Amazon’s Music Unlimited family plan comes to the UK
When Amazon launched its unlimited music streaming subscription in the UK, it offered access to over 40 million tracks, thousands of curated playlists and tight integration with its Echo speaker. The one thing it didn’t provide was a dedicated family plan like those offered by Spotify and Apple Music. It took more than three weeks, but Amazon has today extended its subscription to include a Family option — it costs £15 a month or £149 for a full year and allows up to six people to stream to their heart’s content.
Today’s addition means Amazon customers now have four plans to choose from. Prime members can sign up for the standard service at £8 a month or £79 a year, but non-Prime subscribers pay a little extra at £10 a month. The cheaper £4 a month plan is reserved for a single Echo or Echo Dot, which incentivises sales of Amazon’s intelligent speaker and gives it an edge over its streaming rivals.
Source: Amazon Music Unlimited
Amazon Rolls Out Music Unlimited ‘Family Plan’ to the U.K. for £15 per Month
Amazon has expanded its Family Plan for Amazon Music Unlimited to the U.K., following initial rollout across the U.S. last month.
The plan costs £15 a month, or £149 a year, which works out at a lower price of £12 per month. The subscription supports up to six family members (at least 13 years of age) for simultaneous listening and personal recommendations.
On the plan, a single family member uses a “shared payment method” to pay for the subscription, such as a debit or credit card that Amazon uses to charge each month for the service. Each member can make purchases on Amazon and Amazon Music Unlimited with the shared payment method, while the main subscriber receives notifications of all activity within the group. The plan also retains the same functionality as the Individual Plan subscription.
Amazon Music Unlimited has a library of 40 million songs and is available under four optional plans. Prime members can sign up to the streaming service for £8 per month or £79 per year, while non-Prime members pay £10 per month. For Echo or Echo Dot owners, a cheaper £4 per month plan is available, but is restricted to music playback on the smart device.
Tags: Amazon, Amazon Music Unlimited
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Use Alexa to ask Martian’s watches all your burning questions
Have one of Martian’s voice-powered smartwatches? Cool, because now mVoice models and certain Guess timepieces will work with Amazon’s Alexa technology. “We’re excited to work with Martian Watches to bring Alexa to mVoice timepieces so customers can easily perform everyday tasks — like controlling their smart home with ecobee, requesting a ride with Lyft or checking the daily news — using just their voice,” Amazon’s director of voice services Aaron Brown said in a statement. Just think, now you can use Alexa on your watch (or via the mVoice app), to order another voice-controlled watch, just by asking. The future is a wild place, y’all.
Source: Martian
Twitch brings video calls to its game communication app
Twitch wants to move beyond live streaming to cover your game communications, and to that end it bought Curse back in August. Just what is it doing with its newly acquired app, though? Well, now we know: Curse is rolling out desktop support for both video calls and screen sharing on top of its existing voice and social features. You and four other people can now see each other while you play, and share what’s on your display if you want to brag about a victory or show vital info to your teammates.
The Twitch crew tells us that the video call features will initially be available on the Mac, Windows and Chrome, but mobile support is in the works. It’s also quick to stress that these are server-based calls, not peer-to-peer, so you’re not exposing your internet connection details to viewers when you invite them to a match. Will the Curse upgrade be enough to stop you from using rivals like Discord or Teamspeak? Not necessarily (your friends’ tastes will likely dictate what you use), but it could make Curse your preferred comms app if you regularly broadcast play sessions with friends.
Source: Curse
The best TV shows to binge watch over Christmas
On-demand TV has become more and more popular over the past few years. For many, it’s now their default way to enjoy TV. Gone are the days of putting in a videotape and setting a timer, it’s now all about setting up series link or loading up a streaming app. With an extra long Christmas weekend to look forward to this year, there’s plenty of time to catch up on all those series you (and maybe the family) have been meaning to watch. Here’s what we think you should be streaming.
The Grand Tour – Amazon Prime Video
You either love them or hate them. If you’ve been waiting for Amazon’s version of Top Gear, then you’ll likely enjoy following Clarkson, Hammond and May as they take a variety of vehicles on a Grand Tour across the globe.
Black Mirror: Seasons One, Two and Three – Netflix
Charlie Brooker’s TV series has a new home on Netflix. Dark technological science fiction at its best. All three seasons are now on the streaming service but you really don’t need to watch them in order.
Goliath: Season One – Amazon Prime Video
If you like Ally McBeal and Boston Legal, then you’ll likely enjoy this Amazon Original drama from the creator of those shows. It is, as its name suggests, a David versus Goliath battle fought in America’s modern legal system. The series follows a down-and-out lawyer, played by Billy Bob Thornton, as he seeks redemption in a justice system weighted towards those with money and power.
Trollhunters – Netflix
One for the kids. This Netflix Original from Dreamworks Animation will come into its own on the frosty mornings over the festive holiday. Follow teen Jim Lake Jr. as he stumbles upon a mystical amulet on his way to school one morning and inadvertently discovers an extraordinary secret civilization of mighty trolls living beneath his small town. It’ll be available for streaming from December 23rd.
Chasing Cameron – Netflix
In the interest of offering something for everyone, how about a reality TV series for teens? Chasing Cameron follows the international social media phenomenon that is Cameron Dallas as he attempts to take his career to the next level with his close friends in tow. Embarking on an international tour that takes them across Europe and down to Australia, the series explores the contrast between the selfies and snap stories of the group’s public online profiles and their personal lives, in a unique insight into the world of digital celebdom. Available from December 27th.
Stranger Things – Netflix
Fed up with everyone talking about this hit sci-fi series? Now is the time to play catch up. When a group of kids set out to find out what has happened to their missing friend, they stumble upon a mystery which involves secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and a mysterious girl. With a back drop of 1980s nostalgia and Winona Ryder starring, once you’ve started there will be no stopping you.
Westworld – Now TV
Watch the new HBO series that has everybody talking. Sir Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright star.
Fleabag – BBC iPlayer
As the back to work blues set in, sneak in a day in front of the TV and grab the box set of this unexpected BBC3 hit comedy, written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Fleabag is broke and unlucky in love and constantly battling with an almost innate need to be self-destructive. She’s very funny, though, so you’ll quickly grow to love her (but then despair at her).
Master of None – Netflix
It was about time Indian-American comedian Aziz Ansari got his own (proper) TV series. This award-winning TV series follows the personal and professional life of Dev (Ansari), a 30-something actor in New York who is tries to piece together his life, relationships and do the right thing for his family. Laugh out loud funny, Master of None should not be left unwatched.
Divorce – Now TV
Tragedy and comedy are never far apart, as is brilliantly demonstrated in this landmark US series that is being billed as Sarah Jessica Parker’s next Sex in the City. SJP plays Frances who is going through a painfully realistic divorce and humour is what she draws on to get her through it. If you never got to see the series when it played out on Sky, it’s not too late to catch up with this box set version from Now TV.
Peaky Blinders: Seasons One and Two – Netflix
Set in Birmingham just after the First World War, Peaky Blinders follows the Shelbys, a gangster family who run an illegal bookies and are famed for blinding people who cross them with razor blades in their flat caps. Macarbre stuff. Cillian Murphy plays gang boss Tommy Shelby, a man you’ll love to hate.
Planet Earth II – BBC iPlayer
Nature. BBC Documentary. Sir David Attenborough. ‘Nuff said.
Catastrophe: Seasons One and Two – Amazon Prime Video
A comedy that you’ll be able to breeze through in one sitting as both seasons host six half-hour episodes (a third is currently in development). Watch Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney as they do all the wrong things trying to fall in love in London.
Other notable mentions:
Jessica Jones / Daredevil / Luke Cage – Netflix
Transparent – Amazon Prime Video
BoJack Horseman – Netflix
House of Cards – Netflix
The Morning After: Tuesday December 6, 2016
Hey there, it’s the Morning After! Oculus Touch has two pretty good reasons to stay inside this winter, and Amazon is killing checkout lines.
Is this the future of retail?
Amazon premieres the “Just Walk Out Shopping experience”
Amazon already has internet shopping boiled down to a single click or voice command, so what’s next? Apparently, a grocery store. It’s opened an employees-only shopping location in Seattle that uses ” computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning” to track what people take. There’s no check-out lane here — just take your stuff and go, while Amazon bills your account and emails a receipt. The store will open to the public in early 2017, and if things go well, we assume it won’t be the last one.
Are we dreaming or is “The Last Guardian” finally here?
What to watch, stream and play this week
It’s a big week for gamers, as Team Ico’s long-awaited game is finally arriving on PS4, while Dead Rising 4 and Gigantic hit Xbox One and PC. Mythbusters fans should prepare for the first season of White Rabbit Project on Netflix Friday, and The Walking Dead wraps up for 2016 on Sunday night.
Moar emojis
Android 7.1.1 is bringing some Pixel features to other phones
The latest version of Android is rolling out to some Nexus and Pixel devices, and it comes with some new features. Of course, there’s an expanded set of emoji, a new image keyboard with GIF search for messaging apps and the previously Pixel-exclusive app shortcut feature.
Connected carjacking
Police got BMW to remotely lock a luxury sedan while the thief was inside
In Seattle, someone stole a BMW 550i after the keys were left in it, but they didn’t make a clean getaway. BMW helped police track the vehicle down in an alley, then lock the doors remotely as the thief slept inside the car.
Reach out and touch faith
Review: Oculus Touch
It’s taken nine months, but Oculus finally has motion controls that make its VR truly immersive. Devindra Hardawar was quite impressed by these controllers, calling them “great gamepads” that are “exactly what Rift owners need.” Their downsides include a lack of rechargeable battery and failure to enable true room-scale VR — unless you invest further. Maybe next time?
It’s like Latitude but different
Google launches “Trusted Contacts” location sharing app
Google’s new “personal safety” app for Android (coming soon to iOS) may test the boundaries of trust and privacy. Trusted Contacts is obviously just for people who you don’t mind giving access to your location, and it works both ways.
The contacts you enable can see if you’re active, and if necessary, request to see where you are. If everything is fine, you’ll see the notification and deny it, but if not, it will automatically share where you are (or your last known location) after a brief delay. Alternatively, you can share your location to contacts you choose, and it will keep broadcasting where you are until disabled.
Did they miss the Westworld season finale?DeepMind Lab and OpenAI’s Universe give scientists a way to test their AI “agents.”
Alphabet (parent company of Google, remember?) released the code of its DeepMind Lab on Github, providing a 3D game-like platform useful for AI research. At the same time, the Elon Musk-backed OpenAI team opened its Universe platform to the public, where researchers can let AI roam across browser tasks, Flash games and GTA V.
But wait, there’s more…
- VW’s “Moia” aims for on-demand self-driving cars
- Holiday Gift Guide 2016: The Workaholic
- Uber creates an AI lab to help fuel its self-driving dreams
The 11 best tech gifts for workaholics
We’re not saying you want to enable them (OK, maybe we are), but you definitely know someone who works too much. They chip away at their to-do lists on weekends. They are probably even going to slip away at some point during the holidays to check work email. If that’s the lifestyle they’ve chosen, embrace it by picking gifts that can either live at their desk, or come with them while they’re trying to get work done on the road. Our list includes everything from a comfy desk chair to a wireless charging desk lamp to our favorite laptop and desktop keyboard. You might not be able to persuade them to change their rigid habits, but at least you can make them more comfortable while they toil away.
For our full list of recommendations in all categories, don’t forget to stop by our main Holiday Gift Guide hub.
Amazon Go is a grocery store with no checkout lines
It looks like those rumors of Amazon convenience stores were true. The online shopping giant unveiled Amazon Go today, its spin on brick and mortar retail. It uses computer vision, a whole bunch of sensors and deep learning to let you walk into a store, sign in with an Amazon Go app, fill up your bags and leave without stopping for a checkout line. Amazon is calling it a “Just Walk Out Shopping” experience, a self-descriptive name if there ever was one. The company is starting out with a large store in Seattle, but it’s clearly meant to serve as a model for other locations and retail stores.
For now, the Amazon Go store is only open to the company’s employees, but you can sign up to be alerted when it’s available to all. In many ways, it’s exactly how I would imagine Amazon’s approach to physical retail: incredibly convenient and potentially disruptive. While the company’s technology looks like it can effectively tell when you add and remove items from your “cart,” I’m more curious about how it would prevent people without the Amazon Go from entering the store. And potentially even more damning, what would a store like this mean for retail jobs?
The best Christmas movies on Amazon UK Prime Video
Not so long ago, the festive film choice on TV at Christmas involved a toss up between Mary Poppins and One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing. Now, Amazon Prime has a small but varied selection of festive hits on offer on-demand. Here are the films we think you should add to your free watch list to watch over the holiday period.
Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s my Donkey?
This film is as cheesy and predictable as the two ludicrous Nativity productions that came before it. The latest, in what has quickly become a classic British improvised comedy series, Nativity 3: Dude Where’s My Donkey? has the pupils of St Bernadette’s involved in more ridiculous escapades under the madcap direction of their teacher Mr Poppy, played by Marc Wootton. There’s a donkey to find, a teacher’s memory to be restored and a magical wedding in Manhattan to get to, just your standard nativity play prep. Martin Clunes, Catherine Tate, Ralf Little and Celia Imrie are the other big names in this family rom com.
Christmas With The Coopers
For the rest of the world, this film is called Love The Coopers, but the name was changed to Christmas With The Coopers for British and Irish audiences. As soon as the film rolls, it’s pretty obvious that this is a made-for-Christmas movie, however. Four generations of the dysfunctional Coopers descend on the family home for one last Christmas before a parental divorce. Throw in some unexpected visitors, out-of-the-blue events and the comic timing of comedy stalwarts John Goodman, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin and Ed Helms and you have all the ingredients for a fun evening in.
Gone With The Wind
To have never seen Gone With The Wind is like never having read Great Expectations. The American civil war epic, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, is a classic piece of cinema culture running on Amazon Prime until the end of the year. With the Christmas holidays stretching out ahead of you, now is the time to sit down and get yourself engrossed in what is often billed the greatest piece of filmography of all time. It’s almost four hours long, so block out a whole afternoon for it. Available on Prime from December 8th.
The Polar Express
Based on the 1980’s classic children’s story of the same name, fans of animation will enjoy this animated movie about a little boy who, dressed only in his pyjamas, boards a train to the North Pole. When he arrives there he tumbles down a chute and finds himself in the middle of Father Christmas’s workshop. His magical journey of self-discovery teaches him to appreciate friendship and bravery and to embrace the spirit of Christmas. Tom Hanks is the lead voice and takes on many other character parts in the storyline too.
Paddington
Not your typical Christmas film but one that definitely deserves to be on your Christmas movie list. A modern adaptation of Michael Bond’s children’s books, Paddington follows the adventures of a charming bear, who journeys from deepest darkest Peru to London in search of a new home.
The Wizard of Oz
Christmas is as good time as any to take a trip down the Yellow Brick Road. Watch as Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) and Toto are swept away in a cyclone that drops her into the magical Land of Oz.
Snow White and The Huntsman
Fairy tales of old, especially those written by the Brothers’ Grimm, were designed to be a little dark, but this twist on the classic tale takes it into particularly macabre territory. The Huntsman is ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be murdered, but instead he becomes her protector as he bids to do away with the Evil Queen. Starring Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron, this film was nominated for two Oscars. Available on Prime from December 30th.
Amazon’s new Snowmobile collects data instead of blasting through powder
Moving large amounts of electronically stored data is both difficult and time consuming. Current internet technology limits how quickly data can be transferred using the internet. While a few pictures on your phone can be uploaded in seconds, backing up all the data for an entire corporation can take years. This is a problem Amazon Web Services, the cloud-based computing arm of the online retailer, is currently dealing with. They now have a solution: the Snowmobile, literally a massive mobile server.
The Snowmobile is an expansion of Amazon’s Snowball service. Amazon ships an 80 terabyte Snowball storage unit to customers. Once they uploaded their data, the customer would ship the Snowball back to Amazon so the data could be directly transferred to a server. Amazon designed the Snowball to deal with high network costs, long transfer times, and security concerns at come with moving large amounts of data over the internet.
For some customers, the Snowball simply didn’t provide enough space. This led to the development of the Snowmobile, a semi-truck with 100 petabytes (or 100 million gigabytes) of storage that Amazon will use to directly transfer and move digital data from a customer to one of their data storage facilities. Essentially, they send customers a truck-sized hard drive that will physically move all of your stored data. Although it may sound strange to use a truck to move digital data, moving 100 petabytes over fiber internet could take more than 20 years. According to Wired, a Snowmobile can do a full New York to Los Angeles trip in 10 days, including the data transfer time.
Pricing is based on how much data is stored on the Snowmobile per month. Amazon is charging $0.005 per gigabyte, which is relatively inexpensive. Do the math and you’ll find that a fully-loaded truck will set you back $500,000. Amazon obviously believes there will be enough demand to invest in the Snowmobile.
Amazon Web Services has storage facilities worldwide, with several scattered throughout the United States. This means the turnaround time for a Snowmobile can be days, not years. For Amazon’s part, they’re taking Snowmobile security and encryption very seriously. The company will provide dedicated security personnel, GPS tracking, alarm monitoring, and 24/7 video surveillance. Customers have the option of a security escort vehicle to accompany the Snowmobile while in transit. The truck itself will be tamper-resistant, water-resistant and temperature controlled.
Related Video:
Via: Wired
Source: Amazon
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