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Apple finally brings Apple Music to Android

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2015 10:53

Apple finally brings Apple Music to Android Apple has released the beta version of Apple Music for Android this week, the first true user app Apple has created for the operating system.

In reality, the app is the third from Apple for Android but the first was an app to help users migrate to iOS and the second was a controller for their Beats hardware.

"We've obviously been really excited about the response we've gotten to Apple Music. People love the human curation aspects of it, discovery, radio," said Apple SVP Eddy Cue. "But from the moment we got into music, many, many years ago, we've always wanted to do things for everyone when it came down to music. Part of that was letting you enjoy your music no matter where you were and what products you were using."

Of course, that is a nice way of saying that Apple was tired of missing out on 1 billion Android users who can add to profits, but it will also help consumers who have moved from Apple to Android and don't want to lose their existing service (you can keep your Apple ID and downloaded music).

Apple Music for Android comes with a 3-month free trial, costs the same as its iOS counterpart afterward, and requires Android 4.3 or newer.




AfterDawn: News

T-Mobile will allow you to stream Netflix, Hulu, more without it counting towards your data caps

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2015 10:31

T-Mobile will allow you to stream Netflix, Hulu, more without it counting towards your data caps T-Mobile US has announced this week that many of their subscribers will soon be able to stream unlimited video without worrying about it counting towards their data caps.

"Video streams free," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said Tuesday. "Binge on. Start watching your shows, stop watching your data."

The deal applies to anyone who pays for at least 3GB of data per month and at launch the company has included 24 popular streaming services. Notably missing are YouTube and Facebook, but included are most of the biggest services in the world like Netflix, Hulu, Watch ESPN and HBO Go/Now.

As part of the new "Binge On" service, there is one huge caveat. If you enable it, T-Mobile will degrade the video quality from 1080p in many cases to "DVD quality" aka 480p.

Regardless, T-Mobile continues to make its service chock full of interesting and consumer-friendly features that other carriers have scrambled to add after the fact.

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AfterDawn: News

Streaming music leader Pandora to look internationally for expansion

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Nov 2015 10:07

Streaming music leader Pandora to look internationally for expansion According to new reports, Pandora is preparing to expand internationally and has already tried to acquire rights to play songs outside of the U.S.

The company has targeted the UK as an important expansion point, and the entire move makes sense as Pandora has struggled recently with growth in the U.S.

Pandora's stock has fallen nearly 50 percent since September, following reports that rivals were taking major market share and over the costs of a legal settlement with the RIAA over royalties for tracks written before 1972. The settlement, as well as a deal to stop seeking lower royalty rates, seems to be working for Pandora as the major record labels finally seem open to working with them, a key motion for any type of expansion.

Any future plans, however, are likely on hold until the end of the year when the Copyright Royalty Board sets new rates. It is rumored that the RIAA wants Pandora to pay 78 percent of their entire revenue in royalties, compared to the current 44 percent they do now.

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AfterDawn: News

Microsoft reveals first 104 Xbox One backwards compatible games

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Nov 2015 9:24

Microsoft reveals first 104 Xbox One backwards compatible games Microsoft has announced that over 100 Xbox 360 games will soon be available to play via your Xbox One - the start of their "Xbox One Backward Compatibility" platform.

The software giant also says more games will be announced on a "regular basis" starting next month. If you already own the digital copy of the games, you will see them start to download to your HDD on the 12th if you want them.

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AfterDawn: News

TAG Heuer releases 'Connected Watch' luxury smartwatch

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Nov 2015 8:50

TAG Heuer releases 'Connected Watch' luxury smartwatch This week, Swiss luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer unveiled their first smartwatch, the Connected Watch.

The watch was built in partnership with Google and Intel and will run on Android Wear with custom TAG watch faces and features like restaurant recommendations and golf trackers.

For fans of design, the Connected Watch is easily one of the nicest looking smartwatches ever, based on the classic Carrera model. The case and buckle are made of titanium in Switzerland, and TAG is offering 7 different vulcanized rubber straps to match the buckle. The face is relatively large, at 46mm, and the watch is not thin either at nearly 13mm thick.

Everything under the hood is standard and well known to smartwatch fans or owners, but the Connected Watch is missing a speaker and GPS. The company promises 30 hour battery life, but it will interesting to see real world tests.

TAG's watch is available now and sells for $1500 retail.




AfterDawn: News

Comcast forced to reset 200,000 passwords after customer list is offered for sale

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Nov 2015 1:16

Comcast forced to reset 200,000 passwords after customer list is offered for sale Comcast has reset over 200,000 customer passwords after a Dark Web marketplace seller began offering a purported 590,000 Comcast email addresses and their passwords, in plain text.

The seller was offering 100,000 accounts for $300 or the whole list for $1000.

It appears that Comcast was the only buyer of the list, and their security team found 200,000 of the accounts were active, leading to the mass reset.

Comcast says their systems and apps have not been compromised so it remains unclear on how the list came to be. Most likely, the list was recycled from other data breaches and combined.

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AfterDawn: News

R.I.P. Sony Betamax

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Nov 2015 12:25

R.I.P. Sony Betamax Even though it hasn't really been producing Betamax or MicroMV items since at least 2002, Sony has finally and officially killed off the two brands.

Sony was still selling minimal amounts of Beta and MicroMV cassettes, but sales will cease in March of next year.

For those of you who remember, VHS beat out Betamax back in the late 70s and early 80s to become the dominant media until the advent of the DVD in the 90s.

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AfterDawn: News

12.9-inch iPad Pro goes on sale online this Wednesday

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 09 Nov 2015 11:45

12.9-inch iPad Pro goes on sale online this Wednesday Apple has confirmed that its massive 12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro tablet will go on sale online this Wednesday, November 11th.

The company also noted that it will be available in stores later in the week alongside the new Apple Smart Keyboard and the Apple Pencil.

"The early response to iPad Pro from app developers and our customers has been incredible, and we're excited to get iPad Pro into the hands of customers around the world this week,"
said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "iPad Pro is the most powerful iPad we've ever made, giving users the ability to be even more creative and more productive with the epic 12.9-inch Retina display, powerful 64-bit A9X chip and groundbreaking Apple Pencil and new Smart Keyboard. We can't wait to see what they do with iPad Pro."

iPad Pro measures 12" x 8.68" x 0.27" (305.7mm x 220.6mm x 6.9mm) dominated by a 12.9‑inch Retina display with a resolution of 2732 x 2048 (264ppi). It weighs 1.57lb (713 grams) for the Wi-Fi only model, and slightly heavier at 1.59lb (723 grams) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.

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AfterDawn: News

Snapchat has over six billion views per day

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Nov 2015 9:56

Snapchat has over six billion views per day Snapchat has announced that its videos and snaps are being viewed 6 billion times per day, up from 2 billion just six months ago.

While the numbers are certainly large, there is some question as to how the numbers are skewed. Rivals such as Facebook, won't count a video view until it's been played for three seconds and Google's YouTube counts usage in hours, not views. Snapchat counts a view whenever a video is played, even for a few milliseconds. And all videos are just seconds long.

Regardless, Snapchat is definitely being validated for its flurry of new features, including Stories and the ability to replay, rewind and more.

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AfterDawn: News

PlayStation Vue will add ESPN, ABC, Disney channels

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Nov 2015 9:15

PlayStation Vue will add ESPN, ABC, Disney channels Sony has announced that their Internet TV-powered PlayStation Vue subscription service will be adding Disney products like ESPN, The Disney Channel and local ABC affiliate channels.

In total, the service will get 18 channels which will join local NBC, Fox and CBS affiliates and a number of cable channels from popular media providers totaling 110 total channels.

Vue is available in just a handful of metros, and costs $50 per month to start, but it remains unclear whether Disney's additions will raise the price of the service.

The service is compatible with the PS3 and PS4 as well as on iOS devices that have downloaded the PlayStation Vue mobile app.

Full list of new channels: ABC local affiliate, ABC Family (becoming Freeform in January), Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN College Extra, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Bases Loaded, Fusion, Longhorn Network, SEC-ESPN Network.

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AfterDawn: News

Verizon will also carry BlackBerry Priv

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Nov 2015 8:56

Verizon will also carry BlackBerry Priv Verizon has confirmed this weekend that they too will carry the BlackBerry Priv slider, joining AT&T among the major U.S. carriers.

Unfortunately for fans, Verizon did not give a time frame for release except to say it's "coming soon." The news is somewhat surprising as BlackBerry had originally said it would be a GSM-only device.

BlackBerry's first Android phone has a curved 5.4-inch QHD display, is powered by a Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage (expandable to 2TB), dual 2MP/18MP cameras, a large 3410 mAh battery and a full physical keyboard.

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AfterDawn: News

Report: Only males are buying the Apple TV

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Nov 2015 5:54

Report: Only males are buying the Apple TV According to new data from research firm Slice Intelligence, only men appear to be buying the new Apple TV set-top.

Slice uses email receipts from millions of consumers to gather data, and during the device's first week of availability over 90 percent of Apple TV buyers were males, mostly between the ages of 35 and 44.

Interestingly, sales were high enough to push Apple to the top of the streaming set-top hardware market, beating out Amazon.

Between all four generations, the Apple TV now has 31 percent share, ahead of Amazon at 27.5 percent and Roku at 25.3 percent.

See some more interesting figures here: Slice Intelligence




AfterDawn: News

AMD sued over misleading core counts for Bulldozer processors

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Nov 2015 2:03

AMD sued over misleading core counts for Bulldozer processors AMD has been sued for allegedly misleading customers about how many cores were contained in their Bulldozer processors.

The class action suit claims that while the Bulldozer line was advertised widely as having 8 cores, it really only had four functional cores.

At the core of the issue (no pun intended) is how AMD designs their multi-core Bulldozer chips. The company uses "modules" that combine the functions of two discrete cores into a single package. Windows counts each module as separate cores, but they share a single FPU.

The suit claims that since the cores cannot work independently, this results in performance degradation and the average consumer will not understand the difference between modules and independent cores. By advertising 8 cores and not "conveying accurate specifications," thousands of consumers were duped into believing their Bulldozer CPU could perform like a true octa-core processor, added the suit.

AMD is facing damages (statutory and punitive), litigation expenses and possible injunctions on the CPUs.

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AfterDawn: News

Tencent signs deals to distribute James Bond and Star Trek in China

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Nov 2015 1:26

Tencent signs deals to distribute James Bond and Star Trek in China Tencent, China's largest social network and online gaming company, has announced new deals with Hollywood that will give the company distribution rights for James Bond and Star Trek in the nation.

In the first deal, with Paramount Pictures, Tencent will become the exclusive online distributor in China for the studio's future feature films including 'Star Trek Beyond.'

The second deal, with MGM, will give the company rights in China for the James Bond franchise including the newly released 'Spectre."

Paramount's distribution deal will begin in April, and will be good for 12 months. Another expected blockbuster is the sequel to Tom Cruise's 'Jack Reacher.' It's unclear how long the MGM deal is for, but both agreements include on-demand PPV and subscription video on demand.

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AfterDawn: News

Alibaba to buy online video provider Youku Tudou

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 07 Nov 2015 10:53

Alibaba to buy online video provider Youku Tudou E-commerce giant Alibaba will buy Chinese online video provider Youku Tudou, following months of speculation and an initial offer from Baba in October.

Alibaba already owned a fifth of the company, and will pay $27.60 per share in cash for the company.

Youku CEO Victor Koo says he will continue to lead the company and its operations after the deal closes.

"We are confident that we will strengthen our market position and further accelerate our growth through the integration of our advertising and consumer businesses with Alibaba's platform and Alipay services,"
added Koo.

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