YouTube Red and Google Play Music to Merge in New Subscription Service

Google Play Music and the ad-free YouTube Red service are set to merge in a new streaming package, according to YouTube’s head of music (via The Verge).

Lyor Cohen revealed the coming change during a panel session at the New Music Seminar conference in New York on Wednesday, saying the two services needed to be combined to educate consumers and attract new subscribers.

The important thing is combining YouTube Red and Google Play Music, and having one offering,” Cohen said when asked about why YouTube Red isn’t more popular with music users. He didn’t address whether or not the two apps would merge — but it seems very unlikely.

By consolidating the offerings into a unified package, Google hopes the benefits of its subscriptions will be clearer to customers. Currently the company offers YouTube Red, which removes ads and lets users save videos for offline viewing, in addition to an ad-supported YouTube Music app (with additional benefits for Red subscribers), while YouTube TV is provided as a separate subscription service.

Google said it would notify users of the changes beforehand, but the timeframe for the rebranding remains unclear. Still, existing subscribers to YouTube Red or Google Play Music shouldn’t see a hugely significant change, as the two services are essentially already combined.

Tags: YouTube, Google Play Music, YouTube Red
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Medium snaps up Talkshow and its public chat app

Talkshow’s namesake chat-in-public app never really caught on, but that doesn’t mean the team’s story has ended just yet. Co-founder Michael Sippey has revealed that Medium has bought Talkshow Industries. It’s a tiny outfit, but it’s important enough that Sippey will become Medium’s Head of Product and help the service “evolve” its paid writing model. Sippey isn’t providing any specific clues as to what he’ll do next. However, he has confirmed that both Talkshow and Episode (an unfinished podcast discovery app) are shutting down.

It’s unclear exactly what Sippey and crew will do at Medium — this is an unusual acquisition even by Silicon Valley standards. The work on Talkshow and Episode might help, but it’s important to remember that Sippey is a former Twitter staffer like many people within Medium’s ranks. The acquisition talk started after Sippey asked Twitter/Medium veteran Ev Williams for input on Episode, so it could easily have been an opportunity to hire more Twitter alumni and draw on their experience.

Source: Michael Sippey (Medium)

Jazz star Esperanza Spalding to record an album on Facebook Live

Other artists keep their music under lock and key until it’s fully polished, but jazz star Esperanza Spalding wants to “rely on improvisation and first instinct” for her next album. That’s why she’s writing, recording and arranging 10 songs for it — most with lyrics — within a 77-hour period while streaming the whole process through Facebook Live. It’ll be a tough three days, but based on Spalding’s impressive résumé, she’s more than qualified to accomplish her goal. The four-time Grammy Award-winning artist plays multiple instruments, has been a professional musician since she was 15 and has recently been named as a professor at Harvard University’s Music Department.

You buy a blank CD. Then over 3 days, I’ll fill it with beautiful, spontaneously created music. #EXPOSURE #FACEBOOKLIVE #SEP12 pic.twitter.com/zz7H24z0xR

— Esperanza Spalding (@EspeSpalding) July 26, 2017

Spalding knows a lot of people would see the stream as a gimmick, a stunt to promote the album aptly titled “Exposure.” But by being as transparent as she can and recording in front of a live audience, she’s not giving her brain a chance to second guess itself. She expects the resulting tracks to be more honest and closer to their sources of inspiration. In addition, she’s not giving her label a chance to ask her to change a track or bring in a guest to boost sales.

She wrote in a statement:

“I foresee that creating before a live audience will add excitement and extra inspiration energy. Knowing someone is watching and listening to what you’re making seems to conjure up a sort of “can’t fail” energy. The necessity to keep going because it’s live draws up another depth of creative facility that can’t be reached when you know you can try again tomorrow.

Having such limited time to write and record 10 songs will also force us to rely on improvisation and first instinct. Not allowing us time to judge, second guess, question, or alter the initial hits of inspiration that drive the creation of each song.

That means that the audience will get a record of the most potent, charged, fresh-from-the ethers-compositional, musical and lyrical content. Of course they will be formed into songs, but they’ll carry the charge of the immediate, of the innately inspired artists co-creating in the room throughout the 3 day process.”

The jazz artist’s 77-hour livestream will kick off on September 12th, 12PM Eastern. She still needs a few more weeks after the recording session to mix and master her album, though, and expects to release 7,777 physical copies (it won’t be sold digitally) by mid-fall.

Source: The New York Times, Billboard

Sky’s made its own surround sound TV speaker with Devialet

Not content with building set-top boxes, internet and satellite-fuelled TV services, Sky is branching out into high-end audio. The company has partnered with premium speaker maker Devialet on the Soundbox, a wireless, all-in-one sound system that sits inside your media centre. It’s a black, oblong box with six three-inch woofers and three two-inch full-range speakers. The system uses the walls in your home to naturally reflect sound and create a cinema-like audio experience. In short, it’s surround sound without the need for a standalone subwoofer or any extra speakers.

The pitch is similar to the Sonos Playbase and countless other soundbars. Sky hopes to compete on two fronts: Price and quality. When it launches later this year, the Soundbox will cost £799, or, more importantly, £249 for Sky Q subscribers and £299 for Sky TV, Talk and broadband customers. On paper that’s a heavy discount, though of course it won’t matter if the speaker sounds like trash. Luckily, Devialet has some serious pedigree as a speaker manufacturer. The company is best known for the Phantom, a coveted range of wireless multiroom speakers that start at £1,390.

The Soundbox will work with any TV, though Sky is obviously pitching it as a companion to its Sky Q box. Combine the two and you’ll gain access to “exclusive sound modes” developed by Devialet for different types of programming. “Each mode adjusts and tailors Sky Soundbox’s audio settings so entertainment can be enjoyed at its best,” the company boasts in a press release. If you haven’t bought in to Sky Q, however, you’ll still have a few manual modes, including “dialogue enhance,” which makes speech clear and defined, “late night mode,” which reduces bass, and “kids mode,” which lets parents set the maximum volume for their little ones.

In the ports department, you’re getting a HDMI in and out, and one optical input. The Soundbox also supports Bluetooth 4.1 and Dolby Digital+.

For Sky, the speaker is another tool to lure potential customers onto one of its monthly TV packages. Home audio gear can be expensive, so for some this will be a sensible way to quickly and (somewhat) cheaply obtain premium surround sound. For Devialet, it’s a chance to reach millions of new customers and improve its overall brand recognition. As part of today’s announcement, Sky also confirmed that Dolby Atmos support is coming to Sky Q. A software update will roll out “later this summer,” providing those with compatible speakers an even higher level of sound.

Source: Sky Soundbox

Huawei Mate 9 gets hefty price cut in the U.S.

$459.99 now gets you a 6-inch handset with dual cameras, Nougat and a 4,000mAh battery.

The Huawei Mate 9 is one of our favorite big-screened Android phones of the year — and arguably one of the best, if battery life is your main concern. Now the Mate 9 is available at its lowest price to date — $459.99 from Amazon in the U.S., down from its already discounted price of $499.99 just a few days ago.

The Mate 9 is available in Space Grey and Moonlight Silver colors, and this is the international dual-SIM version (MHA-L29), so it’ll work on just about every global LTE network, in addition to AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S.

See at Amazon

In addition to a giant display and capable Leica-branded cameras, the Mate 9 packs a respectable high-end spec sheet, with Huawei’s own Kirin 960 CPU running the show, with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, plus a gigantic 4,000mAh battery featuring Huawei’s SuperCharge tech. The phone certainly impressed us when we reviewed it back in December:

Huawei has managed to nail performance and build quality just as it has with previous flagships. What’s new this time around is a software experience which, for the most part, is worth of the hardware on which it’s running. And it should come as no surprise that a 4,000mAh battery guarantees you exceptional battery life, to the point where multiple days per charge are a real possibility.

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Google Instant Search is dead

Google wants search to be consistent across all devices, and that means killing off Instant Search after seven years.

First launched just way back in 2010, Google Instant Search was supposed to be the future of search, saving countless precious seconds each day by loading results dynamically as you typed, freeing users from the chains of the enter key. The feature was big news at the time — and not just in the tech world, but the broader online and traditional media as well. Instant demonstrated the technical prowess of Google at the time, and the continuing strength of its core product.

Only now, Google Instant Search is being retired. The reason? More of us search on mobile devices, without Instant (where Instant was never introduced), and so it makes more sense to maintain just one version of Search on both mobile and desktop.

SearchEngineLand, which broke the story, received this statement from Google:

We launched Google Instant back in 2010 with the goal to provide users with the information they need as quickly as possible, even as they typed their searches on desktop devices. Since then, many more of our searches happen on mobile, with very different input and interaction and screen constraints. With this in mind, we have decided to remove Google Instant, so we can focus on ways to make Search even faster and more fluid on all devices.

The fact that the change went mostly unnoticed perhaps demonstrates that Instant was always overkill, and that for most of us, hitting the enter key or clicking a prediction isn’t a big deal.

RIP.

Samsung secured record profits in the second quarter

As expected, Samsung registered a record operating profit of 14.07 trillion won ($12.6 billion US) in Q2 2017. Interestingly, the breakdown reveals that while its mobile division’s (including Galaxy S8 / S8+) sales were up over the same period last year, profits dropped slightly, which Samsung attributed to higher component costs. Luckily, since Samsung also makes chips for phones, storage and more, that division drove the record profit and seems poised to continue.

Looking forward, Samsung confirmed a new Galaxy Note is coming soon “with enhanced performance and features, to maintain the strong sales momentum of its premium smartphones, together with the Galaxy S8 and S8+.” Meanwhile, it also says “continued growth is expected thanks to stable supply of 10nm mobile processors and increased supply of OLED DDIs for flagship smartphones.” Those OLED displays likely include not only its devices but also the rumored OLED iPhone 8, which will reportedly arrive with displays made by Samsung.

Source: Samsung

‘Take On Me’ app turns your home into an ’80s music video

A-ha’s classic video for “Take On Me” was the result of painstaking effort — it took 16 weeks to rotoscope the frames, creating that signature blend between the real and hand-drawn worlds. Now, however, you only need an iPhone to recreate the look yourself. Trixi Studios has shown off an augmented reality iOS app that produces the “Take On Me” look in your own home. The proof-of-concept software makes do with virtual versions of A-ha’s Morten Harket and the pipe-wielding thugs, but its effect is more convincing than you might think.

In many ways, the app (which isn’t publicly available, alas) is a showcase of how easy it’s becoming to implemented augmented reality. Trixi wrote the software using Apple’s ARKit, a software toolbox that gives iOS developers a relatively easy way to weave AR content into their apps. They don’t have to make an engine from scratch. You certainly don’t need ARKit to create the “Take On Me” effect, but a framework like that makes it possible for even small outfits to produce slick results. That, in turn, could lead to developers treating AR less as a novelty and more as an important creative tool.

Via: Prosthetic Knowledge, Sploid

Source: Trixi Studios (YouTube)

HTC and Qualcomm’s stand-alone VR headset will be sold only in China

Why it matters to you

Although the headset won’t be made available in the Western market, the collaboration between Qualcomm and HTC shows that they don’t need Google for stand-alone VR.

HTC has teamed up with Qualcomm to provide a stand-alone VR headset for China. The unit will be completely separate from what the two are conjuring up with Google in the Western markets, despite using the same Snapdragon processor. The company said on Thursday that the China-bound headset will be powered by the Viveport content platform.

Prior to HTC’s announcement, Google revealed its stand-alone Daydream VR headset initiative during its developer conference in May. It’s based on a hardware design created by Qualcomm that will be used by third-party manufacturers to sell their own stand-alone Daydream-based VR headsets. However, Qualcomm’s hardware used in the Daydream headsets will be peppered with Google’s WorldSense technology, which is a positional tracking system that keeps tabs on the user’s surroundings as they freely move untethered in physical space.

Two companies already signed on to create Daydream-based stand-alone VR headsets are HTC and Lenovo, which are expected to provide units to purchase before the end of 2017. Because the reference design doesn’t rely on a smartphone, there won’t be phone-related hardware and software hogging valuable resources. The headsets will be fine-tuned for two smaller screens for the optimal mobile VR experience.

But even the Daydream reference design stems from a mobile VR platform created by Qualcomm. According to the company’s developer kit, it’s based on the Snapdragon 835 chip, and two displays that produce a 2560 x 1440 resolution combined. The design is backed by 4GB of LPDDR4 system memory, and 64GB of internal storage for housing all those VR experiences. Other features include a built-in trackpad for manual input, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Qualcomm’s hardware layout is likely the foundation that powers the joint effort between HTC and Qualcomm in China. This version won’t have Google’s involvement even though it may look similar to the Daydream model showcased during Google’s developer conference. According to Qualcomm, superficial aesthetics will slightly differ.

So if this stand-alone headset isn’t powered by Android, then what will be the base operating system? HTC’s Daydream model set to hit the Western market will be based on Daydream 2.0 “Euphrates” and the Android O platform. However, Qualcomm couldn’t comment on the Google-free, China-bound model. Instead, the company stated that HTC would share additional information in the coming weeks.

Outside the removal of Android and the Daydream platform, the Chinese model will obviously not support Google’s WorldSense technology. However, the headset will likely include front-mounted cameras with fisheye lenses, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and motion sensing technology provided by Leap Motion.

“Partnering with Qualcomm to deliver an easy to use and more affordable Vive VR system will enable us to make premium stand-alone VR widely accessible to the masses in China,” said Alvin W. Graylin, China regional president of Vive, HTC.

HTC and Qualcomm didn’t say when the stand-alone VR headset will hit the Chinese market, but hopefully it will arrive in time to take on Samsung’s Odyssey stand-alone VR headset. Developers interested in creating content for HTC’s China-bound headset can head to Viveport.com for more information.

HTC and Qualcomm’s stand-alone VR headset will be sold only in China

Why it matters to you

Although the headset won’t be made available in the Western market, the collaboration between Qualcomm and HTC shows that they don’t need Google for stand-alone VR.

HTC has teamed up with Qualcomm to provide a stand-alone VR headset for China. The unit will be completely separate from what the two are conjuring up with Google in the Western markets, despite using the same Snapdragon processor. The company said on Thursday that the China-bound headset will be powered by the Viveport content platform.

Prior to HTC’s announcement, Google revealed its stand-alone Daydream VR headset initiative during its developer conference in May. It’s based on a hardware design created by Qualcomm that will be used by third-party manufacturers to sell their own stand-alone Daydream-based VR headsets. However, Qualcomm’s hardware used in the Daydream headsets will be peppered with Google’s WorldSense technology, which is a positional tracking system that keeps tabs on the user’s surroundings as they freely move untethered in physical space.

Two companies already signed on to create Daydream-based stand-alone VR headsets are HTC and Lenovo, which are expected to provide units to purchase before the end of 2017. Because the reference design doesn’t rely on a smartphone, there won’t be phone-related hardware and software hogging valuable resources. The headsets will be fine-tuned for two smaller screens for the optimal mobile VR experience.

But even the Daydream reference design stems from a mobile VR platform created by Qualcomm. According to the company’s developer kit, it’s based on the Snapdragon 835 chip, and two displays that produce a 2560 x 1440 resolution combined. The design is backed by 4GB of LPDDR4 system memory, and 64GB of internal storage for housing all those VR experiences. Other features include a built-in trackpad for manual input, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Qualcomm’s hardware layout is likely the foundation that powers the joint effort between HTC and Qualcomm in China. This version won’t have Google’s involvement even though it may look similar to the Daydream model showcased during Google’s developer conference. According to Qualcomm, superficial aesthetics will slightly differ.

So if this stand-alone headset isn’t powered by Android, then what will be the base operating system? HTC’s Daydream model set to hit the Western market will be based on Daydream 2.0 “Euphrates” and the Android O platform. However, Qualcomm couldn’t comment on the Google-free, China-bound model. Instead, the company stated that HTC would share additional information in the coming weeks.

Outside the removal of Android and the Daydream platform, the Chinese model will obviously not support Google’s WorldSense technology. However, the headset will likely include front-mounted cameras with fisheye lenses, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and motion sensing technology provided by Leap Motion.

“Partnering with Qualcomm to deliver an easy to use and more affordable Vive VR system will enable us to make premium stand-alone VR widely accessible to the masses in China,” said Alvin W. Graylin, China regional president of Vive, HTC.

HTC and Qualcomm didn’t say when the stand-alone VR headset will hit the Chinese market, but hopefully it will arrive in time to take on Samsung’s Odyssey stand-alone VR headset. Developers interested in creating content for HTC’s China-bound headset can head to Viveport.com for more information.