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© Provided by Quartz Beats by… Tim? A new report from Bloomberg today, March 5, suggests that Apple may want to build on the surprise success of its AirPods wireless headphones and make a pair of high-end, Apple-branded headphones. Apple bought Beats in 2014 for $3 billion, and the hardware and music-streaming service run by Dr. Dre and music executive Jimmy Iovine has become the backbone of Apple’s own streaming service, which now reportedly has 36 million paying subscribers. Beats headphones, along with AirPods, have also helped Apple dominate the headphone market. A r eport last year calculated that Apple has already locked up over 40% of the wireless-headphone market. A pair of wireless headphones, to rival those produced by Bose, Sennheiser, and Beats itself, seems like a logical step for Apple. Although it hasn’t released sales data, it seems that AirPods have sold well: They’re included in the bucket of accessories Apple sells, which it labels as “Other Products” on its ...

© Provided by Engadget Spotify may have 159 million active users, but only 71 million of those are paid subscribers. It makes sense that the company would want to maximize the number of paying customers, especially in light of the company's recent moves to go public . Now, it appears that Spotify is cracking down on free users that take advantage of hacked apps in order to remove the restrictions of unpaid accounts, according to TorrentFreak . Until now, Spotify hasn't put much effort into policing the actions of those who are pirating its service. These users sign up for a free accounts, then download a modified Spotify installation file, which allows them access to the premium service without having to pay for it. But over the past few days, Spotify has sent emails to unpaid accounts taking advantage of the modified software. TorrentFreak obtained a copy of it, which is replicated below. © TorrentFreak In the email, Spotify says, "If we detect repeated use of una...

© Provided by The Next Web Search might be getting a facelift in the months to come. It seems Google is currently experimenting with a revamped version of its signature Material Design layout for its search engine service, as spotted by sharp-eyed Reddit users. Here are a couple of screenshots to check out for comparison. The former is the old design, the latter is the revamped version: © Provided by The Next Web © Provided by The Next Web Unlike the previous version, the new format has much more defined borders and accentuates the older card-box view. It remains unclear how widespread the test is, but TNW staffers still see the older design. Since introducing it back in 2014, the Big G has gradually updated its extended suit of applications with Material Design. Starting off with Search, the company eventually brought the aesthetic to YouTube  and  Chrome  – both the browser and the operating system. Still, it is not out-of-the-ordinary for Google to po...

© Provided by The Verge Two of the more popular encrypted messaging apps, Signal and Telegram, are both experiencing service issues today. Telegram appears to be inaccessible for users in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, while Signal has been down for hours across Europe, the US, Asia, and Australia. “Some of our users in Europe and the MENA region are currently experiencing connection issues,” says Telegram spokesperson . “Please hang on, we have all hands on deck to bring you back soon!” Signal doesn’t provide a status indicator for its service, and its official Twitter account looks like it’s mostly used to share product updates rather than outage information. Both Signal and Telegram have risen in popularity thanks to their focus on advanced security features and the ability to hold secret conversations with end-to-end encryption. While most rival messaging services now include end-to-end encryption, both Signal and Telegram were amongst the first to offer encryptio...

© Provided by Engadget A Chinese company called Leagoo made headlines at MWC for showing off its S9, a cheap Android phone that looks like an iPhone X and swiped Samsung's flagship name. These kinds of clones have been a part of the industry forever, clogging up eBay and disappointing whoever buys them. The S9 is indeed the latest in a long line of clones, but as I discovered, the forces that brought it to market are more interesting than the facsimile itself. After all, it seems odd that a company with the resources to build a portfolio of products and lock down a sponsorship deal with Tottenham Hotspur FC would resort to blatant copying. And these copies aren't much to write home about either. The S9s at Leagoo's booth ran a very buggy version of Android, and the hardware felt chintzy and insubstantial. Those software issues should get worked out before launch, but honestly, this is exactly the kind of cut-rate experience you'd expect from a $150 iPhone clone. T...

© Provided by The Verge Microsoft is rolling out an updated version of Skype for Android, one that’s optimized for devices running older versions of the OS, providing better audio and video quality for lower-end devices. The new update will optimize the app for Android devices running versions 4.0.3 to 5.1. Microsoft says that this version “is lighter on both disk and memory consumption,” and that it’ll provide better audio and video for those devices, in addition to better performance when the connection isn’t so hot. The update will be rolled out worldwide in the coming weeks. The approach looks a bit like what Google is doing with Android Go , a stripped down version of Android that doesn’t require as much processing power, RAM, or storage. They’re phones designed to work in areas with limited internet connectivity, and they come with apps that are designed to operate on such limited specs. This isn’t the first communications app to go this route: Facebook rolled out Messenger...

© Provided by The Next Web The folks at San Francisco-based Automattic have a good reason to celebrate this Monday: its WordPress content management system (CMS) now powers 30 percent of all sites on the web. That’s according to W3Techs , a service run by Austrian consulting firm Q-Success that surveys the top 10 million sites ranked on Alexa. Its numbers are updated daily, and today it sees WordPress accounting for 60 percent of the CMS market. WordPress has been in the lead for a good while now, with rival systems like Joomla, Drupal, Magento, Shopify, Google’s Blogger, and Squarespace trailing by a huge margin (Joomla takes the #2 spot with 3 percent of sites). Of course, it’s worth noting that 50 percent of all sites are either built from scratch or utilize CMSes presently not monitored by W3Techs. That’s good news for the community of developers who build plugins and themes for the open-source CMS, as well as for web hosts who offer WordPress packages, and designers who off...

Pick a platform Perhaps the most important choice you need to make is your preferred software: Just like phones and laptops , streaming devices have their own operating systems. So you should choose a platform that fits two criteria: It must play your favorite content and work well with the devices you already own. For example, if you want to watch shows and movies purchased from iTunes, then you need the only device capable of working with that software: the 4K Apple TV ( $150 and up on Amazon ). If you're all-in on the Apple ecosystem—you rely on a Mac computer or an iPhone —then you'll want this option. It can also stream videos from Amazon Prime, YouTube, Netflix, and many other third-party services, with the notable exception of Google Play Movies & TV. Android users, on the other hand, should lean toward devices, such as the 4K Nvidia Shield ( $180 and up on Amazon ), that run the Android TV operating system. This works best with Android-based video apps, everyt...

Replay Video SETTINGS OFF HD HQ SD LO UP NEXT © Sarah Shatz Best picture: 'The Big Sick' Netflix Shmetflix. While Prime Video may not be as widely known as that “other” major video streaming service, Amazon’s on-demand platform is a force to be reckoned with. Between its growing catalog of movies and TV shows (including several award-winning exclusives) and all the other goodies you get for being a Prime member (free two-day shipping, Prime Music access, free Kindle e-books, and unlimited online photo storage), it’s quite easy to justify the $99/year subscription cost. You’re also aware you can access Prime Video on a handful of devices, including the web, mobile apps, Smart TVs, gaming consoles, and set-top boxes? Well, there’s a lot more you likely don’t know – or don’t know enough about. 1. Download to watch later Along with choosing to stream content, which requires an Internet connection, the Prime Video app lets y...

© Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg/Bloomberg Inside Toyota's Mega Web Theme Park Ahead Of Earnings Announcement (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. plans to spend $2.8 billion to make sure its system for writing the software for self-driving cars will be just as efficient as the factories that build them. The company needs faster and more reliable methods for writing software because self-driving cars require “millions and millions’’ of lines of computer code, according to James Kuffner, who’ll lead the new effort. That compares with tens of thousands of lines of code in cars just a generation ago. The Japanese automaker is seeking an edge over rival car giants as well as newcomers such as Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo as the industry charts a path toward self-driving vehicles. Kuffner said he plans to hire 1,000 programmers as soon as he can find them, seeking to lure global talent. “We’re not just doubling down but quadrupling down in terms of the budget,’’ Kuffner said in an inte...

© Provided by Engadget You might see a glimpse of Google's next mobile platform very, very soon. Evan Blass, a well-known source of tech leaks, has tweeted that Mountain View is targeting a mid-month release for Android P's first developer preview. We don't know what "P" stands for yet, but since March 14th is Pi Day, some people are speculating that Android's upcoming flavor is "Pie." According to previous reports, Android P will have the power to prevent idle apps from being able to access your camera and mic. That added security measure can protect you against against malware that can record background noise or take images without your consent. It will also reportedly support notches, which are cropping up on more and more Android phones ever since the iPhone X came out, and multiple screens. However, it apparently won't have a dark mode like earlier rumors said and will instead feature a toggle that makes it easier for developers to ...

© Provided by CNET An iPhone shows a transcription in the Otter app If you don't hate transcribing, it's probably just because you don't have to do it very much.  Otter, a new, free mobile app from a team of vets from Google and speech-recognition company Nuance, aims to make voice transcriptions become as easy and accessible as typing into a Google Doc.  Voice is an obsession of tech giants right now. But companies like Amazon , Google and Apple are mostly zeroed in on voice-command assistants like Alexa or Siri , premised on the bet that voice interaction will become the next stage of computing. Getting less attention, though, are voice transcriptions -- tech that takes a recording of people talking and turns it into text -- even though that kind of technology could be transformative for people across different needs and professions.   Most transcription apps or services fall into two buckets. If they're free, they're not often accurate. And those that giv...

© Provided by Engadget  You might have to cross another item off of the list of things you never thought Porsche would do. Automobilwoche has claimed that Porsche is developing passenger drones, and is close to showing off its first design sketch. While there's clearly not much to show at this point, you would have some control over the machine but wouldn't need a pilot's license -- like other in-progress drones, a large chunk of the flight control would be automated. While it's not clear that Porsche is ready to confirm the details, it's clearly open to the idea. Company sales lead Detlev von Platen noted that it takes him "at least half an hour" just to drive from Porsche's plant in Zuffenhausen to the airport in Stuttgart, but just "three and a half minutes" with an aircraft. It may seem odd for Porsche to not only venture into flying vehicles, but hands-off vehicles. Isn't that anathema to enthusiasts used to taking the wheel?...

© REUTERS/Charles Platiau The Apple logo is seen on the facade of the new Apple Store in Paris. Apple hasn’t done much with its ultra-thin MacBook Air in recent years, opting to slim down some of its other offerings instead. But the computer is reasonably popular, and according to Apple analyst KGI Securities (via 9to5Mac ), the company is reportedly planning to release a cheaper model at some point in the second quarter of 2018. According to 9to5Mac , analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects that Apple will release a 13-inch MacBook Air “with a lower price tag,” later this year, and that the lower price could help boost Apple’s laptop sales. While the line celebrates its tenth year in 2018 , the line has largely only received incremental updates, the last of which came last summer, when Apple updated it with a faster 1.8GHz Intel processor. Apple currently sells the MacBook Air for $999. The report also says that Apple will likely refresh its AirPods, and that the HomePod has been met wit...

© Provided by Engadget Amazon is making it easier for developers to add a variety of sound effects to their Alexa skills . The tech giant has launched a library full of built-in audio clips people can use to add -- in Amazon's words -- "unique sounds" to their creations. Of course, by the time most developers are done tweaking their skills to add the audio clips, they'll no longer seem unique. In fact, you should probably probably get used to hearing the same thing again and again. But developers do have quite a wide selection to choose from with 14 categories that include sounds you'd usually hear in cartoons and sci-fi shows, as as well as sounds of nature, humans and animals. Amazon says developers can use those effects, say, to add applause for correct answers in a trivia game or spooky ghost-like moans for a horror/adventure game. The whole library is free for skill-makers, who can use the sounds on their own or combined with other files. If you'd lik...

Cyberdyne  " height="201" src="http://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBJNAd8.img?h=201&w=300&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f" width="300" /> © Provided by CNET Cyberdyne  We've been writing about the Cyberdyne HAL wearable robotic exoskeleton  for nearly a decade . Now, it's finally arrived in the United States.  Today, the Japanese company's mechanical legs are officially available at the new Brooks Cybernic Treatment Center in Jacksonville, Florida -- with plans to bring the FDA-approved device to spinal cord injury patients at hospitals across the US. These aren't exoskeletons you'd take home , mind you, or ones that give you superhuman strength , though those types both exist. They're just a pair of legs exclusively approved for temporary  medical use. In other words, these aren't for people who are totally paralyzed, they're for rehabilitation. Check out the video above to see what th...

Samsung released the new Galaxy S9 The biggest release of MWC 2018 is Samsung’s new Galaxy S9. It’s not wildly different from the S8 that came before it, but it has an improved camera with a wider aperture for better low-light shooting, as well as improved digital assistant performance from its proprietary Bixby platform. If you want all the details, check out our announcement post . Huawei made a pop-up webcam in its MateBook X Pro computer Sony updated its flagship phone The Sony ZX2 isn’t a giant leap from its predecessor, but it is a new flagship for the brand. It has some impressive stats, including an 18-megapixel camera, which is considerably higher than most other flagships, including the iPhone X. Sony has made good phones in the past, but the problem seems to be convincing people to buy them. A bunch of phones had stupid notches in their screens This is all part of an effort to cut down on the amount of bezel that phones have around the screen itself. Personally,...

© Provided by Engadget Amazon and Google probably won't kiss and make up anytime soon. According to Business Insider , Amazon's retail team told Nest on a call that the e-commerce website won't be listing the Google-owned company's newer products. Those include Nest's new thermostats and its Secure home security system launched late last year. While the team didn't say who exactly issued the order, it reportedly told Nest's employees that the decision "came from the top." Whether that means Amazon chief Jeff Bezos was behind the move is unclear -- either way, Nest is apparently responding in kind by leaving the website altogether. BI said that once Nest's current inventory on Amazon is sold out, it'll no longer replenish its stocks. Nest wants to be able to offer its whole portfolio on the platform. It would rather not sell anything on the website at all if it can't, though it's still unclear if that means even third-party se...

© Provided by The Verge Snap is apparently working on new versions of its Spectacles wearable camera, according to a report from Alex Heath on Cheddar this morning. The company is said to be working on two new Spectacles products: a second-generation model that offers bug fixes, performance improvements, and new colors, and a more ambitious version that could feature two lenses and more advanced camera technology that could cost up to $300.  Snap is apparently also in conversations with major glasses companies including Luxottica and Warby Parker to license out its camera technology. As part of the company’s expanding camera ambitions, Heath also reported that Snap quietly acquired imaging company FiveFocal at the end of last year. The second-generation version of Spectacles is apparently pretty far along; the product is already said to be in the manufacturing phases for a Q2 or Q3 launch. Given that Snapchat infamously took a massive $40 million loss on the first generatio...