Apple commentator Jason Snell writes: Why does this product still exist, and is there anywhere for it to go next? Gruber and Thompson [two other columnists] suggest that perhaps the way forward is to lean into an identity as a low-end gaming console. Maybe amp up the processor power, bundle a controller, and try to use Apple Arcade to emphasize that…
Tag: Music
Cops Are Playing Music While Citizens Are Filming To Trigger Copyright Filters
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Last Friday, a man entered the Beverly Hills police department, only to be treated to a mini DJ set that could potentially get his Instagram account banned. Sennett Devermont was at the department to file a form to obtain body camera footage from an incident in which he received a ticket he felt…
Amazon Plans Wall-Mounted Echo as Smart Home Command Center
Amazon is developing a new Echo device with a large touchscreen that attaches to the wall and serves as a smart home control panel, video chat device and media player, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the plans. From a report: The company’s Lab126 hardware division is designing the device to be a digital command center, showing users upcoming calendar events,…
SoundCloud To Let Fans Pay Artists Directly
According to Billboard, SoundCloud is preparing to introduce a new payment system that would allow fans to pay artists directly. From the report: The move would make SoundCloud the first major music streaming service to embrace a direct payment model, a strategy that has been popular with Chinese streaming services like Tencent Music’s QQ Music for years, and one that subscription…
Clash and Byte, Two of TikTok’s Competitors, Are Merging
Yesterday, Clash announced it was acquiring Byte, a short-form video app launched by Vine cofounder Dom Hofmann. The announcement comes “at a time when TikTok itself now appears to be here to stay,” reports CNN. From the report: Dubsmash, another TikTok competitor with a similar algorithmic feed serving up entertaining videos, was acquired last month by Reddit. Meanwhile, Adam Mosseri, the…
Hear the strange music of distant planetary system TOI-178
In the animation in this post, the rhythmic movement of newly discovered planets around the star TOI-178 is represented through a musical harmony, created by attributing a note (in the pentatonic scale) to each of the planets. Hear the music of these planets. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/star-system-tio-178-planets-in-resonance-orbits-cheops…
AI can grade your skill at piano by watching you play
An artificial intelligence that can grade the skill of a pianist with near-human accuracy could be used in online music tutoring Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2265585-ai-can-grade-your-skill-at-piano-by-watching-you-play/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
There’s Still No Sign of Privacy Labels On Most Google iOS Apps
As of December 8, Apple has been requiring developers to provide privacy label information to their apps, outlining the data that each app collects from users when it is installed. Many app developers have included the labels, but there’s one notable outlier — Google. schwit1 shares a report from MacRumors: Google has not updated its major apps like Gmail, Google Maps,…
Spotify’s Big Bet On Podcasts Is Failing, Citi Says
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Spotify’s multimillion-dollar bet on podcasting may not be working out, Citi analysts wrote in a note to clients Friday. “The cadence of Premium gross additions (through 3Q20) and app download data (through 4Q20) do not show any material benefit from recent podcast investments (that began in 2019),” the analysts wrote. The firm downgraded…
Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster?
Early last decade, Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, web designers based in Auckland, New Zealand, were seeking a passion project. Their business, a boutique web design studio called Cactuslab, developed apps and websites for various clients, but they wanted a project of their own that their team could plug away at when there wasn’t much else to do. From a…