Apple just signed an agreement with the world’s third largest record label, Warner Music Group, to supply music for their upcoming streaming music service.

Apple closed a similar deal with Universal Music, the world’s largest record label, last month. Sony is the only major label that has yet to sign on for Apple’s new music venture. Apple’s streaming music service, commonly referred to as iRadio, could be extremely profitable for the music labels.

At one time, the labels had agreed to let Apple pay a rate that was half of what they get from Pandora.  Sources are now saying that the final terms of the agreement has Apple paying the same rate as Pandora, or even higher. Apple plans on generating additional revenue to share with the labels by building out its ad business, including potentially adding audio ads similar to those on Pandora.  It’s rumored that iRadio will come with several unique and exclusive features, like the ability to rewind songs that are currently playing. One new feature that is sure to please the music labels is a “Buy This Song”  button that lets users seamlessly purchase songs from iTunes.

The new service is expected to launch at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week.

New Tablets Inbound!

Consumers looking for new tablets have several new options to choose from.

Samsung unveiled the newest versions of their flagship lineup, the Galaxy Tab 3.  The Android-based Tab 3 will come in two versions, a 10.1″ tablet and a smaller 8″ option, which has been designed specifically for one-handed use.

Both devices will feature a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and come with 1.5GB of RAM.  They can be purchased with either 16GB or 32GB of internal memory. The 8″ version will come with a 5MP camera on the back compared with the larger tablet’s 3MP camera.

Samsung isn’t the only device maker with tablet news.  Acer revealed their plans for a new smaller-form-factored Windows 8 tablet.  The 8 inch Icona W3 weighs just over a pound and measures just under a half inch thick. It will arrive in two varieties based on storage, the 32GB model and the 64GB model. Acer is promising around 8 hours of battery life for the Icona.  It also comes pre-loaded with a full version of Microsoft Office.

The Acer Icona W3 will be available soon, with prices starting at  $379.

ARMing Up For Invasion

ARM’s newest mid-range core, the Cortex-A12 is ready to power 2014’s mid-range smartphones.

The new core offers a 40% increase in performance over the existing Cortex-A9, which is found in chips like the widely used Tegra 3.  The A12 is capable of a unique configuration that can make it even more energy efficient.

The big.Little configuration allows the A12 to be paired with the smaller Cortex-A7. The less power-hungry A7 handles the devices functions until more power is needed. At that point, the A12 can take over. The Cortex-A12 is expected to power devices in the $200 off contract price range.

Intel Drops the Atom Bomb

Intel is rebranding its Atom chip architecture, now referring to it as Silvermont. Upcoming Silvermont silicon will be branded in accordance with Intel’s long-standing Pentium and Celeron lines.

Some variants of Silvermont offer performance that’s comparable to the current versions of both product lines.

These chips will debut not only in Windows PC’s, but Android systems as well.  The new branding won’t be used for tablet.  It’s expected to be limited to laptops, hybrids, and All-In-One-PC’s.

Yahoo Can Priva-See You

Yahoo just shut down their classic email system, and the reason its being retired is leaving many users unhappy.

The new Yahoo email that was launched late last year scans all emails so that it can display contextual targeted ads.  Users who want to continue using Yahoo mail have to accept the new terms of service. Users are able to opt out of the ads, but according to the new terms, emails will be scanned regardless.

Some are labeling the switch an aggressive invasion of privacy. An anonymous Jottit user wrote: “Yahoo can now openly troll through email for personal information that it can share or hold onto indefinitely. Gay and haven’t come out yet? Yahoo knows…”

The practice of scanning user emails is fairly common.  Google has been scanning Gmail users’ emails to show related ads since 2011.

ASUS Runs A 4k

Asus has officially announced the world’s first consumer-focused 4k monitor.

Set to debut this month and cost around $5,000, the PQ321 will come with a single Displayport, two HDMI connections, and about 140 more pixels per inch than current monitors. Unfortunately for now, 4k optimized content isn’t widely available. Another problem that could plague early adopters is the fact that many standard applications may not scale to the higher resolution very well. This means that the PQ321 will most likely be used only by professionals in graphic arts and related industries.

UC Berkeley Won’t Charge For These Printers…

The dreambox, a new vending machine on the UC Berkeley campus, aims to democratize 3D printing.

Instead of making you pick from a selection of items, this new vending machine lets you create what you want by 3D printing custom-ordered objects. The university offers a handful of printers for student use, but wait times are typically in excess of a month long. Their goal is to encourage students to create their own models to solve their own unique problems, however it hasn’t stopped users from abusing some of the rules.  A journalism student already attempted to print a gun using the dreambox, which is against the user agreement, but his attempts failed.

The creators hope to release future versions of the dreambox capable of printing edible items. Perhaps one day, 3D printers can rid students of their dependance on Ramen noodles, allowing them to simply print their meals when needed.

Hacking At The Chord

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology claim they’ve built a modified smartphone charger that can hack any iOS device in under a minute.  They plan to demonstrate the security compromise at this year’s Black Hat security conference in July.

Apple has yet to recognize the findings of the group, but any potential scenario where an iPhone or iPad is compromised should be high on a company’s priority list, no matter how innocent-looking the USB chargers may be.

Google Glass Guidelines Go Private

Google’s gone on record and says it won’t approve any Glass apps with facial recognition until it has protections in place.

A representative of Google was quoted as saying, “Many have expressed both interest and concern around the possibilities of facial recognition in Glass. As Google has said for several years, we won’t add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place. With that in mind, we won’t be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time.”

Since the statement, an update was made to Glass’s developer policies to reflect the position. Continuing with their new approach to privacy, Google also created a new rule that says it won’t allow the display to turn off while shooting an image or video.  However, these policies only apply to Glassware apps that use the Mirror API and are installed from the web. Developers can still build whatever apps they like, with or without the facial recognition technology, and they can even root the device and install apps directly.

At this time only the official channel for facial recognitions apps is being closed.

Another Reason to Poison Pigeons in the Park

The familiar image of feeding pigeons in the park may be a thing of the past.

A recent study performed at the University of Iowa shows that Pigeons were able to use a touchscreen to carry out an intelligence test. The test used was a variation of a “string task”. A test that rewards the subject with a treat if they pull on the string to which the treat is connected. The pigeons were given this test, but on a digital platform. A virtual treat was attached to a virtual string. When the bird pecked on the correct button on the screen, the treat moved closer. After enough correct pecks, a real treat would pop out.

The researchers found that pigeons chose the correct button between 74% and 90% of the time, even on variations where the strings crossed each other. With their intelligence higher than most might expect, it begs the question “who is really pulling the strings at the park?”

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writing credit: Andrew E. Lowe