Spotify’s latest playlist collects your top 100 tracks from 2017

Spotify’s data-driven and editorialized playlists are some of the biggest features that set it apart from its competitors. It being December means the streaming service is taking a look back at the year that was. Specifically, it’s offering a look at your year in music listening. When you log in today you’ll find two playlists: one for your top 100 songs from 2017 and then “the ones that got away.” More than that, there’s a downloadable and shareable card with stats about how many minutes of music you’ve listened to, your top artists, top genre and top songs. The data analysis goes even further, with a report for how many songs you’ve skipped, how many artists you’ve listened to and how many songs you’ve streamed.

Spotify also took a macro view of the year in music. Despite how many killer albums have come out in 2017 (Kendrick Lamar’s Damn., Bishop Briggs’ self-titled EP and Queens of the Stone Age’s Villains chief among them), there was no stopping ginger crooner Ed Sheeran from being the most streamed artist overall. People listened to his Divide album some 3.1 billion times, with “Shape of You” racking up 1.4 billion streams across the globe. Good luck getting that chorus out of your head now that you’ve read this.

To keep the playlist love going, Spotify curated a handful of new ones featuring the most streamed tracks, top artists overall, top male and female artists. That’s in addition to top groups and top Latin artists and songs. There’s a lot of music to sift through here, so you should probably get a jump on it.

Source: Spotify, 2017 Wrapped

George Lucas’ student film, ‘THX 1138,’ will stream soon

Gunpowder & Sky has announced that its Sci-Fi channel Dust will stream Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, the short USC film that helped kickstart George Lucas’ career. The film is about a man trying to escape an oppressive society constantly monitored by security cameras, and was later developed into a feature film by Warner Brothers and Francis Ford Coppola.

Though produced by Lucas way back in 1967, the film’s themes have some relevance in our privacy challenged times, the streaming company noted. “We are excited to see that Dust is tapping into the zeitgeist of a growing fan base that is gripped with how technology is transforming our lives,” said Gunpowder & Sky President Floris Bauer.

Lucas was able to secure film and cameras for the project by agreeing to teach the USC’s Navy Production Workshop, then using the enlisted sailors as cast and crew. He also had access to USC’s computer department, where some of the scenes are set, and shot around the UCLA campus, LAX and Van Nuys airport. The short was widely praised at the time as highly inventive visually, and still stands up. It took first place in the dramatic category at the National Student Film Awards, according to the Harvard Crimson.

Francis Ford Coppola eventually agreed to help Lucas make a feature film out of it with a budget of around $800,000. The movie, starring Robert Duvall, was re-edited by Warner Bros. against Lucas’ wishes, and lost money when it was released in 1971. Lucas eventually bought the rights back and went on to make a few more films you may have heard of.

Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB will stream on Dust’s Facebook, YouTube and Instagram channels and through watchdust.com on December 11th, just ahead of the December 15th release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Source: Deadline

Pinterest makes it easy to share pins on Facebook Messenger

Has it been while since you’ve chatted with a Messenger bot? If you use Pinterest religiously, you might be tempted pick up the habit again. The visual discovery social network has launched a Messenger bot and a chat extension that make it easier to share pins with friends. With the chat extension, you’ll be able to share pins from Pinterest within the Messenger app itself. And if you receive a pin from your friend, you’ll be able to expand that pin to show the full image and browse related pins without even leaving the chat application. Pinterest says it built the extension to load fast, since it expects people to use it on the go.

The bot, on the other hand, helps you discover new pins when you ask for recommendations. Simply get the ball rolling by typing “Get Started” and choose from the available topics like “Trending,” “Food,” “Home” and “DIY” or search for particular terms if you’re looking for something more specific. The beauty of it is that you can share the pins you discover through the bot using the chat extension. You’ll be able to access Pinterest’s chat extension over the coming days if you’re using the English language version of Pinterest’s app on Android or iPhone. The bot will be available to everyone, both on mobile and the web.

Source: Pinterest

Representatives ask GAO to investigate FCC net neutrality comments

It’s not just senators calling for a review of the FCC’s millions of fake anti-net neutrality comments. Representatives Elijah Cummings, Greg Meeks and Frank Pallone have sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking it to investigate the comments. They want to know the extent of the fakery, which would violate laws barring fraudulent representation in any subject under the executive branch’s oversight. And crucially, they also want a look at the FCC’s response — they’re “concerned” that it stonewalled New York’s investigation by withholding information (at least, until very recently).

The politicians also want to look at comment fraud across other federal institutions, and determine whether or not those agencies have “proper controls” for spotting and preventing fake comments. They’d like the GAO to provide recommendations for improvements, too.

As of this writing, the GAO hasn’t said whether or not it’ll pursue the investigation. The real question, though, is whether or not a GAO report would lead to changes. The FCC has made clear that it intends to ignore public opposition to the net neutrality repeal, and it’s unlikely to have a change of heart even if there’s firm evidence of a massive fraud campaign. However, a GAO analysis would at least provide a solid foundation for complaints.

Source: Rep. Meeks

The iPhone 8 goes up against the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

Before you start throwing down cash for new phones like a Grinch post heart-expansion, watch our video to directly compare more factors than just name brand and price on two of the most popular phones. The iPhone 8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are both less than $1000 (no thanks, iPhone X) but still expensive, beginning at $699 and $825, respectively.

Either would make a great gift to yourself or someone else, but it all depends on what you’re going for. The iPhone 8 looks a little ho-hum in terms of standard old design, but acts zippier because of the new A11 bionic chip, which Apple claims makes it 25% faster.

Alternatively, maybe you love Samsung or are just now open to one because of Apple’s no headphone jack policy. The S8 and S8 Plus have a slick design that our own phone reviewers absolutely love and its display (a dazzling 2,220 x 1,080) compared to Apple’s (a meh 1,334 x 750) really put it at the top of the visual appearance heap.

And then there’s the camera test. While on paper the smartphone’s cameras seem very similar, (Apple with a 7-megapixel front-facing camera, 12-megapixel back; Galaxy S8 Plus with 8-megapixel front-facing camera, 12-megapixel back), in practice, the selfies from the Galaxy S8 Plus seem far superior.

After testing set-up, call quality, video downloading time, playback, visual appearance and cameras on each of the phones, we picked the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus as the winner of this particular head-to-head challenge. Let us know in the comments what we should test next!

This article was briefly removed from the site to update the video thumbnail and pricing. Prices now reflect MSRP rather than Amazon’s “Buy Now” option in our database.

iOS Lost Market Share in Numerous Countries From August to October 2017 as People Waited for iPhone X

Apple’s piece of the smartphone ecosystem market fell in eight total territories during the August-October 2017 timeframe, according to new data tracked by Kantar Worldpanel. Echoing numerous stories from earlier this fall that reported people were waiting for the iPhone X and not purchasing an iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus, Kantar’s data showed a 7.6 percentage point drop for iOS in the United States when compared to the same year-ago period.

That number was higher in Great Britain where iOS dropped 8.5 percentage points from 2016, and was followed by Japan (down 6.9 percentage points), Germany (down 1.6), France (down 0.6), Italy (down 0.5), and Australia (down 0.2). While iOS dropped 7.6 points in the U.S., Android increased by 8.2 percentage points during this time.

In the same three-month period ending October of last year, 30.1 percent of iOS users in Europe and the U.S. had owned their iPhones for more than two years. iPhone X excitement further affected this statistic as well, increasing to 35.3 percent in 2017 and “signifying considerable pent-up demand” for the iPhone X, according to Kantar.

“It was somewhat inevitable that Apple would see volume share fall once we had a full comparative month of sales taking into account the non-flagship iPhone 8 vs. the flagship iPhone 7 from 2016,” said Dominic Sunnebo, Global Business Unit Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. “This decrease is significant and puts pressure on the iPhone X to perform. Considering the complete overhaul that the iPhone X offers, consumers may be postponing their purchase decisions until they can test the iPhone X and decide whether the higher price, compared to the iPhone 8, is worth the premium to them.”

“As of October 2017, 35.3% of Apple’s installed base customers across Europe and the USA had owned their iPhones for more than two years – up from 30.1% a year earlier and signifying considerable pent-up demand within Apple’s base. In pure value terms, it is likely the iPhone X average selling price will more than make up for a dip in sales of older iPhone models,” Sunnebo added.

While Apple saw a drop in most countries, iOS share grew slightly in China during this period with a 0.5 percentage point increase, suggesting that the company’s ongoing efforts to expand its foothold in the Chinese market are paying off. Apple CEO Tim Cook furthered that sentiment during a keynote speech at China’s annual state-run World Internet Conference over the weekend, where he said that Chinese developers have earned more selling apps on Apple’s iOS platform than developers from any other country.

Now that the iPhone X has been out for a month, sales figures for the smartphone have been positive and Apple has continuously improved delivery dates for the device over the subsequent weeks. Research shared by IHS Markit earlier in December reported that early adoption rates for the iPhone X — looking at its first three weeks on the market — beat the iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 Plus during similar timeframes. According to TrendForce, this strong iPhone X demand will help push Apple ahead of Samsung in Q4 2017 to become the world’s largest smartphone maker.

Related Roundups: iOS 11, iPhone XTag: Kantar WorldpanelBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
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Instagram Now Lets You Highlight Your Favorite Stories Permanently on Your Profile

Instagram today introduced two new tools that it says will help you revisit your favorite Instagram Stories, as well as showcase these moments to everyone who visits your profile.

To start, a new Stories Archive feature will automatically save your 24-hour-long stories into a private section of the app when they expire. You’ll be able to find these in the Archive icon on your profile, which already exists for regular picture and video archive options and will now include a toggle to switch to stories. Only you have the ability to see your archived posts and stories, and the auto-archiving feature for stories can be turned off in settings.

You can revisit all of your stories here, re-share any old story as a new story, create a new post, or add one to the new Stories Highlight section of your profile. Stories Highlights allows you to group old stories together in a new section that sits below your Instagram bio.

Story Highlights lets you show all the sides of your personality, and you can make highlights out of anything you’ve shared to your story in the past. From the best moments of your ongoing soccer season to all the stories you capture of your loved ones, the interests and activities that matter most to you have a home right on your profile.

You can tap the “new” button in this area of your profile, choose a Story from the archive, select a cover for the highlight, and name it. After you’re finished the highlight will appear as a circle on your profile and will play as its own story when someone visits your profile and taps it.

Instead of disappearing after 24 hours, highlights remain on your profile until you choose to remove them. Instagram said that you can have as many highlights as you want, and any current highlight can be edited by tapping and holding its circle on your profile.

For more information check out Instagram’s press release here.

Tag: Instagram
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Apple Pay Cash Officially Launches Today After Early Roll Out to Many Users Yesterday

Apple has announced that Apple Pay Cash officially launches today for all iOS 11.2 users with an eligible iPhone or iPad model in the United States.

Apple’s peer-to-peer payment service actually began rolling out in iOS 11.2 on Monday, but some users received an error message stating the service was unavailable. The activation issues began to resolve for many users later in the day, although there are still a few lasting reports of activation issues.

Apple Pay Cash’s official launch today comes three days after iOS 11.2 was released early in order to address a serious date bug that was affecting some users on December 2. While the update introduced Apple Pay Cash, as mentioned in the release notes, the feature had not yet been activated by Apple.

Apple Pay Cash allows for quick person-to-person money transfers, much like competing services Square Cash and Venmo.

After setting up Apple Pay Cash, open the Messages app, tap on the App Store icon, tap on Apple Pay, set the dollar amount, tap pay, select a payment card, and securely authenticate with Touch ID or Face ID. The payment card can be any debit or credit card set up in the Wallet app, or the Apple Pay Cash card.

The recipient taps on the message to receive the funds, which are instantly added to his or her Apple Pay Cash card in the Wallet app. The card’s funds can be used to make purchases using Apple Pay in stores, in apps, and on supported websites, or withdrawn to a bank account within one to three business days.

When new users receive money for the first time, the funds are added to their new Apple Pay Cash card once they accept Apple’s terms.

You can also send money with Siri, as explained in our How to Use Apple Pay Cash guide, which includes step-by-step setup instructions and other helpful info. Apple Pay Cash is currently available in the United States only. Apple hasn’t indicated when the service could expand to additional countries.

Apple Pay Cash is available on iPhone 6 and later, iPhone SE, all iPad Pro models, the fifth-generation iPad, iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 3 models running iOS 11.2. Apple recommends that customers who have updated to iOS 11.2 before today restart their devices if Apple Pay Cash is not showing up.

Apple Pay Cash is also available on all Apple Watch models running the watchOS 4.2 software update released today.

Related Roundup: Apple PayTag: Apple Pay Cash
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Apple Releases watchOS 4.2 With Support for Apple Pay Cash

Apple today released watchOS 4.2, the second major update to the watchOS 4 operating system that runs on the Apple Watch. watchOS 4.2 comes a little over one month after the release of watchOS 4.1, the first major update to watchOS 4 that brought Apple Music streaming over LTE.

watchOS 4.2 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software Update. To install the new software, the Apple Watch needs to have at least 50 percent battery, it needs to be placed on a charger, and it needs to be in range of the iPhone.

The watchOS 4.2 update introduces support for Apple Pay Cash, Apple’s new peer-to-peer payments service designed to let users transfer money to one another. Apple Pay Cash, which is also available in iOS 11.2, can be used to send and receive money through the Messages app on the Apple Watch. Apple Pay Cash started rolling out yesterday and is officially available for everyone as of today.

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Payments are sent using a linked credit or debit card (or an existing Apple Pay Cash balance), while money received is stored within a new Apple Pay Cash card that’s available in the Wallet app. For more on Apple Pay Cash, make sure to check out our how to.

Along with support for Apple Pay Cash, the watchOS 4.2 update also adds support for HomeKit sprinklers and faucets, plus it introduces a new workout type that allows third-party apps to track distance, average speed, number of runs, and elevation descended for downhill snow sports with Apple Watch Series 3.

The update addresses a bug that could cause the Apple Watch to sometimes restart when asking Siri about the weather, it fixes an issue that could cause scrolling to be disabled in Heart Rate for some users, and it resolves an issue that prevented simultaneous timers or alarms from being dismissed independently.

For more on the watchOS 4 operating system, make sure to check out our dedicated watchOS 4 roundup.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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How to set up HDR gaming on your 4K HDR TV and PS4 and PS4 Pro

The advent of UHD 4K resolution has been a major boon to gaming, as it brought crisper resolutions and finer detail to graphics. However, while 4K is an appreciable upgrade, if you’re not playing with High Dynamic Range (HDR) enabled you’re not getting the full experience from your 4K TV or games. Both of Sony’s current consoles — the PlayStation 4 and the 4K-ready PlayStation 4 Pro — support HDR, provided you have the proper display and the right setup. We’ve put together this guide on how to set up HDR gaming on your 4K/HDR TV and PS4 or PS4 Pro consoles for more colorful, vibrant games.

A quick note: While both the PS4 and PS4 Pro are capable of HDR you’ll need to make sure you’ve updated the firmware to 4.0 or higher. If you happen to need help setting up HDR on an Xbox One S or Xbox One X, we can help with that, too.

Set up your TV first!

Make sure your console is connected to an HDMI 2.0a/HDCP 2.2-compliant port on your TV. You might think that because you have a 4K/HDR TV, all ports would be usable, but in most cases only one or two ports are HDMI 2.0a/HDCP 2.2-enabled. What is more surprising is that the compatible HDMI port you need is not necessarily HDMI 1. Sometimes TV manufacturers label the ports so you know by looking, but even those labels can be misleading. To be absolutely sure, check out the specs section for your TV’s model at the manufacturer’s website to determine which HDMI ports support HDMI 2.0a, and use one of those for your console.
Open your TV’s settings menu. Head to the picture settings section, then look at the presets to find your TV’s “game mode.” This mode will cut down on picture processing, and your picture quality may appear to take a slight hit in the process (we’ll be fixing that, too), but it will also reduce input lag, so if you’re a competitive gamer, using Game Mode will keep you competitive in multiplayer matchups. If you typically play single-player games (or if you value graphics and picture quality over performance), go ahead and pick whichever preset suits your eyeballs best — we typically prefer “movie,” “cinema,” or “standard” modes.
Next, you need to enable HDR on your television. Go back to the picture settings menu. From here, it depends on what type of TV you have. Some televisions have HDR settings right in the main picture settings menu while others will list them under “input settings” “advanced picture settings,” or even the main options menu. You’re looking for a setting like “HDMI HDR,” “HDMI Color Subsampling,” “HDMI HD Ultra Deep Color,” “HDMI UHD Color,” “10-Bit Color,” or something similar. You need to enable this setting (aka switch it to “on”) for the HDMI port where the console is plugged in. If you’re not sure where to locate your TV’s HDMI HDR settings, consult your user manual or check the manufacturer’s website.
Your TV is now set up to accept HDR content from your game console, but you may want to fine-tune the picture quality. We suggest adjusting brightness and contrast controls to taste, but before you start tweaking these settings, you want your TV to be displaying some kind of HDR content. This could be an HDR game for your console, or a movie or TV title in HDR via Netflix, Amazon, or Vudu. Once you’re playing HDR content of some sort (many TVs confirm this by putting an HDR logo on the screen), your TV will be in HDR mode. At this point, go into the picture settings to make adjustments. By making adjustments while in this mode, you are adjusting picture quality only for the TV’s HDR mode — this will not impact picture quality settings for those times you are watching SDR content, be that a non-HDR movie on Netflix, a standard Blu-ray disc, or good ol’ over-the-air broadcasts.

In the market for a new TV? We can help! Take a look at our picks for the best TVs of 2017 or hit up our 4K TV buying guide for more info.

Set up your PS4 or PS4 Pro

Once your TV is set up, you’re most of the way there. All that’s left to do is enable HDR on the console itself. While the PS4 and PS4 Pro will usually auto-detect that HDR is enabled on your TV and adjust the settings itself, it doesn’t always, and it’s a good idea to double check regardless. Here’s how to do it.

After you’ve properly plugged the console into your TV, turn it on on and navigate to the settings screen. In the System Information tab, make sure HDCP is checked.
Next, open the Sound and Screen menu, then select Video Output Settings. On that screen, set the HDR option and Deep Color output to Automatic.

If you followed the above step correctly, you should now be able to play in HDR. Should you need further help, consult Sony’s video guide.

Finding the right content

Finally, you’ll need to have the right content to play and/or watch.

There is a long list of HDR-enabled video games on the PS4, and more are being released all the time. Plus, there is a plethora of HDR video content you can access on Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Prime.

Here’s a quick selection of some HDR-ready PS4 recommendations:

• Horizon Zero Dawn (Pictured above)
• Final Fantasy XV
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
• The Last of Us: Remastered
• The Last Guardian
• Uncharted 4

Make sure the picture looks great!

Now that you’re all set up and playing an HDR title, the picture quality should be stunning and gorgeous. But what if you aren’t impressed? Perhaps it actually looks worse? What now?

Unfortunately, this may mean that your TV is not well-suited for HDR, even if it says HDR right on the side of the box. To pull off HDR well, a TV needs to be able to achieve high-contrast ratios and expanded color. If your TV can’t pull off the contrast necessary for impressive HDR, your picture could end up looking either dark or washed out, with a lack of detail in either dim or bright areas, depending on your picture adjustments. If this ends up being the case, we suggest you disable HDR and play in a standard mode. If the picture quality looks much better as a result of reverting back to HDR, just stick with it.

Editors’ Recommendations

• How to set up HDR gaming on your Xbox One and 4K HDR TV
• Here’s every game you’ll want to play in 4K HDR on the PS4 Pro
• What is HDR TV (and why should you care)?
• What is HDR photography and how can I shoot it with my camera?
• Vudu brings HDR to a wealth of TVs and streamers with the addition of HDR10