Stream Oddity
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| Stream Oddity | |
| Number | 2663 |
| Broadcast Date | JANUARY 11, 2016 |
| Episode Length | 36:59 |
| Hosts | Tom Merritt |
| Guests | Veronica Belmont |
Nielsen released their 2015 numbers and streaming is way up while sales are down. So is that good or bad news for music? What does it mean for you the listener? Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont discuss.
Guest
Headlines
- Pre-orders for HTC's Vive VR Headset will start Feb 29th. HTC CEO Cher Wang confirmed the date to the UK Telegraph but didn’t offer a price. In response to questions about its smartphone business Cher said the company was “more realistic” and was shifting efforts to VR and wearables.
- Citing sources familiar with the matter The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon will release a small portable version of it Echo voice-activated speaker. The device codenamed “Fox” will be manufactured by Flextronics International and be priced lower than the $180 for the current Echo.
- Xiaomi announced its latest budget handset today. The 5-inch Redmi 3 has an all-metal construction and 4,100mAh battery life for $250. It’s available in China tomorrow.
- AT&T announced Monday that new and existing mobile customers can sign up for unlimited data as long as they also subscribe to DirecTV or AT&T's U-Verse TV service. Mobile plans will run $100 for the first line and $40 for additional lines. Get three lines and AT&T throws in a fourth line for free. TV starts at $19.99 per month for the first year rising to $49.99 per month after that, though existing mobile subscribers can qualify for a $10 discount on normal rates. Users who do sign up will be able to keep unlimited data even after ATT stops offering it.
- Submitted by habicheulacondulce
- The Next Web passes along that Apple Eddy Cue told the Wall Street Journal that the reported number of users of the Apple News app is lower than reality because of a glitch. This means Apple has been underreporting numbers to partners. The company is fixing the bug. Apple announced in October that 40 million people had tried the app.
- Ford said Sunday it will conduct tests of self-driving cars in winter weather, including snow. The tests will happen in 32-acre testing grounds run by the University of Michigan at Mcity. Ford has been testing its sensors int he snow for more than a year. ReCode notes Google has reported snowy conditions testing of its fleet, likely in the Lake Tahoe area.
- On Monday Ford announced an app called FordPass. It can book parking spots through ParkWhiz and Parkodpeia, and use airport car sharing app FlightCar, schedule Ford vehicle maintenance and speak in person with guides through chat or even in person at a Ford Hub. The service launches in April in the US and Canada with Europe Brazil and China to follow. The first FordHub will be at the World Trade Center mall in New York. Shanghai, San Francisco and London are the next cities scheduled. McDonald’s and 7-Eleven were announced as loyalty program partners.
- As part of software version 7.1, a Tesla Autopilot feature called Summon enables the S and X models to park or unpark themselves without the driver inside. The feature has to be turned on by the owner in the Driver Assistance settings and the driver has to be within 33 feet. It can be operated with the keyfob or smartphone app. But that’s just the beginning. CEO Elon Musk said "I think that within two years, you’ll be able to summon your car from across the country.” What he means is the technology will be ready in 24-36 months.
- Submitted by spsheridan
- The SANS industrial control systems team issued a report on how attackers achieved the temporary power outage in Ukraine on December 23rd. BlackEnergy malware helped gain access. Attackers then remotely tripped circuit breakers, used KillDisk to prevent recovery efforts and a phone DDoS to block customer reports of outages. There may have been direct interaction involved as well. The malware does not seem to have been the direct cause of the outage.
- 9to5 Google passes along that Tech.Sina reports that the president of Lenovo’s China region, Chen Xudong says Google is on track to bring Play services to China sometime this year.
- Juniper Networks said late Friday it would ship new versions of security software in the first half of this year that no longer relies on random numbers generated by Dual Elliptic Curve technology in use since 2008, one year after veteran cryptographers had begun to raise questions about the use of Dual Elliptic Curve. A presentation at Stanford on Thursday showed several ways Juniper's code had been changed in 2008 to enable eavesdropping on VPN sessions.
Discussion
- Nielsen: Music Streams Doubled In 2015, Digital Sales Continue To Fall
- 2015 U.S. MUSIC YEAR-END REPORT
- U.S. Recording Industry 2015: Streams Double, Adele Dominates
Pick of the Day
- Michael Eskin wrote me about his new hammered dulcimer app for the iPad Pro but looking at his site I figured lots of folks who play traditional instruments might be interested.
appcordions.com has apps for Accordions, Concertinas, Bagpipes Dulcimers and more.
Michael says his accordion apps are particularly popular in Mexico.
He says “I'm just one guy, working on the app in my home office. I play all these instruments and I make really great virtual versions of all of them.” - Submitted by Michael Eskin
- Michael Eskin wrote me about his new hammered dulcimer app for the iPad Pro but looking at his site I figured lots of folks who play traditional instruments might be interested.
Messages
- On the rumor of Apple not including a standard headphone jack on the next iPhone
David pointed out this could be used to combat unauthorized reproductions the same way that HDMI replacing component cables has done. Not to mention all the third party services like square that leverage the audio jack. - Sent by David
- On the rumor of Apple not including a standard headphone jack on the next iPhone
- And Tyler pointed out Apple has removed things like the 3.5 inch disk drive and the CD/DVD drive from its Macs in the past to some outcry but were later no longer missed.
- Sent by Tyler
- First, you did get the price right, just in the wrong currency. It will cost around $1100 - $1200 Australian, yep that's right, it's going to cost me around that much to get mine.
Second, the Oculus is currently being marketed as a sit down experience while the Vive and PS VR are being marketed as stand up experiences. I don't know about you but I don't have a space where I could safely stand up and walk around with no real world vision without bumping into a chair or tripping over something. - Sent by Nik
- First, you did get the price right, just in the wrong currency. It will cost around $1100 - $1200 Australian, yep that's right, it's going to cost me around that much to get mine.
YouTube
Links
| Preceded by: "A Node to Joy" |
Stream Oddity |
Followed by: "La Tech du Jour" |