Hollywood Suddenly Embraces AI

In a complete 180-degree U-Turn from everything that Hollywood has said they oppose about AI and everything they spent years on strike fighting against, one studio (at least) is now fully embracing AI systems and programs.

Lionsgate, the studio behind blockbusters like "John Wick" and "The Hunger Games," is taking a giant leap into the world of AI-powered filmmaking. They've partnered with Runway, an AI research company, to develop a custom AI model trained on Lionsgate's massive library of films and TV shows.

What will this AI do, you may ask? Imagine a tool that can generate cinematic video, helping filmmakers visualize scenes and experiment with different creative options. This AI model will do just that, assisting with everything from pre-production (think storyboarding and concept art) to post-production (enhancing visual effects and more).

Why is this a big deal?

Aside from being a fundamental shift from everything Hollywood has said they were against, as well as being a fundamental shift in the creative process, the move will position Lionsgate at the front of a new era. Whether we like it or not, GenAI is going to be forced on us, and the creative process is going to be changed. This new partnership marks the first time a major Hollywood studio has teamed up with an AI company in this way. While it may be the first, I'm sure there will be plenty more, and I'm sure it signals a potential shift in how movies are made, with AI playing a larger role in the creative process.

Just a few short months ago Hollywood was trying to convince us that "Generative AI Won’t Be on the Big Screen Any Time Soon!" It looks like that has changed and changed rather abruptly! Music and movie studios have already shown they are willing to use a singer or actors voice and their likeness through overlays or 'de-aged' characters. With this move we may see a major shift!

What Comes Next For Studios and AI?

Lionsgate is distancing itself from using these new tools to fully re-create actors or generate new characters. The company has said it believes these tools will help filmmakers and other creatives “augment their work” to deliver “capital-efficient content creation opportunities.” AI, in other words, could help cobble together more movies and shows with lower investment costs for highly expense things like explosions or other background effects. This according to statements made by Lionsgate founder Vice Chairman Michael Burns during an interview with The Wall Street Journal,

So for now iIt looks like this particular model will steer clear of generating AI “clones” or replicas of actors. They want us to believe it will primarily be used as a tool to enhance and augment existing projects. I guess we'll have to wait and see how quickly that position changes!

Geek Gadgets: Inateck BP1109 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker Reivew

Portable Bluetooth speakers are a dime a dozen these days, so when it comes to finding one that is perfect for you your decision will often boil down to only a few things. How good the sound quality is. How portable the speaker is and how long the battery will last. Typically though,  little thought is given toward the aesthetics of  your speaker. The Inateck BP1109 might just change that!

Even though it appears as though they have been around for a few years, for most Inateck is going to be an unfamiliar name. The company offers all kinds of accessories or upgrades, including Expansion Cards, Power Supplies & Batteries, Cables & Tools, Wireless Accessories and Cell Phone Accessories. However, they specialize in HDD docking stations and enclosures as well as USB cables, chargers and other USB add-on solution. 

The Inateck BP1109 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker is one of the company's newer offerings, though they have had a few different line-ups of wireless speakers in the past. The BP1109 aims to be ultra-portable without sacrificing style. It is built almost entirely from aluminum which offers a sleek modern design.

The circular design and slender 78x34mm (approx 3"x1.25") body makes it easy to slip into a bag. Unfortunately the speaker is a bit hefty. Weighing 260g which makes it conspicuous for a device of these dimensions. The weight certainly isn't ideal for carrying in a pocket! The majority of the weight comes from the reasonably-sized battery. It offers 6 hours of playback from 1-2 hours of charging.

The top of the device houses the plastic speaker grille. On the bottom, you'll find the basic control panel, a series of four buttons for volume, track transport, power, input mode and play and pause. A small panel on the back houses the charging port, 3.5mm input jack and a Micro SD card slot. You can play music over Bluetooth, via a traditional cable or directly from your Micro SD card. 

Unlike the beeps and chirps of other Bluetooth accessories, the BP1109 will say "Bluetooth on" and "Waiting for Bluetooth connection" when you turn it on, making it obvious what state the device is in. With a Micro SD card inserted into the speaker it will default to "TS Mode" and will automatically detect and play whatever media files are found on the card.

Inateck says the aluminum uni-body design enables the 3.2W speaker to project music "loud and clear" and eliminate excessive sound resonance. For the most part the circular design offers impressive volumes levels, and reasonable sound. Since the speaker is omnidirectional sound travels upward and out offering no real sense of direction or immersion which for some could be a negative. This works well however in an outdoor environment or group setting allowing for more overall sound dispersion something we saw as a bonus!

In testing sound quality was reasonable, but inconsistent based on the types of music played and overall range of the songs listened to. Songs with a heavy bass line bleed out at higher volumes, while songs with more of a mid-range focus came through loud and clear.

Conclusion
I listen to a wide range of music so I tested our Inateck BP1109 with everything from country to classical to jazz to rock and roll. I even threw in some house and heavy bass laden techno just to see where we'd stand, and all of them came through at respectable levels. Given the speaker is meant to be ultra-portable it won't knock you over, but it does offer enough volume to drown out the noisy neighbors or bother the old folks sitting pool-side force-ably listening along with you!

Pros
- Achieves great volume level with dispersive sound
- Stylish design looks good while adding to the portability
- Can play music directly from a micro SD card - a major plus in my book
Cons
- Sound quality is inconsistent and can degrade at higher volumes
- Lacking in bass output
- Surprisingly high in weight relative to its size

Sound quality and clarity of course are very subjective and we each have our own preferences here. As I previously mentioned my experience was a bit inconsistent with some songs sounding great and others 'just ok'. At $20, the speaker is well-priced and has a build quality usually reserved for more expensive devices. On form and design alone I could give it a nod above some of the other units on the market in the same price range.

Battery life is rated at 6 hours, which most manufactures in our opinion over rate. So during our testing we hadn't expected the results we actually saw! We ran our speaker for 3 straight hours with no issues. Ran it again the next day for almost another 3 hours straight and honestly ran out of testing time for our day. I was actually shocked! We didn't get to test the full out to dead time, not because the battery ran out, but because we wanted to re-charge the speaker for other tests and just couldn't keep going till it died!

Overall I'm going to say I'm really surprised with our Inateck BP1109. It is considerably louder than the rest of the BT Speakers I have in the office right now and hold a charge considerably longer than anything I've had the chance to test. I wish the sound quality was a bit better, but I'll give this speaker a thumbs up!! 

Celebrate The Fourth of July With 4 Free Months of Google Play Music and YouTube Red

To help entice new users to join Google Play Music this Independence day weekend, Google is offering up four free months of Google Play Music as well as access to the monthly-paid subscription service YouTube Red. The offer is only available this weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July, so you'll want to act fast to get that extended trial period.

 All you need to do is head over to Google Play and sign up for the service. Even though the offer is for four months of free service, you will need to be a new subscriber and enter valid credit card information. You should also note that you will need to cancel the subscription before the end of the 4months (by approximately Nov 42tnd) or you be charged $9.99 after the trial is over.

Google May Have Just Killed Off Your Favorite Song Lyrics Site

Searching out lyrics to your favorite songs on the web can lead you through a gauntlet of rather questionable sites. However, for those of you that do so frequently you typically have a reliable go to source that you know will fill your needs. Some of those sites may soon become obsolete as Google has formed a partnership that will bring more lyrics directly to you via your search results.

The Web giant has partnered with LyricFind, the world's largest lyric-licensing service, to add lyrics from more than 4,000 publishers to its search results and Google Play Music. Unlike most other sites LyricFind works directly with songwriters and rightsholders, to license and collect new royalties ensuring that those parties are paid for the songs and the lyrics you are seeing

"We're happy to expand the depth and quality of lyrics available on Google's services. We're working together to make lyrics available to a larger audience in a faster and more efficient way. By helping to source lyrics for Google’s search results and Google Play Music, LyricFind continues to demonstrate how lyrics data can be integrated into a variety of services for music discovery and monetization," LyricFind CEO Darryl Ballantyne said in a statement.

Adding song data and details to search results is nothing new for Google. Some of your favorite searches likely already include snippets containing about 120 to 150 words; the rest can be found via a link to Google Play Music, where you can buy a song with one click, or give it a listen (if it's already in your music library). However, it looks like this might be the first attempt Google has made at directly licensing and sharing revenue from those search pages.

For Google, the arrangement is designed to capture the significant amount of traffic around lyrics -- and subsequently funnel them towards its Google Play Music services. This is potentially bad news for several of the current licensed lyric sites such as AZLyrics.com, which has long dominated search results, and some of your favorite unlicensed sites as well. With viewers able to see much of a given song’s lyrics immediately, click-through rates to these sites are likely to decline.

Apple Owns Up to iTunes Music Deletion Issue Promises Fix "Soon"

Apple has confirmed earlier reports that users are seeing their music libraries disappearing from their Macs. At issue was a blog post by a designer named James Pinkstone which quickly made the rounds through the blogosphere and social media.

Pinkstone claimed that Apple Music and iTunes somehow managed to delete up to 122GBs of local music files and basically cause havoc with his library. Now, Apple has confirmed to several sites that it is working on a patch to iTunes to fix the issue. In its statement released earlier today Apple said it is investigating reports of a supposed Apple Music compatibility bug that deletes local music files without user permission, adding that an updated version of the media management software is expected for release next week.

"In an extremely small number of cases users have reported that music files saved on their computer were removed without their permission," Apple said. "We're taking these reports seriously as we know how important music is to our customers and our teams are focused on identifying the cause. We have not been able to reproduce this issue, however, we're releasing an update to iTunes early next week which includes additional safeguards. If a user experiences this issue they should contact AppleCare."

Because Apple has yet to reproduce the issue, we still don't know for sure what caused this mass deletion — whether it's a bug with iTunes, Apple Music or elsewhere. As of right we also do not know if this may have been deliberate behavior on the part of iTunes, Apple Music or the company, but we do not really expect that to be the case (we hope not anyways!).

For now, the best course of action (as always with technology) is to ensure you have complete, recent, data backups of your music library. That way, if something does happen in the interim, you can always rollback files (or your entire library) if stuff ends up missing. We’ll bring more updates on the matter as they are provided.

Google Unveils New Chromecast and Chromecast Audio Devices

Two years ago when Google first announced the Chromecast streaming was still relatively new to most would be users and while most of us geeks had been using the few options that were available it was until the Chromecast and its super affordable price tag that we started seeing more mainstream adoption.

While the Chromecast has been a major hit (along with several of the newer streaming devices) we have always begged for more and while over the past couple years Google has been awesome enough to offer some updates with some cool new features we’ve been waiting for a true upgrade. The wait is over: At today’s Google Nexus event, Google debuted two new Chromecasts for television and audio as well as a much needed update to the Chromecast App.

New Faster Chromecast For Video Streaming

The new Chromecast features more power, better antennas, and all new fresh design, and is easier to plug into TVs with crowded ports thanks to an integrated HDMI cable. It supports the latest Wi-Fi standards and adapts more easily to changing Wi-Fi conditions in your home, so you get higher quality video with less buffering.

In addition to a new faster device Google updated the Chromecast app to make it easier for you to find the content you want to watch or to play. They have also added several new content partners including Showtime and support for Sling TV and apps from the NBA, NHL, and other partners. The update also adds support for Google Photos and the creation of slideshows so you can show of your favorite photos!

Chromecast Audio For Wireless Audio Streaming

Chromecast Audio is a new audio streaming device that turns any speaker set into a set of Wi-Fi speakers. Users can plug Chromecast Audio into existing devices using a 1/8-inch headphone jack (AUX), RCA cables or optical input. Once it's plugged in, users can control the speaker using the Chromecast App. That means that any existing Bluetooth speakers, surround sound speakers, bookshelf speaker, or regular desktop speakers can be turned into smart home speakers.

It works with tons of apps, including Spotify, Pandora and Google Play Music. Just like Chromecast, it works from anywhere in your home with your favorite devices, including Android, iOS, and laptops.

Both devices are available starting today on the Google Store and other online retailers for just $35 each. For more details on either device, or more about today's other announcements (there are a few great ones we didn't cover), checkout the Official Google Blog.

Apple to Stream the 2015 Apple Music Festival For Free Via Apple Music

Apple has announced today that they will offer free live streaming of their 2015 Apple Music Festival set to take place this September at London’s Roundhouse. The festival will feature performances by Pharrell Williams, One Direction, Florence + The Machine and Disclosure and several other headliners.

Formerly known as the iTunes Festival, the Apple Music Festival takes place over the course of 10 nights and features some of the top artists from around the world. This year's event will run from September 19 to September 28. Apple has hosted the iTunes Festival in London for eight years, and now in honor of the launch of Apple Music, has renamed the event the Apple Music Festival. Apple customers can enjoy the Apple Music Festival via Apple Music or iTunes on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or in stunning HD with Apple TV.

“We wanted to do something really special for music fans this year,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The Apple Music Festival is a greatest hits set of ten unbelievable nights featuring some of the best performers on the planet appearing live and interacting directly with their fans on Connect and Beats 1.”

The great news is that unlike many live streaming events Apple holds this one will actually be available to everyone, at least everyone currently using Apple Music, even PC owners. The streams will feature live and on-demand content as well as coverage on Beats 1 and social media snippets on Apple Music Connect.

For updates, tickets and additional information visit: www.applemusicfestival.com or join the conversation on Apple Music Connect. To learn more about Apple Music Connect and Beats 1 visit: www.apple.com/music/connect and www.apple.com/music/radio.

Google Now Offers Free Ad Supported Version of Google Play Music

The streaming music wars have certainly heated up lately and with Apple jumping into the game we are seeing some of our traditional favorites scrambling to create more enticing offers in hopes to keep their edge and keep some of their users from defecting to Apple's new offering. Today Google has announced that they will be upping the ante on their end with a new free version of Google Play Music.

Billed as 'music for everything you do", this new ad supported version of Google Play Music will work much like most of your favorite streaming services out there. The service will utilize Radio stations that are curated by music experts — including staffers from Songza — giving you the option to browse stations by genre, mood, decade or activity or by artist, song or album.You’ll also get ad-free, offline and background features for music videos on YouTube. And with or without a subscription, you can store and play up to 50,000 songs from your own collection for free.

Google says the ad-supported version is intended to help expose consumers to its service, with the goal of converting users to the paid version so they can access content offline, create their own playlists and, of course, stream music without interruption. The upgraded version runs at $9.99 a month. For the cost of the paid subscription users will have access to other features such as skipping ads, listening to music offline, creating playlists and perusing the library of 30 million songs. Subscribers also get early access to YouTube's subscription service.

The new free, ad-supported version of Google Play Music is launching first in the U.S. It’s available on the web today, and is rolling out this week to Android and iOS.

YouTube Launches New $9.99 Monthly Music Video Subscription Service

Looking to cash in on the popularity of some of your favorite artists, Google and YouTube have launched a new paid music video streaming service that will offer users ad free steams, offline content and more. Along the new service YouTube has also made several music oriented changes to its apps and website.

Starting today, you’ll see a new home just for music on your YouTube app for Android, iOS and on YouTube.com that shows your favorite music videos, recommended music playlists based on what you’re into and playlists of trending music across YouTube.

The new streaming service which will be launched in full in 2015 will be dubbed YouTube Music Key, and will be a monthly subscription service starting with the promotional price of $7.99/month (discounted from $9.99/month). The new services will offer subscribers ads-free music, background play and offline viewing. It will also include a subscription to Google Play Music (which is currently $10/mo on its own), with 30+ million songs, expert-curated playlists, and in the coming days, the ability to watch many YouTube official music videos right from the app.

For now YouTube Music Key will only be available through an invite to its "biggest music fans", who can try out the beta version for six months at no charge, YouTube said in its blog. If you’re interested in getting more info on the beta, you can let Google and YouTube know at YouTube.com/musickey.

Got Milk? If You Are a Galaxy Device Owner Samsung Hopes You Soon Will!!

Samsung Milk, no its not something you'd find in your new Samsung refrigerator, it just happens to be the name of Samsung's new totally free (even ad-free for now) streaming radio service that was announced earlier today. 

“Milk Music introduces a fresh approach to music that reflects our innovation leadership and our focus on creating best-in-class consumer experiences,” said Gregory Lee, president and CEO of Samsung Telecommunications America and Samsung Electronics North America Headquarters. “We’re offering consumers amazing, rich music experiences built around what matters most to them and their lifestyle.”

Samsung's Milk Music, works a lot like most other online streaming services such as Google Play Music’s All Access, Pandora, Spotify, and Rdio, which employ similar models. Milk Music lets you choose from 200 genre based stations and over 13million songs all ad-free. And here’s a critical caveat: Although Milk Music’s Google Play page says that it’s free without advertisements, this is apparently only for a limited time (notice the asterisk attached to the very first sentence in the Play store app description). We are assuming this might change once it gets a chance to catch on!

The app utilizes a “radio dial” interface that you can easily rotate with just your thumb to get to the genre you’re looking for. The dial displays up to nine genre-based stations, which you can customize to your liking. If you prefer to setup your own stations a quick tap of the menu button brings up several options including 'My Stations' allowing you to create your own personal station based on your favorite songs and albums. Here you can also customize the dial to your liking; sift through your list of favorite songs; and checkout your listening history.


Milk Music is available now exclusively for Galaxy consumers to download on Google Play on the Galaxy S 4, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note 3, and Galaxy Note II across all carrier and retail channels as well as the Galaxy S 5 in April. For more information about Milk, visit www.samsungmilk.com.

Slacker Radio Now Available on Roku ‎

Slacker, Inc. today announced the launch of Slacker Radio on Roku, the leading streaming platform in the U.S. Slacker Radio listeners in the U.S. and Canada can now enjoy the personal radio service on Roku’s popular streaming players.

The Slacker Radio lineup includes more than 200 expert-curated music stations, personalized ESPN Radio and ABC News stations, comedy programming, custom artist-hosted showcase stations and leading music festival stations. With a music catalog that is more than 10 times larger than the leading radio competitor, Slacker Radio offers more personalized content than any other radio service.

“We want to give our listeners access to Slacker wherever they happen to be, and launching on the Roku platform is a big step forward for us in the connected home,” said Jonathan Sasse, senior vice president of marketing at Slacker. “We are excited to deliver Slacker Radio as a free service for Roku owners, effective immediately.”

“Slacker Radio brings an impressive selection of Internet radio programming to Roku and we expect it to quickly become a customer favorite,” said Ed Lee, vice president of business development at Roku. “Customers can find and add the Slacker Radio channel from the Roku Channel Store starting today.”

Delivering entertainment to millions of customers, Roku streaming players are affordable, are easy to use, and feature more than 500 channels of entertainment.

In addition to Roku, Slacker Radio is available for listening on the web, on all major smartphones including iPhone, Android and BlackBerry, the iPad, Ford vehicles with SYNC AppLink and more. To get the free Slacker mobile application, simply direct your mobile web browser to http://www.Slacker.com.

Google Music Offering Millions Of Songs For $0.49 Each

Google Music is currently running a blowout sale offering up “millions” of songs for $0.49 per track or $4.99 per album and no these aren't your mommas favorites. They are offering a ton of newer stuff as well as some good old favorites. Just from the main list I see some of today's top tracks from Eminem, Lady GaGa, Toby Keith, Coldplay, J-Lo and NIN. There are also some oldies but goodies like Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones.

The music is all DRM-free and can be used on any device including Apple devices (iPod, iPad, etc). To download the music, you can either do a browser download (limited to 2 times) or use Google Music Manager. The nice thing is that it appears the music will always be available in your Google Music Library and you can stream it anytime and/or download it to your device.

Google says this is a limited time offer but there is no word on when it will end. For more details checkout the Google Music section of the Android Market.

Google Launches Cloud Music Service, Beta Invites Now Available

Not to be out done by Amazon and Apple (who is reportedly launching a similar service), Google today announced Music Beta by Google, a new service that lets you upload your personal music collection to the cloud for streaming to your computer and Android devices.

With the new service users can store up to 20,000 tracks in the cloud – your music and playlists are automatically kept in sync, so if you create a new playlist on your phone, it’s instantly available on your computer or tablet. You can use a feature called Instant Mix to create a playlist of songs that go well together. There is even an offline option with Google automatically storing your most recently played music on your Android device allowing you to choose to make specific albums or playlists available when you’re not connected to the internet.

The service is launching in beta today to U.S. users and is currently available by invitation only. Google has said you’ll be able to find Google Music in the Android Market soon but for now you have to head over to this page to request and invite. BTW you will need a Google GMail account to request and invite or to log into the site.

Sony Debuts 'Music Unlimited' In The UK

For awhile now we've heard rumors that Sony may be launching their very own music service to compete with Apple iTunes. Today the company finally took the wraps of the new service when they announced the debut of "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity".

The new cloud based digital music service initially launched in the U.K. and Ireland and will eventually be rolled out in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and of course the U.S. by some time next year.

This subscription based service will be priced at £3.99 a month for Basic access, £9.99 for the Premium stuff which gives you full on-demand access to over 6 million tunes. The basic plan works as an ad-free radio station and subscribers can listen to dozens of personalized channels - categorized by genre, era as well as mood through SensMe - without the requirement to download or manage their music files.

The premium subscription plan offers a one time 30 day Premium free trial enabling users to listen in full to every song on-demand, create personal playlists of favorites, and gain access to premium Top 100 channels which are regularly updated with the latest hits.

Being that it is a cloud based service there is nothing to download. Users select the songs they want and stream them to their Sony PS3, Bravia TV, web-connected Blu-ray player or to a PC such as the Sony Viao. Sony is also promising future support for "a wide range of Sony's portable devices" and Android-based smartphones.

My Thoughts

It'll be interesting to see if Sony can break into the music service business. They have some great portable music devices out now and several smartphones that would be well paired with this type of streaming service. The down side is they are so late to the game that most established services and/or devices like the iPod and iTunes almost have an insurmountable lead making it hard for them to get a good foot hold.

Source: Sony Press Release

Napster Offers DRM Free Music At Their New All MP3 Download Store

Napster looks to take on iTunes as it opens up its new DRM-free music store.

Napster claims to have the largest selection of music among online music services, with over 6 million tracks, today they announced they will be making them all them available for purchase in standard MP3 format, playable on any device, including iPods.

The DRM-free tracks cost $0.99 and albums cost $9.95, which is comparable with Apple's iTunes Plus DRM-free songs. The Apple DRM-free tracks are also in the less-compatible AAC format, which Windows Media Player can't play. Both companies' DRM-free files are encoded at a high-quality, 256Kbps bitrate.

"It's great that we have finally gotten here," said Chris Gorog, Napster's chairman and chief executive. "It is really the beginning of a level playing field, which I think is essential for Napster, but also for the health of the digital music business in general."

Unlike their regular services Napster's new DRM-free service does not require any monthly membership fee. They will still be offering their $12.95 per month on-demand streaming service as well as their $14.95 Napster-to-Go portable syncing service.

The new service will not require the use of any new software, it will be a Web based interface that works on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux running Firefox 2.x or Internet Explorer 7.x (which is recommended).

Napster faces tough competition as Amazon is already offering better-than-iTunes quality for less-than-iTunes prices without the proprietary DRM (Digital Rights Management) software. Amazons music service has been up and running for some time now and reaches millions of existing Amazon users whom can buy downloads using their current account details. This would make Amazon the obvious first choice however Napster's pure volume of music available should create a better draw.

Unlimited Music For iPod/iPhone

Apple is reportedly mulling unlimited music bundle. The new business model would give customers free access to its entire iTune music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod digital music players and iPhones.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Apple is supposedly in negotiations with big music publishers to provide a "all-you-can-eat" service for its customers.

According to the Financial Times, research has shown that consumers would pay a premium of up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of the device or a monthly fee of $7 to $8 for a subscription model. According to Ars Technia Apple wants to make the premium about $20, arguing that it should cover the "average" consumer's downloads. However sources cited by the Financial Times say music labels are looking for numbers closer to the $80 users pay for Nokia's "Comes With Music" program.