YouTube Music gains ability to download songs, albums, and playlists

Why it matters to you

You’ve likely experienced spotty data in the past, but now YouTube Music users don’t necessarily have to worry too much about that.

While Google has said that YouTube Music and Google Play Music will soon merge, that doesn’t mean Google isn’t working on improving YouTube Music in the meantime. In fact, the company just launched a major upgrade to YouTube Music, now allowing users to download songs, albums, and playlists for offline listening.

Now, this isn’t the first time users have been able to download music on YouTube Music, but it is a serious improvement for ease of use and convenience. Previously, you could download music through the offline mixtape feature, which was automatically created based on your listening history — that meant you had little control over the specific songs that were downloaded.

Saving music to listen to offline is pretty easy to do. Simply tap on the menu icon next to a song, album, or playlist, then hit “Save Offline.” You’ll get a notification asking if you want to save the audio or video, and if you want to save the video you can choose between SD or HD. On iOS things are even easier — simply swipe the song, album, or playlist left, then tap the offline button. Then, to access your offline music, tap on your profile photo and hit the “Offline” button.

It’s a nice feature — but one that should have been included before. It also makes the service even more similar to Google Play Music. Google confirmed that the two would be merging in a report from The Verge, which followed a report from February that noted that the two teams behind the services had been combined. We don’t yet know exactly when the two will combine — but moves like this suggest that Google is working to make the experience the same across both services before the merge takes place.

It does make sense to combine the services. Subscribing to one automatically gets you a subscription to the other, and combining them will simply make things that much easier for users. It’s also not certain yet how the merger will be handled — it’s possible YouTube Music could simply be absorbed into Google Play Music, or vice versa. Or, it is also possible that a totally new service will be created to house the features of both.

Weekly Rewind: Cheap solar roofs, the fastest cars, Spotify’s new record

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top tech stories, from the surprisingly affordable price of a solar roof to a vending machine that sells clothes — it’s all here.

The results are in, and Tesla’s solar roof is cheaper than a normal roof

Anyone who has had to replace a roof can attest that it is no small expense. Well, homeowners may have a better solution on the horizon that not only costs less upfront but also saves them money over time, according to Bloomberg. In 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity, with about 85 percent of shareholders voting to go through with the deal that made them the undisputed kings of sun-to-vehicle energy.

Shortly after the deal was finalized, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the company’s new solar roofing would cost less to create and install than traditional roofing materials. He claimed all these savings would come before the savings on your electric bill. According to Musk, “Electricity is just a bonus.”

Read: The results are in, and Tesla’s solar roof is cheaper than a normal roof

Becoming a smart city takes more than sensors and buzzwords

What is a smart city? Not even the people building them seem to know yet.

“Get 10 people in a room and ask what a smart city is, you’ll get 11 answers,” Bob Bennett, Kansas City, Missouri’s chief innovation officer, told Digital Trends. That might be true, but most involved in smart city projects agree on one thing: no one’s really there yet.

“I think it’s the Wild West at this point, and smart cities mean something different to everybody,” said Jarrett Wendt, executive vice president of strategic innovations at Panasonic.

When asked for examples of smart cities (these are our four favorites), Bennett instead gave examples of smart silos — areas where certain cities are particularly thriving, though they may not tie into a bigger picture. Washington D.C. has great water analytics. Seattle is doing a lot right when it comes to environmental initiatives. San Diego has thousands of smart streetlights.

Songdo, in South Korea, had the benefit of being built from the ground up as a smart city. Many of its lessons can’t necessarily be applied to cities trying to work with existing infrastructure, though.

Read: Becoming a smart city takes more than sensors and buzzwords

Hold on to your butts: These are the 25 fastest cars in the world

“How fast can it go?”

There are many ways to measure automotive excellence, but top speed is the one most everybody secretly cares about the most. Aldous Huxley was right about speed being the only truly modern sensation. He left out the part about how much fun it is. These 25 cars are more than just fun, though — they’re the fastest production cars on the planet. The emphasis here is on “production;” racers and one-off custom jobs need not apply. We also tried to limit the selections to cars with claimed top speeds that have been generally recognized as legitimate by the automotive media and sanctioning groups.

There are also some cars on the horizon that appear ready to knock some names off this list. SSC still hopes to reclaim the title of world’s fastest car with its 1,350-horsepower Tuatara, and Koenigsegg claims a top speed of more than 273 miles per hour for its One:1. For now though, these are the fastest cars that can legally sport a license plate.

Read: Hold on to your butts: These are the 25 fastest cars in the world

Uniqlo wants you to buy clothes from a vending machine

In what could be a world first, Uniqlo plans to launch 10 of its six-foot-high vending machines at locations across the U.S., including airports and shopping malls, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Anyone who has been to Japan knows all too well how vending machines live on virtually every street corner, so you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that one of the nation’s biggest companies has decided to launch its own dispenser in the U.S.

But this is Uniqlo we’re talking about, so its vending machine will be offering things to wear rather than drink. That’s right, it’s a vending machine that sells clothes.

Read: Uniqlo wants you to buy clothes from a vending machine

Unlimited data plans are slowing down AT&T and Verizon 4G speeds

In the ongoing battle among the major carriers to offer the best unlimited data plans, Verizon and AT&T’s attempts may have backfired. In the latest State of Mobile Networks: USA OpenSignal report, both carriers experienced a decline in 4G speeds after reintroducing unlimited plans.

Verizon’s LTE download connection, in particular, dropped 12 percent — from 16.9 Mbps to 14.9 Mbps — since the last OpenSignal report back in February. AT&T’s decline was less extreme at 12.9 Mbps from February’s 13.9 Mbps. Decreases in 4G speed have been ongoing each month for both carriers since releasing the unlimited plans.

Read: Unlimited data plans are slowing down AT&T and Verizon 4G speeds

Bitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin to become cryptocurrency of the people

The first hard-fork in Bitcoin’s history has taken place, creating a secondary cryptocurrency with larger block sizes, potentially making it easier to use for everyday people. Bitcoin Cash, as its called, has a value that is currently far lower than its older brother, but it has strong support from a core of cryptocurrency users and could well become a force for change in the industry.

If you’ve traded Bitcoin recently, you’ll be well aware of the problem that has been gradually looming its head over the past couple of years. No, we’re not just talking about graphics card prices — it’s getting expensive to send Bitcoin in a timely manner. This has been the result of the “blocks” that make up the Bitcoin “blockchain” reaching capacity and when that happens, transactions take longer, or you need to pay more to be bumped up the queue.

Read: Bitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin to become cryptocurrency of the people

Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, remains top dog in music streaming

The world of streaming music may still have issues with profitability, but as Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, it remains the fastest growing market participant in this space.

The Swedish company announced its new subscriber milestone, along with other performance metrics for the month of July, and stated that it currently has over 60 million paid monthly users. As of June, the company had over 140 million monthly users overall, though the majority of its listeners are streaming music via the company’s free tier, which includes advertisements, and which lacks mobile on-demand playback.

The streaming music service had 50 million paid subscribers in March, meaning that it gained 10 million subscribers in just four months. That means Spotify is outpacing the growth of its competitors, including Apple Music, which boasted 27 million paid subscribers as of June — a gain of about 7 million since Apple Music reached the 20 million subscriber milestone last December. Spotify operates in over 60 markets around the globe.

Read:Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, remains top dog in music streaming

Slow cooking: 6 major Crock Pot dos and don’ts

In 1936, an inventor named Irving Naxon applied for a patent for a cooking device that would promote more consistent and even cooking. This device held a crock inside of a heating element. Then, in the early 1950s, an appliance company called West Bend started selling an electric bean pot to make cooking chili and a variety of other foods easier. Since then, slow cookers have made their way into kitchens across the world; some have smart capabilities or do more than just slow cook food.

When most people think of slow cooker recipes, they think of easy instructions that allow you to toss ingredients in a pot and walk away for up to eight hours. While this is partially true — cooking in a slow cooker is nothing shy of convenient — your food may not come out right if you don’t follow best practices. If you use your slow cooker incorrectly, your meal may turn out unappetizing, you could start a fire in your home, or you could make someone sick.

Read: Slow cooking: 6 major Crock Pot dos and don’ts

Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest attracts out-of-this-world images

Nicholas Roemmelt / Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year

The Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest may attract thousands of annual entries, but the 2017 event brought in several shots judges had never seen in the event’s nine-year history. The Royal Observatory Greenwich recently announced the shortlist for the competition, including the first images of asteroids and Uranus ever submitted. The final winner will be announced on September 14.

Along with selecting the photographer of the year, the contest also awards prizes in nine different categories, as well as two special prizes. The 2017 categories include skyscapes, aurorae, people and space, our sun, our moon, planets, comets and asteroids, stars and nebulae, galaxies, and the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year for participants under 16.

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer will award a photographer that only started shooting astrophotography within the past year. A separate prize will also offer awards for shots taken with computer-controlled telescopes.

Read: Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest attracts out-of-this-world images

Machine learning can identify the world’s most overpaid and underpaid soccer stars

Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

In bestselling author Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball (which was also adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 2011), the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team used a data-driven approach to put together a competitive baseball team, despite limited funds.

A new computer science project from Michigan’s Lawrence Technological University uses machine learning and data science to take a similar approach for 6,082 European soccer players. This is done through a computational model that calculates the world’s most over and underpaid players, based on skill (the latter group is the one Billy Beane-style managers should presumably be most interested in!).

“It is common in sports to compare individual measurements,” Lior Shamir, one of the paper‘s co-authors, told Digital Trends. “However, soccer players have a combination of skills, so just comparing the number of goals gives a very partial representation of the player’s true value. What we did here is develop a computational model that combines 55 measured attributes that reflect the players’ abilities. When comparing that model to the salaries of the players, we can estimate the salary of each player based on their performance on the field, and in comparison to all other players.”

Read: Machine learning can identify the world’s most overpaid and underpaid soccer stars

Weekly Rewind: Cheap solar roofs, the fastest cars, Spotify’s new record

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top tech stories, from the surprisingly affordable price of a solar roof to a vending machine that sells clothes — it’s all here.

The results are in, and Tesla’s solar roof is cheaper than a normal roof

Anyone who has had to replace a roof can attest that it is no small expense. Well, homeowners may have a better solution on the horizon that not only costs less upfront but also saves them money over time, according to Bloomberg. In 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity, with about 85 percent of shareholders voting to go through with the deal that made them the undisputed kings of sun-to-vehicle energy.

Shortly after the deal was finalized, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the company’s new solar roofing would cost less to create and install than traditional roofing materials. He claimed all these savings would come before the savings on your electric bill. According to Musk, “Electricity is just a bonus.”

Read: The results are in, and Tesla’s solar roof is cheaper than a normal roof

Becoming a smart city takes more than sensors and buzzwords

What is a smart city? Not even the people building them seem to know yet.

“Get 10 people in a room and ask what a smart city is, you’ll get 11 answers,” Bob Bennett, Kansas City, Missouri’s chief innovation officer, told Digital Trends. That might be true, but most involved in smart city projects agree on one thing: no one’s really there yet.

“I think it’s the Wild West at this point, and smart cities mean something different to everybody,” said Jarrett Wendt, executive vice president of strategic innovations at Panasonic.

When asked for examples of smart cities (these are our four favorites), Bennett instead gave examples of smart silos — areas where certain cities are particularly thriving, though they may not tie into a bigger picture. Washington D.C. has great water analytics. Seattle is doing a lot right when it comes to environmental initiatives. San Diego has thousands of smart streetlights.

Songdo, in South Korea, had the benefit of being built from the ground up as a smart city. Many of its lessons can’t necessarily be applied to cities trying to work with existing infrastructure, though.

Read: Becoming a smart city takes more than sensors and buzzwords

Hold on to your butts: These are the 25 fastest cars in the world

“How fast can it go?”

There are many ways to measure automotive excellence, but top speed is the one most everybody secretly cares about the most. Aldous Huxley was right about speed being the only truly modern sensation. He left out the part about how much fun it is. These 25 cars are more than just fun, though — they’re the fastest production cars on the planet. The emphasis here is on “production;” racers and one-off custom jobs need not apply. We also tried to limit the selections to cars with claimed top speeds that have been generally recognized as legitimate by the automotive media and sanctioning groups.

There are also some cars on the horizon that appear ready to knock some names off this list. SSC still hopes to reclaim the title of world’s fastest car with its 1,350-horsepower Tuatara, and Koenigsegg claims a top speed of more than 273 miles per hour for its One:1. For now though, these are the fastest cars that can legally sport a license plate.

Read: Hold on to your butts: These are the 25 fastest cars in the world

Uniqlo wants you to buy clothes from a vending machine

In what could be a world first, Uniqlo plans to launch 10 of its six-foot-high vending machines at locations across the U.S., including airports and shopping malls, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Anyone who has been to Japan knows all too well how vending machines live on virtually every street corner, so you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that one of the nation’s biggest companies has decided to launch its own dispenser in the U.S.

But this is Uniqlo we’re talking about, so its vending machine will be offering things to wear rather than drink. That’s right, it’s a vending machine that sells clothes.

Read: Uniqlo wants you to buy clothes from a vending machine

Unlimited data plans are slowing down AT&T and Verizon 4G speeds

In the ongoing battle among the major carriers to offer the best unlimited data plans, Verizon and AT&T’s attempts may have backfired. In the latest State of Mobile Networks: USA OpenSignal report, both carriers experienced a decline in 4G speeds after reintroducing unlimited plans.

Verizon’s LTE download connection, in particular, dropped 12 percent — from 16.9 Mbps to 14.9 Mbps — since the last OpenSignal report back in February. AT&T’s decline was less extreme at 12.9 Mbps from February’s 13.9 Mbps. Decreases in 4G speed have been ongoing each month for both carriers since releasing the unlimited plans.

Read: Unlimited data plans are slowing down AT&T and Verizon 4G speeds

Bitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin to become cryptocurrency of the people

The first hard-fork in Bitcoin’s history has taken place, creating a secondary cryptocurrency with larger block sizes, potentially making it easier to use for everyday people. Bitcoin Cash, as its called, has a value that is currently far lower than its older brother, but it has strong support from a core of cryptocurrency users and could well become a force for change in the industry.

If you’ve traded Bitcoin recently, you’ll be well aware of the problem that has been gradually looming its head over the past couple of years. No, we’re not just talking about graphics card prices — it’s getting expensive to send Bitcoin in a timely manner. This has been the result of the “blocks” that make up the Bitcoin “blockchain” reaching capacity and when that happens, transactions take longer, or you need to pay more to be bumped up the queue.

Read: Bitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin to become cryptocurrency of the people

Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, remains top dog in music streaming

The world of streaming music may still have issues with profitability, but as Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, it remains the fastest growing market participant in this space.

The Swedish company announced its new subscriber milestone, along with other performance metrics for the month of July, and stated that it currently has over 60 million paid monthly users. As of June, the company had over 140 million monthly users overall, though the majority of its listeners are streaming music via the company’s free tier, which includes advertisements, and which lacks mobile on-demand playback.

The streaming music service had 50 million paid subscribers in March, meaning that it gained 10 million subscribers in just four months. That means Spotify is outpacing the growth of its competitors, including Apple Music, which boasted 27 million paid subscribers as of June — a gain of about 7 million since Apple Music reached the 20 million subscriber milestone last December. Spotify operates in over 60 markets around the globe.

Read:Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, remains top dog in music streaming

Slow cooking: 6 major Crock Pot dos and don’ts

In 1936, an inventor named Irving Naxon applied for a patent for a cooking device that would promote more consistent and even cooking. This device held a crock inside of a heating element. Then, in the early 1950s, an appliance company called West Bend started selling an electric bean pot to make cooking chili and a variety of other foods easier. Since then, slow cookers have made their way into kitchens across the world; some have smart capabilities or do more than just slow cook food.

When most people think of slow cooker recipes, they think of easy instructions that allow you to toss ingredients in a pot and walk away for up to eight hours. While this is partially true — cooking in a slow cooker is nothing shy of convenient — your food may not come out right if you don’t follow best practices. If you use your slow cooker incorrectly, your meal may turn out unappetizing, you could start a fire in your home, or you could make someone sick.

Read: Slow cooking: 6 major Crock Pot dos and don’ts

Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest attracts out-of-this-world images

Nicholas Roemmelt / Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year

The Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest may attract thousands of annual entries, but the 2017 event brought in several shots judges had never seen in the event’s nine-year history. The Royal Observatory Greenwich recently announced the shortlist for the competition, including the first images of asteroids and Uranus ever submitted. The final winner will be announced on September 14.

Along with selecting the photographer of the year, the contest also awards prizes in nine different categories, as well as two special prizes. The 2017 categories include skyscapes, aurorae, people and space, our sun, our moon, planets, comets and asteroids, stars and nebulae, galaxies, and the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year for participants under 16.

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer will award a photographer that only started shooting astrophotography within the past year. A separate prize will also offer awards for shots taken with computer-controlled telescopes.

Read: Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest attracts out-of-this-world images

Machine learning can identify the world’s most overpaid and underpaid soccer stars

Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

In bestselling author Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball (which was also adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 2011), the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team used a data-driven approach to put together a competitive baseball team, despite limited funds.

A new computer science project from Michigan’s Lawrence Technological University uses machine learning and data science to take a similar approach for 6,082 European soccer players. This is done through a computational model that calculates the world’s most over and underpaid players, based on skill (the latter group is the one Billy Beane-style managers should presumably be most interested in!).

“It is common in sports to compare individual measurements,” Lior Shamir, one of the paper‘s co-authors, told Digital Trends. “However, soccer players have a combination of skills, so just comparing the number of goals gives a very partial representation of the player’s true value. What we did here is develop a computational model that combines 55 measured attributes that reflect the players’ abilities. When comparing that model to the salaries of the players, we can estimate the salary of each player based on their performance on the field, and in comparison to all other players.”

Read: Machine learning can identify the world’s most overpaid and underpaid soccer stars

Weekly Rewind: Cheap solar roofs, the fastest cars, Spotify’s new record

A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top tech stories, from the surprisingly affordable price of a solar roof to a vending machine that sells clothes — it’s all here.

The results are in, and Tesla’s solar roof is cheaper than a normal roof

Anyone who has had to replace a roof can attest that it is no small expense. Well, homeowners may have a better solution on the horizon that not only costs less upfront but also saves them money over time, according to Bloomberg. In 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity, with about 85 percent of shareholders voting to go through with the deal that made them the undisputed kings of sun-to-vehicle energy.

Shortly after the deal was finalized, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the company’s new solar roofing would cost less to create and install than traditional roofing materials. He claimed all these savings would come before the savings on your electric bill. According to Musk, “Electricity is just a bonus.”

Read: The results are in, and Tesla’s solar roof is cheaper than a normal roof

Becoming a smart city takes more than sensors and buzzwords

What is a smart city? Not even the people building them seem to know yet.

“Get 10 people in a room and ask what a smart city is, you’ll get 11 answers,” Bob Bennett, Kansas City, Missouri’s chief innovation officer, told Digital Trends. That might be true, but most involved in smart city projects agree on one thing: no one’s really there yet.

“I think it’s the Wild West at this point, and smart cities mean something different to everybody,” said Jarrett Wendt, executive vice president of strategic innovations at Panasonic.

When asked for examples of smart cities (these are our four favorites), Bennett instead gave examples of smart silos — areas where certain cities are particularly thriving, though they may not tie into a bigger picture. Washington D.C. has great water analytics. Seattle is doing a lot right when it comes to environmental initiatives. San Diego has thousands of smart streetlights.

Songdo, in South Korea, had the benefit of being built from the ground up as a smart city. Many of its lessons can’t necessarily be applied to cities trying to work with existing infrastructure, though.

Read: Becoming a smart city takes more than sensors and buzzwords

Hold on to your butts: These are the 25 fastest cars in the world

“How fast can it go?”

There are many ways to measure automotive excellence, but top speed is the one most everybody secretly cares about the most. Aldous Huxley was right about speed being the only truly modern sensation. He left out the part about how much fun it is. These 25 cars are more than just fun, though — they’re the fastest production cars on the planet. The emphasis here is on “production;” racers and one-off custom jobs need not apply. We also tried to limit the selections to cars with claimed top speeds that have been generally recognized as legitimate by the automotive media and sanctioning groups.

There are also some cars on the horizon that appear ready to knock some names off this list. SSC still hopes to reclaim the title of world’s fastest car with its 1,350-horsepower Tuatara, and Koenigsegg claims a top speed of more than 273 miles per hour for its One:1. For now though, these are the fastest cars that can legally sport a license plate.

Read: Hold on to your butts: These are the 25 fastest cars in the world

Uniqlo wants you to buy clothes from a vending machine

In what could be a world first, Uniqlo plans to launch 10 of its six-foot-high vending machines at locations across the U.S., including airports and shopping malls, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Anyone who has been to Japan knows all too well how vending machines live on virtually every street corner, so you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that one of the nation’s biggest companies has decided to launch its own dispenser in the U.S.

But this is Uniqlo we’re talking about, so its vending machine will be offering things to wear rather than drink. That’s right, it’s a vending machine that sells clothes.

Read: Uniqlo wants you to buy clothes from a vending machine

Unlimited data plans are slowing down AT&T and Verizon 4G speeds

In the ongoing battle among the major carriers to offer the best unlimited data plans, Verizon and AT&T’s attempts may have backfired. In the latest State of Mobile Networks: USA OpenSignal report, both carriers experienced a decline in 4G speeds after reintroducing unlimited plans.

Verizon’s LTE download connection, in particular, dropped 12 percent — from 16.9 Mbps to 14.9 Mbps — since the last OpenSignal report back in February. AT&T’s decline was less extreme at 12.9 Mbps from February’s 13.9 Mbps. Decreases in 4G speed have been ongoing each month for both carriers since releasing the unlimited plans.

Read: Unlimited data plans are slowing down AT&T and Verizon 4G speeds

Bitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin to become cryptocurrency of the people

The first hard-fork in Bitcoin’s history has taken place, creating a secondary cryptocurrency with larger block sizes, potentially making it easier to use for everyday people. Bitcoin Cash, as its called, has a value that is currently far lower than its older brother, but it has strong support from a core of cryptocurrency users and could well become a force for change in the industry.

If you’ve traded Bitcoin recently, you’ll be well aware of the problem that has been gradually looming its head over the past couple of years. No, we’re not just talking about graphics card prices — it’s getting expensive to send Bitcoin in a timely manner. This has been the result of the “blocks” that make up the Bitcoin “blockchain” reaching capacity and when that happens, transactions take longer, or you need to pay more to be bumped up the queue.

Read: Bitcoin Cash splits from Bitcoin to become cryptocurrency of the people

Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, remains top dog in music streaming

The world of streaming music may still have issues with profitability, but as Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, it remains the fastest growing market participant in this space.

The Swedish company announced its new subscriber milestone, along with other performance metrics for the month of July, and stated that it currently has over 60 million paid monthly users. As of June, the company had over 140 million monthly users overall, though the majority of its listeners are streaming music via the company’s free tier, which includes advertisements, and which lacks mobile on-demand playback.

The streaming music service had 50 million paid subscribers in March, meaning that it gained 10 million subscribers in just four months. That means Spotify is outpacing the growth of its competitors, including Apple Music, which boasted 27 million paid subscribers as of June — a gain of about 7 million since Apple Music reached the 20 million subscriber milestone last December. Spotify operates in over 60 markets around the globe.

Read:Spotify reaches 60 million paid subscribers, remains top dog in music streaming

Slow cooking: 6 major Crock Pot dos and don’ts

In 1936, an inventor named Irving Naxon applied for a patent for a cooking device that would promote more consistent and even cooking. This device held a crock inside of a heating element. Then, in the early 1950s, an appliance company called West Bend started selling an electric bean pot to make cooking chili and a variety of other foods easier. Since then, slow cookers have made their way into kitchens across the world; some have smart capabilities or do more than just slow cook food.

When most people think of slow cooker recipes, they think of easy instructions that allow you to toss ingredients in a pot and walk away for up to eight hours. While this is partially true — cooking in a slow cooker is nothing shy of convenient — your food may not come out right if you don’t follow best practices. If you use your slow cooker incorrectly, your meal may turn out unappetizing, you could start a fire in your home, or you could make someone sick.

Read: Slow cooking: 6 major Crock Pot dos and don’ts

Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest attracts out-of-this-world images

Nicholas Roemmelt / Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year

The Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest may attract thousands of annual entries, but the 2017 event brought in several shots judges had never seen in the event’s nine-year history. The Royal Observatory Greenwich recently announced the shortlist for the competition, including the first images of asteroids and Uranus ever submitted. The final winner will be announced on September 14.

Along with selecting the photographer of the year, the contest also awards prizes in nine different categories, as well as two special prizes. The 2017 categories include skyscapes, aurorae, people and space, our sun, our moon, planets, comets and asteroids, stars and nebulae, galaxies, and the Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year for participants under 16.

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer will award a photographer that only started shooting astrophotography within the past year. A separate prize will also offer awards for shots taken with computer-controlled telescopes.

Read: Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest attracts out-of-this-world images

Machine learning can identify the world’s most overpaid and underpaid soccer stars

Matthias Hangst/Getty Images

In bestselling author Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball (which was also adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 2011), the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team used a data-driven approach to put together a competitive baseball team, despite limited funds.

A new computer science project from Michigan’s Lawrence Technological University uses machine learning and data science to take a similar approach for 6,082 European soccer players. This is done through a computational model that calculates the world’s most over and underpaid players, based on skill (the latter group is the one Billy Beane-style managers should presumably be most interested in!).

“It is common in sports to compare individual measurements,” Lior Shamir, one of the paper‘s co-authors, told Digital Trends. “However, soccer players have a combination of skills, so just comparing the number of goals gives a very partial representation of the player’s true value. What we did here is develop a computational model that combines 55 measured attributes that reflect the players’ abilities. When comparing that model to the salaries of the players, we can estimate the salary of each player based on their performance on the field, and in comparison to all other players.”

Read: Machine learning can identify the world’s most overpaid and underpaid soccer stars

Best HTC Vive games that can be played sitting down

The most fun you can have without getting up from your chair.

One great thing about VR gaming is that it inspires you to get off the couch and exercise a little. But not everyone has that luxury.

We’ve spoken before about how the HTC Vive is a blessing for people with mobility issues, and there are plenty of games that fit the bill! Even if you’re able to be up and about these titles are a load of fun and perfect for the times you just want to chill and build up energy for something a bit more physical.

Here are five great games (in no particular order) you can play on the HTC Vive that are perfect for sitting down.

Read more at VR Heads!

Alexa can find ‘baby making’ music on Amazon’s streaming services

Amazon announced today that users of its streaming service Prime Music, which is free with a Prime membership, and its subscription-based Amazon Music Unlimited can now ask Alexa to find tunes appropriate for various activities. As of now, over 500 different activity-based requests are supported including music for meditation, partying and even “getting pumped.” The new feature is available immediately to users with Alexa-enabled devices.

The new voice controls were geared towards activities that have been requested most often by Alexa users and listeners of Amazon’s music streaming services. In the announcement, the company said that 27 percent of all activity requests come from users who want to relax. Meditation is the number one requested activity, with spa, party and dinner rounding off the top four.

Along with specific activities, users can also request a particular genre to go with it. Amazon includes the examples “Alexa, play classical music for sleeping,” “Alexa, play pop music for cooking,” and “Alexa, play baby making jazz music.” Because nothing sets the mood like a your partner telling their virtual assistant to find a playlist suitable for baby making.

Google’s next Pixel phone looks pretty basic

The recent leaks showing features of Google’s upcoming Pixel phone indicated that it would look a lot like the previous versions, with a 6-inch AMOLED display and an HTC U11-like squeezable frame. It has also been rumored that the rear camera cutout is significantly larger.

Venturebeat’s Evan Blass, who has a solid track record with leaks, has obtained a photo of the smaller Pixel device. The image shows that the Pixel won’t have smaller top and bottom bezels, unlike many other newer phones on or coming to the market. Blass notes that neither Pixel will have a dual camera configuration, either, unlike the trend with Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus, LG’s G6, Samsung’s Note 8 and Huawei’s P10.

While HTC made both last year’s Pixel and Pixel XL, VentureBeat says that HTC is only making the smaller device this year, with LG tapped to manufacture the larger XL handset. Both new phones will apparently only show iterative changes, though both upcoming Pixel models seem to have front-facing stereo speakers, much like HTC’s BoomSound brand. Blass also reports that Google has also decided to get rid of a headphone jack on the Pixel line, much like Apple, HTC and Lenovo have done with their own smartphone designs.

Source: VentureBeat

Google is reportedly building a Snapchat-style news system

Snapchat’s Discover mode is a way for brands to create visual stories for consumption by its 158 million reported daily users. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Google is developing a very similar branded-media content feature, nicknamed “Stamp.” Sources say that publishers including Vox Media, CNN, Mic, the Washington Post and Time are planning to participate. Google might announce the service as early as next week, say the sources.

The service is reportedly built around Google’s faster-loading AMP mobile webpages (STories + AMP = Stamp). The Wall Street Journal says that news stories on Stamp “could be several swipeable slides encompass text, photos and video.”

“Ever since the beginning of AMP we’ve constantly collaborated with publishers, and are working on many new features,” a Google spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal. It makes sense that Google would want to jump into the fray, with news delivery becoming an increasingly large part of social media and user behavior. Apple has News, Facebook has Instant Articles, and Snapchat, obviously, has Discover.

Ultimately, Google has an advantage over Snapchat, where Discover posts are locked into the app itself. Google can push Stamp stories to search results and other Google products, according to the Journal’s sources, just like AMP pages are now; they could also end up on their own publisher’s sites, too

When reached for comment, a Google spokesperson responded to Engadget with the following statement. “The success of the open source AMP project is down to the constant collaboration with publishers that involves working early on upcoming features. We don’t have anything to announce at the moment but look forward to sharing more soon.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Pros weigh in on phishing the White House

Just before Anthony Scaramucci’s fifteen minutes — er, I mean ten days — of White House fame were up, a man in the UK (who imaginatively calls himself “Email Prankster”) had some choice words with him via email. Nothing weird there you think? Except that he did it while posing as former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

Not that getting “the Mooch’s” metaphorical goat was expected to be difficult. Especially after he went ballistic on New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza for merely mentioning his enemies. No, the remarkable thing was that Scaramucci was one of many the prankster fooled among Trump’s totally cyber-savvy and not-chaotic White House cabinet of curiosities.

In successful impersonations via email, “Email Prankster” (@SINON_REBORN) communicated with high-profile officials such as Jared Kushner, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, the Ambassador to Russia-designate Jon Huntsman Jr., Scaramucci pal Arthur Schwartz, and even Donald Trump Jr. Before it was picked up by CNN, the prankster made multiple tweets expressing his disbelief about how easy it was to dupe the Trump boys.

Who else did he fool? The prankster successfully exchanged multiple emails with Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, Eric Trump and, of course, Scaramucci.

In a display of abysmal cybersecurity practices, our Homeland Security Adviser instantly fell for the fake Jared Kushner; Bossert gave the prankster his personal email address in hopes of cozying up to Kushner even further. Bossert, in case you didn’t know, is Trump’s cyber guy. When Trump plucked him out of the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, The Donald said Bossert “has a handle on the complexity of homeland security, counterterrorism, and cybersecurity challenges.”

Maybe he was so busy being focused on the complexities that he didn’t have time to check if anything other than the “From” field on fake-Kushner’s email looked weird. “Email Prankster” said he didn’t even bother to mask the sender address, saying he can “barely operate our TV remote” and that “human behaviour and weakness was my weapon.” He literally just made up new email addresses with their names on Gmail, Yahoo, and mail.com.

This is not advanced spear phishing or social engineering, dear reader. This isn’t even someone who was trying to accomplish anything other than lulz.

His general intention, in the rich and ribald tradition of British phone and email pranking, was to simply wind people up.

What the prankster did for laughs, and with little technical know-how, is what hackers call social engineering (SE for short) and spear phishing. These two things are tools used by infosec pros when they’re hired to attack a company (called a “pentest”) for the purpose of revealing weaknesses in security audits. At the Def Con hacker conference there are social engineering contests, like the SECTV (Social Engineering Capture The Flag) in which SE pros and hobbyists compete to get information out of a company.

Of course, spies do it too. So do criminals.

This sort of thing doesn’t just happen to the White House. Business email scams have raked in over $3 billion globally since January 2015. Professional phishing, social engineering, and pentesting company Snowfensive LLC told Engadget, “Similar attacks (BEC Scams) continue to siphon billions of dollars from businesses with this technique.”

Phishing and SE also nail oodles of consumers each year; the famous Nigerian Bank Scam and online dating scams for example. Last year in the UK alone, social engineering and email based “romance scams” bilked people out of a record £39M (over $51 million).

Defendants E. Ofolue (L) E. Nwude, former director of Union Bank (C) and A.Martina Anajemba (R) sit during their trial for fraud in Abuja February 11, 2004. A total of five Nigerians were on trial in Abuja accused of defrauding a Brazilian bank of $242 million in the 1990s.

While Eric Trump threatened “Email Prankster” with legal action, it appears that none has been taken so far. Richard De Vere of UK-based The AntiSocial Engineer told Engadget, “I think the FBI will take this seriously,” but that “the police around here haven’t got time for this.”

Unlike the challenges of pentesting a business or running a dating scam, no special skills were required to phish and social engineer top White House staff (and Trump family members). Snowfensive remarked via Twitter DM that “Email Prankster” used mail.com, Gmail, and Yahoo email addresses, “yet the email recipients looked at the full name of the sender, rather than inspecting the email further.”

Snowfensive explained, “While this was fun and games for him, the ‘Email Prankster’ could have turned the conversation to elicit sensitive information from his targets.” And in some cases, he did, obtaining personal email addresses in his adventures.

Charles Henderson, Global Head of IBM X-Force Red told Engadget via email, “The prankster stopped at Step 1, whereas a penetration tester would have been aiming many steps ahead of information gathering.” In this kind of attack, Henderson explained that “Personal information, ongoing project activities or references, and information about personal relationships can all be used to build a knowledge base and move laterally within the organization.”

Phishing impersonation, like this example of email pranking, once accomplished, is leverage to the next steps of attack. In this instance, it was pretty easy to get those doors open and get the targets talking.

To turn an email conversation into a network compromise wouldn’t have been hard — all the prankster (or pentester) needed their target to do is click on a link or download an attachment. And considering that none of these major players in the White House could be bothered to make sure they weren’t talking to a fake or spy, their security complacency would’ve been a cakewalk to leverage into a network compromise. Or to infect systems with malware, ransomware, keyloggers, the list goes on.

In fact, that’s the first thing an attack company like Snowfensive would do. The team would get the target to download and open a tainted attachment. “When executed, the malware infects the system and provides us access to the computer. At this point, we can download data on the computer or access network shares connected to the computer.”

If Snowfensive had been hired to take the pranking into the professional pentest realm, their other two goals would be to get the target to perform an action and to get information. “In the corporate world,” they explain, an action “is often manifested as the attack masquerading as the CFO and targeting an employee in the accounting department with the end goal of having the employee transfer money to pay a fictitious invoice.”

As for getting information, the White House targets proved that they’re all too willing to engage. “This is what we see the ‘Email Prankster’ doing,” Snowfensive said, “simply conversing with the target to have them answer sensitive questions.”

None of this is reassuring about anything. As a security writer, I close my eyes and see the chaos and fire scene from Airplane where it’s the wrong week to stop sniffing glue, except glue isn’t going to cut it. We wonder who else has been fake emailing with important White House people. Bad people, probably. Nigerian princes? Definitely.

In a way, I guess we’re beyond asking why Trump’s apparently unlimited supply of arrogant buffoons can’t be bothered to do basic security. Especially the ones who are supposed to be experts on the cyber. After all, Eric Trump proved that there’s no doxing like self-doxing. Asking them to make sure the person they’re emailing with isn’t some lulzy rando with a computer would probably be like asking them to hire someone reasonably qualified for any post. It’s crazy talk, I tell ya.

Maybe they’ll stop falling for the equivalent of a cut rate romance scam when everything calms down in the White House.

Images: REUTERS/George Esiri GM/AA (Nigerian scam); chairboy via Getty Images (Click here scam)

Researchers create instant hydrogen from water and aluminum

Hydrogen power seemed all the rage for awhile, until we had to face the practical considerations of using it. Yes, it’s clean and abundant, but it’s also incredibly difficult to transport. One team may have accidentally found the key to jump starting this struggling economy, though; researchers at the US Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground Maryland made a chance discovery when they poured water on a new aluminum alloy. It began to give off hydrogen automatically.

It is possible for hydrogen to be a byproduct of a reaction between water and regular aluminum, but only at extremely high temperatures or with added catalysts. Additionally, it would take hours for the hydrogen to be produced and had an efficiency of only about 50 percent.

That’s not the case with this new reaction; “Ours does it to nearly 100 per cent efficiency in less than 3 minutes,” team leader Scott Grendahl told New Scientist. That’s a pretty impressive statistic, especially when you consider it’s an automatic reaction. Aluminum and water can be transported easily and are stable. This can easily be turned into a situation where a lot of hydrogen can be produced on demand, in a short amount of time. This eliminates many of the issues that forced companies to seek alternatives to hydrogen for a clean energy source.

That doesn’t mean this is the solution to all our hydrogen problems, though. There are still many questions that need to be answered. First of all, can this be replicated outside the lab? All signs point to yes, but experiments can often work in a lab setting and fail in field tests. How difficult is this new aluminum alloy to produce, and what would the costs of mass production be? How much of it would you need to make this work? What are the environmental costs of producing this increased amount of aluminum alloy? This is an encouraging first step to be sure, but there’s a lot more we need to know before we declare this the salvation of hydrogen fuel.

Source: New Scientist