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Spotify is testing in-app ads on podcast episode pages

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Spotify In-App Offers

Spotify

Of course, there are pros and cons to this. For listeners, there will be clear ads inside the Spotify app beyond just audio. The company says in-app offers are still in testing, but they’re in the alpha phase in the US with ads for Harry’s on Last Podcast on the Left and in Germany with HelloFresh on Herrengedeck. Spotify also points out that you might hear a deal you want at a time when you can’t immediately investigate the details — like if you’re running, cooking or driving. Obviously, being able to easily get the info without having to remember a code or web address would be useful in those cases.

For podcast creators, it’s going to clean up ad reads. No longer will they have to spend extra seconds repeating the key points two or three times to make sure you heard them. They can say it once and move on, the new in-app card will do the rest.

“The average podcast listener has heard a countless number of ads ending with promo codes or show-specific websites, carefully repeated three times so as not to forget it,” Withrow explained. “In-App Offers makes it vastly simpler for listeners to redeem deals whenever they come back to the app, and we can all benefit from one fewer ‘w-w-w-dot’ spelling lesson from our favorite podcast creators.”

For advertisers, it means removing a key barrier to listeners acting on the ad they heard. It’s a lot easier to tap once than it is to recall specific details you heard earlier in the day, or make the effort to hunt for the ad again just to get that info.

Spotify says it will continue testing in-app offers through the end of 2020. So if you’re not a fan of this news, it could be a few months before your favorite shows start using the “episode sponsors” cards inside the app.

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UK accused of trying to thwart ‘rival’ COVID-19 apps

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Speaking to the Observer, Professor Tim Spector said his app was treated as “the enemy” by NHSX. “We were hampered from the beginning, in March when we first contacted NHSX,” he said. “Lots of signals went to places like the universities, my university, the medical charities and the royal colleges not to back our app because that would interfere with their one.”

Spector also said that many people in the NHS wanted to work with the King’s College team, but had quietly advised him that everything would have to go through NHSX. “We naively thought they would sort of take our app over or incorporate them into one,” he said. “The whole point was to help the NHS, to find the hotspots so they could get the resources to the right hospitals.”

However, it is worth noting that Apple and Google’s framework comes with a host of restrictions regulating exactly who can use the technology and subsequently publish apps arising from it, so these alternate apps would have faced intense scrutiny were they to be launched officially. Nonetheless, the Covid Symptom Study app and others could still form part of an “early warning system” in the event of a second wave of COVID-19. Given that the new contact-tracing app has no firm deadline for launch, data from these sources will prove invaluable in monitoring the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, the chastened NHSX has set up “Project Oasis,” which will gather important data from eight existing tracking apps. As The Guardian reports, one unnamed tech firm said this is a strong example of “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

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CERN approves plans for a $23 billion, 62-mile long super-collider

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In a new development strategy paper, CERN emphasized that its current priority is to complete a “high-luminosity” upgrade of the current LHC with high-field superconducting NbSn magnets. This would create many times more collisions than the LHC can now, boosting the chances of seeing Higgs bosons and other rare particles.

The future collider would be built in two stages. The first iteration would smash electrons and positrons together to maximize production of Higgs bosons so that scientists can get more accurate data on the particles. The second version would be a 100 TeV proton-proton collider designed to generate new particles that could expand on or even replace the Standard Model.

The aim is to start construction of the new tunnel by 2038, but there’s one massive hurdle: money. The new project is so expensive that CERN will need to seek funding outside its EU member state nations. Instead, it might need to create a global organization that includes the US, China and Japan.

It could be a hard sell, especially as the new collider wouldn’t have as clear a goal as the LHC did. However, particle physics and the Standard Model are at a place where the application of science is needed to validate theories. “We do know that the only way to find answers is by experiment and the only place to find them is where we haven’t been able to look yet,” UK physicist Tara Shears told Nature.

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Google Maps may offer routes connecting bikes and cars to public transit

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Many people still aren’t commuting to work in light of the pandemic, but Google Maps might give you more travel options when it is safe to return. As 9to5Google reports, app sleuth Jane Manchun Wong has discovered that Google is exploring “connections to public transit” route options that would cover the “first mile” transportation for certain trips, such as bikes, cars, motorcycles ridesharing services and even auto rickshaws. You could drive to a park-and-ride stop, hop on the bus and get directions through the entire trip.

Wong also learned that Google hopes to offer more accurate ridesharing fares by sharing route data with third-party apps like Uber. You wouldn’t have to switch apps just to know if it makes sense to hail a car.



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Potential NASA mission would explore Neptune’s moon Triton

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NASA’s quest to explore the Solar System’s many moons might include one of the most distant. Researchers have proposed a NASA mission that would explore Neptune’s eccentric moon Triton. Nicknamed Trident for its “three-pronged” goals, the mission would probe the magnetic field to determine the presence of an ocean, map the entirety of the surface and use a camera to gauge the activity of plumes. Up to two concept studies will be chosen by summer 2021, with a launch currently slated for October 2025.

Triton could be particularly useful due to very unusual behavior. It orbits in the opposite of Neptune’s direction. Its ionosphere is 10 times more active than any other moon in the system. Its surface constantly renews, and it’s not certain what drives the plumes. Voyager 2 swung by Triton on its way out of the Solar System, but it only visualized 40 percent of the moon. Trident could fill in many of the gaps.

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Epic removed police cars from ‘Fortnite’

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The broader game industry has endorsed the Black Lives Matter cause, including a message in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and temporary shutdowns of GTA Online and Red Dead Online. Epic appears to be taking a milder approach with Fortnite, acknowledging the outrage without explicitly advocating for a cause. The company previously stressed that it wouldn’t ban players for political speech.

This is also the latest example of the challenges game studios face when addressing politics. While games frequently include political commentary either in their content or from their players, companies are often hesitant to support any one position lest they alienate potential buyers or even entire countries. Ubisoft, for instance, maintained that The Division 2 was apolitical despite conspicuous themes. Epic may be in a similarly difficult position — it has a lot of players and revenue to lose if it sparks an uproar, regardless of which side it takes.

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‘Crash Bandicoot 4’ will be revealed tomorrow at 11AM ET

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The Crash Bandicoot series is finally getting a modern sequel — not a remaster or a kart racer. Toys for Bob and Activision have announced that they’re revealing Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time on June 22nd at 11AM Eastern, including a stream at Summer Game Fest. The teaser video doesn’t say much, but don’t worry — some of the details are already public knowledge.

Leaked screenshots have suggested that CB4 won’t stray too far from the series’ formula, including escapes with a look-behind-you camera angle, wacky mechanics like jetpacks and the return of Dr. Neo Cortex. They also hint at the expected visual upgrade (in a different style than the remasters) and an October 9th release date. The shots only include an Xbox logo at the end, but we’d expect a wider release when the teaser video shows a PS4’s DualShock controller.



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Amazon will stop supporting its Dash Wand shopping device on July 21st

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Amazon is dropping support for yet another Alexa device in a matter of weeks. AFTVnews has learned that Amazon will no longer support the Dash Wand shopping helper as of July 21st, 2020. It didn’t explain why (we’ve asked Amazon for comment), but it did encourage owners to participate in a device recycling program. There’s no mention of offering an alternative device as compensation, although the Wand’s $50 price and many promotions (such as receiving a free Wand with an Amazon Fresh subscription) makes a swap unlikely.

The Dash Wand was a handheld, battery-based Alexa device with a barcode reader. You’d use it to order more food just by scanning existing containers and asking for more. It also served as an always-available voice assistant in parts of the home where a fixed-in-place Alexa speaker might not hear you.

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Chrome will soon be less of a memory hog in Windows 10

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Google has spent years trying to reduce Chrome’s notorious appetite for memory, and it’ll soon offer a substantial improvement for Windows 10 users. WindowsLatest has learned (via MSPowerUser) that a Google engineer recently revealed that a future Chrome release will use a technique from Microsoft Edge to lower RAM usage and theoretically boost performance. Chrome will switch to “Segment Heap” memory management that, in Microsoft’s experience, cut memory use by 27 percent.

The improvements in Chrome could vary wildly depending on the system, but tests indicated that it could sometimes save “hundreds of MB” in the browser and system processes. “Many-core” systems are most likely to see the largest benefit, the engineer said.

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Apple’s first ARM Macs may include a 13-inch MacBook Pro and 24-inch iMac

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The analyst believed there would be a brand new MacBook design arriving in the middle of 2021, although he didn’t say whether or not that would be the purported 12-inch ARM-based MacBook.

There’s no guarantee things will pan out as Kuo described, even if he’s completely accurate. The COVID-19 pandemic and development hitches could delay a release despite Apple’s best intentions. A debut with smaller iMacs and MacBook Pros wouldn’t be surprising, mind you. ARM tends to fare best in mobile devices and other low-power hardware, and there might not be as many expectations around legacy support as there will be for higher-end systems. This also gives Apple more time to refine its ARM technology for premium Macs and, if necessary, to tweak designs based on real-world feedback.

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