Asus is holding an event to officially launch its next gaming smartphone on March 10th. But DXOMARK went ahead and published a review of the phone’s audio capabilities a few weeks early, and the review gives us our best look yet at the unusual design of the Asus ROG Phone 5 and its matrix of […]
Tag: spotify
The Epic Games Store is now an app store too (starting with Spotify)
The Epic Games Store made a splash when it first launched as a Steam competitor in early 2019, at least partly due to Epic’s decision to give away at least one game for free every week. But now it looks like Epic isn’t stopping with games. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney just announced the first non-game […]
13 companies form coalition to protest Apple, Google app store policies
Epic has been engaged in a high-profile battle with Apple and Google over their app store policies. But the game maker isn’t the only company dissatisfied with Apple and Google taking a 30-percent cut of sales, insisting that all revenue generated from apps in their stores is subject to this “app tax,” and holding other […]
Lilbits: Movies Anywhere… together, and streaming Spotify from a PC to a Chromecast
Movie theaters are closed, house parties are ill-advised, and we’re all basically stuck at home watching TV in isolation (or out and about and risking infections, I suppose). So it’s unsurprising that this has turned out to be the year when “watch parties” have become a trend in online video. Hulu and Plex rolled out […]
Lilbits 5-27-2020: Device shipments dropping
With the global economy in a bit of a shaky state as countries around the world respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s probably no surprise that Gartner is predicting a significant drop in PC, tablet, and mobile phone shipments for 2020. What is a little surprise is that the dip is only expected to be 13.6 […]
Daily Deals (5-14-2020)
The Epic Games Store’s latest free game of the week is GTA V… but the website has been down for much of the morning as it buckles under demand. So you might have to try again later. While you’re waiting, you can snag a 3-month subscription to Spotify Premium for free if you’ve never paid […]
This DIY soap dispenser plays 20-seconds of music while you wash your hands
Health experts advise washing your hands with soap for 20 seconds to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus and COVID-19. And over the last few weeks we’ve seen a bunch of ways to help you get to 20 without counting — you could sing part of a song, recite the introduction to a favorite […]
Apple and Spotify bring podcasts to Amazon Echo devices (and other Alexa-enabled gadgets)
Comments Off on Apple and Spotify bring podcasts to Amazon Echo devices (and other Alexa-enabled gadgets)Amazon’s Echo line of products may have introduced the world to the idea of smart speakers that respond to your voice, answer questions, and play music among other things. But one thing Amazon’s Alexa voice service hasn’t been great at until now is playing podcasts. While you could ask Alexa to play a podcast, by default […]
Streaming updates: Spotify free comes to Alexa speakers, Sling TV works with Nest Hub
Just a few days after Amazon announced that its free, ad-supported music streaming services was now available on devices other than Echo smart speakers, rival Spotify has announced that its ad-supported music streams are now available on Echo speakers… along with just about anything else that supports the Alexa voice service, including Amazon Fire TV products. It’s […]
Lilbits 353: Dropbox Basic drops support for unlimited devices
Dropbox is one of the most popular online storage services around and the company probably has its freemium business model to thank for part of its popularity. Paid plans start at $10 per month or $99 per per year for 1TB of cloud storage… but if your needs are more modest, you can get by […]
Samsung Galaxy Home smart speaker with Bixby coming soon
Samsung is developing a new smart speaker designed to let you use the company’s Bixby voice assistant without taking your phone out of your pocket or handbag. It’s called the Samsung Galaxy Home, and the company gave a sneak peek at the upcoming smart speaker during the launch event for the new Samsung Galaxy Note […]
Spotify brings free, custom on-demand playlists to mobile apps
Spotify‘s free, ad-supported app for desktop users offers the ability to listen to any song at any time, as long as you’re willing to listen to ads after every few songs. But the company’s mobile apps for Android and iOS have typically been more restricted: you could shuffle songs in a playlist, but if you […]