YouTube Music is here everybody! [+Download]
If you’ve previously used YouTube as a music streaming app on your phone, you would’ve probably recognized that it was not really suitable to do so. Namely, due to blocked content and the inability to close the app and use your phone for other things.
Google has likely noticed that mobile streaming is becoming ever more popular in the competitive market. With this, they credited the music industry and community for the massive support and growth on YouTube, and announced a YouTube app that creates a specialized music environment engineered specifically for non-stop listening.
“ But we want to do even more to support artists and all the fans who turn to YouTube to discover music, so we’re making the experience even better with a brand new YouTube Music app. With YouTube Music, you’ll get a completely new type of experience, designed to make discovering music on YouTube easier than ever.“
Teasing the user interface, they mentioned how it will function like a normal music player. You’ll have the standard tabs with different playlists and titles, while incorporating the online streaming into it.
“The app also gives you complete access to one of the richest music catalogs on earth. You’ll be able to quickly find music videos, tracks, artists and albums, but you’ll also see all the remixes, covers, lyric videos and concert footage that YouTube has to offer“
And finally, after announcing YouTube Red, they’ll also be incorporating this premium membership into the new Music App. No adverts, offline listening and the ability to switch between audio only or video and audio are just some of the perks available.
Starting today, it is available in the US Android Play Store and Apple App Store. You get the full version for free as a 14-day bonus.
What are your thoughts on Google’s recent activities?
Source: Official YouTube Blog
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YouTube Music launches in the United States
Millions of songs are stored on YouTube and listened to by more than one billion people worldwide. Through YouTube, Google has paid north of $3 billion to the music industry. Now, Google wants to do even more to support the music industry by providing users with a dedicated place for discovering music.
Welcome to YouTube Music.
Click here to view the embedded video.
YouTube Music is a single place for tracks, music videos, artists, albums, remixes, covers, lyric videos, and concert footage to be displayed. This is all within an ad-free environment.
The official app features a simple design, focusing on three areas to benefit users. The Home and Trending tabs show recommended and custom stations in addition to what other users are enjoying. People normally associate YouTube with video, but YouTube Music allows music streaming to be done in the background or without ever loading a video. Music can be streamed offline, too.
YouTube Music costs $9.99 per month, but Google is currently offering a 14-day trial with no credit card required. Subscribers are also able to use Play Music and YouTube Red at no extra charge. Google is basically giving access to all three premium services for $9.99 per month. Confused about anything? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Google is launching streaming services that are so similar, making it difficult to understand which is the right one for you. But at least now a single monthly fee encompasses all three of these services. And, of course, you can pay nothing and continue using the existing free YouTube app.
For now, only people in the United States with Android and iOS devices can use YouTube Music.
Source: YouTube
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Here are new Android ads featuring Play Music and the Google app
Google today posted two new commercials on Android’s YouTube page highlighting Play Music and the Google app.
The first of the two demonstrates Play Music and how advanced its music discovery is. Play Music has come a long way since its initial launch, and now Google is demonstrating how quick and easy it is to find the music you love with Google Now.
Click here to view the embedded video.
The second commercial shows off the wonders of the Google app and how easy it is to find information at the tap of a button. For example, the man using the Google app asks “Ok Google, what’s the name of this park?” Using location information, the Google app responds, “Brimstone Head Park.”
Click here to view the embedded video.
Google Now is obviously the technology behind both of these applications. It’s truly impressive how Google has been able to create a quality virtual assistant and use it within the services we all know and love. Of course, Google Now still has a long way to go. Despite its excellent performance in both commercials, it’s not always on its A-game. After all, there are all sorts of factors to take into account, such as your carrier, your current signal, if location services is working or not, and so on.
Maybe one day it’ll be just perfect.
Come comment on this article: Here are new Android ads featuring Play Music and the Google app
Google Play Books is more comic friendly thanks to vertical scrolling
Is Google Play Books your go-to app for reading comic books? If so, your digital page turning is about to get a whole lot better. While the app is getting a number of updates, the most notable is the introduction of vertical scrolling. Rather than having to flip to the next page, which can be a bit awkward when it comes to comics on a phone or tablet, simply turn your device to landscape mode and scroll vertically with a swipe. There’s a curated series section too, organizing volumes, issues and editions of some of the most popular titles. To help you find new reading material, the app will also offer personalized recommendations based on what you’re reading. Just as a reminder, Google Play Books houses comics from major publishers like DC Comics, Marvel, Image, IDW and Dark Horse. The update is rolling out to Android users “over the next few days” and iOS is said to follow soon after for users in the US, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, India, Singapore, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Amazon devices, Chromecast to get access to PlayStation Vue
Sony has announced that they are expanding support for their PlayStation Vue service to include Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick devices and to Chromecast. Support for the Amazon devices is starting today and Sony says the Chromecast support is coming soon. These new devices will join the PS4, PS3, iPhone and iPad as supported devices for subscribers to access PlayStation Vue.
PlayStation Vue offers subscribers a variety of content through the service, like SHOWTIME or Fox Soccer Plus. In addition, some multi-channel options are available in markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, and Miami. Sony is also changing pricing for some of the packages they offer, dropping a Core package from $59.99 to $54.99 per month while the Elite package will be $64.99, down from $69.99.
PlayStation Vue offers a free trial that users can sign up for at http://www.psvue.com. To help entice potential subscribers to not abandon the service after the free trial is up, starting on November 15th new subscribers will receive a free Amazon Fire TV Stick once they make their first monthly subscription payment. Subscribers do have to be in one of the cities where PlayStation Vue multi-channel packages are available to take advantage of this promotion.
source: PlayStation Blog
Come comment on this article: Amazon devices, Chromecast to get access to PlayStation Vue
New York Times’ virtual reality experiment with readers was massively successful
Google and the New York Times partnered together to get Google Cardboard in the hands of as many NYT subscribers as possible this past weekend, and it turned out to be a pretty successful experiment.
According to the Times, the #nytvr hashtag has been trending on Twitter all weekend, and more than 700 people uploading pictures and videos of themselves using the cardboard VR headset to watch the exclusive film that was promoted for this event, The Displaced. The movie covers the global refugee crisis and is only available to watch on the New York Times VR app.
The VR app had more downloads in its first few days than any other New York Times, and although you can still watch the film without cardboard, 92% of videos viewed within the app have been done in cardboard mode. That’s an impressive stat and it makes the future of Google’s ultra-affordable virtual reality headset look great.
source: New York Times
Come comment on this article: New York Times’ virtual reality experiment with readers was massively successful
YouTube Music isn’t perfect, but it’s still heaven for music nerds
The new, ad-free YouTube Red subscription service that just arrived is only one part of Google’s big re-imagining of YouTube taking place this year. The odd-duck YouTube Music Key service has graduated from beta and is being re-introduced as YouTube Music. The new app is available today for Android and iOS users, and you can use it whether or not you’re signed up for YouTube Red.
At first glance, YouTube Music is a bit of an enigma — after all, Google already offers its own take on music streaming with Google Play Music. But after spending some time with the new YouTube Music app, it’s clear that the new service isn’t meant to mimic Google Play Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and all the rest. Instead, it’s a music service for the millions of people who already do most of their music listening straight through YouTube itself. And if you’re the kind of listener who likes to go deep down a band’s rabbit hole, the wild depth of unofficial music on YouTube makes this app a lot of fun.
Explore 4,500 British Museum artefacts with Google’s help
The British Museum in London holds an array of beautiful and historically significant artefacts including the Rosetta Stone, which helped historians to understand the ancient hieroglyphics used in Egypt. Today, the organisation is teaming up with Google to bring its various collections online as part of the Google Cultural Institute. The search giant has been developing this resource for years by continually visiting and archiving exhibits around the world. With the British Museum, an extra 4,500 objects and artworks are being added to its collection, complete with detailed photos and descriptions.
Source: Google Cultural Institute
Google Wallpaper Art extension will make your Chromebook look gorgeous
Life in the tech side can get a little bit repetitive. Sometimes we make things a bit more interesting by switching the wallpaper in our computers, but other times we are way too busy to feel that drive. Google wants to take that load off your back and beautify your wallpaper with an extension that will do all the work for you.
This Chromebook extension goes by the name of Google Wallpaper Art. It is a very simple concept, but it’s one that will improve your mood and get you out of the daily digital routine. This extension takes images from the Google Cultural Institute and makes them your wallpaper. Images will be refreshed every single day, so your Chromebook will always feel refreshed and inspiring.
But just what the heck is the Google Cultural Institute? We know many of you have never even heard this department mentioned. The Google Cultural Institute is in charge of digitizing art, images and other content from museum exhibitions. Their goal is to bring high art to the masses and making influential content available to the public, online. By the way, this does include both classic and contemporary art. One day you may be rocking a Monet, while the next you’ll marvel over Banksy’s stencils.
If you happen to find interest in any of these wallpapers, just open the app and find out more information about it, as well as the Google Cultural Institute. This does only work with Chrome OS devices, though. Trying to download it from another operating system will not work.
Android Wear no longer limited to Bluetooth and WiFi; cellular support on board
Android Wear works amazingly as a secondary device, but these wearables have never been self-sufficient enough. It’s the main reason why options like the Samsung Gear S and Omate TrueSmart were so enticing to some of you; these things can run on their own. But with the release of the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE, Google takes things to another level.
This happens to be the first of a new breed of Android Wear products that will need no connection to WiFi or Bluetooth. Just leave your phone at home, because Android Wear can now handle cellular connectivity, which allows it to use data, as well as sending or receiving both calls and texts. Of course, these is aside from all the usual Android Wear features.
Mainly, the Search Giant wants you to know LG’s option won’t be the only one coming.
Google doesn’t have much else to say about the topic, but this is actually pretty huge news. It’s something we have been begging for, as taking your phone everywhere is not always convenient. I would love to go on my crazy adventures without having to worry about taking my phone with me, for example. But there are better advantages to this new feature than my silly weekend craze.
Workout clothes happen to be quite limited in terms of pockets and storage. Imagine being able to leave to the gym or take your morning jog without carrying around a bulky phone? These are only a couple scenarios – the point here is that we are really looking forward to seeing these new cellular-connected Android Wear smartwatches taking off. Are you thinking of buying one?
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