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Spotify's new music player debuts in Facebook apps on iOS and Android
Spotify's music and podcast player will let you listen to audio from posts without leaving Facebook's iOS or Android apps.
Make-A-Wish Foundation gets a fan into 'NBA 2K20'
It's not unheard of for Make-A-Wish Foundation kids to request tours of their favorite game studios, but when 2K heard that 15-year-old Make-A-Wish recipient William Floyd wanted to visit the NBA 2K headquarters in Novato, California, the company decided to go one step further. It created Floyd as a playable roster member in NBA 2K20 and made him available as a free agent to millions of players around the world.
Netflix's pop-out player test is perfect for procrastination
Netflix appears to be testing a "pop-out player." The feature lets users watch videos in a small floating box that hovers above other windows and applications, and the tool could be ideal for multitasking.
Tech Hunters: How the Walkman changed the way we listen to music
Today, billions of people have access to portable music, mostly thanks to smartphones. The world's music catalog is at our fingertips thanks to Spotify, Apple and Amazon's online store, but it's not always been that easy. It wasn't until 1979 that music lovers could finally get their hands on a true portable player: the Sony Walkman. Even though Sony wasn't the first to introduce magnetic cassette technology, the Walkman was the device that made it popular. The introduction of the Sony Walkman TPS-L2 allowed consumers to carry their pre-recorded tapes -- which were normally bound to car stereos or home music centres -- and place them inside a stylish 14 ounce, bluish-silver player with big buttons that could be strapped to their belt. Initially, Sony believed it could sell 5,000 units a month, but it smashed all expectations by shifting more than 50,000 in the first two. Fast forward to 2010 and the Japanese electronics giant had sold 200 million of the things, with cassettes easily surpassing vinyl record sales on the way. Although the Walkman brand is still alive today, thanks to an updated range of digital music players, it was at its most popular in the 80s and 90s (so much so that the word "Walkman" entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986). It's a design classic that revolutionised the world of music, at least until Steve Jobs reinterpreted it for the modern age. Julia Hardy hits the audio highway to find out what a good Walkman can cost now.
Vive Video puts a personal home theater in HTC's VR headset
We've seen VR video theaters for Oculus and PlayStation VR, but now HTC has an upgrade in that department. Vive Video supports all kinds of media: 2D, 3D, 180-degree or full 360-degree, with options to make the environment as much of a realistic theater or distraction-free cinema as you'd like. Also, thanks to those positional sensors, wearers can move around in the surround videos and watch as it adapts to their perspective. Vive owners have already had the Vive Home Cinema app and any number of third party players to choose from, but this one looks a little more polished. The app is available in the Viveport app store, and comes with a teaser for the Invasion! 360-degree video.
Samsung's second-gen UHD Blu-ray player helps simplify HDR
Next week at CES Samsung will debut its second Ultra HD Blu-ray player, along with new "Ultra High Quality" (UHQ) audio hardware. The M9500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player looks like any other deck, however, Samsung says it will be able to automatically set TV and audio levels by optimizing the content playing. That goes for HDR video, as well as Atmos or DTS-X audio. It also has built-in Bluetooth for private audio streaming to headphones, which is a nice touch, but already supported by a number of new TVs, and display 360-degree photos or videos streamed from mobile devices.
Oppo's first Ultra HD Blu-ray player is a tribute to physical media
Add one more Ultra HD Blu-ray player to the list, now that Oppo is ready to release its UDP-203. While the $550 deck doesn't include any 4K streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon or Vudu, it's all about high-end disc playback. It's also able to play Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, DVD Audio, Super Audio CD and CD, if you just can't let physical media go. There are two HDMI outputs (in case your receiver isn't able to pass through 4K/HDR video) and one input.
Oppo's first Ultra HD Blu-ray player is coming later this year
Lately we've paid more attention to Oppo's mobile devices, but it's still the home of some well-regarded audio/video equipment. The company revealed its first Ultra HD Blu-ray player at CEDIA 2016 last week, and now is taking sign-ups for more information on its website. We don't have detailed specs for the UDP-203, but Oppo told Chris Heinonen that it would sell for $499. The pictures he took show dual-HDMI ports, two USB jacks, analog 7.1 audio output, RS-232 and Ethernet. HDTVTest, meanwhile, cites UK journalist John Archer reporting that he's been told the player will be available with a step-up UDP-205 model, and both will support Dolby Vision HDR.
Philips will launch a $400 Ultra HD Blu-ray player next month
Even as Ultra HD Blu-ray discs continue to trickle out, in the US there's only one option to play them -- Samsung's UBD-K8500. That should change next month as Philips introduces its own Ultra HD Blu-ray player. Available in two colors the BDP7501 (brushed aluminum) and BDP7301 (piano black), will cost $400, it supports HDR and also includes a second HDMI-out for audio receivers that aren't quite 4K-ready yet. It has Dolby TrueHD Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio support included and should be able to pass through Dolby Atmos or DTS:X encoded audio tracks. Its apps will also stream 4K from YouTube and Netflix.
Sony's UHP-H1 Blu-ray player also does multi-room audio (updated)
Going into CES, we knew we'd see a number of Ultra HD Blu-ray players. It's no surprise Sony has one of its own: the UHP-H1. Oddly enough the UHP-H1 is not a 4K Blu-ray player -- its main attraction is its focus on audio. The player can be configured to play multi-room audio through Sony's SongPal app or bump songs stored on a USB drive. Its Bluetooth features also makes for easy pairing with speakers or headphones.
Sky's new full HD Now TV box will launch in August for £15
Sky is shedding a little light today on its next-generation Now TV box and a new monthly streaming plan for Sky Sports. Its refreshed hardware, which slipped out earlier this year in an investor presentation, will debut this August for £14.99 with an ethernet port and a five times faster processor. It's based on the Roku 3 player, the same as the company's "Sky Online TV Box" in Italy, which means it should finally support 1080p streaming too.
PLAYER for iOS teaches you how to play your music library
MiQ Limited has announced PLAYER, a free iOS app that analyzes songs from your device's music library and then shows you how to play those songs with chords, keys and song structure. PLAYER uses a streamlined interface and attractive UI to display song structure and chords in real-time as a song from your iOS device is played. The idea is that you see the correct chords that correspond to the song as it's being played, which teaches you to play along with the song. If you don't know a particular chord, PLAYER displays chord finger positioning for guitar, piano and ukulele at the top of the app. Before you start, the song is first sent to MiQ for analysis, which takes a few seconds. Additional features include a Discover section that allows you to see the Top Charts of songs used by PLAYER in iTunes' music library. The charts give you a taste of sample chords played in a given song as well as the option to tag a song for later purchase. PLAYER also lets you compile a set list of songs for rehearsal to save you digging around for individual songs you want to practice. Finally, a nice touch is a feature that allows you to slow down the playback of a song you're playing along to. It's a great tool for when you're first learning a song and everything's a bit too fast for you to keep up with. Regarding song analysis, unfortunately no app is going to correctly predict and place all the chords of a given song. And PLAYER is no exception. Your mileage will vary depending on the style and production of the song you're listing to. For best results, you need to give as much attention to listening to the musical makeup of a song as you do looking at the chords being displayed in the app. In short, PLAYER is an easy to use, well designed app. It's a wonderful tool for anyone wanting to learn and develop their musical playing skills for guitar, piano and ukulele, especially beginners. As a side note, PLAYER is developed by the same company that developed Jamn, an app that teaches you the musical theory of the relationship between notes, scales and chords.You can read my review of it here. Finally, if you like PLAYER, but want a bit more detail and control of the manipulation of the song you're learing, check out Capo for Mac, which I reviewed here.
B&O wants you to touch wood to control your music at home
Knocking on wood is said to bring you luck. Those of a less fortunate disposition will be interested to know about Bang & Olufsen's new wireless home music system then. It's called "Moment" and features (among other things) a wooden touch-sensitive interface. It could be the luckiest HiFi you'll ever own. The curious device comes in two parts: the dock/base station, and a wireless controller. It's the latter that gets the wood treatment. As you can probably already tell, the Moment is typical Bang & Olufsen, in that it's not typical at all.
Even Pioneer CDJs don't play CDs anymore
The Pioneer CDJ-1000 sparked a revolution in the early '00s, persuading many DJs to put their vinyls to one side and make the move from analog to digital recordings. While, thanks to services like iTunes and Spotify, CDs have almost been relegated to the history books, CDJs are still very much a thing. If Pioneer has its way, however, they won't be for much longer. The aptly named XDJ-1000 is the company's first USB-only deck -- the first CDJ to not play CDs.
Destiny announces 3.2 million daily players
It's been a month since Destiny's launch, which is as good a time as any to see how healthy the game is now. As it turns out? Quite healthy indeed. Bungie is reporting that the game has 3.2 million players logging into the game on a regular basis, with the average play session lasting three hours at a stretch even during weekdays. Bungie also took the opportunity to respond to player complaints about the Iron Banner event. While the event was advertised as allowing gear and power to matter more directly in the Crucible, the event did not simply turn off all restrictions; players are still normalized to an extent so that a level 30 Guardian cannot defeat someone else in a single shot. Power matters, but skill matters too, and the biggest functional difference you can have between players is about a seven-level gap. For more details, take a look at the full explanation.
Hearthstone boasts 20 million registered players
Does it ever seem like there's an endless flow of players in Hearthstone? There's not. But there are quite a lot of players, with Blizzard Entertainment announcing today that the game has broken 20 million registered accounts. If those were all people with real cards, that would be... a lot of cards. Like, at least a dozen. The game launched on the iPad in April and is aiming at an Android tablet release in the near future, as well as expanding to iOS/Android phones. Hearthstone will also have its first world championship at Blizzcon this year, with contestants fighting for a $250,000 prize pool. [Source: Blizzard Entertainment press release]
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar ain't doing so good
If you somehow missed it, last week the WildStar team announced that the game will be squishing into megaservers to help bolster populations. What the hell happened? Contrary to what the developers would like you to believe, this is not good news. It's especially bad news if you're part of the roleplaying community, as you're about to get shoved into a server configuration that's almost specifically designed to prevent you from roleplaying outside of a handful of shared plots, but it's bad news for everyone. And it's bad news for the game when server merges are a reasonable reaction after less than three full months of operation. We all know that the game launched to good reviews, and it's far too early to say, "Well, it failed." At the same time, this is not a sign of a robust and vibrant future. This is the first stage of an organized retreat, and it doesn't inspire confidence. So what, exactly, took place that brought the game from the high of its launch to server mergers today?
The tension between balance and player interest
I'm looking forward to Ashram, the new PvP island zone in Warlords that seems to combine elements from zones such as the Timeless Isle, Wintergrasp, and the old days of world PvP. So I tend to go looking for information on it, which is where I found the following. @GeodewMW @Drsoviet It does. We have to weigh the edge case of large groups against the more common "I want to play with my friend" case - Holinka (@holinka) May 12, 2014 With cross-realm groups being possible on Ashram, this is a perfect example of the ways the game has to balance what most players will do vs. what some players will do - balance the min-maxing attitude vs. the more common, and more often executed, use of a feature or game element. Ashram as it stands will allow players to group cross realm - this is intended so that players who have characters on separate realms (my wife and I, for instance, often would run the Timeless Isle on characters that were on separate realms) can still go to Ashram. This is a good and fun use of cross-realm grouping. But there's a potential down side to this. Since cross-realm grouping is possible, we know the next step - something like oQueue that allows you to put together a group of 40 players and go destroy Ashram on an already imbalanced server. If a certain server is already heavily skewed towards the Alliance, putting together a 40 player group (since Ashram exists in the world and not in a raid instance) and just destroying any hapless Horde you come across, or vice versa. Even if you don't pick a server with a faction imbalance, it's still feasible that a big raid group could end up owning Ashram for an extended period of time, and using players that aren't even on the server. Decisions in the game's design are always made between these two poles - between the ease of abuse, and the benefit it brings to individual players. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, things don't work out like we'd hope. Reforging, as an example, falls into the 'possible player imbalanced use trumps player convenience' category.
Study shows intense gaming can cause changes in real-life perception
A new study published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction has linked changes in visual perception and "pseudo-hallucinatory experiences" with intense video gaming. According to the study, intensive playing can cause the player's mind to perceive real-life objects through a gaming lens and can also create a situation in which the mind generates visual distortions based on gameplay. Examples offered in the study, which was done by gathering 656 posts from 54 different forums, include a subject seeing the Mass Effect dialogue wheel in his or her mind during conversations and another mistaking in-flight airplanes for Modern Warfare 2 UAVs. Mentioned as a basis for the study are the visual "waviness" some gamers experience after long sessions with Guitar Hero, the "Tetris effect" that involves seeing how real-life items could stack after playing the famous puzzler, and "Minecraft sickness" in which gamers see square-shaped themes in everyday objects. The full study breaks down a number of different types of gaming after-effects as reported by participants and proposes that the effects can be caused by "the interplay of physiological, perceptual, and cognitive mechanisms."
Vimeo redesigns its HTML5 player for speed and on-the-spot rentals (video)
While Vimeo was one of the first to adopt HTML5 for streaming web video, its player hasn't kept up with the times; it hasn't been very fast or powerful. That's changing with a redesigned player launching today. The new version starts playback much more quickly, resizes elegantly and will even sync preferences across multiple players in a single browser. And if you're enamored with Vimeo On Demand, you'll be glad to know that you can now buy or rent videos in-player, no matter where the clip is playing. The improvements are big enough that Vimeo is now making HTML5 the default across all platforms -- you'll only have to use Flash if you're using an outdated browser. You can try the player for yourself by watching the promo video below.
