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If you're a free user on Spotify's streaming music service, you may hear an ad soon that asks you to respond verbally. Spotify has started testing voice-enabled ads on a small number of free subscribers in the US. The voice-enabled ads will only be deployed to users who already have their microphone permissions turned on to use Spotify's voice search feature, the company confirmed to Engadget on Thursday.
Via: TechCrunch
The smartwatch market is still growing at a breakneck pace several years in. Counterpoint Research estimated that smartwatch shipments jumped by 48 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2019 -- no mean feat in a season that's typically quiet. The Apple Watch's leading share barely budged at 35.8 percent, although that came precisely because its shipments grew a sizeable 49 percent. The real stars of the show were some of Apple's rivals, though, as they enjoyed success they haven't had in a while.
Source: Counterpoint Research
Uber customers in Denver can now use the app to purchase transit tickets. This makes Denver the first city in the world to get the added capability, but it won't be the last. It's all part of Uber's goal to make the platform a one-stop shop for transportation needs, from carsharing to bikesharing, busses and more.
Source: TechCrunch
Tinder is launching a new feature for all users today called Festival Mode that’ll let users add a badge to their profile that advertises the music festivals they’ll attend this summer. The app will prompt users to make a selection on the Festival Mode card, which will give other users a heads-up that they’ll be at a festival and potentially willing to meet.
Users will be able to select from 12 festivals in both the US and UK, including Governors Ball, Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, EDC Las Vegas, and Lovebox. Each festival option will open up three weeks prior to the event. The app will prioritize potential matches who are planning to attend the same festival and will show people from around the world who will be there — even if...
May has begun, and that means the latest iteration of Google's I/O developer conference is right around the bend. Usually, that translates to a deluge of new software, AI breakthroughs and web technology. And we're still expecting plenty of that at this year's show. This time around, however, there's a bit of a twist: Google confirmed during its latest financial results call that it will make hardware announcements at I/O, breaking a device drought from the past few years. But what does it plan to reveal, exactly? Here's a primer on what to expect so that you're prepared for whatever appears onstage on May 7th.
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
Are you ready for the first 5G-connected TV? Huawei may have one on the way; however, we're probably closer to seeing all of Google's Pixel 3a and the Moto Z4. Also, NASA uncovered a fraud scheme that resulted in a couple of destroyed rockets, and tinkerers should check out this DIY smartwatch project.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the Pokémon Go-style smartphone game co-developed by Niantic and WB Games, is now available in open beta in Australia and New Zealand. Players in the two countries can play the game now on both iOS and Android. The announcement follows a couple of false starts for the game, which included it appearing on the iOS App Store last month before quickly being pulled.
Back in 2016, Pokémon Go also launched in Australia and New Zealand first, before coming later to the US, Europe, and the rest of the world. However, at the time it was possible to get access to the game early on Android by downloading its APK from a third-party source. That doesn’t appear to be the case for Wizard’s Unite. Although we were able to...
Niantic is giving Harry Potter fans in Australia and New Zealand the chance to be among the first to wave their augmented reality wands and vanquish rogue magical objects. The beta version of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is now live on the Apple App Store and Google Play in those two countries. Since it's just a test run, the company says the available features, languages, design and even the game's overall appearance aren't final -- they'll likely change based on the first players' feedback. Also, testers can expect to encounter bugs and unstable environments common to most beta software.
Source: Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
The next entry of Motorola's Z series has likely been revealed, as noted leaker Evan Blass tweeted out these shots of the Moto Z4. Matching specs and a smaller picture that leaked earlier, the Z4 shown here features a teardrop front-camera design, single-lens rear camera setup, with a headphone jack and no visible fingerprint sensor. It's also visibly ready for Moto Mods, which right now notably gives Moto Z3 owners the only way to have a 5G-capable smartphone in the US.
The specs posted by 91Mobiles suggest that's because this phone will include an in-display fingerprint scanner, as well as a 48 MP rear-camera that uses Motorola's Quad Pixel tech to deliver a higher quality 12 MP image and Google Pixel Night Sight-like "Night Vision" abilities. It also listed a Group Selfie mode for the 25 MP front camera, Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 CPU and 3,600mAh battery.
It's not intended to keep up with a flagship phone like the Galaxy S10 family and will likely cost half of the price. but if it really does arrive with an older-generation CPU and single-lens rear camera that likely lacks tricks like OIS, we'll need to know exactly how much it costs to tell if it's competing with upper tier mid-range devices like the highly-anticipated OnePlus 7 series that we expect will feature triple lenses in the rear, a bigger built-in battery and a more powerful CPU
Source: Evan Blass (Twitter)
If Google wanted to preserve what few secrets were left about its Pixel 3a phones, it's probably out of luck. Droid Life has obtained images and extensive feature lists for both the 5.6-inch Pixel 3a and its 6-inch 3a XL counterpart, including what appear to be graphics for the devices' promo website. It's now virtually certain that they'll come in purple (described in one leak as "Purple-ish") in addition to the usual black and white options, and they'll come with photographic perks of the high-end Pixel 3 like Night Sight.
Source: Droid Life, This is Tech Today (YouTube)
Amidst announcements of a new Messenger, a new Facebook app and new VR headsets, the company snuck in a quieter, less flashier update: it's now allowing creators to make and publish their own AR effects and filters on Instagram. Right now, the only Instagram camera effects you see are made entirely in-house. Thanks to Facebook opening up its Spark AR Studio tool to Instagram, however, you might eventually see all kinds of AR effects made by, well, pretty much anyone.
The costs of Apple's truce with Qualcomm are now much clearer. Qualcomm now estimates that it will pull in revenue between $4.5 billion and $4.7 billion from the settlement in the third quarter of the year, including both the one-time payment from Apple as well as the elimination of obligations. It's certainly not a trivial amount, although Qualcomm made clear that this won't dramatically alter its fortunes.
Source: Qualcomm (PDF)
Moment has announced its biggest ever update for Pro Camera, which adds a bunch of cool new features to the app, and brings the Android version up to parity. And to celebrate, if you download the app for the first time you'll get 15 percent off in the Moment Shop, which carries more than 20 photography and travel brands.
Moment has updated its iOS and Android camera apps with a swathe of new features to give you both more control and more information about your photos and videos. What started as little more than a software companion to Moment’s range of smartphone lenses has since evolved into a capable camera app in its own right. With today’s update, Moment has gained more of the features of other advanced camera apps like the iOS-exclusive Halide and Filmic Pro.
Both the iOS and Android versions of the Moment app are getting new visual cues designed to show you which areas of your image are correctly exposed and in focus. Zebra stripes show any under or over-exposed parts of an image, while focus peaking shows which areas of the image are sharp.
On...
DIY projects can be a lot of fun, and if Raspberry Pi has taught us anything it's that people love to tinker. But for most folk, forays into the world of build-it-yourself tech start and end with a specific kit and a whole bunch of instructions to help them along. Not so for one inquisitive Redditor, who recently revealed that he built an entire smartwatch from scratch. And since he's been kind to enough to share details of the process down to the smallest minutiae, you can too.
Source: Reddit
