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Spotify and Warner sign a new global music licensing deal

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“Spotify and Warner Music Group are pleased to announce a renewed global licensing partnership,” the companies said in a joint statement (via Music Business Worldwide). “This expanded deal covers countries where Spotify is available today, as well as additional markets.” Those “additional markets” likely cover places where the company plans to expand to in the future. Spotify is reportedly preparing to launch in South Korea soon, for instance.

According to a Financial Times report from February, one of the significant issues in the nearly year-long negotiations the companies had was podcasts. At the time, Spotify’s existing deals with companies like Warner meant the streaming giant had to pay a minimum percentage of its subscriber revenue to music labels, regardless of the amount of music its users listened to compared to other content. A recent NPR report found that in the US, music listening as a percentage of overall audio consumption is declining as people spend more time tuning into podcasts and other spoken-word programming. Music Business Worldwide suggests Spotify and Warner may have found a middle ground.

The deal ends a period of tense relations between the two companies. Earlier this year, Spotify signed a licensing agreement in India with Warner’s publishing arm, Warner Chappell. At one point before the deal, Warner sued Spotify just days before it was about to launch in India. The two eventually settled their differences, and with this agreement bands like Coldplay and Linkin Park will be available to stream in India.

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Slack adds Microsoft Teams video call options

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Once you’ve set up the Teams app in Slack, you’ll be able to start a call by simply using the command /teams-call. You’ll also be able to see who’s already in a meeting before you hop in and also join calls from Outlook or Google Calendar reminders in Slack.

However, you can’t take part in Teams calls entirely within Slack, at least for the time being. If you join one from a Slack channel, the call will open up in Teams instead. In addition, you’ll be able to dial phone numbers via Zoom, Jabber, WebEx, RingCentral, and Dialpad directly within Slack. That might make getting things done while you’re stuck at home a little easier.

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Xbox Series X and PS5: The new consoles are all about crazy fast storage

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The Xbox One and PS4 were the start of an unusual console generation. Both systems adopted very “PC-like” architecture and instead of a new generation we instead got a refresh where Microsoft and Sony both released faster versions of their existing consoles, the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.

We may still have a few months left to wait, but finally we’ve gotten details of what the next real generation will bring. Microsoft and Sony have both stuck with the PC-like design of their predecessors, and are again using AMD as their CPU and GPU supplier, but the Xbox Series X and PS5 will be very different from the current generation.

The biggest changes come from the storage systems. Considering the Xbox One and PS4 both still use slow mechanical hard drives, we figured a move to smaller, faster, more efficient flash-based SSDs was inevitable, but Microsoft and Sony have gone all out. Both systems feature custom storage interfaces with PCI Express 4.0 SSDs and custom hardware to handle real-time decompression. That means these drives will move serious amounts of data very quickly. The Series X is claiming transfer speeds of around 3-4GB/s, while the PS5 may be capable of data rates as high as 9GB/s.

With data rates that high (the current consoles manage maybe 150MB/s in ideal conditions), load times should be cut down to seconds, and in-game load screens may become a thing of the past. Faster data rates could also enable higher resolution textures for more photo-realistic graphics, and enable you to switch between games with the click of a button.

Add in a significantly upgraded CPU and a long-awaited AMD ray tracing solution for hyper-realistic lighting, and these consoles represent a huge leap forward. Hopefully, their benefits will also trickle down into the PC space as well, and games on every platform will be able to leverage these new possibilities to be faster and better looking.

We don’t know exactly when they’ll arrive yet, or how much they’ll cost, but we’ll have more details on the Series X and PS5 as soon as they’re announced.

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Sony’s latest true wireless earbuds have more bass and a lower price

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One of the main attractions here is the promise of more bass. If Sony’s previous entries are any indication, that doesn’t mean it will overpower everything else. Some true wireless earbuds struggle with deep, full lows while maintaining clarity. If Sony was able to keep things sounding top notch while enhancing that lower range, that would be the ideal outcome. The company promises the 12mm drivers offer “powerful” and “punchy” sound, so I look forward to checking those claims during a full review.

Sony says the WF-XB700 will last up to nine hours on a charge, with nine more hours of play time in the included case. It’s slightly unusual to see a charging case that only hold one additional full charge, but at least there’s a feature to get you going quick if you’re low on power. With just 10 minutes, you’ll be able to listen to these earbuds for up to an hour.

Sony WF-XB700

The design of the WF-XB700 is also unique. Instead of a primarily oval shape, or a larger rectangular shell like the WF-1000XM3, Sony opted for a “Tri-hold” construction that it says is more ergonomic and comfortable. With a more contoured form, the buds hit your ears in three places, which the company also says will help keep them from wiggling loose. If you want to take these on a run or wear them during a workout, they’re IPX4-rated against water splashes and sweat, so you shouldn’t have issues with a modest amount of moisture.

There’s no word on shipping right now, but Sony says the WF-XB700 will be available for pre-order this month in black and blue color options. At $130, this should be a solid mid-range option. Sure, the WF-XB700 doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the stellar WF-1000XM3, but all the basics are here. And if the company managed to crank the bass without diminishing clarity, these could offer a nice alternative to the Jabra Elite 75t ($180), Galaxy Buds+ ($150), AirPods ($159 and up) and Audio-Technica ATH-CKS5TW ($169).

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The Morning After: MacBook Air (2020) review

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A different kind of New Game Plus.‘Persona 5 Royal’ taps into the joy of replaying your favorite game

Mat Smith has been spending his lockdown hours playing through the repolished Persona 5, which adds more content and new characters but keeps a lot of things the same. It makes for a comforting experience in these unusual days.

The agency says the move will help combat robocalls.FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021

The FCC announced today that all carriers and phone companies must adopt the STIR/SHAKEN protocol by June 30th, 2021. It’s designed to combat robocalls, specifically those that try to hide their phone numbers, by allowing carriers to authenticate caller IDs. The protocol should reduce the effectiveness of illegal spoofing, help law enforcement agencies identify bad actors and, most importantly, allow carriers to identify spammers before they ever call your phone. The FCC estimates fraudulent call schemes cost Americans approximately $10 billion every year.

For your part, you’ll need a device that can display the Caller Verified notification when someone calls you. While most modern smartphones support the feature out of the box, other handsets will need to be updated.

From gravity gun to gravity gloves.How Valve brought Half-Life to VR

Whether you prefer to read or listen, Devindra Hardawar’s chat with a few Valve developers will reveal a lot more about the making of Half-Life: Alyx.

That notch, wow.Google has discontinued the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL

The Pixel 3 and 3 XL were key phones for Google, introducing its new camera technology, like Night Sight, Top Shot and Photobooth. Despite a few flaws, it produced the best smartphone photos around when it launched in 2017.

Epic Games says there’s no proof the app has been compromised.Houseparty says it wasn’t hacked, offers $1 million for ‘smear campaign’ proof

Houseparty is the family video call equivalent of Zoom, and it’s booming during the coronavirus outbreak. That’s meant some people have the service in their sights, with rumors circulating that the app has been hacked. Houseparty, owned by Epic Games, believes these rumors are part of a “paid commercial smear campaign,” and says there is no evidence to back up claims that the app has been compromised in any way.

To tackle it, the company has offered a million-dollar bounty for any proof of an organized smear campaign. That’s a lot of money to protect one’s reputation.

The Android and Wear OS apps will shut down on July 1st.Apple buys Dark Sky weather app

Apple has bought the highly regarded weather app Dark Sky, in an apparent bid to bolster its own offering. The original app will still be available on the iOS App Store, but Android iterations will shut down on July 1st. If you subscribed, you will get a refund.

Apple previously used data from Yahoo (owned by Engadget’s parent company Verizon) and The Weather Channel. Dark Sky’s by-the-minute weather predictions and radar maps could offer some useful improvements.

But wait, there’s more…

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The COVID-19 Humble Bundle pairs great games with a great cause

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There’s a lot in this bundle, including epic strategy game Into the Breach, puzzle drama The Witness, time-bending VR shooter Superhot, and graphic adventure Broken Age. Hollow Knight, Undertale, Psychonauts and Tilt Brush are great choices, too. And then there’s the comics. Locke & Key has just been turned into a decent Netflix series, while The Boys is now a hit Amazon show. And fans of Saga know its inclusion speaks for itself.

With Into the Breach alone on sale for $15 on Steam at the moment, the bundle represents massive savings, and it’ll provide plenty of entertainment while you’re stuck indoors because of the very crisis this bundle is raising money to fight. It’s only available for a week though, so don’t hang around.

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Samsung’s Galaxy S20 buyback scheme promises half your money back

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The deal means you could get from $500 off for the Galaxy S20 5G 128GB, up to $800 off of the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G 512GB. That effectively gets you these expensive phones for as little as $500 for the entry-level Galaxy S20 — better than most OnePlus or Xiaomi flagships these days.

It’s clear that the coronavirus crisis has taken a bite out of Galaxy S20 sales, which is terrible timing for Samsung as these phones were just released. On top of that, the S20 Ultra has received some pretty tepid reviews. Samsung has tried other ways to mitigate the lockdown impact, most notably by offering in-home trials in South Korea. It’s also rolling out an at-home repair service specifically for its foldable devices.

In any case, if you were looking at buying an S20 to keep you in touch during this crisis, now might be the time — just be careful not to drop it.

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Volvo’s app-based Valet maintenance service launches across the US

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Customers who use the service only need to wait for an employee to pick up their car and to drop off a loaner vehicle if they need one. They’ll be able to track their vehicle’s journey and its arrival through the Valet app, and they’ll also get a notification when it arrives at the workshop. And after everything’s done, they’ll be asked to arrange a time to return their Volvo and to pick up the loaner vehicle.

Volvo

Seeing as the whole process could go with very minimal human interaction, it sounds like a great option for Volvo owners needing some work done while shelter-in-place orders are in effect due to the coronavirus outbreak. Volvo promises transparency by having retailer employees photograph the condition of both the customers’ and the loaner vehicles at the point of handoff.

Anders Gustafsson, Volvo Car USA CEO, said in a statement:

“Volvo Valet gives owners the flexibility to service and maintain their vehicles in a way that works best for them. Volvo Valet has been very successful in pilot testing over the last year and it is now ready to serve our customers and retailers in this unprecedented time.”

In the future, Valet will cover more than just pickup and delivery services for maintenance. The automaker plans to expand its offerings to include lease and purchase deliveries, as well as overnight test drives later this year.

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‘Fortnite’ gets a bullet-stopping ‘Kingsman’ umbrella

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The rain-defeating device also works as a melee weapon and even a temporary glider. Just don’t expect to pull off your best Mary Poppins impression — you’ll meet the ground much sooner than you would if you used your normal glider.

The same update also introduces an inflatable crash pad that can save you from taking fall damage if you need to make a dramatic leap.

It’s unclear how long the umbrella and crash pad will last in Fortnite. While they last, though, they could have a significant impact on gameplay. If nothing else, it’s good to see secret agent references in games that don’t revolve around a spy who prefers his martinis shaken.

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