Shazam for iOS Adds New Music Player, Discovery Features, and In-App Listening [iOS Blog]

Shazam today announced a big update to its popular music-detecting app alongside an overhaul of Shazam.com that the company hopes "builds on the magic of Shazam to provide more immersive music discovery and uninterrupted listening."



One of the biggest changes in 8.2.0 is a new front-end user experience that is personalized based on the user's friends and music previously discovered within the app. The company has also introduced curated lists of trending music that can be specified to location or most popular discovered songs within the app.

“We want Shazam to continue to serve as a destination for music fans, increasingly becoming the center of their music world,” said Daniel Danker, Chief Product Officer, Shazam. “For years Shazam has identified music with just one tap. Now it’s just as easy to open Shazam and tap once to discover and listen to great music.”

Shazam customers with accounts for streaming music services such as Spotify and Rdio will get even more out of the app's new update, which allows users of those streaming music services to listen to their full playlists and top charts within the Shazam app.



In addition to simple in-app access to Spotify playlists, the Spotify integration in the new Shazam app goes one step further, giving users the chance to automatically add every song they Shazam into a specified Spotify playlist, a feature Rdio users have had for a few months now. The integration between Shazam and Spotify is available for iOS in today's update, but Android users are promised to have the functionality in the weeks to come.



A new "Play All" button also lets users listen to full playlists of songs across the service, including top charts, personal Shazams, and songs recommended for them. The new music player then lets them rate tracks by swiping right to add them to My Shazam and left to skip them.



On the Shazam official website side of things, the company is adding a Hall of Fame that celebrates artists experiencing significant success on the service. Tracks are ranked in Platinum, Gold, or Silver categories for having surpassed 15, 10 or 5 million Shazams respectively. The service is also publishing the number of Shazams each song on the site has received for the first time ever.



Shazam can be downloaded for free from the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]

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Posted in 2014 at 03:37PM, December 10

Watch these videos to learn about every Android 5.0 Lollipop trick you never knew existed

At this point, we've already talked about the major features that Google added to Android with its new Lollipop release — the new Material Design user interface, the battery-saving features that have been added thanks to Project Volta and actionable notifications that appear on your lock screen. However, Droid Life has spent the last week searching out some of the lesser known new features that Google has added to its mobile platform and has posted a terrific series of videos showing off some great Android 5.0 Lollipop tricks you've probably never heard of.

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Posted in 2014 at 03:37PM, October 23

Apple Reveals Furthers Details on Reversible USB Cable With Flexible Internal Connector

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published another Apple patent application that describes a reversible USB connector with a "double orientation design." (Via AppleInsider ) Today's patent application, filed in February and titled "Reversible USB Connector with Compliant Member to Spread Stress and Increase Contact Normal Force," differs slightly from a separate application made a few weeks earlier by highlighting a key design detail that adds flexibility to the USB connector contacts.



According to the patent description, the USB connector would feature a flexible tongue allowing it to bend to fit an existing USB port regardless of the insertion orientation. This flexible plug connector was mentioned briefly in the January patent, but Apple has expanded upon this idea in this latest patent application to address various types of support elements that would minimize stress on the flexible portion of the tongue while still ensuring strong contact between the connector and a USB port.

As mentioned previously, some plug connectors of the present invention may include structural support elements made from materials chosen to allow plug connector tongues to deflect. Connector 1610 may also include a structural support element, e.g., a structural support 1635. Structural support 1635 may provide flexure to PCB 1632 to reduce stress and fatigue on PCB 1632 and allow tongue 1630, along with PCB 1632, to deflect toward and away from first or second inner surfaces 1620a, 1620b during insertion/extraction events. In order to provide this flexure, structural support 1635 may be made from an elastomer that deforms in response to stress, e.g., a mating event, but holds tongue 1630 centrally located between first and second inner surfaces 1620a, 1620b otherwise.

As shown in the patent drawings, Apple's solution allows the contact portion of the tongue to be thicker and sturdier, while positioning it on a thinner, flexible "stalk". This stalk will deflect in either direction in order to provide room for mating with existing USB ports while maintaining a strong connection with the contacts.




Apple's proposed USB connector with tongue showing durable contact portion (1939) on a thin, flexible stalk


This flexible tongue provides a distinct advantage over current solutions from competing products, which typically use a rigid tongue that has been slimmed down to fit existing USB ports. Though these cables can be inserted in either orientation, the very thin tongue is susceptible to breakage. With Apple's proposed solution, the contact portion of the tongue can be thicker and more durable, with the flexible portion of the tongue minimizing the possibility of breakage and providing room for the thicker tongue to still fit in either orientation.



Recently leaked photos and videos suggest Apple may be working on a new Lightning cable with this reversible USB connector. These cables may ship with future iOS devices and also may contain other features such as support for high-definition audio playback on Made For iPhone (MFi) audio accessories.

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Posted in 2014 at 03:37PM, August 21

Rumored NFC Chip for iPhone 6 Highlighted in Claimed Schematic

Rumors of near field communications (NFC) support for the iPhone surface nearly every year, and this year's iPhone 6 rumors are no different, with reports split on whether the device will include the short-range communications technology frequently used for mobile payments. A couple of new reports do, however, come down on the side of NFC being included in the iPhone 6.



The first mention came in a separate leak showing a purported battery from Apple's 5.5-inch iPhone 6 late last week. That report from Taiwanese newspaper Apple Daily also mentioned in passing that the iPhone 6 will include a PN65V NFC chip from NXP, but offered no specific evidence in support of the claim.




NXP PN65 NFC chip from Nexus 7 (Source: iFixit)


But now Chinese repair firm GeekBar has shared what is said to be a wiring schematic for just such a chip to be included on the iPhone 6. NXP has been the rumored partner for NFC in the iPhone 6, and the company's PN65 NFC package is used in a number of Android mobile devices.




Claimed iPhone 6 schematic for NXP PN65V NFC chip


While GeekBar's interpretation of such schematics is questionable given a leak earlier today in which it claimed the iPhone 6 will contain only 1 GB of RAM as the schematic appears to be addressing NAND flash rather than DRAM, the appearance of a PN65V chip on the schematics seems straightforward if they are indeed legitimate.



Apple has been rumored for some time to be working on a mobile payments system, with a launch coming perhaps as soon as this year in partnership with Visa. Details on the system are unclear, but Apple has reportedly been taking a "go-slow" approach for a number of years as it has tried to figure out the best way to deploy such a system without simply competing with existing providers "all fighting over their piece of the pie."

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Posted in 2014 at 03:37PM, August 18

Android just topped iOS in global usage for the first time ever

We all know Android's market share crushes every other mobile platform out there in terms of shipment volume, but Android's share of mobile usage as recorded by various networks around the world has always lagged Apple's iOS platform... until now.

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Posted in 2014 at 03:37PM, August 01

Apple to Launch New 'Smart Home' Platform at WWDC

Apple will launch a new software platform that will let the iPhone directly control lights, security systems and other household gadgets at WWDC next week, according to a report from The Financial Times.



The piece claims Apple will make a "big play" in smart home technology by working with device makers give them official approval, like the "Made for iPhone" program does for some accessories like headphones and speaker docks, and software support in iOS 8.

The scheme will be similar to Apple’s existing “Made for iPhone” label, given to compatible headphones, speakers and other accessories, but with a new brand and logo. Apple may also provide additional checks and assurances that certified products are not vulnerable to hackers.



The Cupertino-based company was likely to emphasise the privacy protections built into its smart home system, one person familiar with Apple’s plans told the FT, given heightened sensitivity about technology companies’ access to personal information amid revelations about US intelligence agencies’ online surveillance programmes.

The piece notes that plans can always change, but that Apple has launched a number of initiatives over the past year or two, including CarPlay and iBeacon, to expand the reach of the iPhone and have it interact more with the real world and other electronic devices in it.



Apple's retail stores sell a number of different components of the so-called "Internet of Things", including the Google-owned Nest Thermostat (pictured above), Philips Hue lightbulbs and Belkin WeMo Wi-Fi enabled light switches.

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Posted in 2014 at 03:37PM, May 26