Tesla: Workplace safety, unions and the color yellow

Tesla’s troubles with media reports on working conditions and union organizing took a hard right turn on Monday. In response to Reveal’s report on Tesla’s workplace safety, the auto manufacturer accused the Pulitzer-finalist of being “an extremist organization working directly with union supporters to create a calculated disinformation campaign against Tesla.”

When reached for response to Tesla’s accusation, Editor in Chief of Reveal (from The Center for Investigative Reporting) Amy Pyle told Engadget via email, “It hardly seems that a documents-and-shoe-leather investigation of workplace safety could accurately be portrayed as fanatical.”

Tesla’s accusation came via a blog post the same day Reveal published its investigation. Tesla says its factory is safer now, but it left injuries off the books. Despite being called an “extremist organization,” the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization said it stands by its work in the report as “accurate and fair.” Ms. Pyle added, “in terms of how I feel, I know we’re on solid ground, so it pretty much rolls off our back.”

Among other issues, Reveal’s piece said dangerous areas aren’t properly marked around Tesla’s plants because “Elon [Musk] hates the color yellow.” Tesla’s reactionary blog post took particular umbrage to this allegation, writing “This is truly ridiculous. Anyone who’s been in the factory can see that the color yellow is everywhere.”

To prove this point, Tesla’s blog post linked to a seemingly random photo of a single yellow pole.

It’s an odd detail in a story that just gets weirder — and more high-stakes — by the day.

Jalopnik observed the exchange and wrote “Tesla’s War With The Media Is Just Unhinged At This Point.” Slate said Tesla’s tone “now borders on hysterical.” While Fast Company said the company’s extreme reaction makes it look like it’s hiding something.

All three outlets noted that Tesla’s reaction — shouting “fake news” and alleging a conspiracy — seems straight from the Donald Trump playbook. Requests for comment to Tesla were not answered before publication.

Reveal’s Editor in Chief did say that in this context, Tesla’s reaction gives her pause. “This is classic blaming the messenger for sure,” Ms. Pyle said. She added:

But we are seeing this kind of rhetoric more and more across the news landscape, where those who disagree with a story label it “fake news,” lumping it in with the actual epidemic of faked news out there. That seems like a calculated and somewhat cynical move, especially on the part of major corporations. If you label us as extreme, then we – and the problems we’ve uncovered – are easy to dismiss.

Tesla’s war on journalism is at odds with the media’s love affair with the company’s boyish billionaire founder and CEO Elon Musk. On one hand, he’s entertaining the world by launching his sports car into space, making flamethrowers for the masses, perfecting groundwork for space exploration, and digging tunnels to ease his commute. On the other, he’s gone toe-to-toe with reporters over his belief that the United Auto Workers are engaged in a deep conspiracy to make his company look bad in order to unionize his employees — dismissing claims about workplace safety issues and injury reporting in the process.

Tesla’s proof of yellow on the factory floor.

Tesla

Musk, and his car company’s management, have such a deep — and now well-established — repulsion to the idea of Tesla’s employees unionizing that it’s hard not to be reminded of what happened the last time a billionaire was faced with employees that wanted to create an organized workers’ association to protect and advocate their rights, safety, and interests.

Namely, Joe Ricketts, who destroyed the national newsrooms of local-reporting blogs in the Gothamist network out of spite after the votes to unionize.

Ricketts is notoriously right-wing and anti-union; Musk is making his feelings clearer about unions by the day: The comparisons to Trump’s tactics are cast in a darker hue under this auspice. Calling Reveal News an “extremist organization” on the take from United Automobile Workers is only the volume going to eleven after over a year of Tesla’s battles against those who would unionize on Musk’s assembly floor.

The public part of this spat began in February 2017 when Tesla employee Jose Moran published a Medium post detailing harsh working conditions. “Many of us have been talking about unionizing,” he wrote, “and have reached out to the United Auto Workers for support … Recently, every worker was required to sign a confidentiality policy that threatens consequences if we exercise our right to speak out about wages and working conditions.”

When the Medium post hit the news, Elon Musk personally refuted all of Moran’s claims to Gizmodo via Twitter DM. He went further, saying that Moran was a paid UAW plant. “Our understanding is that this guy was paid by the UAW to join Tesla and agitate for a union. He doesn’t really work for us, he works for the UAW,” Musk told Gizmodo.

Auto industry outlet Automotive News reported in March, “Since then, more reports of on-site injuries have emerged, as well as lawsuits documenting employee discrimination. The UAW has also filed charges with the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board], alleging Tesla intimidated pro-union employees and forced them to sign nondisclosure agreements barring discussion of plant conditions.”

Automotive News added:

The most recent unfair labor practice complaint, filed with the NLRB in February, claims Tesla disciplined or terminated employees for participating in union activities in the past six months, according to documents obtained by Automotive News via public records request.

Well, one thing is about to change the conversations regardless of any war-of-words skirmishes between Tesla and union organizers: On Wednesday the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) officially initiated an open inspection on Tesla for occupational safety. Cal/OSHA didn’t disclose further details, but my guess is that it probably boils down at least in part to the color yellow.

It’s a peculiar detail in an already freaky story. On a cursory look across his products and branding, I’d believe that Mr. Musk sincerely hates the color yellow. And the thing about the color yellow, is that it’s a universal safety color for many very good reasons, like the way our eyes react to it — we literally see it better and at distances more than other colors because of the way the human eye works. Importantly, it is also the only color that most color-blind people can actually see.

A quick comparison between photos of Tesla’s factory floor and other American auto manufacturers reveals — pun intended — a big difference in the use of those ubiquitous yellow safety markings.

In the end, it’s hard not to think of this as another episode of billionaires gone wild; yet another example of the ultra-rich malfunctioning when rubbing shoulders with the people they share the planet with. It’s too bad. I mean, imagine having it all, and instead of becoming who you want to be, you become a critique of who you wanted to be.

Images: Jim Tanner / Reuters (Factory floor)

Experience the horror of a Syrian air raid in ‘Hero’

I’ve never seen a war zone, but I got a small, virtual taste of what it might be like at the Tribeca Film Festival. Hero is a multisensory, interactive experience that drops you into a city in Syria right before an air raid. You’re a spectator (and subsequent participant) to the minutes before and after a bomb falls and destroys everything around you. I can’t tell you too much about what happens without potentially ruining it for you, but suffice to say I became part of the community and through a simple act, briefly took on the titular role. It sounds self-aggrandizing, but that’s the whole point of the experience — to let the viewer know they have the ability to save lives and make a difference.

Before I even put the headset on, I was ushered into a small staging room and introduced to a docent, Thea. In hushed tones, she briefed me on what to expect and how to alert her if I was feeling disturbed. She then helped me strap on an HP VR Z vibrating backpack and a StarVR headset, then held my hands and led me to the actual site, since I was basically blindfolded by goggles that weren’t turned on. The whole time, I could hear ominous atmospheric music playing through the 32 Dolby DTS:X speakers set up in the space, as well as smell the smoky scent of oud in the air.

When I arrived at the starting spot, Thea guided my hand to a tire near me and soon after that the VR headset came on. The tire that I felt appeared in the virtual environment, exactly where I thought it would be, and other props in the faux village, like crates and bricks, were mirrored in my real surroundings with props, too.

All this set the stage for a powerful, profound experience, and indeed, as creator Navid Khonsari told Engadget, about 80 percent of people who see Hero are shaken at the end of it. For this reason, the team also prepared a post-room to allow viewers to recover after the seven-minute session.

In addition to picking out the right props and particulates to create the appropriate atmosphere outside of the VR experience, Khonsari and his team also went to great lengths to create an accurate digital world. “The actual music coming out of the radio is by a very popular Syrian singer there, directly to that actual time,” he said. The characters were Syrian refugees scanned into the experience, too.

The message of the project, according to Khonsari, is that “amongst all the rubble that exists among all the civilian places in this world, there is still joy and happiness.” After the initial shock and when the dust has somewhat settled, Hero leaves it up to you to decide what to do. As a relatively experienced VR user, I was able to quickly suss out the end game and figure out the goal.

Even though Khonsari’s idea for Hero came about about two years ago, at the height of the Syrian Civil War, it’s become even more timely just this month, after Britain, France and the US fired missiles at the Middle Eastern region.

Ink Stories

There were parts of Hero that I wish were executed better — I would have loved higher resolution graphics at smoother framerates. Sometimes, the animations stuttered, making me feel slightly nauseated. It took me out of the simulation a bit, but as the events unfolded I forgot about my nausea and was able to engage with what was happening. Now that I’ve had some time to process, and am not rushing to check out the next demo at the festival, I feel like I have a more informed perspective of what it’s like to be a civilian in a war zone. “People were telling me, ‘Man, you just changed the news for me,’” Khonsari said.

If you want to check out Hero, it’ll be playing at the Tribeca VR Arcade through April 28th. Khonsari and his team at production studio Ink Stories hope to continue showing the experience on the festival circuit (Hero debuted at Sundance and saw some animation and prop refinements since). The team believes that profound location-based experiences like Hero are the best way to attract a mainstream audience to virtual reality, and wants to make it available to everyone by setting it up at museums around the world.

Click here to read all the news from Tribeca Film Festival 2018!

Screen Actors Guild pledges to fight AI-driven face-swapping porn

The slow war against AI-powered, face-swapping pornography continues. The Screen Actors Guild, the labor union representing the biggest names in film and television, says it’s “fighting back” against deepfakes, videos that superimpose actors’ faces onto the bodies of porn stars.

SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris wrote the following in the group’s monthly magazine, as spotted by Deadline:

“We are closely watching the development of so-called deepfakes. This artificial intelligence tool has the ability to steal our images and superimpose them onto another person’s body in potentially unpleasant and inappropriate digital forms. SAG-AFTRA is focused on these emerging processes and fighting back when the technology infringes on our members’ rights.”

Nicholas Cage’s face takes over Amy Adams’ performance

SAG-AFTRA is taking a particular interest in legislative action. The union has legislation pending in New York and Louisiana that directly tackles the issue of deepfakes, a spokesperson told Deadline. This isn’t just about protecting living actors, either — the union is interested in beefing up the rules for post-mortem rights of publicity, which would ideally give family members control of a deceased actor’s livelihood and likelihood.

“It should be exclusively or non-exclusively licensed or passed down to heirs, much like a copyright,” the spokesperson said. “Where a content creator misappropriates a living or deceased individual for commercialized fake news or fake porn, or in expressive works depicting the individual performing the activity for which they are known, e.g. delivering the news or performing fictional characters, we believe explicit protections should be in place.”

Much of the current deepfake trend spawned on Reddit, where a member created an app that made the entire face-swapping process more accessible than ever. Tens of thousands of people used the app to superimpose images of celebrities — and the women in their lives — onto the bodies of porn stars.

Reddit banned deepfake porn in February, though it kept open numerous subreddits with face-swapping technology. Pornhub also pledged in February to ban deepfakes, but just this week a simple search pulled up more than 100 videos featuring face-swapped celebrities.

Deepfakes aren’t only for the porn world. Recent advances in AI have made it easier than ever to put words in someone’s mouth or place a person in unflattering situations. Oscar-winning writer, actor and director Jordan Peele made a video with Buzzfeed this week showcasing how far this kind of technology has come: He made it appear as if former President Barack Obama called President Donald Trump “a total and complete dipshit.”

This type of technology has myriad implications for the film, video game and advertising industries, potentially cutting back on animation time as actors can simply perform and make it appear as if anyone — or any alien, animal or mineral — is actually saying those lines. Epic Games, Tencent, Vicon and a handful of other companies showed off their latest motion-capture tech at GDC 2018 with the (completely G-rated) Siren demonstration.

Family-friendly demos notwithstanding, the most recent comment on our coverage of Siren demonstrates the clear path that this type of technology will take, and why groups like SAG are stepping up now to protect the likenesses of its members: “VR PORN – WOOOOHOOO. The future is coming lads. VR actors that give you full attention – you will not last 2 minutes gents.”

Source: Deadline

Football drama ‘Friday Night Lights’ starts streaming on Hulu

The good news for fans of Friday Night Lights, the highly acclaimed TV show about a high school football team in Texas, just keep on coming. Only a couple of weeks after Amazon announced that the series would be streaming on its video service, Hulu is doing the same today. That’s going to make people who have missed the show since it disappeared from Netflix last October quite happy, as they’ll now have another place on the internet to catch up on all the Dillon Panthers drama.

Since the last episode of Friday Night Lights aired on February 9th, 2011, the show has garnered a cult following thanks to charming characters like Coach Erik Taylor (Kyle Chandler), his wife Tami Taylor (Connie Britton), Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) and Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford). Fans of the series are so passionate that there have been multiple campaigns launched in hopes of getting the show back on TV, though unfortunately none of them have succeeded.

That said, if you have a paid Hulu account and want to reminisce the good (and bad) times from Dillon High, you can start streaming every episode of the show (five seasons total) right now. And don’t forget: Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

‘H1Z1’ Pro League’s Vegas matches stream on Facebook this weekend

H1Z1’s take on the battle royale genre may not be as popular as, say, Fortnite or PUBG, but it has something the other two don’t: an eSports tournament in Vegas. On Saturday the 21st, 75 pro players from 15 well-known teams like Echo Fox, Cloud9 and Luminosity will try to survive to the bitter end at the Twin Galaxies eSports Center, which is located just off the strip within Caesars Entertainment Studios.

The tournament will stream exclusively on Facebook at 7 PM PDT (the streamed festivities will start 45 minutes earlier), and will feature Michelle Rodriguez (Fast and Furious) and Kristine Leahy (American Ninja Warrior) as co-hosts. Alliance, GankStars, Rogue Gaming, Cloud9, Impact Gaming, SetToDestroyX, Counter Logic Gaming, Luminosity, Team SoloMid, Echo Fox, Noble Esports, Tempo Storm, Epsilon Esports, Obey Alliance, Vitality complete the list of H1Z1 Pro League teams, who will compete over the course of two 10-week splits, the second of which will occur from October to December of this year.

Source: H1Z1 Pro League

More Facebook videos will get pre-roll ads soon

Facebook plans to try out pre-roll ads — that is, commercials that play before videos — in more parts of its service. This comes after it’s spent months testing the format in limited places, like the Watch section. In a blog post published today, the social network said it’s expanding the trials to “places where people seek out videos, like in search results or on a Page timeline.” So don’t be surprised if you soon have to wait five seconds for an ad to finish before you can watch that cute puppy video you clicked on.

The company also described the types of material that won’t be eligible for monetization (ads), saying that it wants to “(remove) incentives from content that creates less value for people.” These include things like static or minimal movement videos or stuff that just loops, as well as clips from “content partners with paid arrangements for Pages to methodically and inorganically share video.”

Pages that primarily post “videos of repurposed clips from other sources with limited editorialization” won’t face enforcement just yet, but Facebook said it “will more deeply evaluate over the coming weeks and months to assess what level of distribution and monetization matches the value created for people.” This means those profiles could receive less money for ads on their videos.

As it pushes ahead with more types of ads on its service, it’s heartening that Facebook is at least looking out for potential abuse of the system.

Via: Variety

Source: Facebook

Featured Apps in Revamped iOS 11 App Store Can See 800% Download Boost

Earning a featured spot in the revamped iOS App Store can increase app downloads by up to 800 percent, according to new data sourced from app analytics site Sensor Tower and shared by TechCrunch.

The data, collected from September 2017 to the present, suggests an app that’s highlighted using either the “App of the Day” or “Game of the Day” feature in the U.S. sees the greatest increase in downloads.

Specifically, “Game of the Day” apps have seen a median download increase of 802 percent for the week following the feature, while “App of the Day” apps have seen a boost of 685 percent.

Other features, such as a developer story or an app list can increase downloads by up to 240 percent. Stories resulted in a 222 percent boost in downloads, while app lists increased downloads by 240 percent. A theme feature had the lowest impact at a 164 percent increase in downloads.

Sensor Tower has also outlined what kind of data Apple has chosen to highlight through the new App Store design. Many of the top publishers that have been featured are larger companies, like Electronic Arts, Warner Bros., Square Enix, Gameloft, Noodlecake Studios, and King, which is unsurprising as these companies have put out some of the most popular apps in the App Store.

13 of the top 15 featured publishers had at least one million U.S. iPhone downloads since the launch of the new App Store.

Apple has, however, also focused on highlighting indie apps. 29 percent of apps featured since the launch of the new App Store have been from publishers who had fewer than 10,000 downloads at the time.

“While it’s clearly the case that big publishers are more likely to receive the largest number of features, small publishers still very much have their chance to benefit from a feature on the App Store,” said Sensor Tower’s Mobile Insights Analyst, Jonathan Briskman.

Apple introduced the redesigned App Store in iOS 11 to offer additional opportunities for exposure to app developers. The new App Store includes a “Today” section that’s updated daily with app suggestions, featured spots, app lists, developer features, and more, and it splits apps and games into two distinct categories.

Content featured in the new App Store is chosen and curated by Apple’s App Store editorial team, which ensures high-quality recommendations that don’t rely solely on popularity rankings.

As noted by TechCrunch, Sensor Tower’s data suggests that Apple’s goal of increasing developer exposure through the new App Store design has largely been a successful venture.

Tag: App Store
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U.S. Department of Justice Investigating Claims AT&T, Verizon and GSMA Colluded to Prevent Customers From Easily Switching Carriers

The United States Department of Justice today launched an antitrust investigation to determine whether U.S. carriers, including Verizon and AT&T, have coordinated to prevent consumers from easily switching wireless carriers, reports The New York Times.

AT&T, Verizon, and GSMA, an industry group that sets mobile standards, were asked in February for documents related to their efforts to hinder the implementation of eSIMs. An embedded SIM, or eSIM, is a standardized chip that’s designed to replace a physical SIM card.

A physical SIM card slot in an iPhone, via iFixit
With eSIM technology, there is no need to swap out SIM cards when switching carriers, making it easier to make a switch from one carrier to another. eSIMs are designed to be compatible with all major carriers, regardless of network type.

eSIMs are a major change from physical SIM cards, which require customers who wish to switch carriers to obtain a new SIM card when changing providers. eSIMs make it simpler for customers to swap carriers while traveling, and, of interest to device makers, they free up space currently taken up by a SIM card.

AT&T and Verizon are accused of colluding with the GSMA to create standards that would allow devices with eSIM technology to be locked to their networks. Representatives from the two carriers attended a meeting for a private task force called GSMA North America earlier this year and advocated for the ability to keep eSIM devices tied to a single carrier.

Verizon reportedly claimed that phones needed to be locked to its network in order to prevent theft and fraud.

At the heart of the investigation is whether the nation’s biggest wireless carriers, working with the G.S.M.A., secretly tried to influence mobile technology to unfairly maintain their dominance, in a way that hurt competition and consumers and hindered innovation in the wider mobile industry.

AT&T and Verizon together control about 70 percent of all wireless subscriptions in the United States. A technology that made it easy to switch carriers could lead to more churn and fewer subscribers for them.

The Department of Justice launched began the probe several months ago following formal complaints from at least one device maker and one wireless carrier. The investigation may include other carriers beyond Verizon and AT&T.

AT&T, Verizon, and other U.S. carriers have long resisted features that would make it easier for customers to switch carriers at will without being tied to a specific network. Verizon, for example, refused to allow Apple to offer Verizon service through the Apple SIM built into newer iPads. The Apple SIM, a multi-carrier SIM card, is designed to make it easier for customers to choose a carrier after an iPad purchase and switch to a new carrier when traveling.

Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other wireless carriers in the United States are proponents of the eSIM. Apple, for example, is said to want to use eSIM technology in its 2018 iPhones, but may instead opt for dual-SIM technology because “some carriers are resistant to the idea.”

Apple has already implemented eSIM technology in the Apple Watch Series 3 models equipped with LTE connectivity. The eSIM is also a feature of the Google Pixel 2 smartphone and the Microsoft Surface.

Update: According to CNBC, all four major U.S. carriers received requests from the U.S. Justice Department.
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Apple Notifying WWDC 2018 Scholarship Winners

Each year, Apple offers free WWDC scholarships to students and STEM organization members who don’t have the $1,599 necessary to purchase a ticket to the company’s annual developer conference.

For the upcoming 2018 event, Apple accepted scholarship applications from March 26 to April 1, and since then, Apple has been going through the submissions and choosing winners. As of today, all scholarship applicants who are being awarded with free WWDC attendance are receiving emails from Apple.

Apple is awarding up to 350 scholarships, all of which include a free WWDC ticket, free lodging, and a free one year Apple developer membership.

Scholarship applicants were asked to create a short, three-minute interactive scene in Swift Playground. Apple judged applications based on technical accomplishment, creativity of ideas, and content of written responses on the accompanying application.

All applicants were required to be enrolled part-time or full-time in an accredited course of study or were required to be members of a STEM organization. Apple held its developer ticket lottery back in March and notified developers who won a full-price ticket on March 23.

#WWDCScholars #WWDC2018
Okay, WOW
I just can’t believe it. This is my last year as a student, so this was my last chance to get a WWDC scholarship. To say that I put my soul into this is to say nothing. But it’s still a HUGE surprise for me.
Wow.
Huge. pic.twitter.com/fNX46lCea5

— Oleg Dreyman (@olegdreyman) April 20, 2018

This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference will kick off on Monday, June 4 and it will last through Friday, June 8 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Apple is expected to hold a keynote on June 4 where new software and perhaps new hardware products will be unveiled.

Scholarship students and developers who were not chose to attend the event will be able to follow along with the conference using the WWDC app.

Related Roundup: WWDC 2018
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WEYV could become the best media streaming platform

There is so much digital content to be consumed, that it all can be a bit frustrating. You have one service for movies, another for music, another for books, and the list goes on. WEYV is a new service that aims to help consolidate all of those into one application.

What is WEYV?

For those who are unaware, WEYV was introduced back in December of last year. The point of the app is to consolidate all of your streaming needs into just one app.

Currently, WEYV offers ways to stream music and view single issues of various popular magazines. However, instead of just paying for a subscription for one person, the idea is to get the family (or friends) involved.

When you sign up for the service, you are given WEYV units based on your subscription. A future update will also add the ability to stream some of your favorite movies and tv shows.

The way that these units work is that your subscription level determines how many you get. From there, whenever you either listen to music or read a magazine, a specific number of units will be used.

After you have either finished reading or listening to music, the units will return to the pool. This will allow for others to use the units without being restrained to enjoy the content they want to consume.

How much is it?

When you sign up, WEYV offers a 2-week free trial period. This will give you plenty of time to get acclimated, along with deciding whether this app and service is for you.

Currently, there are four different pricing categories:

• Individual – $15 per month: 1 person can listen to music and read a magazine at the same time.
• Couple – $28 per month: 2 people can simultaneously listen to music and read magazines.
• Family – $39 per month: 3 people can simultaneously listen to music and read magazines.
• Custom – $48 per month: Build a custom plan.

The trick here is that you are provided with various credits to use over the course of a month. Whenever you select a song or magazine to read, the WEYV credits are used. Once you are finished, the credits are then returned to your account.

BONUS: WEYV makes a charitable donation every time you listen to a song.  

At first glance, this may seem a bit pricey. But it’s important to remember that you get access to a vast music library and a growing magazine library. Plus, you won’t have to worry about dealing with multiple subscriptions every month.

While things may be looking to be a bit odd, there is some benefit here. Each aforementioned subscription model allows up to 25 different people in total.

How does WEYV work?

Once you have created your WEYV account from either the web client or mobile app, you can start having fun. We’ll start from the music aspect, which interested me the most due to one reason – Jay Z.

Music

If you want to jump in head first, you can just select the Music tab and search for your favorite artist. However, there is a lot of different aspects of the Music tab that you can mess around with.

At the top of the Music section, there are three sub-sections: Discover, My Music, and Offline Music. Below that, there is a section for “Playlists and Stations” which shows off a few suggestions on finding some music.

Even further down, you will find “Songs inspired by you”. This section will populate once you have started listening to music and it will attempt to find some new (or old) songs to listen to.

As is the case with just about every music streaming app, you can create your own playlists or stations. In order to do so, simply tap the “Create Playlist/Station” button at the top.

Creating a playlist will allow you to find specific songs to add. Meanwhile, creating a station will work with either a song or an artist. However, the station option allows for a bit more customization.

1 of 3

Instead of WEYV just generating a playlist of random songs that it hopes you’ll like, there are some more options. These include the percentage of songs from the artist, along with a slider for song popularity.

The final option under Music comes via “Offline Music”. This section will store all of your downloaded music. In order to make a playlist or station available for offline, head back to the “My Music” section.

Tap the three-dot overflow button to the right, and select “Make Available Offline”. This same method works for both music and magazines and makes life a lot easier.

Then WEYV will download all of the songs in that playlist or station. From there, you don’t have to worry about a disruption in your listening experience if there are questionable service connections.

Magazines

Moving onto the next section, we have the ability to read magazines. At the time of this review, WEYV is offering more than 40 different magazines to choose from.

There are some popular options such as Sports Illustrated, Time, Popular Science, People, and more. We are also expecting to see more selections add in the future.

Navigating the selected issue is rather easy, as you just swipe left and right to change pages. You can also view the table of contents, search the issue, or pull up your music list from this section.

If there’s something that you want to read, but don’t have time to do it, you can add the issue to your Reading List. This will add the current page you are reading to the list, and you can add more articles to the list until you’re ready to read them later.

If you have some free time and want to browse, WEYV sports a “Discover” section. From here, you can see different reading lists, trending articles, and other lists.

If you’re preparing to head out for the day, but want to save a magazine to read later, you can add it to your offline feed. This will obviously download the magazine to your device so you can pick back up later without worrying about the issue downloading.

More coming soon

In addition to the Music and Magazine sections, there are big plans for the future of WEYV. These include ebooks, podcasts, and even videos.

We aren’t sure as to when these new features will be coming to the app. However, it should be in the very near future.

Is it worth it?

WEYV is the new kid on the block and has an uphill battle to face. The concept of using “units” to listen to music or read magazines is a bit odd for a single plan.

However, this would make more sense if more users in your group were using this service. Moving past that and looking at WEYV from the streaming aspect, I had some mixed feelings.

In the aspect of music streaming, I was extremely excited to see Jay-Z offered here. The media mogul removed his library from the likes of Spotify in favor of his own TIDAL Music platform.

Other than that, the ability to deeply customize various playlists and stations made me feel right at home. WEYV’s ability to help me find new music, or rediscover some older music, was also a welcome addition.

On the magazine front, I was a bit disappointed. Sure, I can keep up with my favorite sports, or check out some new technology articles. But it seems that the magazine selection is geared a bit towards topics that I don’t care about. Hopefully, this will change in the future and more offerings will be added.

All-in-all, WEYV is an interesting take on combining both streaming music and reading magazines. The next year will be a fun one to watch, as WEYV looks to expand its user base and add more features.

If you want to download the app for yourself, you can do so here. As we mentioned above, there is a free 2-week trial, but AndroidGuys readers can get two months for free when you use promo code WEYVFREE2.