Spotify

Nokia T20 showing building plans

Gear Bits

The Nokia T20 Offers Long Battery Life, Monthly Updates, Solid Build, and a Surprisingly Low Price

For some people, Nokia conjures up visions of indestructible phones where one could play hours of Snake. For others, it’s smartphones that pushed the envelope in interesting ways. No matter what, the point is that Nokia has always meant quality for the price, and their new management under HMD Global is continuing that tradition. They’ve just announced the new Nokia T20, and with a starting price of $249.99, it looks impressive!

Roku OS 10.5

News

Roku Rolls Out Big Software Updates and New Hardware Just in Time for Fall TV

Roku is an incredible company in many ways. They’re not Amazon, Apple, or Google, yet they’re the heavyweight in the streaming world because they’re a neutral party. They don’t care what you watch, but they do care deeply that your experience finding and enjoying what you watch is the best one possible. And they want to keep that exacting standard with new OS updates and hardware for your fall viewing enjoyment!

Spotify Stream On Event

News

Spotify Stream On Event Shares What’s Next for Spotify with Exciting Podcast Updates

Spotify has become the go-to music and podcast streaming service for many with good reason. Breaking the traditional recording industry model and making the release of new material more accessible and monetizable for musicians and content creators, the service has made it possible for unknown talent to break out and for established talent to get their material out to even more listeners. Whether you use Spotify Free or Spotify Premium, you’ll be interested in today’s Spotify Stream On event.

Spotify's 2020 Wrapped Experience Is an Interesting Look Back on This Very Weird Year

News

Spotify’s 2020 Wrapped Experience Is an Interesting Look Back on This Very Weird Year

Are you a Spotify user? If so, you may have noticed that they’ve recently published their year-end Wrapped results, which revealed the artists, songs, and albums that the world most streamed in 2020. Even better, they’ve released personalized Wrapped results for eligible Free and Premium users. Did you check yours out? I did, and it was enlightening, albeit not surprising. I’ve played these artists and their songs on repeat, and honestly, it’s part of what got me through this insane year.

KitSound Voice One Smart Speaker: Better Than Any Echo

Reviews

KitSound Voice One Smart Speaker: Better Than Any Echo

I purchased the first generation Amazon Echo thinking it was the best Alexa-enabled speaker available — at the time, anyway. While the Echo does all right in a smaller room, the speaker is anemic at best. But I’ve had the opportunity to check out the KitSound Voice One Smart Speaker recently, and I’ve found it to be much better.

Take That, Taylor! Streaming Music Makes More Money Than Albums

News

Take That, Taylor! Streaming Music Makes More Money Than Albums

It seems as if Ms Swift may have lost the war in the saga of free music. Many artist states that free streaming is “killing the music industry”. But for the first time ever, the annual revenue from streaming music services like Rdio, Pandora, Spotify and Soundcloud have eclipsed the yearly revenue of hard copy albums.

Get Ready for Summer with the Pear Training Intelligence Kit

Outdoors, Reviews

Get Ready for Summer with the Pear Training Intelligence Kit

With warm weather allegedly on the horizon, it is time to start getting out and getting into shape. Pear Sports has developed a $99.95 kit turning your iPhone or Android phone into a training station. With heart rate monitoring and knowing your fitness goals, the app will use real-time coaching to help you meet your goals. Let’s take a look.

Spotify Launches Major Desktop Update

Music Diary, News

Spotify Launches Major Desktop Update

While I seldom think about Spotify on the desktop anymore, it remains one of the most important platforms for the company. And today it has gotten a major update. The update shows the rapid progression in the service, and also the ongoing shift in focus from being an app platform to providing a more tailored experience.

CustomCover Cydia Tweak Updated for iPhone 6/6+

How to Do It Yourself!, Reviews

CustomCover Cydia Tweak Updated for iPhone 6/6+

One of the more popular Cydia music Tweaks has to be CustomCover. Originally a concept on DeviantArt that was turned into tweak (which has stopped receiving updates) named Snowcover for iOS 6, a developer named Chewitt brought it to life for iOS 7, and now, iOS 8. What CustomCover allows you to do is customize your Lockscreen on your iPhone.

Spotify for iOS Adding Streamlined 'Touch Preview' Controls

Events, Music Diary, News

Spotify for iOS Adding Streamlined ‘Touch Preview’ Controls

After not subscribing for a while, my family has been thoroughly enjoying a renewed Spotify subscription these last few months. The constant stream of improvements since they first launched has made the service more valuable than ever. Now they have introduced a new feature – Touch Preview – that lets you quickly check out new songs without leaving your playlist.

How Taylor Swift Is Educating the Nation's Grandpas About Spotify

News

How Taylor Swift Is Educating the Nation’s Grandpas About Spotify

You may not care about Taylor Swift or her presence on Spotify, but removing all her music from the service has had a curious side effect-it’s educating the average consumer about how little artists make from streaming services! I was in physical therapy this morning and heard two grandfathers discussing Spotify, all because of the publicity from Taylor Swift’s decision.

Sonos Software Update 5.2 Is Public Beta Awesomeness

News

Sonos Software Update 5.2 Is Public Beta Awesomeness

I love when companies add value for consumers long after product purchases have been made. That is exactly what Sonos has, and continues, to do. The latest public beta of the Sonos software brings enhancements to the musical system that will be welcome by pretty much anyone who loves Sonos. Yes, it’s a Beta but it is still worth checking out. The first enhancement is specifically targeted toward those who, like me, own and use a Sonos PLAYBAR.The audio device already sounded great but the update brings enhanced sound so it’s even better. As SONOS explains: Enjoy a HiFi soundbar…

Top 10 Reasons I Switched from the 5.7" Galaxy Note 3 back to the iPhone 5

Editorials

Top 10 Reasons I Switched from the 5.7″ Galaxy Note 3 back to the iPhone 5

A few weeks ago I bought a brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 on a great deal, and wanted to see if it would be possible to use it to replace my iPhone AND iPad, much as I would try to do with an iPhone 6+. As usual I went ‘all in’ with my attempt – and failed. Here is why! Until getting the iPhone 5 in 2012 I had been an Android-only phone user, and had sampled pretty much every new 7″ Android tablet since the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I had a huge library of Android content between Google…

Amazon Jumps Into the Smartphone Business with the Amazon Fire Phone

News

Amazon Jumps Into the Smartphone Business with the Amazon Fire Phone

As expected, Amazon announced its very first phone this afternoon. Much about the Fire Phone had been leaked, but there were a few interesting surprises along the way. Many of us have Amazon Prime, so we were excited to see what Bezos would present, and how they would differentiate the Amazon Fire Phone. Here’s what we now know…