Beats Music closes access one day after launch
Just yesterday Beats Music sprung into life, with a plan to compete with the established giants already in the market, such as Google, Apple, Spotify and others. The launch was greeted with much fanfare, and all sorts of artists are involved in the project.
But 24 hours into the life of the new service, not everything is milk and honey. Apparently issues have arisen with service for those who already signed up, and now the Dr. Dre-sponsored music app is pulling back to address problems.
Toshiba Chromebook goes up for pre-order on Amazon
The Chromebook platform is steadily growing and one of the latest arrivals in this market comes from Toshiba. The hardware maker unveiled its offering during the recent CES 2014 show in Las Vegas, but the notebook wasn’t available at the time of the reveal.
Now the Toshiba Chromebook is up for pre-order on Amazon for $279.99. The device boasts an Intel Celeron 2955U 1.4 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 16 GB SSD for storage and 13.3-inch screen. The company promises nine hours of battery life.
Amazon holds (another) Kindle Fire sale
Since the latest generation of the Kindle Fire family of tablets rolled out, it almost seems the devices are on sale more often than not. Just recently the retail giant celebrated being named number one in customer satisfaction with a promo code for its devices, now it’s using football as an excuse for one more deal.
It’s not hard to deduce why this latest bargain is being given -- Amazon is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, home of the Seahawks who are now Super Bowl-bound to battle the Denver Broncos. In fact, the graphic currently displayed on the homepage illustrates the Seahawks-49ers game this past Sunday.
Microsoft takes on the government again, this time focusing on the international community
Microsoft and the government are not strangers -- they have met in court, most notably during anti-trust hearings. More recently, the General Council of the company took matters into his own hands when he deemed the US government an "advanced persistent threat". Now Brad Smith is back for round two.
This time the lawyer is aiming at the upcoming World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland. Smith posted a missive today regarding the conference and calling for an international convention to address recent concerns.
Kim Dotcom unveils Baboom music service
The famous, or perhaps infamous, Kim Dotcom once ran MegaUpload before a massive shutdown effort carried out by the government. He later launched Mega, flaunting it to the very people who set out to ruin him. But the flamboyant entrepreneur has always seemed most interested in music, and today he launches his very own streaming service.
Baboom launches, promising a combination of both Spotify and iTunes. Dotcom is soliciting artists to come in and set up their own pages, which will include a bio, images and videos. It is free for them to setup their presence on the new site.
Spotify begins marketing artist merchandise
The streaming music industry has entered an increasingly fast race to grab users and find new ways to monetize the business, while offering "free" streaming. Last week both Spotify and Rdio announced free versions of their services, but now Spotify wants to go a step further, giving back to the people who make the music.
The company plans to allow artists to hawk their merchandise on the website. Spotify is partnering with Topspin to make this new revenue stream possible.
Pirates and TV meet today, with Black Sails debuting on YouTube and Starz website
When you hear the word pirate associated with a TV show there is likely one immediate thought that springs to your mind, and it isn’t a skull and crossbones or eye patch. But today that is changing, as a brand new program debuts in a unique way.
A new show from Starz network titled Black Sails is set to debut next weekend, but the network has a surprise in store for viewers. You can actually watch the very first episode right now. The premier show is available through the Starz website, in conjunction with YouTube.
Rdio follows Spotify, goes free for web-based streaming
Streaming the music you want continues to become easier, with more choice of services and increasingly better pricing. But prices can’t get any better than free, and that seems to be where this market is now headed.
Today Rdio joins Spotify in announcing it will now host free streaming on the web. "That means you can listen to 20 million songs plus all the albums, playlists, and stations you love anywhere there’s a computer. Absolutely free", the service announces.
RCS Group goes Office 365 in latest Microsoft win
Microsoft's Office 365 has been rolling along as of late, scoring wins with both corporations and local governments. Now the service is visiting overseas locales, looking for even more market entry. This time around, it lands in Italy, but not for a gondola ride in Venice.
Instead, Office 365 has been adopted by RCS Group, a leading multimedia company within the European nation. "With the benefits of a consistent approach for the end user, complete transparency for the delivery and the availability of Office applications, there will be more and more opportunities for our employees to continue to deliver new, innovative ideas", said Umberto Tonelli, chief information officer of RCS MediaGroup.
HP Chromebook 11 returns to Google Play, Best Buy gets LTE version
If you aren't familiar with the saga, the HP Chromebook 11 was greeted with much fanfare, only to be pulled from the Google Play store thanks to an overheating charger. This charger saga garnered more attention than actual incidents.
Google announced a new charger to replace the faulty model, rolling out free replacements to those who purchased the little laptop. Now, with a new charger firmly in place, the Android maker has returned the device to its Play Store.
Box gives 50 GB of free storage to iPhone and iPad users
It seems to be a big day for cloud storage. Earlier Google added additional functionality to its Drive product. Now Box has an update of its own, though this new release is geared towards the mobile crowd, bringing more storage to those on iOS devices.
Additional cloud storage isn't all that's included, though. "We've overhauled our app to make it super-fast, simpler to use and more immersive. The result, we believe, is the best content viewing and collaboration experience available today for your iOS device".
Google Drive update adds an activity stream
Cloud storage has become the norm these days, with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple all offering services. It's even built right into Windows 8.1 and Office 2013, and many other apps are adding various integrations.
Now Google is announcing an update to Drive, which brings new, and much needed functionality to its offering. The service allows for easy collaboration on projects, but until now, it was difficult to track the various changes being made.
SmartCharge bulb Kickstarter campaign ends today, get it while you can
Every once in a while a Kickstarter project comes along that deserves attention. Thanks to plenty of rather pointless funding campaigns, the good ones often get less attention than they should. But one that is closing out today deserves a mention, as it could actually prove to be a rather useful item.
If you live in an area that sometimes loses power, and I think that includes almost everyone, then how about a battery-backed-up light bulb? As in, the electricity is out, but your light still comes on?
Microsoft brings Office to the visually impaired
It's been a big year for Microsoft Office, with the release of 2013, the move to subscription-based software and a boatload of wins getting the service into businesses and government agencies. Now the software giant is pushing an update to versions 2010 and 2013 that will add accessibility features.
The update springs from a collaboration with GW Micro. "At Microsoft we are committed to provide everyone access to our technology. A fundamental consideration during product design, development and testing of Office is the level of accessibility of our applications", states Microsoft's Jake Zborowski.
Microsoft brings speech-to-speech translation to Bing
Translation has become a big thing for search engines. If you use Chrome then you have likely seen a translation option pop up when you click a story that isn’t in your native tongue. But Google is not the only one that can do this -- Bing too has translation capabilities.
Now Microsoft's search service is upping its game, announcing new features to its translation engine. The update is available for both Windows Phone and the desktop.
Alan's Bio
Alan is an avid fan of all things technology, including Microsoft, Android, Google, and more. When not writing about or using gadgets and software, he can be found on the trails hiking or mountain biking. alanbuckingham on twitter
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.