A lighter version of Google Play Music is now available for Android

There’s also evidence of an alarm clock feature coming soon.

Google Play Music version 7.4 boasts a ton of helpful updates that will surely please those of you who utilize the service daily.

The size of the actual Play Music store app has been reduced by ten percent, though at 18MB, it’s still a hefty app. Google also added a Recents option to the main menu of the Play Music app, so you can easily jump to your last jam session with a few taps rather than having to dig into the app for your preferred track.

In an APK teardown, Android Police found evidence for potential Clock access. Remember the CD alarm clocks of the early aughts? Play Music integration with the Clock app would be along the same lines. You could program the Clock app to wake you up to a song of your choice. Unfortunately, this feature doesn’t appear to be live yet.

The Google Play Music update is rolling out to a device near you — hopefully soon to the smartphone that’s in your hand.

Spotify is getting into the content game with its own original podcasts

The music service’s first episode of its first original podcast is available to listen to today.

The Spotify Originals, as they’re called, are a family of podcasts that’ve been greenlighted by the green-logo’d music service. The first three titles — Showstopper, Unpacked, and The Chris Lighty Story (working title) — are different series that explore music’s impact on society. Here’s a quick, abridged rundown on what each of these podcasts are about as I’ve interpreted from the official press release:

• Showstopper: This is the one that’s already available. It’s about TV shows and their music soundtracks.

• Unpacked: This Spotify podcast focuses on the creative communities built around music festivals, and goes live on March 14. Broad City’s music supervisor and Spotify’s Michele Santucci travel around the world interviewing very creative people. And they kick things off by covering South by Southwest.

• The Chris Lighty Show: This is the working title. It could be anything else by the time the podcast premieres in April. This show is about how Chris Lighty shaped the careers of some of hip hop’s greatest artists, including Missy Elliot, Foxy Brown, and — before he was P.Diddy — Puff Daddy.

Weirdly, there’s no immediately obvious podcast landing page of any sort to advertise these new Spotify Originals, but I managed to find one by typing in “Showstopper Podcast.” You could also just click here to launch it in your Spotify app.

Uh-oh! If your Google Wifi went crazy this evening you’re not alone

It’s not you, it’s your router.

Seeing a blue blinking light but no Wi-Fi from your Google Wifi or OnHub router tonight? Plenty of other people are.

Something has happened that has caused a number of folks to lose Wi-Fi abilities on their Google router, and we’re not yet sure what it might be. Users report a power reset and when things start back up wired access works but wireless communication doesn’t. Wireless access is pretty important for a Wi-Fi router.

Google Wi-Fi support techs are aware of the issue and say they are investigating right now. In the meantime, if you can’t wait for Google you can factory reset or remove your router from the app and set things up again to get back where you started.

We can confirm that an update was sent out today, but our units are working fine. This certainly sounds like an update issue, but we’ll have to wait and see what Google finds out. Hopefully soon.

Orbitsound wants its new audio system to be the only One you need

British audio company Orbitsound has announced its first ever one-box audio system, complete with integrated subwoofer. Called the One, Orbitsound’s latest audio product can be placed in a variety of positions and orientations – Orbitsound has three in mind – without affecting the sound quality. It’s relatively compact at 70cm x 17.2cm x 7.5cm (w,d,h), so you shouldn’t have much problem finding a home for it and the combination of a steel and wood build gives it a rather sleek finish.

The driver and hardware array behind the grille allows the One to be placed in any of the three proposed listening positions: lying flat, standing vertically on a shelf, or wall-mounted by a TV, where it can act as a soundbar via a single digital optical cable, to improve the sound for your movies and TV shows.

• Orbitsound One P70 preview: Compact, affordable soundbar mixes good looks with TV-boosting sound

The 5.25in integrated subwoofer promises to deliver deep, booming bass, while four 2in drivers take care of the mid- and high-frequencies. Orbitsound has also employed its own airSound technology that claims to add extra width and space from the speaker, to help eliminate the so-called “sweet spot” in a room.

We’ve already mentioned you can connect your TV to the One via an optical cable – if you do want to wall-mount it, you can do so with the included kit – but you can also wirelessly stream music via Bluetooth or connect legacy devices via a 3.5mm auxiliary lead.

Orbitsound managing director Daniel Fletcher said: “Most sound systems that are wall mountable, position the drivers at an angle to increase the coverage of possibilities, but the experience is compromised as all listening happenes predominantly off-axis. However the One is uniquely different with 2 ‘front speakers’ working together to create an uncompromised vertical coverage”.

“AirSound takes care of the horizontal dispersal and the result is a soundfield with no dead spots, thus creating a large spectrum for an immersive, room-filling listening experience while maintaining crisp and centred vocals”.

The Orbitsound One will be available from 27 February in black for £299. White and light wood finishes being available later in the year.

Orbitsound One P70 preview: The compact, affordable soundbar

British-based audio company Orbitsound has unveiled a new soundbar, the One P70. At its £299 price point it’s very well positioned to undercut some of the big-boy competitiors and deliver TV-boosting sound.

But that’s not all the P70 can do, for it’s been designed to be used in three different ways: pop it flat under a TV to act as a soundbar; wall-mount it (everything is included in the box); or flip it 90-degrees to face upwards and act as a tabletop speaker. It’s a soundbar one minute, a standalone speaker the next (the logo can even pop-out to be flipped by 180-degrees so it’s always the right way up).

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Because Orbitsound has mounted two central 2-inch drivers at 90-degrees the One P70 gives a broad spread of sound both horizontally (around 120-degrees) and vertically. There’s also a 5.25-inch subwoofer integrated within to give the bass extra kick, while two additional side-mounted 2-inch drivers ensure a wide spread of audio. Ideal for all-encompassing sound for you and your fellow TV-watchers/music-listeners.

Ahead of its launch we got to listen to the fairly compact soundbar (it’s 700 x 172 x 75mm) and the added grunt from that woofer added bags of extra life to the Star Wars Rogue One trailer compared to a standard TV offering. It’s not going to deliver the lowest sub-bass like a standalone 10-inch unit would, but the whole point of this all-in-one unit is to keep things compact and attractive – no separate box in the corner.

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It’s a good looking unit too: we think Orbitsound has come a long way in the last five or so years when it comes to design; the P70 finished in bamboo is our particular favourite, or there are white and black options. The metal grille has a tight mesh and quality look and feel to it too.

Part of the One P70’s overall appeal is that it doesn’t overcomplicate things. Around back there’s a recessed opening with optical and 3.5mm Aux inputs, next to the power socket. That, plus Bluetooth wireless connectivity, is your lot when it comes to connections.

Controls are positioned to the side, or there’s a soft-touch, rubber-like coated controller included in the box to take control of things.

Pocket-lint

There’s no HDMI, but this is, according to Orbitsound, to avoid the associated costs – and that it would give no advantage to audio quality because of the way the company’s AirSound technology processes incoming signals (there’s no 5.1 surround, for example, it’s not plausible with this setup). HDMI might be missed if you wanted to plugin multiple devices, but that’s the only instance we can think of.

That not overcomplicating nature only leaves one element of the design that we’re less keen on: the volume panel has rather crude LED lights that we think should appear more diffused or be a small LCD panel for more complex feedback/animations. The lights on the earlier A70 Airsound Bar look more complete, for example.

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Even so, given that the near competition can often cost twice the price of the One P70, Orbitsound has savvily targeted its market. Good looks, good sound, multiple functionality and everything you need included in the box. Can’t say better than that.

The Orbitsound One P70 will be available from 27 February in black for £299. The white and bamboo wood finishes will be available later in the year for the same price.

Lenovo to launch 12 Moto Mods in 2017 that’ll work with future phones

Lenovo wants you to know that it still likes the whole modular phone thing, and that more Moto Mods are coming.

Lenovo’s Moto Z line, which released in 2016, has a modular design, but with LG ditching modular smartphones after just one attempt, many have wondered if Lenovo would follow suit, making existing Moto Mods essentially outdated after just a year. Well, Lenovo has just confirmed that isn’t the case. It’s working on new modular smartphones and new Moto Mods that will work with those phones.

“The company will introduce 12 mods this year, which will remain compatible with the phones to be introduced by the company over the next three years,” Sharay Shams, Lenovo’s general manager of Middle East for smartphones, told The Express Tribune. He also said, so far, Lenovo has sold three million units of the Moto Z smartphone, and that 50 percent of people bought the phones with a mod.

• Motorola Moto Z review: A modular muddle

Motorola Mobility launched the Moto Z line with three Moto Mods: the JBL SoundBoost speaker, Insta-Share Projector, and Hasselblad True Zoom. The attachment of mods, such as the projector, converts the smartphone into a projector that can deliver a presentation, run videos, or display photographs on a 70-inch-or-wider wall. We’ve seen more compatible Moto Mods popping up on crowdfunding sites.

There has also been some Moto Mods Hackathons held around the world in an attempt to boost Moto Mods innovation. It’s clear that modular phones aren’t dead, even if LG is scrapping the idea for its next flagship. Lenovo wasn’t specific about what kind of mods or phones we can expect in the future, but at least you know your existing Moto Z and its mods aren’t going to become irrelevant any time soon.

Spotify gets into podcasting with three music-themed shows

Spotify dipped its toes into podcasting in 2015 by adding pre-existing programs to its lineup. Now it’s getting into content creation and rolling out its own shows. The company is launching three original podcasts, and it says that’s just the start.

The first of the new programs, Showstopper, is available now and features The Fader editor in chief Naomi Zeichner talking with music supervisors from TV shows like Stranger Things and Scrubs. The bi-weekly podcast offers commentary and insight on noteworthy music moments in television history.

A second show, Unpacked, will debut on March 14. Broad City music supervisor Matt FX and Spotify Studios’ Michele Santucci will host and travel to festivals across the US for interviews with “all manner of creative folks.” The third show, which follows a more narrative format, premieres in April and has the working title The Chris Lighty Story. The subject is an executive who worked with rappers like 50 Cent and LL Cool J before passing away due to an apparent suicide.

Spotify is trying to differentiate itself in a crowded streaming market. In recent months, Pandora started offering a Spotify-like premium service, while Tidal introduced audio editing tools and Apple Music is working on original video series like The Late Late Show with James Corden spinoff Carpool Karaoke.

The company has recruited established entities in the podcasting world to help their new venture go smoothly. Showstopper is produced in partnership with Slate and Panoply Studios, the latter of which is home to shows like Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History and many others. Meanwhile, The Chris Lighty Story got a helping hand from Gimlet Media, a self-described “narrative podcasting company,” and Loudspeaker Network, which features shows about hip-hop, geek culture, sex and other topics.

Spotify says that more programs will be announced later this year. Although this is its first concentrated push into original podcasts, Spotify is no stranger to the format. The streaming service previously partnered with Mic and Headcount.org last year for Clarify, an audio and video series that explored the relationship between music and political issues.

Source: Spotify

Transgender protection rollback sparks opposition from tech

On Wednesday, the Trump administration announced that it would roll back federal protections for transgender citizens and require states and local school boards to decide how (or, more accurately, whether) they would enforce these people’s civil rights. Given that Silicon Valley tech companies routinely portray themselves as paragons of diversity and tolerance, these companies would surely be equally incensed at the government’s current attempts to regulate where children can pee. However, the responses so far have failed to directly address the president’s recent actions, instead generally relying on passive statements that extol their valuation of diversity and inclusion.

When asked for comment, a Google spokesperson replied “We’ve long advocated for policies that provide equal rights and treatment for all. We’re deeply concerned to see a roll-back in transgender students’ rights.”

Facebook, which gently chastised the Trump administration over its immigration ban, told us that it “is a strong supporter of equality. We stand for ensuring equal rights for everyone, including transgender students, and will continue to advocate for more rights instead of fewer.”

AirBnb, which vowed to help 100,000 people stranded by the Republicans’ immigration ban, simply pointed us to a recent tweet by Chris Lehane, the company’s head of policy.

We want 2 create a world where anyone including those in the LGBTQ community can belong anywhere & oppose these kinds of divisive policies

— Chris Lehane (@chrislehane) February 23, 2017

Similarly, PayPal’s CEO, Dan Schulman provided this stock response, despite cancelling the construction of a 400-job Ops Center in North Carolina following the passage of HB2.

PayPal is committed to preserving human rights and advancing the principles of inclusion and equality that are at the core of our values. We seek to defend against discrimination and actions that violate our values, and we work with communities, regulators, and governments around the world to foster inclusion, understanding and empower the best of human potential.

An IBM spokesperson simply noted that “IBM has had an explicit policy of non-discrimination based on gender identity or expression since 2002, and we are opposed to discrimination in all its forms, including any policies that discriminate based on gender identity in education.” The company was one of hundreds that signed a letter disavowing the government’s immigration ban.

Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich posted this tweet:

Inclusion and diversity are fundamental to creating a successful biz & world. We stand with @HRC in the fight to #ProtectTransKids

— Brian Krzanich (@bkrunner) February 23, 2017

Finally, a GitHub spokesperson told Engadget,

GitHub is dedicated to the creation of safe, inclusive spaces and communities–both in the digital world, and in the real world. We are committed to supporting our community including the transgender community and enabling others to support as well. For those looking for resources, or a way to contribute, Refuge Restrooms is an open source project being built on our platform to index safe restrooms for transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals.

We also reached out to Apple but did not hear back. However the company did tell Axion yesterday, “Apple believes everyone deserves a chance to thrive in an environment free from stigma and discrimination. We support efforts toward greater acceptance, not less, and we strongly believe that transgender students should be treated as equals. We disagree with any effort to limit or rescind their rights and protections.”

We also contacted Twitter for comment as well as Lionsgate films, the NBA and NCAA — all of whom were vocal opponents of the HB2 legislation — but have yet to hear back as of the time of this post’s publication.

These statements are noticeably less forceful than those following the passage of HB2 in North Carolina, a law that required people to use the restroom corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates in government buildings. In the wake of that controversy, everyone from the NCAA to Bruce Springsteen, PayPal to Apple vowed to boycott the the state.

There is little indication that these companies, aside from GitHub, have plans to take proactive steps in response to this announcement. Granted, pushing back against a piece of state legislation is more straightforward than taking on a White House announcement regarding the interpretation of an existing law. It’s one thing to boycott the state of North Carolina but another entirely when the federal government itself decides to take a laissez faire approach to civil rights.

Alphabet sues Uber over Waymo’s self-driving car tech

Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous car business, has sued Uber for stealing crucial technical information about its self-driving technology. Waymo’s lawsuit targets Otto, a promising self-driving truck startup that Uber acquired in mid-2016. As we noted in August, Otto was founded and staffed by former Google employees, including Anthony Levandowski.

“We found that six weeks before his resignation this former employee, Anthony Levandowski, downloaded over 14,000 highly confidential and proprietary design files for Waymo’s various hardware systems, including designs of Waymo’s LiDAR and circuit board,” Waymo writes.

Waymo argues its self-driving car technology hinges on a custom-built LiDAR — “Light Detection and Ranging” — system, which allows the vehicles to “see” the world in 3D. Building this tech apparently took millions of dollars and thousands of hours.

As Waymo tells it, the company recently received an “unexpected” email from one of its LiDAR suppliers.

“Waymo was recently — and apparently inadvertently — copied on an email from one of its LiDAR component vendors,” the company’s lawsuit reads. “The email attached machine drawings of what purports to be an Uber LiDAR circuit board. This circuit board bears a striking resemblance to Waymo’s own highly confidential and proprietary design and reflects Waymo trade secrets.”

Waymo claims that just before he left the company, Levandowski snuck into the design server and downloaded 9.7 GB of “highly confidential files and trade secrets, including blueprints, design files and testing documentation.” That’s 14,000 files in total.

Levandowski didn’t act alone, according to Waymo.

“A number of Waymo employees subsequently also left to join Anthony Levandowski’s new business, downloading additional Waymo trade secrets in the days and hours prior to their departure,” the lawsuit alleges.

Levandowski is the founder of 501 Systems, a self-driving startup that Google bought in the early days of its own self-driving car project. After leaving Google, he co-founded Otto with Lior Ron, who was the head of Google Maps for three years. The pair launched Otto in May 2016 and Uber bought it in August of that same year for $680 million. Waymo claims theft of its proprietary LiDAR files earned Otto employees more than $500 million.

We’ve reached out to Uber for its statement on the lawsuit.

Source: Waymo, Complaint

‘Skullgirls’ heads to iOS and Android this spring

Popular fighting game Skullgirls has been released on almost every other modern platform; now it’s time to play it on your smartphone. Originally teased last July, the free-to-play version of this fan-favorite title is slated to arrive in Spring 2017 for both iOS and Android devices.

The mobile version of Skullgirls was developed by Hidden Variable Studios (best known for its hit number puzzle game Threes). The new iteration was designed as a pared-down experience compared to the the console version, which should match the more truncated playstyle of mobile gamers. Skullgirls mobile will include leveling systems (like an RPG), team and deck-building mechanics and a Fight Assist mode that will allow players to take on more of a tactical, bigger-picture role using these auto-battle settings.

The original Skullgirls title, released by developer Lab Zero in 2013, was a more traditional fighting game that could be played using specialized controllers. It received high review scores from both critics and gamers. Even if a free-to-play version might not please fans of the more hardcore original, Skullgirls could in fact do well on mobile. Its developer has a proven track record and the IP has solid indie cred.

As for when exactly the game will show up on your phone, the developers are playing it safe. Even though they’ve said it would be available this spring, they’ve declined to share specific launch dates or even which markets Skullgirls mobile will appear in first.

Source: Hidden Variable Games