On Tuesday Pandora officially launched an HTML5 version of its service while also adding a few new features to the platform. Unfortunately, this new HTML5 revamp doesn’t mean users can bypass the apps offered on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market using a browser — users are still required to access their music the old-fashioned way… for now.
“For the last two months, we’ve been gradually rolling a preview of the new site out to our listeners, taking their feedback, fixing bugs and making improvements here and there,” Pandora said in a blog. “With all those little fixes and refinements in place, today we’re rolling out the new site for everyone.”
One of the big features offered with the new-and-improved Pandora is the elimination of the 40-hour listening cap. Previously Pandora users were only allowed to listen to music for 40 hours a month, but now that’s been lifted. The catch is that users still need to endure advertisements, some of which can fill the entire background.
In addition to the unlimited listening, the revamped Pandora now offers enhanced artist information, simplified station creation, improved control over music playback, and what Pandora calls Discovery of Music with Friends.
“Enhanced listener profiles and a new music feed offer a centralized place to find, like and comment on what friends and like-minded listeners are discovering and enjoying on Pandora,” the description explains. “The music feed will roll out slowly over the course of the coming days. In addition to the prominent new “share” button, stations now have their own URLs, making it super easy for listeners to share favorite stations via Twitter, Facebook, or email.”
Pandora said that the new social feed will roll out to everyone over the next few days. The company also still offers the premium service, Pandora One, which costs a mere $36 USD a year. This version removes the annoying ads, provides higher quality audio, a desktop application, custom skins and fewer interruptions.
When Intel first debut the “Light Peak” interface back in 2009, the impressive 10Gpbs transfer rate blew minds. However, due to several technical issues, including the inability to piggyback with a USB port, it sounded more like fusion power – great idea but when will it actually happen – than an impending reality. Then they joined forces with Apple and the result of that joint effort, the Thunderbolt, bypasses USB entirely and looks like it might even manage to supplant the USB standard… sometime in the future. For now, Apple is adding a Thunderbolt port to a wide range of their products including Macbook Pro, Macbook Air and Mac mini. That’s great for new Mac owners; they just need a peripheral that can utilize the interface.
Enter external hard drive guru LaCie. They have produced the first storage device designed to utilize Thunderbolt, the extremely twee-named Little Big Disk. Little Big Disk isn’t a misnomer. It weighs in at less than two pounds, comes in an aluminum casing housing two 2.5-inch drives and has two ports to allow it to be daisy-chained along with the 5 other devices supported by Thunderbolt. It comes in two varieties: the 1TB model at 7200 rpm for $399.95, and the 2TB version at 5400rpm for $499.95. Not cheap, but as long as you make sure not to place it on the edge of your desk and in the path of oncoming housecats, it’s likely to last at least until Thunderbolt becomes the new standard. As Mac currently sells the only Thunderbolt devices, Little Big Disk is available online and in Apple stores. Sony plans to include a Thunderbolt port in the Vaio Z21.
It should come as no surprise that Apple’s tight approval process allowed a game depicting Foxconn working conditions and the increasing number of suicides to appear on the App Store for just four days. What is surprising is that the app actually went live on Apple’s platform in the first place, thus proving that — as we’ve seen time and time again — the approval process isn’t exactly perfect.
According to the product description, Phone Story is a game for iOS and Android-based devices that “attempts to provoke a critical reflection on its own technological platform. Under the shiny surface of our electronic gadgets, behind its polished interface, hides the product of a troubling supply chain that stretches across the globe. Phone Story represents this process with four educational games (Coltan, Suicides, Obsolescence and eWaste) that make the player symbolically complicit in coltan extraction in Congo, outsourced labor in China, e-waste in Pakistan and gadget consumerism in the West.”
Apple claims that the app was pulled because it violated four rules for iOS app creation: depictions of child abuse (code 15.2), objectionable or crude content (16.1) and promises to turn over a portion of the money to charity (21.1 and 21.2). According to the developer, 70-percent of the app revenue will pay the bills and salaries. The other 30-percent will supposedly be redirected to organizations that are fighting corporate abuses. Festivals and art institutions that are interested in exhibiting the game are asked to contribute to the cause instead of paying artist fees.
That’s right! If you still haven’t got yourself into Google+ in one way or another, then fear not, your days of being left out is over! Invitations are no longer needed as Google has thrown open the doors to its social website, Google+.
Tuesday Google finally threw open the doors of its social website to the public, allowing everyone to access Google+ and its unique way of sorting friends, family, acquaintances and everyone else users choose to follow. Now the general public can see why Facebook is in a frantic state of change as seen with the latest update taking place on Wednesday.
For the uninitiated, Google+ feels like a mix of Facebook and Twitter features. The “Home” page provides a stream of posts from followed users in real time, but can be filtered by choosing “Friends,” “Family” and whatever Circles users have created. A Circle is simply a grouping of followed Google+ users, and any post you submit to Google+ can be shared to whatever Circle you choose. For example, a picture showing a nasty flesh wound resulting from a bread-slicing mishap can be shared with the “Friends” and “Family” circles, but not to all followers.
Tuesday Micron Technology revealed a new version of its popular RealSSD C400 that features self-encryption. Called the C400 SED (Self-Encrypting Drive), it’s based on the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal specifications and delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 500 MB/s and 260 MB/s respectively using an SATA 6 Gb/s interface.
“The C400 SED’s encryption capabilities are delivered through a hardware-based, AES-256-bit encryption engine and advanced security firmware,” the company said. “Micron’s firmware is designed to comply with the TCG Opal specification. TCG Opal is an open industry standard that provides a verifiable path for companies who need to prove they’re compliant with tough data security regulations when devices or drives are lost or stolen.”
Micron added that the C400 SED was developed in conjunction with Wave Systems’ EMBASSY encryption management system which provides policy-based access controls, comprehensive reporting, directory services integration and end-user access recovery. That said, the new C400 SED was designed with large corporations, government systems and other multiple-user networks in mind that require maximum security without cumbersome workflow interruptions or decreased performance.
MacRumors reports that Apple is expected to hold a press conference in the first or second week of October — pushed back from the prior September speculation — to introduce its new iPhone, iPod Nano and iPod Touch devices.
But contrary to prior rumors, the latter non-telephony device won’t see a major overhaul according to reports. Instead, it will see the introduction of a white model. Only minimal changes are expected with the current 4th-generation hardware including an oleophobic coating for the display and a revised ambient light sensor.
As indicated earlier, white parts for the iPod Touch leaked into the supply chain back in July. These suggested that Apple plans to offer white models with no apparent changes to the overall design, and could even be applied to the existing fourth-generation model.
Prior rumors have claimed that Apple plans to introduce a 3G-capable iPod Touch, a cheap, cloud-based version of the iPhone 4 and the hardware refresh that’s supposedly the iPhone 5. Recent reports have also indicated that the iPhone 5 isn’t scheduled to appear at all, that Apple won’t be ready until next year, leaving the cheap iPhone 4 all alone in the spotlight next to its touchy comrade.
As always, Apple rumors should be taken with a grain of salt. There’s so much circulating the Internet that it’s hard to get a clear picture of what Apple has in store for consumers. And now that Steve Jobs has stepped down from his position, there’s no indication that the company will stick to its customary reveal and release dates. We’re still in September, so Apple has less than two weeks to stay on its iPod refresh schedule.
Funny news we have here. PETA, the same organization that asked if it could have sex.com for free (when it was expected to raise millions in auction) so it could publicize the advantages of vegan Viagra, is launching a pornography site to help get its message across.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group has announced that it is launching an x-rated pornography site with the URL peta.xxx in an effort to reach a broader audience. Yeah, a crowd of very perverted audience indeed. PETA spokeswoman Lindsay Rajt told MSNBC that the site will feature graphic images and video. Rajt is also cited as saying this isn’t the first time PETA has used porn stars or nudity to broadcast its message.
Indeed, the company regularly photographs nude celebrities with slogans such as, “I’d rather go naked than wear fur!” Remember that, yeah? Those are real! Celebrities that have pulled off the stunt include Alicia Silverstone, Christy Turlington, Dennis Rodman, Sadie Frost, Sophie Monk, Steve-O, and David Cross.
Rajt told MSNBC that the earliest the company would get approval for the site would be November.
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