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Apple Music’s time-synced lyrics arrive on Samsung Smart TVs
Samsung brings Apple Music’s real-time synced lyrics to its Smart TVs.
Soundation's collaborative DAW is like Google Docs for music
Soundation's DAW now comes with real-time collaboration.
Banjo AI surveillance is already monitoring traffic cams across Utah
A small company called Banjo is bringing pervasive AI surveillance to law enforcement throughout Utah, Motherboard reports. In July, Banjo signed a five-year, $20.7 million contract with Utah. The agreement gives the company real-time access to state traffic cameras, CCTV and public safety cameras, 911 emergency systems, location data for state-owned vehicles and more. In exchange, Banjo promises to alert law enforcement to "anomalies," aka crimes, but the arrangement raises all kinds of red flags.
Spotify is testing real-time lyrics
Spotify might be adding real-time lyrics to its app, again. Dozens of Twitter users around the world have reported that lyrics are now popping up as they listen to Spotify. A user with beta 8.5.46.848 confirmed the feature to Android Police. But, this seems to be server-side enabled, as not all users with that beta can see the lyrics.
Tinder is working on a panic button for dangerous situations
Tinder is taking more steps to beef up user safety, rolling out features that give daters the option to receive check-ins, hit a panic alarm and even call authorities to their location. Its parent company, Match, has taken a stake in a location tracking and personal safety app called Noonlight, Wall Street Journal reports, and plans to test the features in the US from the end of January.
Apple introduces real-time lyrics to Music
With the release of iOS13, Apple's added a fun new feature to Music: time-synced lyrics. The updated lyrics experience presents real-time synced song words that animate along with the music as they're being sung, rapped or spoken, no matter how mumbly or shouty. The feature also lets you navigate music in a new way -- skip to a part of a song simply by tapping on the lyric. So no more pretending you know the words. It's available now for all Apple Music users on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. An Android version is on its way, as is one for Apple TV, which will be handy for impromptu karaoke parties.
A sheriff's office in Colorado is using Galaxy S9s as body cameras
Deputies in the Kit Carson County Sheriff's Office in Burlington, Colorado, are wearing Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphones on their vests. The phones serve as body cameras and run on AT&T's LTE-based FirstNet public safety platform. In addition to recording footage, they serve as personnel locators, digital cameras and secondary radios.
iHeartMedia will make it easy to create ‘pop-up’ radio stations
Radio giant iHeartMedia, which runs more than 850 stations throughout the US, is expanding into the world of "pop-up" broadcasting following its acquisition of audio tech company Radiojar. The online radio management and streaming solutions platform helps its users create, distribute and monetize podcasts and other broadcasts in real-time, from anywhere. According to iHeartMedia, the deal means that in the "near future" it will be possible to launch a brand new radio service across broadcast and digital "within minutes of the original idea."
LocationSmart reportedly leaked phone location data onto the web
It's starting to feel like everyone in charge of our sensitive data might be incompetent. It's only been a day since Securus, the company that helps police track phones, was apparently hacked. Now, according to security site KrebsOnSecurity, tracking firm LocationSmart leaked real-time location data on its own web site.
Google offers real-time search data for news, images and video
Finding out what people are searching for in real time is a trivial matter these days, thanks to Google Trends. Online since 2015, the service is useful for discovering what the world is paying attention to, like why Donald Trump was elected last November or which Halloween costume will be the most played out. Heck, Mac users can even get a screensaver to visualize searches as they happen. Now Google is exposing even more of its real-time data to include news, images, video and even shopping results in your topical search area.
Google wants you to follow hot search trends in real time
Never mind waiting until after the fact to find out what people are searching for online -- Google wants you to know what's hot right fricking now. The internet giant has introduced real-time tracking to Google Trends, so you can follow a search frenzy as it happens. If you want to know which basketball team is dominating the buzz over the past hour (spoiler: it's the Golden State Warriors), you just have to narrow the scope accordingly to see a minute-by-minute graph. The trend page has also been redesigned to put a bigger emphasis on the latest stories, and you can dive deeper into niche subjects and specific regions. Yes, you're still looking at charts, but this refresh at least gives you a good excuse to visit Google Trends more than once in a blue moon. [Image credit: AP Photo/Virginia Mayo]
Your Facebook feed is going to be unbearable during the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl, the enormous advertising event that has some American Football between the commercial breaks, takes place this Sunday. If you're not a fan, then you may have wanted to find some respite inside your Facebook feed but, unfortunately, that avenue has been closed off this year. According to Reuters, the social network is hoping to muscle in on Twitter's real-time advertising turf by letting businesses target users depending on what messages they post.
Watch lightning strike around the world in real time
There's a mesmerizing new project from an organization called Blitzortung.org that lets you see real-time lightning strikes around the world. It works using a network of volunteers willing to purchase and set up a $275 or so detection kit consisting of an antenna system, amplifier and controller. Once activated, each station can spot the radio signals from a lightning strike and transmit the precise time and location to the Blitzortung.org's servers. From there, the lightning is displayed (complete with bug-zapper sound) on one of five maps including North America and Europe, along with a line between the strike and detecting station. Curiously, a sensor in New York can pick up lightning in Cuba, for instance, since the low frequency RF waves from lightning can travel thousands of miles. Hit the source if you want to participate, or just check the maps to marvel at another striking example of crowd-sourcing in action.
Tactical online RPG InSomnia revealed in atmospheric trailer
New developer Studio MONO has released a teaser trailer for an online, real-time tactical RPG called InSomnia this week. InSomnia's steel environments will sprawl across a deserted space station that's en route to a destination known as the Evacuation Point. The descendents of the Normans, a race that bailed on their home planet after a "cataclysmic conflict" ruined its presumably scenic and inviting landscapes, inhabit this station and lovingly refer to it as the Dump. InSomnia's initial press release describes the game's visible realm as a "veil behind which are hidden many layers of reality." More details will be revealed "in the coming weeks," but the project is currently 18 months into development.
Microsoft demos real-time co-authoring for Office Web Apps
With Microsoft's Build developer conference kicking off in just a week, we're frankly surprised the company is choosing to release any news ahead of time. Today, though, the firm posted a video showing some changes to Office Web apps. In particular, the preview indicates that these various apps will now support real-time co-authoring, with multiple users making changes at once (yep, just like Google Docs). That's a nice, long-awaited improvement over the current setup, in which multiple users can make changes, but not alongside one another. According to Microsoft, this set of features will roll out over "the next several months." For now, we've got the video preview embedded after the break. And don't be put off by the 14-minute length; the demo doesn't actually begin until five and a half minutes in.
Google Drive Realtime API arrives, lets developers make collaborative apps
Google has been eager to have programmers weave Google Drive sharing and syncing into their apps, but the coveted live collaboration has remained solely in Google's domain. Until today, that is. The company has posted a Google Drive Realtime API that lets third-party apps integrate the same simultaneous collaboration as Google Drive, including important nuances like conflict resolution and presence. More enterprising coders can create custom objects beyond what Google offers on its own. A handful of companies are already using the Realtime API for apps that everyday users can try right away, such as Draw.io, Gantter and Neutron Drive; other developers just need to visit the source link to get started.
Twitter search improved with 'real-time human computation,' teaches you what trendy hashtags mean
Twitter's pretty often enhancing its microblogging platform by adding plenty of new features, and the latest changes could very well be among the most useful ones. Via its Engineering Blog, Twitter has gone into detail about how it has improved search within its social network, noting that a "real-time computation" system has been built to help "identify search queries as soon as they're trending, send these queries to real humans to be judged, and then incorporate the human annotations into our back-end models." What this means, essentially, is you'll now be able to learn more about what the service's millions (and millions) of users are talking about, helping you discover what the most popular topics are all about -- you know, something like #notimpressed or #tigerblood. The company's blog post is rather thorough on how the search improvements work, so be sure to hit the source link below if you'd like to learn a little more about the recent tweaks.
Real-time arrivals for some NYC subway lines now accessible on iPhone (Updated)
Update: The capable (not to mention iPhone 5- and Retina-aware) subway scheduler app NextStop has been updated to include the realtime info for the relevant lines. It's a much prettier and effective way to get at this info than the MTA's app, which should be considered a beta at best and a technology demonstration at worst. Pity the overwhelmed iOS-equipped NYC straphanger. Not only are owners of iPhones and iPads uniquely responsible for the increase in New York's property crime count this year (as victims, not perpetrators, we hope), but even if they can keep a grip on their much-prized tech, they have to cope with the increased hurdles to getting accurate transit directions via iOS 6's Maps app. It's not all darkness and grime for subway riders, however. Outgoing MTA Chief / mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, who led the heroic effort to bring the subterranean system back online after Superstorm Sandy, said that today is "the day that generations of dreamers and futurists have waited for" as he announced MTA Subway Time, the first mobile app to deliver real-time train arrival countdowns for subway riders. The WSJ notes that New York's initial effort lags far behind the time-aware apps from other transit systems. The Second Avenue Sagas subway blog has a quick take on the app, pointing out the features and flaws of the MTA's approach. On the plus side, the app and the companion website deliver the same data that appears on platform next-train clocks, giving riders the best possible chance to make their trains. Unfortunately, without cellular or WiFi access, you're stuck with the estimated timetables used by apps like Embark, iTrans and NextStop. Aside from the network access challenge and the rather utilitarian design of the app (not optimized for iPhone 5), other issues are somewhat more deeply knotted into New York's subway infrastructure. Rather than the reasonably modern and automated switching systems used on mass transit networks built out in the 1960s and later, most of New York's subway lines are still controlled via fixed-block signaling that was leading-edge back in the 19th century. That's why only the A Division lines (the legacy IRT lines, with numbered designations, plus the 42nd Street Shuttle) are getting this real-time support now; they have the signal upgrades that provide live train progress. Other lines with upgraded signaling already done (the L train) or planned (the 7 line) will be joining the app's list when ready, but the remainder of the system could be stuck in the data drought for years or decades until the signaling overhauls are complete. The MTA knows that third-party developers are eager to make use of this real-time train schedule data, and indeed those working on their own apps can get access to the live feed. Keep an eye out for updates to NYC transit apps early in 2013 featuring live train schedules. (Remember, if you loved Google's transit info, you can use Google Maps in hybrid mode with iOS 6 Maps now if you want.) [Hat tip Matt Flegenheimer]
MTA app for iPhone offers New Yorkers real-time subway arrivals, a small dose of relief
Despite New York City virtually revolving around its mass transit system, local subway riders haven't had a way to check the next arrival in real-time, even though some smaller cities already take live transit details for granted. At least some harried commuters can assuage their minds now that the MTA has posted its Subway Time app for iOS users. The title does exactly what it says on the tin, taking advantage of MTA's signalling installations on the 1 through 6 lines (and the 42nd Street Shuttle) to determine train arrival times down to the minute. Subway Time won't satisfy certain travelers as-is: it doesn't provide directions, and the earliest expansion to additional routes won't happen until the L line's information is linked up in six to 12 months. Passengers running Android and Windows Phone will likewise have to wait for outside developers to finish their own projects. For those of us living in the right areas, however, Subway Time might take away some uncertainty -- even if it's just to confirm that we'll be late.
Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs movie to portray backstage at three Apple Events in real-time
Aaron Sorkin is in the middle of working on his version of a Steve Jobs biopic, and at a meeting called the Hero Summit, he revealed that the screenplay's current form might seem a little strange. The Daily Beast reports that instead of traditionally telling the story of Steve Jobs from the beginning of his life or career, Sorkin plans to focus on three different segments, each about 30 minutes of the film in real time, set backstage at different Apple Events. It's an interesting idea, to be sure. Steve was known for his presentations, and much of his and Apple's story was written at those big announcements, where he revealed products such as the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone. Portraying three events at different points in Steve's life would show both his and the company's growth, and also put him on display when he shined the most and backstage, when he was perhaps the most honest with his co-workers. We'll have to see how this works out. Since the screenplay is still being worked on, the script might change as time goes on or, in the wild world of Hollywood, this version of the movie might never make it to shooting. But it's an interesting idea, and it would give us an unique perspective on Steve Jobs and his legacy. [Via TechCrunch]
