

Sony’s new Xperia XZ is also $699

On October 2 you’ll be able to buy the U.S. unlocked model of the Xperia XZ, Sony’s latest flagship. It has a flagship price, and mostly a flagship experience … but for some reason doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor in the U.S. Puzzling. More

LeEco is making a big push into the U.S. with former Huawei executive hire

LeEco, a Chinese company famous for its eclectic product lineup, including phones (obviously), TVs, movie production, music streaming, and sports teams, has just hired Richard Ren to run its Smart Devices business in North America and Europe. LeEco made headlines a few weeks ago when it purchased Vizio for $2 billion.

Samsung Milk Music goes sour

September 22 marks the final song for Samsung’s poorly-received Milk Music streaming product. Powered by Slacker, it was announced a month ago that the service would be shutting down. All existing subscribers are being offered a free two-week trial of Slacker Plus, which normally costs $3.99 and is similar to Pandora. Slacker also offers a $9.99 a la carte tier that competes with Spotify.

Android apps available through the stable Chrome OS channel … on two Chromebooks

It’s not the wide roll-out we were hoping for, but the Play Store is now officially available on two Chromebooks, the Acer Chromebook R11 and Asus Chromebook Flip, which means (slightly) more people will be able to use the feature. More

Canada’s Interac is a bonafide debit success

It’s not a household name outside of Canada, but Interac is one of the most successful and widely-used debit networks in the world. The company has announced that last year it processed 105 million transactions, valued at $44 billion, and has since added support for mobile payments through its Token Service Provider (TSP) platform.

Yahoo confirms state-sponsored hack stole 500 million users’ data: Were you affected?

Yahoo has announced that it was the victim of a “state-sponsored” hack.

The hack, which actually occurred two years ago and is thought to be the largest internet theft on record, has resulted in the personal data and account data of at least half a billion users being stolen from its networks. While we already knew Yahoo had been hacked, the sheer number of accounts affected is new information, and so isn’t the revelation that the hack was “state-sponsored”.

The timing of this confirmation is interesting, because Yahoo is currently trying to sell most of its internet operations to the telecommunications giant Verizon, in a $4.8 billion deal first announced in July. Verizon said it was notified of the breach two days ago. Here’s everything you need to know about the state-sponsored hack, including whether your account was affected.

Yahoo hack: What happened and when?

Yahoo said Thursday an investigation confirmed that information associated with 500 million user accounts was stolen from the company in late 2014 in a “state-sponsored” hack, and that users should take steps to protect themselves.

Yahoo hack: Which state hacked Yahoo?

Yahoo did not confirm which nation state it believes orchestrated the hack, though it found no evidence that the state-sponsored actor is currently in its network. The FBI announced it is aware of the hack and is investigating.

In a statement, the FBI said, “The compromise of public- and private-sector systems is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”

Yahoo hack: Which Yahoo properties were affected?

Yahoo has 1 billion users around the globe. About 250 million use Yahoo Mail, while Flicker has 113 million, and several hundred million use Tumblr. About 81 million use Yahoo Finance, and tens of millions use Yahoo Fantasy Sports. Yahoo specifically said no Tumblr accounts were affected, but some Flickr accounts were, and in some cases, user’s Flickr and Yahoo IDs are linked, so it is now reaching out to those users.

Yahoo did not say where the affected users are located around the world, and it’s unclear which Yahoo properties were breached. Yahoo is encouraging users to review their Yahoo accounts for suspicious activity and to change their password and security questions and answers. It is also recommending users do this for any other accounts – like Facebook – that use the same information.

Yahoo hack: What exactly was stolen?

Yahoo said personal and account information “like names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, [encrypted] passwords… and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers” were breached in the hack. It appears banking information is safe.

Yahoo hack: Were you affected?

Yahoo is sending an email notice to users it believes may have been affected, and more information is available on its website. Still, Yahoo is asking potentially affected users to immediately change their password and security questions.

Yahoo hack: What should you do now?

Check your email. Yahoo is notifying potentially affected users by email, so check to see if you received one of those notices.

Review your account activity. Yahoo offers a Recent activity feature that shows the the times/locations of each sign-in to your account, which can help you determine if there’s been unauthorized access. Here’s how to use it.

Change your information. Immediately change your Yahoo account password as well as your Yahoo account security questions and answers – even if you don’t think your data was stolen. Here’s how to do it.

Enable two-factor authentication. Two-factor requires you to have your smartphone handy when you log in to your Yahoo account, because it will send you a code via SMS, which you need to enter along with your password when trying to gain access to your Yahoo account. That means a hacker will need more than just your password to get access, too. Here’s how to do it.

Alternatively, use Yahoo’s Account Key. This feature basically replaces written passwords with a smartphone app. It’s like an alternative to two-factor authentication. Here’s how to do it.

Want to know more?

Breaking and related news is available from Pocket-lint’s Yahoo hub. 

BBC looks to the future of television with Holographic TV prototype

The BBC has often been at the forefront of new broadcast technologies, trialling 3D, virtual reality and 4K programming long before many others.

All three have either made it into the public sphere or are on the immediate horizon – and one has even been and gone. Now the Beeb is casting an eye on another entertainment tech that it could end up making content for: holographic TV.

As part of its work on exploring emerging technologies, the BBC has trialled content from its archive on a working prototype of a holographic television. It used existing tech and simple techniques to create 3D imagery that seemed to float in the air.

What it came up with was a rather low-fi holographic solution, but it showed how a concept that seems outlandish now could work with further development.

The BBC team behind the prototype took a 46-inch TV, laid it flat and made a simple acrylic pyramid that it balanced in the centre. It used old Victorian theatre techniques to then project images onto the sides, using the expertise of MDH Hologram, which, when combined, created a single floating holographic picture.

It works best when ambient lighting in the room is at a minimum and the physical size of the flat TV determines the overall size of the hologram, but test subjects were impressed by the end results.

A fully working holographic TV is clearly a long way off yet, but we applaud the BBC for starting the ball rolling. You can read more about it on a dedicated blog on BBC.co.uk.

Flybrix is a do-it-yourself flying drone kit that uses Lego pieces

Ever wanted to build a drone from scratch? Well, now you can using Lego.

Flybrix is offering a unique, do-it-yourself drone kit, which is based on the idea that if you crash your drone, you can rebuild it and make it airborne again within minutes. This is all possible because the Flybrix’s drone is mostly made from Lego pieces. They aren’t officially affiliated, but Flybrix is compatible with the toy brand, allowing you to make use of your Lego collection in a new way.

Not only can you customise the construction and look of your aerial craft using Lego, but you can get other parts from Flybrix to add more motors, whether it be four, six, or eight, thus enhancing your drone’s flight capabilities. The Flybrix kit starts at $149 and comes with all the components you need to get flying out-of-the-box, but for $40 more you can get a deluxe kit that allows you to build “quad, hex, and octo airframe designs”.

The deluxe kit also comes with the Flybrix Radio Control Expansion Pack. It’s a physical RC controller (costs $80 on its own) that adds the “traditional R/C joystick flying experience”, according to Flybrix. However, both available kits work with complementary Flybrix iOS and Android app, allowing you to pilot your custom Lego drone via your mobile device.

Check out Flybrix’s promo video below for more details.

Satellite tracking for airliners may help prevent disappearances

The fact that a passenger airliner can disappear without a trace is still pretty difficult to comprehend. Two companies are looking to bring a new satellite tracking solution to market that they say will prevent mysterious disappearances like that of Malaysia Airlines MH370 in 2014. Rather than beaming location info to stations on the ground, those details are sent to satellites with the Aireon GlobalBeacon system. The technology is being developed alongside flight tracking service Flight Aware and the duo is targeting 2018 for the system to be operational.

GlobalBeacon will employ ADS-B low-orbit satellites from Iridium Communications to track flights. The system will provide airlines with near real-time details on planes through a web-based tool. Aireon’s new tech was originally meant to provide air traffic controllers a way to improve efficiency when routing flights, but Flight Aware plans to debut a tracking product next week at the same time the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) meets in Montreal. The ICAO will require a 15-minute standard for location updates on normal flights by 2018 with more frequent pings in the case of an emergency.

This isn’t the first time a company has suggested using satellite tracking for airliners. Inmarsat proposed free global tracking with its satellites for airlines back in 2014, a couple months after MH370 disappeared. Panasonic Avionics is also lending its equipment through AirMap, another web-based tracking tool that offers custom alerts for things like turbulence, sudden drops in altitude or a derivation from the flight path. It also allows an airline to establish contact with a plane via text or voice messages and can provide updates on a minute-by-minute basis.

Source: Reuters