Thursday, 27 July 2017

Apple iPod nano and iPod shuffle officially discontinued

iPod nano colors

It’s not often that we hear new regarding Apple’s iPod devices, but today that’s exactly what we’re getting.

Apple has officially discontinued the iPod nano (above) and iPod shuffle (below). The company confirmed the move in a statement, saying, “Today, we are simplifying our iPod lineup with two models of iPod touch now with double the capacity starting at just $199 and we are discontinuing the iPod shuffle and iPod nano.”

Links to the iPod nano and iPod shuffle pages on Apple’s site now redirect to the Music page.

iPod shuffle colors

This move leaves the iPod touch as the sole Apple product with the iPod name. You can buy a 32GB model for $199 and a 128GB version for $299 from Apple’s website, with six color options available. If you really want an iPod nano or iPod shuffle, you can still get them from retailers like Best Buy while supplies last.

Apple’s decision to discontinue the iPod nano and iPod shuffle isn’t a huge surprise. While these iPods were hugely popular at one time, their popularity has declined in recent years as more folks rely on streaming services and their smartphones to listen to music on the go. Plus, Apple hasn’t shown much interest in either the iPod nano or iPod shuffle lately, as both devices have gone years without any significant update.

All that said, this news is still interesting given the immense popularity that the iPod family once had. Have you ever owned an iPod device?


Apple iPod nano and iPod shuffle officially discontinued originally posted at http://phonedog.com

Samsung reportedly in talks to expand Samsung Pay to non-Samsung phones

Samsung Pay in use

After launching in 2015 with support for four phones, Samsung Pay has steadily expanded to several other Samsung devices. Now the company may be working to expand Samsung Pay support even farther.

Samsung is in talks with other device makers about bringing Samsung Pay to non-Samsung high-end devices, according to a report from Gadgets 360. Samsung is reportedly aiming to offer Samsung Pay support for these non-Samsung devices by mid-2018.

As for how it’ll happen, Samsung is said to be considering two options. Samsung Pay relies on MST chips in order to offer contactless payments with non-NFC terminals, and so Samsung is said to be talking with other smartphone makers about adding MST tech to their devices.

Another option that Samsung is thinking about is an external accessory like the LoopPay Card Case. This would enable Samsung Pay on supported devices without requiring the phones’ manufacturers to add MST tech into their phones.

Samsung presumably wants Samsung Pay to continue to grow and be adopted by more consumers, and so even though Samsung is a huge player in the mobile market, expanding Samsung Pay to non-Samsung Pay devices could help grow the service. Whether or not these unnamed non-Samsung manufacturers would be interested in adding MST to their devices is still a mystery, but giving expanding Samsung Pay and its ability to work even on non-NFC terminals could help give mobile payments in general a bit more traction with consumers.

Have you tried Samsung Pay?


Samsung reportedly in talks to expand Samsung Pay to non-Samsung phones originally posted at http://phonedog.com

YouTube Red and Google Play Music will merge

YouTube Red logo

Two of Google’s most notable services will soon combine into one.

Google Play Music and YouTube Red will soon merge, YouTube Red head of music Lyor Cohen has confirmed. “The important thing is combining YouTube Red and Google Play Music, and having one offering,” Cohen explained during the New Music Seminar conference in New York.

Google followed Cohen’s statement with an official remark of its own, telling The Verge that it’s “evaluating how to bring together [its] music offerings to deliver the best possible product” for users and that it’ll provide plenty of notice before any changes are enacted.

The details of Google’s merge of Play Music and YouTube Red are still up in the air, but a combining of the apps themselves doesn’t seem probable. What feels more likely is that the two brands will merge into one. You already get a Google Play Music subscription with YouTube Red and vice versa, so having one brand could better communicate this to consumers.


YouTube Red and Google Play Music will merge originally posted at http://phonedog.com

More than 1 billion people are now using WhatsApp every day

Samsung’s budget phones are cheap, but that’s not enough

Samsung leads the pack when it comes to high-end Android phones, but its understanding of the mid-range and budget market is seriously lacking. On Monday, the company unveiled its new Galaxy J7 and J3 unlocked handsets, which cost $220 and $150 respectively. For those pocket-friendly prices, you're getting the Galaxy branding and, really, not much else. It's not enough to simply be cheap anymore. A budget phone needs to deliver a solid -- and modern -- experience. This is a lesson that its rivals, especially ZTE, have learned, but Sammy seems content to flesh out its lineup with aging tech.


Samsung’s budget phones are cheap, but that’s not enough posted first on http://ift.tt/1tUdcCk

GoPro’s new QuikStories feature can automatically edit your footage in the background

GoPro is launching a new feature today called QuikStories that makes it even easier for users to receive automatically edited videos of their footage. It will also make it possible to transfer footage from a GoPro Hero 5 camera to a user’s phone with just one swipe (on iPhone) or automatically (on Android) in the background.

QuikStories is essentially just an improvement to the Quik app, a mobile editor that can automatically assemble an edit to the beat of a song from one or multiple video clips and photos. The difference now is that GoPro is removing all the initial steps that stood in the way of getting to those algorithmically compiled edits.

With QuikStories on Android, GoPro Hero 5 cameras can now automatically send footage to a...

Continue reading…


GoPro’s new QuikStories feature can automatically edit your footage in the background appeared first on http://www.theverge.com

A billion people use WhatsApp daily

One billion people check WhatsApp every day. Not every month -- it hit that number way back in early 2016 -- but every single day. The Facebook-owned chat app has announced the milestone number in a post thanking its users, though it was also mentioned in passing during the company's earnings call. Zuckerberg mentioned during the call that Facebook's own Messenger app has reached 1.2 billion monthly actively users (MAU), but WhatsApp still has more patrons in that regard at 1.3 billion MAU. Taking those numbers into account, 76 percent of people who use WhatsApp don't go 24 hours without firing it up on their devices.

Source: WhatsApp


A billion people use WhatsApp daily posted first on http://ift.tt/1tUdcCk