Thursday, June 27, 2013

Spotify Discover launches for all with integration from Songkick, Pitchfork and more

Hello music discovery. Spotify here.

· Buckle up, lean back and play: Discover feature available to all

Don't know what to listen to next? That's okay. We do. Spotify's Discover page seeks out personalized recommendations by seamlessly combining Spotify's best-in-class technology and social tools with curated content from music experts including Pitchfork, Songkick, Tunigo, and much, much more. Features include:

? New personalized recommendations every day based on the music you love

? New releases from the artists you follow

? All the music and playlists shared by friends and trendsetters you follow

? Find out when an artist you love is touring near you – the information will just bubble up through recommended shows from Songkick

? Related Music: play a song and get instant recommendations on what to play next

"With the Discover page, we're making good on our promise of helping you choose what to listen to when faced with millions of songs," says Gustav Söderström, Chief Product Officer, at Spotify. "We've made your listening experience more personal, more social and more current."

Make sure you also check out our handy Audio Preview feature. Dip into new music without moving away from the song you're playing. Just click and hold over any play button on the Discover page – if you like what you hear, save it for later or play it straight away. The choice is yours.

As of today, the Discover feature is available to everyone on our web player – a great additional feature for times you can't play music through your Spotify desktop app. So whether you're at the office, or over at a friend's house, simply log in to your account on the website and hit play. To check out Discover on the Spotify web player today, simply head to www.spotify.com.

The Discover page will gradually roll out to Spotify's desktop and mobile apps.

Happy discovering!


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Plex releases 3.0 overhaul for Android, 3.2 update for iOS

Plex releases 3.0 overhaul for Android, 3.2 update for iOS data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 315};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20586432' !== '') ? 'bsd:20586432' : ''; var postID = '20586432'; var modalMNo = '93312529', modalVideoMNo = '93320648', modalGalleryMNo = '93304207'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"acp-ld39.websys.aol.com",channel:"us.engadget", s_account: "aolwbengadget,aolsvc", short_url: "",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,",prop1:"article",prop2:"cellphones",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"", prop22:"jon-fingas", prop54:"blogsmith",mmxgo: true }); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("348-14-15-13f",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); onBreak({980: function () { adSetType("F");htmlAdWH("93312529", "LB", "LB"); adSetType("");}}); EngadgetMenu NewsReviews Features Galleries VideosEventsPodcasts Engadget ShowTopics Buyers Guides Sagas Store HD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93312530", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});Plex releases 3.0 overhaul for Android, 3.2 update for iOS HDBypostedMay 29th, 2013 at 1:26 AM 0

Plex releases 30 overhaul for Android, iOS 32 update with remote playback

Plex's Android app revamp has been brewing for awhile, but it's at last ready: the 3.0 app is out of beta and available for everyone. The remake provides a much more polished interface, PlexSync support and speedier access to large libraries. It's facing a rocky start, however. The initial 3.0 release required a myPlex account and didn't include a remote control widget, and those have only just been fixed with a quick follow-up patch. We wouldn't lean on earlier versions of Android, regardless of what features you like -- the interface rewrite cuts off support for OS releases before Android 3.2.

iOS users aren't left out of the upgrades. Version 3.2 isn't as dramatic a makeover, but it does offer tangible improvements over 3.1 that include the Android version's faster media access and fixes for conspicuous PlexSync bugs. Quick updaters even get a reward for their trouble: the 3.2 client lets the iOS app serve as a remote playback target for other Plex-equipped devices. Whichever platform you prefer, the app update (or a fresh $5 copy) is waiting at one of the source links.

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Amazon announces new 'Login with Amazon' service for apps, games and websites (video)

Amazon Announces Login with Amazon to Reduce Sign-In Friction and Drive Higher Customer Engagement


Developers and website owners can securely connect with Amazon's over 200 million active customers

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May. 29, 2013-- (NASDAQ: AMZN) -- Today, Amazon launched Login with Amazon, a new service that will enable the over 200 million active Amazon customers to securely and simply login to apps, games, and websites. Login with Amazon allows developers to easily reduce sign-in friction for their customers, leading to higher engagement and order conversion.

According to a 2012 Harris Interactive study, over half of all American Internet users have five or more unique passwords to remember. Login with Amazon reduces sign-in friction by eliminating the need for users to create an account and password, and instead allows them to sign-in using their existing Amazon account information. Amazon customers can choose to share certain attributes of their account profile with apps, games, and websites by using Login with Amazon.

"Login with Amazon enables app developers and website owners to leverage Amazon's trusted sign-in solution, allowing them to focus on providing a great experience for their customers," said Michael Carr, Amazon Vice President, eCommerce Services. "Amazon customers now have a hassle-free way to quickly and securely sign-in to apps, games and websites, without having to remember yet another password."

As early adopters of Login with Amazon, Zappos and Woot, both Amazon subsidiaries, saw significant customer adoption. Zappos saw 40 percent of its new customers choose to sign-in to Zappos.com with an Amazon account. Woot found that new customers picked Login with Amazon two times more often than any other social login on their site, and those customers had the highest rate of order conversion.

Login with Amazon is available at no charge to developers of apps, games, and websites. The service is easy to integrate, as developers can typically go from registration to launch in a matter of hours. It is based on the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework, allowing developers to leverage a widely-adopted open protocol. For additional details about Login with Amazon, including code samples and the SDKs for Android and iOS, please visit login.amazon.com.

Login with Amazon is the latest offering in an array of services that make Amazon the most complete end-to-end ecosystem for developers building, monetizing and marketing their apps and games. These capabilities include:

The ability for app developers to use Amazon Web Services' (AWS) technology platform for their infrastructure needs. Building blocks such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and Amazon DynamoDB allow developers to focus on what differentiates their app rather than the undifferentiated heavy lifting of infrastructure.
GameCircle, which includes capabilities like Achievements, Leaderboards, Friends and Whispersync for syncing games across devices, and leads to better engagement with games.
In-App Purchasing on Kindle Fire, Mac, PC and web-based games. This enables developers to offer items in their apps and games while allowing their end users to simply use their Amazon accounts to make the purchase.
A/B Testing, which helps developers improve app functionality with the ability to simultaneously test two different in-app experiences to determine which is more successful prior to launching to a broad audience.
Game Connect, which lets developers list their virtual goods for sale on Amazon, increasing discoverability of their games and making the purchase of virtual goods as easy and convenient as possible for customers, leading to increased monetization for developers.
Amazon AppStore submission for distribution to nearly 200 countries globally enables developers to reach millions of Amazon customers worldwide.


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Male Gaze: Keith Urban’s Perfect Highlights

The last time we laid our eyes on the former (or current?) American Idol judge, he appeared to be in pure bliss somewhere along the French Riviera, smooching his Cannes jury member wife. But the Aussie country singer with a voice that can melt butter has since returned from Europe to announce that he'll be releasing his new album, Fuse, on September 10. This not only means that he'll soon be on tour, sharing those perfectly highlighted locks all across the United States, but that he'll also be gratuitously, nonchalantly displaying his bulging biceps for crazed fans everywhere. But for those of you who find his highlights-layers-and-shoulder-length-hair-complete-with-a-middle-part a bit too much, give the blue-eyed man one more shot. Or just try to focus on those dimples and the chin scruff instead. Watch the video to hear a guttural roar of "I love you, Keith!" from a rabid fan and also to see one of Country's Hottest Guys prove that guys with guitars are, indeed, sexier. 


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See Gisele’s First Post-Baby-Vivian Vogue Cover

It should surprise no one that Gisele Bundchen's tummy is already fashion-ready less than six months after she gave birth to her second child, daughter Vivian Lake, in December, because of course it is. Here she is on the cover of Vogue Brazil's June issue wearing the inexplicable combination of black bikini, leather vest, and body oil. Go ahead and insert all exclamations about her amaaazing post-baby body, gravity-defying such-and-such, and inhuman abs here, and just get it over with.


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