Apple Music’s Android app adds voice search and social features

Apple announced that it would bring your friends’ listening habits to Apple Music at WWDC this past summer. iOS users who use the streaming music service will be able to start using the feature after updating to iOS 11. Now, Android-using Apple Music fans will be able to see their friends’ listening habits, too, with a new update to the app in the Google Play store.

The updated Android Apple Music app also has a new voice search, a recently played widget and shortcuts to Beats 1 and Search functions. You can touch and hold the home button or say “Ok Google” to play songs, albums, artists and Beats 1 with Apple’s music service. You can also show and play music you’ve recently listened to on your home screen in the new widget. If you tap and hold the Apple Music app icon, you’ll have the option to play Beats 1 or start a new search without having to launch the app first.

Source: Google Play

Hulu’s Live TV service is now available on Roku devices

Hulu’s been expanding its Live TV beta rollout alongside that of its newly-redesigned UI, and both are now available on Roku. Users who sign up get the full livestreaming service with over 50 channels plus the option to add-on HBO, Cinemax and Showtime for nominal fees.

The set-top box isn’t the first to get Hulu Live TV: Mac and PC users got access a month ago and Amazon’s Fire TV devices were introduced a month before. Android, Chromecast, Apple TV and iOS users can watch it. Heck, even Xbox 360 and Xbox One owners can use the service. But hey, being a little late has its perks, like getting in as Hulu TV adds more channels and its original content wins Emmys.

The compatible Roku products are listed below:

• Roku Streaming Stick (3600)
• Roku Express
• Roku Express+
• Roku Premiere+
• Roku Premiere
• Roku Ultra
• Roku 3
• Roku 4
• All Roku TV models

Source: Hulu

New ‘Wolfenstein’ trailer is a reminder to always fight fascism

Nazis are the perfect video game enemy because they have zero redeeming qualities. It’s something the Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus development team at Machine Games knows and the marketing department at publisher Bethesda Softworks is keen to capitalize on, especially given the current political climate. Watching the latest trailer, it’s hard to not feel like it’s a direct response to Donald Trump’s “violence on both sides” statements regarding Klansmen, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and their counter-protesters from Charlottesville last month.

NO. MORE. NAZIS. Watch the brand new #Wolf2 gameplay trailer now. pic.twitter.com/KBFKxShzpf

— Wolfenstein (@wolfenstein) September 19, 2017

Faceless jack-booted soldiers goose-step in a celebratory ticker tape parade and brand new Nazi flags line the streets while our own hangs tattered and solitary, covered in ash. It’s chilling image that thankfully doesn’t last for too long. “We gotta set this right, Grace,” protagonist BJ Blaskowicz says at one point. “Put the fightin’ spirit back in the American people; ignite a revolution.” That’s when all hell breaks loose and fascists start dying in a rain of blood, bullets and fire.

The trailer isn’t for the faint of heart (there’s plenty of swearing and at least one axe hitting a Nazi forehead), but after 35 years of Wolfenstein anyone surprised probably hasn’t been paying attention. When I got to play the game at E3, the section was all about making players feel vulnerable. It’s pretty clear that won’t be the case for the full game when it’s released this October 27th.

Source: Wolfenstein (Twitter)

T-Mobile won’t throttle unlimited data until you use 50GB

Carriers throttling user speeds is now the reality we live in, but most mobile plans only squeeze your rate once you’ve downloaded an arbitrary amount of data. T-Mobile is raising the threshold at which they optionally throttle customers’ data from 32GB to 50GB, which it claims is still pretty high — enough to stream hours of content every day for a month and still have gigabytes of data left over.

To be specific, T-Mobile customers won’t get throttled the moment they tip over 50GB downloaded a month — that will only happen if they’re in an area where a lot of other folks are sucking down data. Customers who’ve exceeded that threshold will get “de-prioritized” and download slower than others who haven’t reached it. Their status is reset every month.

That’s higher than the 22GB throttle threshold for Verizon’s Beyond unlimited plan, which that carrier has tried to assuage by restricting resolution to slow down user data consumption. But it’s safe to say that arbitrarily throttling is pretty unpopular, which Verizon can do at any time to subscribers of its Go unlimited plan. At least T-Mobile’s trying to give users some breathing room with the higher threshold.

Source: T-Mobile

Google’s new Chromebook Pixel is reportedly called… the Pixelbook

Google seemingly put the nail in the coffin for its Pixel line of laptops back in February, but rumors surfaced last month that the company might revive the name for a new slew of Chromebooks. Today, we have, well, more rumors — but these are backed by photos and extensive details on the new machines. According to Droid Life, the Pixelbook, as its named, is a 2-in-1 that will start at $1,200.

Reportedly, the Pixelbook will come with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB of storage, with the latter two priced at $1,400 and $1,750, respectively. Unlike the earlier Pixel laptops, the new model folds flat like a tablet. It also has a new proprietary stylus, the Pixelbook Pen, sold separately for $100.

It’s the first new laptop in the Pixel line since Google soft-killed it in August 2016 by ceasing production. This is the second batch of leaked news that Droid Life published today, the first of which outlined the highly-anticipated Pixel 2 smartphone, along with Google’s mini Home speaker and new Daydream headset. We’ll see just how accurate those reports were when the search giant has its event formally announcing its new flagship phone on October 4th.

Source: Droid Life

Safari 11 Released for macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan

Apple today released Safari 11.0 for macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan. The update adds new media-related features, plus improvements to privacy, compatibility, and security.

Notably, in Safari 11, the web browser blocks videos with audio from automatically playing on most websites. Other new features are outlined in our macOS High Sierra roundup.

• Stops media with audio from automatically playing on most websites
• Adds the ability to configure Reader, content blockers, page zoom, and auto-play settings on a per-website basis, or for all websites
• Improves AutoFill accuracy from Contacts cards
• Includes updated media controls for HTML video and audio
• Enhances performance and efficiency

Safari 11 was first introduced in macOS High Sierra, which will be publicly released on September 25.

Safari 11 is available as a free update within the Mac App Store.

Related Roundup: macOS Sierra
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Apple Updates Swift Playgrounds With New Augmented Reality Challenge

Swift Playgrounds, the Apple-designed iPad app that aims to teach children and adults of all ages how to code using the Swift programming language, was today updated to version 1.6 alongside the release of iOS 11.

The new Swift Playgrounds update introduces a new Augmented Reality challenge that uses ARKit in iOS 11 to showcase Byte’s virtual world within the real world. Byte is a Swift Playgrounds character that’s used to guide students through the coding process.

Swift Playgrounds now allows students to access the iPad camera in their code, and errors that are in code are more clearly explained for a better understanding of the mistakes that have been made.

Swift Playgrounds can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

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Apple Releases Xcode 9 With Swift 4 and iOS 11, watchOS 4, tvOS 11, and macOS High Sierra SDKs

Alongside the new iOS 11, watchOS 4, and tvOS 11 updates, Apple has released Xcode 9, the latest version of the Xcode Mac app that lets developers create apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Xcode 9 introduces Swift 4 and all of the SDKs necessary to develop apps for iOS 11, watchOS 4, tvOS 11, and macOS High Sierra, including the new Core ML framework for machine learning and ARKit for augmented reality.

Xcode 9 includes a new structure-based editor with native Markdown support and faster navigation through code, plus it includes built-in refactoring that works across Swift, Objective-C, C, C++, Interface Builder, and more.

Faster search and wireless debugging for iOS and tvOS devices have been added, as have new debuggers for Metal. iOS playground templates now work in both Xcode and Swift Playgrounds, and Xcode server is built in, so there’s no need to install macOS server.

There’s a new source control navigator with integrated support for GitHub for better collaborative code management, and Simulator has been updated to behave more like a real device. It’s also able to simulate multiple devices at once.

A full and extensive list of everything new in Xcode 9 is available from Apple’s developer site, and an overview is also available on Apple’s Xcode site. Many developers will already be familiar with the changes introduced as Xcode 9 has been in testing alongside iOS 11 and the other software updates since June.

Xcode can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Xcode
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Things 3 for iOS Updated With Siri Integration and Drag and Drop Support

Popular to-do app Things 3 was today updated to version 3.2, adding full support for iOS 11 and watchOS 4 along with a few new key features like Siri integration and support for Drag and Drop.

With Siri integration, it’s now possible to interact directly with Things on iOS devices and the Apple Watch using Apple’s built-in personal assistant. Siri can do things like create a new task, add reminders, search for tags, and open up a specific list in the Things app.

On the iPad, Things is gaining support for the Drag and Drop feature introduced in iOS 11. iPad users will be able to drop content into Things from other apps as new to-dos or in the notes section of existing to-dos.

A third major new feature coming to Things is support for third-party app link detection. Links from third-party apps will now be tappable, so you can link to a file in other apps like Evernote or Ulysses and then get back to those files with a tap.

Things 3 can be downloaded from the App Store. The iPad version is priced at $19.99 [Direct Link], while the iPhone version (which includes Apple watch support) is priced at $9.99. [Direct Link]

Tag: Things 3
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How to Find Notifications in iOS 11’s New Lock Screen and Cover Sheet

Apple made waves last year when it completely redesigned how the lock screen functions on iOS 10 by removing the iPhone’s well-known “Slide to Unlock” instruction from the screen. The improvements allowed for a more seamless unlocking experience on iPhones that supported Raise to Wake and Touch ID, and with iOS 11 that process isn’t changing (although there are still ways to get around it thanks to Accessibility options).

The main change in iOS 11’s lock screen is how the new software deals with notifications and the methods you’ll have to go through in finding a push notification you might have missed.

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Finding Notifications in iOS 11’s Lock Screen

Awaken your iPhone by using Raise to Wake or tapping the lock button.

Swipe up from the middle of the screen to find a list of notifications, and continue scrolling for older notifications.

On any one notification, swipe left-to-right to open it directly.

Or, swipe right-to-left to “view” or “clear” it.

Accessing the New Cover Sheet

Unlock your iPhone.

Swipe down from the top edge of the screen to bring up the all-new Cover Sheet.

You can interact with notifications as before, and 3D Touch the “x” to clear them all.

Swipe left-to-right (avoiding notifications) to enter the Today section and find your widgets.

Back on the notification screen, swipe right-to-left to enter the Camera.

Swipe up from the very bottom edge of the screen or press the home button to dismiss the Cover Sheet.
With Cover Sheet, the “Notification Center” of iOS 10 has been replaced with a screen that looks visually just like your lock screen, and functions essentially the same way. Notifications are displayed in reverse chronological order, starting with the latest unseen notifications, continuing with “Earlier Today” if you have any missed notifications from the past 24 hours, and then extending into previous days.

Those who purchase an iPhone X later in the year should also note that the redesigned iPhone will house Cover Sheet in its own unique area. When the iPhone X is unlocked, instead of swiping down from the top edge of the smartphone, you’ll have to swipe down from the top left ear to bring up your notifications.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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