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With podcasts and video, Spotify becomes an all-in-one streaming service

At an event in New York City this morning, Spotify revealed more tools to enhance that daily listening experience. To keep all of the things you enjoy hearing in one place, the streaming service added podcasts to its feature set. If you’ll recall, the addition was hinted at back in November, thanks to a bit of code in a test version of Spotify’s app. That’s not all, though, the company is tacking on video as well. This means that content providers can leverage audio and visuals to beam episodes and short clips to listeners on the service. If you’re commuting and can’t watch, you can opt for an audio-only version of the selected show — safety first. Of course, the addition of video isn’t a complete surprise either, as rumors of Spotify’s plans circulated earlier this month. In terms of content selection, ESPN, ABC, NBC, Comedy Central and many more — including a load of popular podcast networks — will be available inside the app. Broad City’s Abbi and Ilana were on hand to promote the new content stream, so if you’re a fan of the series , you’ll be able to see more of the duo. As you might expect, there’s exclusive content too, like a dance move of the day from Amy Poehler. Spotify is certainly taking aim at Tidal , as that service that offers music videos, performances and more to its subscribers. While musicians weren’t mentioned too much during today’s video chatter, there’s sure to Spotify Sessions available for viewing. Deezer added podcasts just days ago, but from the looks of it, Spotify is looking to offer a wealth of content that’s not just limited to piping in audio episodes. The new version will go live in the US, UK, Germany and Sweden today with a global launch on the way soon. Filed under: Portable Audio/Video , Internet , Software Comments Source: Spotify

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With podcasts and video, Spotify becomes an all-in-one streaming service

Google Maps gets even more detailed traffic features

Google has updated Maps with more specific traffic alerts just in time to help you dodge Memorial Day traffic nightmares. The app can already route you around closures and other problems using crowdsourced traffic data, but now it’ll give you an explanation for why a detour is recommended with a dismiss-able card. For instance, it’ll let you know whether it’s recommending a route because it’s the fastest option, or because it helps you avoid an incident. Moreover, it’ll now give you a heads up on traffic conditions as soon as you enter your destination, telling you if its smooth sailing ahead or a cluster-you-know-what. In the same blog post , Google also revealed trends from Memorial Day 2014. It noted that you were most likely to search for a beach or cemetery — not a surprising development on a holiday that honors people who died serving their country. Popular destinations included Carmel, CA, Long Island, NY and Santa Barbara, CA. The new app still isn’t available, but Mountain View said it would arrive before the weekend. Filed under: Cellphones , Internet , Google Comments Source: Google

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Google Maps gets even more detailed traffic features

‘Vidity’ 4K movies you can download are coming later this year

At CES the long-brewing alliance to push Hollywood movies you can legally download, store and play across different devices finally surfaced , and now its system has a brand name: Vidity . As we learned in January, this is the doing of the Secure Content Storage Association — a team up behind movie studios (Fox, Warner Bros.) and storage manufacturers (Western Digital, Sandisk) to create a system where users can download movies in the highest possible quality like 4K Ultra HD and HDR. Samsung was the first to announce its Ultra HD TVs with the M-Go app will use the spec, but other big names like Vudu, Kaleidescape, LG, Universal, Comcast and Sprint are on board too. So far 4K movies have generally been all about streaming, but now between Ultra HD Blu-ray and Vidity there are a couple of new options coming. With the spec and brand name locked down, Vidity GM David Huerta tells us compatible products and services should roll out later this year. Other than just top-quality audio and video, the main feature of Vidity is that it’s intended to work across devices, from TVs to PCs to phones and tablets. The concept of it works a lot like the digital distribution schemes we’ve seen for videogames, with the ability to copy or move the files and still play them elsewhere. Of course, it seems doubtful that anything Hollywood is behind will be quite as easy as piracy, and we’re still waiting to see if all of the studios will be involved. If viewers can experience more control and convenience plus high quality playback and access to hit movies, Vidity will be a major step forward and fit in nicely next to discs and streaming. Currently, simple things like downloading a purchase pre-release or just keeping a copy to play anywhere aren’t possible or easy to move across different device, but this could change that. We could even see movie distribution on items like USB sticks or hard drives, but it will probably just be downloads to start. Filed under: Home Entertainment , HD Comments Source: Vidity

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‘Vidity’ 4K movies you can download are coming later this year

PayPal will refund $15 million to customers if the CFPB has its way

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleges that PayPal engaged in unfair, abusive and deceptive practices in the marketing and management of its PayPal Credit service, formerly known as Bill Me Later. To rectify the (many) outlined abuses, the CFPB filed a complaint and proposed consent order that directs PayPal to refund $15 million to affected consumers, plus pay a $10 million fine to the CFPB’s Civil Penalty Fund. The proposed consent order isn’t an official ruling just yet — a judge with the US District Court for the District of Maryland must approve the order for it to be enforced. “The CFPB alleges that many consumers who were attempting to enroll in a regular PayPal account, or make an online purchase, were signed up for a credit product without realizing it, ” the bureau writes. “The company also failed to post payments properly, lost payment checks, and mishandled billing disputes that consumers had with merchants or the company. Tens of thousands of consumers experienced these issues.” Specifically, the CFPB claims that PayPal deceptively advertised promotions, abusively charged deferred interest, enrolled people in PayPal Credit without their knowledge or consent, forced customers to use PayPal Credit, engaged in illegal billing practices and mishandled disputes. The CFPB has the authority to take action against companies engaging in unfair and abusive business practices under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The “affected consumers” in this case are, generally, “any consumer identified by the Bureau and Defendants who paid late fees or interest charges between January 1st, 2011, and May 1st, 2015, ” the proposed consent order reads. PayPal recently agreed to pay the US Department of Treasury $7.7 million after processing payments for numerous individuals and companies on the US sanctions list. For an in-depth look at the CFPB’s allegations against PayPal Credit, see the full complaint ( PDF ) and proposed consent order ( PDF ). Filed under: Misc , Internet Comments Source: CFPB

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PayPal will refund $15 million to customers if the CFPB has its way

Hoopla lets you digitally borrow almost anything from your library

Today the Hoolpa service and apps added e-books and comic to its media library of audiobooks, movies, TV shows and albums. While the app has always synced with local libraries, it wasn’t until today that the app was meant for reading. The new offerings will be from IDW Publishing , RosettaBooks , Chicago Review Press and others with more publishers being announced in the coming months. The reading feature includes options similar to Amazon’s Whispersync with the ability to read a book across multiple devices and the options to adjust fonts, line spacing, columns and background. For comic book fans, a feature called “Action View” enlarges individual panels with a double tap for easier reading on mobile devices. “One of our main objectives for libraries is to be mobile centric, ” said owner and founder Jeff Jankowski. Developer Midwest Tape has been supplying books and other media to libraries for 25 years. The Hoopla app is the evolution of that relationship. When you attach your library card to the app, you’re allotted a certain amount of “check outs” per month (for example, San Francisco allows 10). The 6, 000 e-books and comic books added today join the 300, 000 movies, TV shows, audiobooks and albums currently on the service. Filed under: Misc Comments Source: Hoopla

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Hoopla lets you digitally borrow almost anything from your library

New York Stock Exchange begins monitoring bitcoin value

Bitcoin’s march toward legitimacy just took a hop, skip and jump with the news that the New York Stock Exchange is going to start monitoring its value. The NYSE Bitcoin Index (NYBXT) will keep a beady eye on how much the cryptocurrency is worth, relative to the US dollar, with the data being pulled from Coinbase . That way, investment types can get a quick read on how bitcoin is doing at any one time, with the value being updated at 11:00 AM ET each day. Essentially, bitcoin will look and feel like any other foreign currency market on the NYSE’s ticker. Investors looking to make some money can put their cash into bitcoin and hopefully take it out, when its value increases. Those who are curious as to why the data is being pulled from Coinbase should note that NYSE made a small investment in the business earlier this year. The exchange has pledged, however, that if other bitcoin exchanges can meet its rigorous quality standards, they’ll be allowed to join the index at some point in the future. Between this and the impending launch of the Winklevoss-backed Gemini exchange, it looks like New York’s financial district is the place to be for would-be bitcoin speculators. Filed under: Misc , Internet Comments Source: NYSE (BusinessWire)

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New York Stock Exchange begins monitoring bitcoin value

Fingerprints will soon tell cops if suspects are on cocaine

A research team from the University of Surrey in the UK has reportedly developed a new, noninvasive drug test for cocaine that accurately detects its presence in your system through your fingerprints. Specifically, it looks for two common cocaine metabolites: benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine. These can be found in blood, sweat, and urine using a mass spectrometry technique known as Desorption Electrospray Ionisation (DESI). And since the metabolites dissipate from our sweat more quickly than in urine or blood (in which it can persist for up to a week), law enforcement will one day be able tell if a suspect is currently high as opposed to having been high a few nights before. What’s more, “we can distinguish between cocaine having been touched, ” Melanie Bailey, the study’s lead author, told Motherboard , “and cocaine having been ingested.” Plus since the sweat sample is tied to your fingerprint, it’ll be nearly impossible for someone to swap it out for a clean batch . The research is still in its very early stages, however. According to the team, they need to collect much more data on the effects of dosage and timing before they can move on to reliability testing . Still, they remain confident that this technology will be available to law enforcement within a decade. [Image Credit: Shutterstock / HamsterMan] Filed under: Science Comments Via: Motherboard Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

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Fingerprints will soon tell cops if suspects are on cocaine

NASA competition pays you to design a 3D-printed habitat

If NASA is going to put humans on Mars and other distant worlds, it’s going to need a place for explorers to stay — and it wants your help building those extraterrestrial homes. The agency has launched the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, a competition to develop the best artificial housing for space exploration. The first phase of the challenge will award a $50, 000 prize based on pure architectural merits, while a second will hand out two $1.1 million prizes for those who figure out how to manufacture individual components and whole shelters from “indigenous materials, ” such as rocky soil . NASA hopes that the winning ideas will make it possible to settle alien terrain without bringing mountains of Earth-made construction supplies. That would not only let crews pack light, but fix their own abodes if something goes wrong millions of miles from Earth. [Image credit: ESA/Foster + Partners ] Filed under: Science Comments Source: NASA

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NASA competition pays you to design a 3D-printed habitat

Judge rules Pandora has to increase royalty payouts to BMI

Pandora’s propensity for litigation is pretty storied by this point, but it seems like the internet-radio outfit’s luck has run out. A New York judge has ruled that Pandora must raise its payout rates to Taylor Swift’s music publishing house BMI , from 1.75 percent of its revenue to 2.5 percent, according to The New York Times . The full ruling is still being kept under wraps at the moment, but naturally, Pandora says it’s going to appeal the decision. Given that an appeals judge recently ruled in the outfit’s favor to keep royalty payout rates from rising, it isn’t clear what could happen in this instance. For artists’ sakes , let’s hope that history doesn’t repeat itself here. [Image credit: Getty Images for TS] Filed under: Home Entertainment Comments Via: The Register Source: The New York Times

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Judge rules Pandora has to increase royalty payouts to BMI

Shipments of ‘white box’ tablets overtake iPads

The hottest-selling tablets aren’t likely to be iPads or Galaxy Tabs these days — if anything, they’re the cut-rate slabs you see in the back of the drug store . Strategy Analytics estimates that shipments of generic “white box” tablets (which typically run Android) overtook iPads in the first quarter of this year, claiming 28.4 percent of the market versus Apple’s 24.3. The analysts largely chalk this up to consistently tepid iPad sales , but they also suggest that small, budget-minded tablet makers are having a field day. That’s not totally surprising. Low-cost Android gear also dominates the smartphone market , and a lot of these tiny outfits operate in China, where price is more of a concern. You don’t need a $500 slate just to watch video in bed, after all. That shift is partly borne out by what’s happening with other big-name competitors. Cost-conscious Chinese brands like Huawei and Lenovo are thriving, while higher-end rivals that don’t do so well in China (such as ASUS and Samsung) are struggling. If these relative outsiders are going to come back, they may need to either compete more on price or give buyers a reason to pony up. There are signs that this is happening (see Samsung’s Galaxy Tab A and rumors of a giant iPad ), but you may not see the results of these efforts until later in the year. [Image credit: AP Photo/Koji Sasahara] Filed under: Tablets , Apple , Samsung , ASUS , Lenovo Comments Source: Strategy Analytics

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Shipments of ‘white box’ tablets overtake iPads