Google app update brings a dedicated news feed to your home screen

Google Now gets broken up into two feeds.

An update rolling out to the Google app breaks up the feed into two separate sections — one dedicated to news updates, and an “upcoming” section that details your personal info, including daily schedule, flight info, appointments, and more.

The app still pulls in data from Gmail, Calendar, and other sources, but all that information now lives in the upcoming tab. By default, you’ll see updates from your favorite news publications, people of interest, music, and sports teams. There’s still the option to customize your feed, and Google says that the more you use the feature, the “more tailored and relevant” it becomes.

The reorganization means that your feed isn’t as cluttered, making it easier to find relevant information. For instance, if you’re looking to find the tracking number for a parcel, you don’t have to dig through several news stories to find the information. It would’ve been better if Google defaulted to the upcoming section, but the company is looking to highlight its “interests” section, and as such the news feed is what you’ll see when you open the app.

The update is now rolling out to users in the U.S., and will be available in other countries shortly.

Apple Says 35% of U.S. Merchants Accept Apple Pay

While speaking at the Code Conference today in San Francisco, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey announced that 35% of U.S. merchants now accept Apple Pay, reports The Verge. She said that only 4% of merchants accepted the payment option two years ago when it debuted.

Bailey says the new EMV chip cards are annoying customers and have helped drive adoption. “Once you figure out you have to chip, you wait a while, you wait awhile,” she said before imitating the “BEEP” sound the chip reader makes when you can remove your card.

Apple won’t be marketing Apple Pay to take advantage of the annoyance toward EMV chips, Bailey said, instead focusing on creating new partnerships with banks and merchants. “Knocking EMV is not necessarily the way to go,” she said. “I think it’s to increase acceptance and work with great partners.”

The Cupertino company is also focusing on offering deals with retailers and banks. In November, Apple debuted exclusive holiday offers for those who use Apple Pay on the web. Promotions included one- or two-day free shipping with Adidas and 50% off a one-year subscription to The New York Times. Bailey notes that Apple has to work with partners for special offers because Apple doesn’t collect transaction data, eliminating its ability to offer promotions by itself.

Bailey says that Apple is excited by the speed of the transition to contactless payments. However, Bailey says that the challenge for Apple is that they have to match the speed of the transition to EMV chip readers. Apple has to get retailers and merchants to adopt Apple Pay at the same time they adopt EMV chip readers so that consumers can more easily see the benefit of Apple Pay.

Bailey also teased what was next for Apple Pay, saying that the company is thinking about “everything in your wallet.”

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
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Square’s ‘Cash Virtual Card’ Now Works With Apple Pay

In September Square introduced the “Cash Virtual Card,” letting users of the Square Cash app create a virtual Visa debit card that allows them spend their Square Cash anywhere Visa is accepted online. Today at the Code Conference in San Francisco, CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the Virtual Card now works with Apple Pay, reports Recode.

Image via Recode
The move gives the Cash Virtual Card a physical presence, allowing users to spend their Square Cash anywhere Apple Pay is accepted. Dorsey said he’s been using the Virtual Card as his primary card for the past two months.

Square has steadily been working toward turning Square Cash into a fully fledged payment solution. The service originally started as a peer-to-peer payment system before expanding into online payments with the Virtual Card.

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Square Cash
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Pandora Previews Apple Music and Spotify Competitor ‘Premium’

Pandora previewed its long-awaited Apple Music and Spotify competitor today at a special event with select publications. The new service is called Pandora Premium, and will launch in early 2017 with a likely price of $9.99 per month, reports Engadget.

The new app offers on-demand access to a large music library and looks a lot like Rdio. In November, Pandora announced that it had acquired “key assets” and employees from Rdio. Like other services, Pandora Premium will also allow users to save music offline and experience ad-free listening, reports The Verge.

Pandora CEO Tim Westergen thinks the company has created the “first truly premium music service.” For Pandora, a premium music service means a personal music service, and the company hopes to leverage its trove of listening data and the Music Genome Project to offer each customer a personalized music service.

For instance, Pandora Premium features personalized search, which means each user will get different music results based on their listening history rather than overall popularity. The browse and new release sections of the app will also be personalized based on user taste. Smart playlists will allow users to easily add new songs with a touch of a button, and in some cases Pandora will automatically add songs for you.

The app will also change color based on the album artwork of the song you’re currently listening to, and every song you like will be added to a giant playlist made up of every song you’ve ever liked on Pandora. When a user has reached the end of a playlist or album, Pandora Premium will offer a radio station based on the finished playlist or album to keep the music going.

Overall, Engadget notes that the new service marries Rdio’s interface and features with Pandora’s extensive music knowledge. Pandora says the service will begin rolling out in the first quarter of 2017, but won’t commit to whether the service will cost $9.99 like similar music streaming services.

Pandora Premium gives Pandora three music offerings at different price points: the basic, ad-supported radio streaming service, the $4.99 per month Pandora Plus, an ad-free streaming service, and the on-demand newly announced Pandora Premium.

Tags: Pandora, Pandora Premium
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Apple’s Best of the App Store in 2016:’ Prisma’ and ‘Clash Royale’ Win Top Honors

Apple today published its annual Best of 2016 charts for the App Store, iTunes Store, and iBooks Store, naming photo editing app “Prisma” as the iPhone App of the Year and “Clash Royale” as the iPhone game of the year.

Released in June of 2016, Prisma is designed to turn photographs into works of art using a range of different filters. Prisma garnered a lot of interest in 2016 and continually introduced new art filters.

Clash Royale, named Apple’s best game, first came out in March of 2016. A card based game, Clash Royale encourages players to collect dozens of cards from the Clash of Clans universe and duel other players.

Apple also chose top apps and games for the iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch, with all of the top picks listed below:

iPhone App of the Year: Prisma
iPhone Game of the Year: Clash Royale

iPad App of the Year: Sketchbook Motion
iPad Game of the Year: Severed

Apple TV App of the Year: Twitter
Apple TV Game of the Year: Riptide GP: Renegade

Apple Watch App of the Year: MySwimPro – Personal Swim Trainer
Apple Watch Game of the Year: Field Day

Mac App Store App of the Year: Bear
Mac App Store Game of the Year: Life is Strange

Apple has named face-shifting app “MSQRD” as the runner up for best iPhone app, and swipe-based game “Reigns” as the runner up for best iPhone game, both of which are showcased alongside the winners in the main banner in the App Store.

Two new App Store sections, “10 Best Apps of the Year” and “10 Best Games of the Year” further break down the best apps chosen by Apple’s editors, highlighting apps like Quartz, Vogue, Hyper, Plants vs. Zombies, Rodeo Stampede, and more. There are separate sections for both iPhone and iPad apps and games, each with different picks.

There are also a selection of apps in categories that include games playable on one hand, card-based games, celebrity games, video making apps, tap-based games, productivity apps, shopping apps, indie games, coding apps, and more.

In the Mac App Store, Apple has also published a full list of its picks for best Mac apps, with selections that include Spark, Polarr Photo Editor, Mini Metro, Doo, XCOM 2, Darkest Dungeon, Day One, Layers of Fear, and OmniGraffle 7.

Finally, Apple has announced the top apps based on overall App Store charts throughout the year, with Snapchat winning Top Free iPhone App and Heads Up! winning Top Paid iPhone App. For the iPad, YouTube was the top free app and Minecraft: Pocket Edition was the top paid app, while Netflix was the top free Apple TV app and Earthlapse TV was the top paid Apple TV app.

All of Apple’s best app picks can be found in the App Store, with similar lists available naming the best music, TV shows, movies, and books in the iTunes and iBooks Stores.

Tag: App Store
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Apple Music Tops 20 Million Subscribers, Eddy Cue Says Exclusives Will Continue

Apple today announced that Apple Music has surpassed 20 million subscribers, reports Billboard. The service crosses the mark as it turns a year and a half old. Apple Music had 15 million subscribers on its one-year anniversary in June aand notched 17 million subscribers a couple months later in September.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, tells Billboard that 60% of Apple Music subscribers have not bought content from the iTunes Music Store in the last year. While a portion of that 60% are dormant users, Cue says “the vast majority are new customers.” Additionally, 50% of Apple Music subscribers live outside of the U.S.

Cue also says that artists exclusive to Apple Music have hit milestones like the Billboard top 10 chart.

“It’s been quite a year,” says Cue. “We were thrilled to see that we could take [artists’] passions and drive them all the way to No. 1. Chance the Rapper, who we put on Apple Music exclusively, hit the top 10 on the Billboard charts [based on streams alone], and I can’t recall that being done before.”

In August, Universal Music Group banned exclusive music streaming after the debut of Frank Ocean’s “Blonde” on Apple Music. Cue says that exclusive music will continue on the service “where appropriate.” He says that exclusive launches work “well for everybody involved,” including the label, artists and Apple. Cue notes that there’s no across-the-board policy for exclusive launches, just that sometimes “it makes sense” to launch exclusively.

While Apple has traditionally aligned itself with rock acts like U2, Cue says the company has long wanted to give hip hop more exposure. The company has felt that hip hop was underrepresented in both iTunes and streaming charts, which is why the company has focused on hip hop acts more recently.

Apple’s biggest competition in the streaming music space remains Spotify, which had 40 million subscribers in September, but the service continues to struggle as it attempts to become profitable. In August, it was reported the service was punishing artists who offered Apple Music exclusives. Spotify denied the claim.

Tags: Spotify, Apple Music
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Apple Names Best Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and Books of 2016

Apple today published its top 2016 content picks for the iTunes Store and the App Store, choosing the best apps, music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and books of the year.

“One Dance” from Drake was named Apple’s Top Song of 2016, while Drake’s “Views” Album was named the Top Album of the Year. Other top songs, which are available via an Apple Music playlist, include Rihanna’s “Work,” Flo Rida’s “My House,” The Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down,” Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” and Calvin Harris’ “This is What You Came For.”

Apple’s full Top Songs playlist includes a total of 100 songs, while a separate Top Album list includes albums from Rihanna, Adele, Frank Ocean, Justin Bieber, Chris Stapleton, twenty one pilots, Ariana Grande, G-Eazy, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, and more.

As for movies, Apple’s editorial staff made the following picks:

– Best Blockbuster: Deadpool
– Best Comedy: Sausage Party
– Best Hollywood Romance: La La Land
– Best Animated Movie: Kubo & the Two Strings
– Best Documentary: Weiner
– Best Feel-Good Movie: Sing Street
– Breakout Star of the Year: American Honey
– Best New Filmmaker: Moonlight

Top selling movies included Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Deadpool, Zootopia, The Martian, and Captain America: Civil War, while top selling Indie movies included Spotlight, The Hateful Eight, Room, Brooklyn, and Eye in the Sky.

Apple’s chose the following TV shows as the best of the year:

– This Year’s Obsession: American Crime Story: People v. O.J. Simpson
– Late Night Rule-Breaker: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Vol. 3
– Best New Comedy: Atlanta, Season 1
– Most Original Kids Show: Steven Universe
– Extravaganza of the Year: RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars, Season 2
– Most Consistently Great: The Americans, Season 4
– Best New Drama: This Is Us, Season 1

Top selling television shows included Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Downton Abbey, The Americans, and Big Bang Theory.

Apple’s choice for novel of the year is Michael Chabon’s Moonglow, with additional picks as follows:

– Novel of the Year: Moonglow – Michael Chabon
– Nonfiction of the Year: Evicted – Matthew Desmond
– YA Novel of the Year: If I Was Your Girl – Meredith Russo
– Debut of the Year: Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
– Mystery: Charcoal Joe – Walter Mosley
– Thriller: Behind Closed Doors – B.A. Paris
– Popular Fiction: Sweetbitter – Stephanie Danker
– Literary Fiction: What Is Not Your Is Not Yours – Helen Oyeyemi
– Fantasy: The Fate of the Tearling – Erika Johansen
– Kids: Raymie Nightingale – Kate DiCamillo
– Cookbook: Everything I Want to Eat – Jessica Koslow
– Graphic Novel: March: Book Three – John Lewis

Best selling fiction books included “The Girl on the Train,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Me Before You,” and “After You,” while best selling non-fiction books included “When Breath Becomes Air,” “Killing the Rising Sun,” “The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo,” “Alexander Hamilton,” and “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Apple’s last set of top picks includes its choices for best podcasts:

– Revisionist History
– How I Built This
– In the Dark
– Jocko Podcast
– Anna Faris is Unqualified
– NPR Politics
– My Favorite Murder
– 2 Dope Queens Accused
– FiveThirtyEight Elections Heavyweight
– Pardon My Take

Top overall podcasts based on most downloads were Fresh Air, Stuff You Should Know, Serial, This American Life, and The Joe Rogan Experience.

Apple’s picks for top apps, which include Prisma and Clash Royale, can be found in a separate App Store article.

Tags: iBooks, iTunes Store, Apple Music
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