Spotify is limiting free streaming for its own good

It’s no secret that labels and artists aren’t thrilled that their music is available free on ad-supported streaming services. Taylor Swift famously pulled her catalog from Spotify due to its decision to give full on-demand streaming to customers who weren’t paying for a monthly subscription. And she’s not the only one. The debate over streaming royalties has been going on for a while now. That’s on top of the issues free options raise — chief among them is artist compensation. When it comes to Spotify’s decision to cede on free streaming, it was a matter of when, not if, this would happen to appease the labels.

As part of its new licensing deal with Universal, artists on the label will have the option of making releases exclusive to paying Spotify customers for the first two weeks. However, new singles will still be available for anyone using the streaming service. That means if Katy Perry drops a new song and everyone is tweeting about, you won’t be left wondering what all the fuss is over. Spotify didn’t disclose any financial terms, but reports mention the streaming service may pay reduced royalties in exchange for caving on the free tier.

“Today, streaming represents the majority of the business. Our challenge is transforming that upturn into sustainable growth,” explained Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge. “In a market this dynamic, one evolving more rapidly than ever before, success requires creative and continual re-evaluation of how best to bring artists’ music to fans.”

It’s no secret that streaming is the music industry’s biggest earner. Streaming sales surpassed CDs for the first time in 2015 and a year later, it topped all forms of music consumption. For months now, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has reported streaming is providing artists? The industry? a much-needed financial boost . In fact, the governing body announced last week that streaming in 2016 helped the industry see its best growth since 2009. This means the labels have to be willing to make deals that ensure streaming continues to grow while still protecting their own bottom line.

“At UMG, we’ve not only reimagined distribution models and technologies, but entire business models. The only constants must be great music and fair compensation for artists and creators,” Grainge continued. “To that end, the long-term success of Spotify, and others like it, is essential to the ecosystem’s enduring health.”

Sure, streaming is helping financially, but it’s also providing a massive marketing push. Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station has turned into a massive promotion tool for artists. The Verge recently detailed the ties between the internet radio station, a show that Drake hosts on a regular basis and the fact that his most recent album shattered streaming records. Of course, Apple Music doesn’t have a free a la carte streaming option, but Beats 1 radio is available to stream at no cost. Spotify doesn’t have its version of hosted internet radio, but those singles and other content, like Spotify Sessions and video, go a long way in terms of getting the word out.

Universal isn’t the only label Spotify has to come to terms with. The company faces new deals with both Sony and Warner Music Group, which means this week’s agreement could serve as a template for those talks. If it does, it’s possible that that most of the high-profile releases would be limited to Spotify Premium for the first two weeks after they’re released. If you’re already a Spotify customer, you’re well aware of the two-week wait that Apple Music exclusives typically demand. It’s unclear if that means the likes of Drake and others will have the option of holding their music from the free tier for a full month if they decide to give Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue first dibs.

Wiz Khalifa and The Chainsmokers perform (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Spotify)

It’s in Spotify’s best interest to get these deals locked down quickly. The company is hoping to finally go public this year, and it will have an easier time attracting investors with long-term licensing agreements in place for its massive streaming library. While reports initially suggested the company would go the IPO route, the latest rumblings indicate it may opt for a direct listing instead. That move wouldn’t make stock available ahead of time or require any additional funds and underwriters to put out new blocks of stock. This licensing deal with Universal includes incentives for Spotify to reduce royalty payments if it hits certain revenue targets. In other words, it will be paying out less in fees, something the service made clear is keeping it from being too profitable.

While free, ad-supported streaming isn’t going anywhere (hello Pandora!), the ability to have immediate on-demand access to new albums when they are released is likely on its way out. At a time when streaming is big business for the music industry, the terms of old deals won’t cut it for either side if they want to sustain growth.

Nothing will necessarily change for paying Spotify customers. But if you’ve been living off the free tier, you have a decision to make: Do you cave and start paying $10 a month for full access or do you wait out the two weeks with a few new singles to keep you warm? Two weeks may not seem like a long time — until the new Adele, Lady Gaga or some other highly-anticipated album drops and you’re stuck waiting while all your friends are tweeting about how good it is. However, I’ll still bet more than a few users are willing for save $120 a year even if they have to wait a few extra days on new music.

Twitter sues feds over attempt to identify anti-Trump account

Twitter is suing the government to resist giving up the identity behind @Alt_uscis, an account tweeting out anti-Trump messages. The account is allegedly run by rogue members of US immigration agencies. The social media titan has brought suit against the feds to stop their summons that would reveal the people behind the rogue account.

BREAKING: @Twitter sues feds over attempt to reveal identity of @ALT_USCIS account. https://t.co/beTQ8YiZvx pic.twitter.com/OysRkn0wuN

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) April 6, 2017

On March 14th, shortly after the @Alt_uscis account started tweeting, agent Adam Hoffman of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faxed Twitter a summons, ordering them to produce records from the account. Curiously, the summons “ordered Twitter to produce the records to a CBP office in Washington D.C. by 11:45 A.M. on March 13, 2017—the day before the CBP Summons was faxed,” according to the legal complaint filed by the social media titan (embedded below).

Twitter’s suit is twofold resistance to the government’s disclosure request, opposing both method and the nature of demanding these particular identities. First, it openly attempts to block the Department of Homeland Security and CBP from “unlawfully abusing a limited-purpose investigatory tool to try to unmask the real identity of one or more persons who have been using Twitter’s social media platform, and specifically a Twitter account named @ALT_USCIS, to express public criticism of the Department and the current Administration.”

Twitter’s going to bat for free speech in general, especially from this type of public criticism supposedly emanating from within the government. In the social media titan’s eyes, “permitting CBP to pierce the pseudonym of the @ALT_USCIS account would have a grave chilling effect on the speech of that account in particular and on the many other ‘alternative agency’ accounts that have been created to voice dissent to government policies.”

The ACLU tweeted out its support of Twitter and pledged to personally represent the user(s) behind @Alt_uscis.

We’re glad Twitter is pushing back. We’ll be going to court to defend this user’s right to anonymous speech. https://t.co/tqj5XrNvgn

— ACLU National (@ACLU) April 6, 2017

Update: ACLU is personally representing the Twitter user in question, and will be filing shortly in their defense https://t.co/h7xqenQx7x

— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) April 6, 2017

Here’s Twitter’s complaint:

Source: Twitter

The Wirecutter’s best deals: Vizio’s 55-inch M Series display drops to $600

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, they may earn affiliate commissions that support their work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here.

You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends at The Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot — some of these sales could expire mighty soon.

Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet

Street price: $90; MSRP: $90; Deal price: $70

A nice drop in price on our budget pick for best Android tablet. We’ve seen several deals at this price point before, but most of these sales tend to be short. Outside of an outlier sale, this is likely the best price you’ll find on the Fire HD 8. This deal is for the 16GB (+microSD slot) model with Special Offers (ads).

The Amazon Fire HD 8 is our budget pick in our guide on the best Android tablet. Chris Heinonen wrote, “If you want a cheap tablet for watching videos, reading, or browsing the web, Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet is great. It doesn’t have access to the Google Play Store or any of Google’s apps, but it costs less than $100 and makes it easy to access Amazon content (especially for Prime members). Amazon’s Fire OS (based on Android) runs very well, and the Fire HD 8 offers better battery life than the Shield K1 or Pixel C. The display is only 1280×800, but that’s fine for a budget media tablet. Amazon’s app store is not as extensive as the Play Store, but it does have free versions of many apps and games that cost money on other Android tablets. The Fire HD 8 also has more extensive parental controls than other tablets, making it a great family device.”

Vizio M55-D0 4K 55″ home theater display

Street price: $750; MSRP: $900; Deal price: $600

One of the lowest prices we’ve seen on this 4K TV (more accurately, a tuner-less display) with HDR. Typically, the M55-D0 drops to around $650 – $700 on sale and otherwise sits between $800 – $900, so this is a good deal at $600. Membership is not required to get the price and standard 3-5 day shipping is free. This promotion is good until May 9th or while supplies last.

The Vizio M55 D0 is our upgrade pick in our Best 4K TV On a Budget guide. Chris Heinonen writes,”If you want actually effective HDR mode and even better image quality, but aren’t prepared to spend over $1,000 for our overall best TV pick, the Vizio M series supports HDR and has about five times as many active dimming zones compared with an E series of the same size. And if you get a 65-inch or larger model, it also has a 120 Hz refresh rate for improved motion resolution. However, it costs a lot more money and you still don’t get a built-in tuner. If you decide to go with the M series, be sure to avoid the 60-inch version, which uses a different (and for the most part, inferior) type of LCD panel.

Samsung Level U Pro wireless earbuds

Street price: $50; MSRP: $100; Deal price: $40

A solid discount on our runner-up wireless earbuds from Samsung, and the lowest price we’ve seen. The Level U Pro tends to stick pretty close to a street price of $50 to $55 dollars, so this is a nice $10-$15 drop that we’ve only seen recently. Since this is the first big drop in price we’ve seen in months, it’s hard to say how long this deal will last. These earbuds are currently only available in black.

The Samsung Level U Pro is our runner-up pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. Lauren Dragan wrote, “If our pick is sold out, or you have a Samsung phone, we also recommend the Samsung Level U Pro. The sound can be a bit piercing on high notes and consonants, which is what kept this pair from being our top pick, but this is an otherwise nice-sounding set of headphones with well-defined mids and bass. It has a light and comfy collar with dual microphones that ensure clear calls, in addition to a few unexpected features that are quite nice to use. The earbuds have magnets that can attach when you hang them around your neck. When you separate the magnets, the Level U Pro will auto-answer an incoming call; they also pause your music when stuck together. The roughly nine-hour battery life should get you through most days, and should these earbuds run out midday, they will work via Bluetooth while charging. Finally, if you’re a Samsung phone or tablet owner, you can get an accompanying app that lets you adjust the sound to your liking—we recommend turning down the treble.”

Coway Airmega 300 air purifier

Street price: $550; MSRP: $650; Deal price: $430

While the Airmega has seen multiple sales over the the past year, this deal drops it more than $100 from its street price and makes for a new low. Severe allergy sufferers take note – this is a great discount and the last decent sale we saw on this item saw it go out of stock quickly.

The Coway Airmega 300 is our extreme cases upgrade pick for the best air purifier. John Holecek wrote, “If you have severe allergies or other serious health issues related to airborne particles, or if you need to purify the air in a seriously large space, we have a new step-up pick: the Airmega 300. This is a large but attractive machine; it’s HEPA-rated and rated to clear spaces of about 500 square feet at five complete air-changes per hour (about 1.5 times the coverage of the Coway and Winix), or 1,250 square feet at two complete air-changes. Its unique twin filters permit very high airflow, allowing it to run on lower settings when the air is relatively clean (quieter, less energy) or to rapidly filter very large volumes of air on the highest setting, as you might when allergens or pollution are elevated. In our test, it gave the overall second-best air-purification performance—more a function of its higher airflow and dual filters than inherently superior filtration.”

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursdays, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.

Here’s the Galaxy S8+ you really want (but can’t have)

It’s only been one week since Samsung unveiled its new flagship phones, the Galaxy S8 and S8+, but there’s already a beefier and better version on the way. A more powerful variant of the S8+ will offer 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, ETNews reports, but there’s a catch — it will only be available in South Korea and China (for now, anyway), and it will probably cost over one thousand dollars.

Although there’s no official announcement yet, there’s a listing on Samsung’s Korean website for the upgraded model. ETNews claims it will cost around $1,020 and it will include the Dex dock, which lets the Galaxy S8+ function as a desktop computer. Clearly, Samsung is going all-in on marketing the phone as a replacement for your home rig. It’s not the first company to try, though. Motorola came out with a dock/phone setup in 2011 called Atrix, HP had the Elite X3, ASUS put out the PadFone, and Microsoft’s Continuum feature for Windows 10 lets users convert their mobile OSes to fuller-featured PC-like setups. None of these ideas caught on with consumers, however, and it’s possible Samsung will also strike out.

There’s no word yet on whether or not the upgraded S8+ will find its way to the US and Europe. So, if the idea of a hybrid smartphone/desktop appeals to you, and you have money to burn, you’re just going to have to wait and hope it eventually heads West.

Via: The Verge

Source: ETNews

Apple May Be Working on 8K Display and New High-End Mac Mini

Apple recently said it is working on a “completely rethought” Mac Pro with a modular design that will be accompanied by an Apple-branded pro display.

Apple did not share any specific details about the external display, but if the blog Pike’s Universum is to be believed, it could feature an impressive 8K resolution. The report did not offer any additional details about the display, including a potential release date, but Apple said it won’t be ready this year.

8K displays are just starting to reach the market now, led by Dell’s new 32-inch UltraSharp 8K display, which retails for $5,000 in the United States. Apple has yet to launch a display with greater than 5K resolution, as found on the iMac with Retina 5K Display and the UltraFine 5K Display it partnered with LG on.

Apple confirmed that it had exited the standalone display market after discontinuing the Thunderbolt Display in June 2016, but it has evidently reversed course. It’s a smart move, given concerns that Apple was no longer focused on pros, and considering that LG’s UltraFine 5K Display had a hardware flaw.

On the Mac mini front, the blog said that the next high-end model “won’t be so mini anymore,” suggesting the most expensive configuration might have a larger or taller design to accommodate for upgraded tech specs. Apple last updated the Mac mini in October 2014, a span of 903 days, per the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide.

Apple recently said the Mac mini is “important” within its product lineup, but it remained tight-lipped about the prospects of future updates.

The current Mac mini models, which are designed to be connected to a display, keyboard, and mouse purchased separately, range in price from $499 to $999. The base model is equipped with a 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000.

Intel has released faster Kaby Lake processors appropriate for the Mac mini, but no other rumors have surfaced about the entry-level computer as of yet. At least one other plausible addition is Thunderbolt 3, which is already included on the MacBook Pro and rumored to be added to the next iMac models as well.

Pike’s Universum is best known for spotting references to unreleased Macs or upcoming software versions hidden within Apple’s operating systems. The blog does not have an established track record of reporting on Apple’s plans based on its own inside sources, so this rumor should be treated with caution for now.

Related Roundups: Mac mini, Displays
Tag: Pike’s Universum
Buyer’s Guide: Mac Mini (Don’t Buy)
Discuss this article in our forums

‘Constant Negativity’ From Pro Users Led Apple to Develop Modular Mac Pro, Which May Not Ship Until 2019

Apple executives this week made an unusual and surprising announcement, detailing the company’s work on an entirely revamped high-end modular Mac Pro that’s set to be released sometime after 2017.

No specific information on a potential release date was shared, but OSnews’ Thom Holwerda has shared some tidbits heard from “people and sources who know their stuff,” giving a little insight into just when we might see the revamped Mac Pro and why Apple decided to renew its focus on professional users.

Ahead of Apple’s announcement, Holwerda says the Mac Pro was in limbo, and Apple wasn’t sure what was going to happen to the machine.

Apparently, the negative response to the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which many complained was not oriented towards pro users, was a major factor. Apple saw a surge of orders for older MacBook Pros instead of the new model, and that, combined with the reaction to the LG 5K display and the “constant negativity” from professional users, led Apple to “double down on professional users.”

The decision to move ahead with a modular Mac Pro replacement was made “in recent months” with development starting “only a few weeks ago,” suggesting it’s going to be a long wait.

Given a rough estimate of the length of time it normally takes to develop a project, it could be late 2018 or even 2019 before we see the machine.

The decision to go ahead and develop a modular Mac Pro replacement seems to have been made only in recent months, with development starting only a few weeks ago, which makes it clear why Apple said it won’t ship this year. I have no idea how long it takes to develop a new computer like a Mac Pro, but I think we can expect the new Mac Pro late 2018 at the earliest, but most likely it won’t be until early 2019 before it ships.

Aside from the Mac Pro, Holwerda also believes Apple is working on additional MacBook Pro models sans Touch Bar, and developing other features aimed at professionals, such as pairing the iPad Pro with a Mac so that it can be used as a Cintiq-style drawing tablet.

Apple hasn’t shared a lot of detail on the new Mac Pro, but the promised modular design will allow professional users to keep it up to date with new hardware on a regular basis. Apple executives have said the machine will also be able to handle virtual reality software and high-end cinema editing, pointing towards support for higher-end single GPUs, and Apple also plans to ship the machine with an Apple-branded professional display.

Related Roundup: Mac Pro
Buyer’s Guide: Mac Pro (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Full Transcript of Mac Pro Interview With Craig Federighi and Phil Schiller Now Available

Earlier this week, several Apple executives, including marketing chief Phil Schiller, software head Craig Federighi, and hardware engineering VP John Ternus, invited several journalists to Apple’s campus to discuss the future of the Mac Pro, among other topics.

The information that was shared in that interview has been well-covered in recent days, but TechCrunch today published the entire interview transcript, which is well worth reading for those who want a complete uninterrupted look at what Apple had to say on the topic of the Mac Pro and its professional customers.

Image via TechCrunch
During the interview, Schiller and Federighi apologized to professional users for the delays with the Mac Pro and unveiled work on a new modular Mac Pro that will address issues with the current machine, including upgradeability and support for single high-end GPUs.

The new Mac Pro, which will also come with a professional display, isn’t going to come in 2017, so in the meantime, Apple has significantly dropped the prices on its older Mac Pro machines, all of which still contain hardware from 2013.

Other tidbits shared in the interview include Apple’s plans for the iMac, what went wrong with the design of the current Mac Pro, news on the Mac mini, Apple’s thoughts on the MacBook Pro Touch Bar, the importance of pro users, and more.

Related Roundup: Mac Pro
Buyer’s Guide: Mac Pro (Buy Now)
Discuss this article in our forums

Adobe Illustrator and InDesign CC Updated With New Features

Adobe today rolled out new updates for Illustrator CC and InDesign CC, introducing new features and improvements.

For Illustrator CC, Adobe is introducing a new image crop tool for manipulating embedded images, which means Illustrator users no longer need to create clipping masks to hide image content or switch over to Photoshop to crop images.

Adobe says the new feature will reduce the size of Illustrator CC files, bringing increased tool performance.

As for InDesign CC, Adobe is debuting a new user interface that’s meant to be easier to navigate. Tools and panels (selection, text, pen, and eyedropper) are gaining new icon designs with the aim of creating a distraction-free workspace, and users can expect a more modern, flat look. There are also four UI themes: dark, medium-dark, medium-light and light.

InDesign CC is also gaining design-ready quick-start templates that can be obtained from Adobe Stock when creating a new document.

Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign are part of Adobe’s suite of Creative Cloud apps and can be accessed through a Creative Cloud Subscription priced at $19.99 per month.

Tag: Adobe
Discuss this article in our forums

Clockwise Lite is a unique but quirky alarm app option (Review)

There are literally dozens of alarm/clock apps available in the Play Store. Most of these focus on user interface, attempting to woo you with a unique approach look & feel, time setting, alarm setting, and alarm management. And most of these same options also give you some level of flexibility with what you wake up to, in terms of ringtones or upload-able music clips.

There is another app in the Play Store that gives you all this, but also strives to bring you a lot more depth to the actual alarm portion of your experience. It’s called Clockwise Lite, from the developer Epoch Software. It’s an app that’s usable for all ages, and (mostly) works on all devices….more on that in a bit. Let’s explore this alarm app to see what it can offer….

Setup

Setup is fairly easy: just download from the Play Store and you’re in. Once you’ve opened the Clockwise app, you are taken on a screen-by-screen tour of the available features. A main one of which is called “Modules”. These are voice-based audible (a typical Google-esque synthesized female voice) form factors that make up your actual alarm (on top of your selected music or ringtone, of course).

These Modules include:

• Notifications
• Weather
• Reddit
• Twitter
• News
• To-do List
• Event Calendar
• Traffic
• Quote of the Day
• This Day in History
• Fun Fact

You can choose to have these read to you either sequential to the initial music/ringtone, or played over the top, with the music as background.

Additionally, you can set the modules in the order that you’d like to hear them. Want news first? Sure thing. How about the fun fact of the day? Yep, no problem (my favorite: “The earth’s spider population could eat the earth’s human population in under 1 year.” Neat!).

When the alarm does go off, and if you don’t have the toggle set to have the voice play over the music, then you will get an icon in your notification bar. This gives you a manual start button to begin playback of the voice-based alarm audio. Not sure if this is nice to have or kind of weird; I presumed, being the apparent key feature to the app, that the voice functions would be more automatic. It’s probably just me, but I’d be curious to see if this is a deal-breaker for the user that simply doesn’t want to touch their phone first thing in the morning.

It should be re-stated that this is the “Lite” version of the Clockwise app. This means a max of 4 modules available at any given time, and of course ads. The paid ($.99) version gives you unlimited modules to utilize and clears out all ads.

I found the setup interface to be usable, but it could be better. Setting the time was fairly simple, but for some reason I couldn’t find the way to actually turn the alarm on. Turns out it was hiding in plain sight; the small ‘OFF’ text on the left side of the screen is actually a toggle switch….press to switch to ‘ON’. I’d like to think I’m not a total dummy for not getting this right away.

On this setup screen you can also plainly see the modules you have activated for your next alarm. There are buttons for quickly selecting additional modules, as well as the general app settings.

Clockwise settings include setting your ringtone/music, snooze time, module order (see above screenshot), upgrading to the ‘pro’ version, and the voice settings. This includes altering the synthesized speech rate and pitch, to something that pleases you.

Concerns

If there is an item of concern for me, it was of app steadiness. I was working this app on my *new* LG G6, and I experienced repeated occurrences of the app crashing. No idea what was causing this, though I do have my theory.
I also have an Alcatel Idol phone that I ran this app on, and experienced no trouble whatsoever.

The big difference? The G6 is running 7.0 Nougat, while the Idol is 6.0.1 Marshmallow. So my guess is that the app has yet to be completely vetted with Nougat….but again that’s just my theory.

Conclusion

Overall I like the idea of Clockwise Lite. The idea of getting your news, weather, and other information read to you as an alarm function while you’re still waking up is a pretty slick idea. The execution in the app has a bit of polish left to acquire to make it a must-download, but I would still urge you to give it a try and see if it is a viable option to rise you from your slumber.

Developer Comments

Clockwise is looking to add Fitbit, smartwatch and speech recognition into the app for a more inclusive and immersive user experience. Look out for these upcoming enhancements.

Download Clockwise from the Play Store here.

Go to the Clockwise website here.

Autoset smart miter saw fence helps DIY-ers make the right cut every time

Why it matters to you

No one likes wasting good wood by getting their measurements wrong. This Kickstarter smart miter saw fence will help you make the perfect cut every time.

Ever tried a spot of do-it-yourself work and ended up wasting good wood by making the wrong cut? As Steve Jobs might have said, “there’s an app for that” — or, in this case, a whole smart miter saw fence.

Described by creators Velocity Robotics as the first of its connected “Internet of Tools,” Autoset is a nifty rail device which reads in a cut list generated electronically by Bluetooth measuring tools, and then moves a stop to the exact location so you make the perfect cut.

To make a single cut, the user presses a single button on the Bluetooth tape measure, and moves Autoset’s stop in the indicated direction. Autoset then stops and makes a fine adjustment to the exact cut length, while the user grabs his or her workpiece.

More: Who needs a frickin’ laser? Desktop waterjet cutter slice through stone, steel

“When I founded Velocity Robotics, I had been working at Caterpillar for a number of years, and I had done some DIY renovation work on my 80-year-old house,” founder Brad Kriel told Digital Trends. “Between those two experiences, I decided to start something in the construction industry. I still had no idea what, though. After some early interviews with contractors, the first thing I learned was the the ‘cut guy’ is a big bottleneck — so I decided to try to tackle the issues around measuring, cutting, and installing building material, among the most common workflows on the construction site.”

The promise of Autoset is to let customers measure and cut stock much faster, more precisely, and with fewer errors — thereby improving efficiency and reducing scrap. You’ll need your own miter saw for it to work (unless you just plan to do a whole lot of measuring with no actual cutting), but Kriel says that the device has been designed to attach to any make and model out there.

“Autoset is built for the construction site in mind, but is just as useful in the wood shop,” he continued. “It’s for rough carpentry and finish carpentry. It’s for wood floors and tile and siding. It’s for plumbing. It’s for woodworking. Really, it’s for any operation that uses or can use a miter saw.”

Pre-orders are currently underway on Kickstarter, where Kriel and his team have 28 days to raise $50,000. An Autoset test kit starts at $349, which includes 8 feet of rail, carriage with stop and user controls, universal bracket for saw mount, iOS or Android app, and an eTAPE16 Bluetooth tape measure. Shipping is set to take place in June 2017.