Shazam today released its first fully new app since the launch of the familiar self-titled music tagging app. The new, simply-named Shazam Player offers up streaming lyrics, YouTube videos, concert dates and lets you make playlists on the go. You can also share your favorites via Facebook and Twitter, to properly avoid becoming a musical shut-in. Press release and video after the break.

Continue reading Shazam launches new Player app, lets you get to know your jams better

Shazam launches new Player app, lets you get to know your jams better originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just when it seemed all the wonders of the internet were destined to only work on the second screen, Sony’s firmware update for its 2011 Bravia TVs is making us rethink things. For starters, you can now enjoy those HD YouTube videos in HD and even keep up with your friend’s photos, videos and shared links on Facebook. Also, now they’re compatible with a new lite version of the Remote Keyboard app — a feature previously exclusive to Vaio PCs and Xperia smartphones. Finally, you can now get live Twitter updates along the bottom of your screen and even use a Shazam like feature called Track ID to determine the names of songs, or their artists, that are played during your shows or commercials. The free update is available now for those with compatible sets, those with older Bravia TVs, though. Not so much.

Continue reading Sony Bravia TVs updated with Twitter, YouTube HD and more

Sony Bravia TVs updated with Twitter, YouTube HD and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Developers will, for instance, be able to integrate videos from sites like Vimeo into Hangouts and allow users to watch them simultaneously. This could not only be a big boost for Hangouts and Google+, but also take social video watching online to the next level.

The API was announced on the Google+ platform blog:

“Today we’re launching the Developer Preview of the Hangouts API, another small piece of the Google+ platform. It enables you to add your own experiences to Hangouts and instantly build real-time applications, just like our first application, the built-in YouTube player.”

The current developer preview limits access to apps to a pre-defined group of users, and a few first examples include simple apps like a voting gadget. However, one only has to take a closer look at the built-in YouTube player to get a sense of how powerful this API can be. The player synchronizes YouTube videos, making it possible to watch clips with friends while also video chatting with them. If a user skips to the next video, that action is automatically relayed to the other participants.

Of course, the same functionality could also be utilized by other video platforms, or even by third-party developers who could make use of publicly available APIs to show videos from sites like Vimeo within Hangouts. Asked about this in a Google+ comment thread today, Hangouts API Product Lead Amit Fulay said: “Yes, you can write an app for Vimeo videos.” He added that apps have to comply with the Google+ developers terms of service, which forbid the use of some types of content.

The implications of this are pretty profound. I’ve long argued that Hangouts could take social interaction around online video to the next level by allowing users to talk to each other in real time, just as you would with family and friends in your living room. The Hangouts API now makes this possible for a wide range of video services, which could bring live sports streams hosted on Ustream or similar sites, or even TV content from sites like Hulu to Hangouts.

Of course, services would have to agree to work within the Google+ framework, but that shouldn’t be a show-stopper for many. Facebook is expected to launch social video integration with Hulu and other partners on Thursday, and it would only make sense for video platforms to embrace Google+ as well.

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The PlayStation 3 may have NFL Sunday Ticket but the Xbox 360 still has exclusive access to ESPN3′s slate of games, shows and replays, and today the app was updated with a new look and a few new features. Viewers can designate their favorite sports and teams to bring related content right to the front, while a new mini-guide gives easy access to other streams while you watch. If you’re trying to keep track of more than one game there’s also support for split screen viewing (with independent control of each stream) and upgraded voice control for Kinect owners. Other tweaks include a college football scoreboard to keep track of all the games at once, reminders, live alerts on score changes and the addition of ESPN’s BottomLine. Unchanged is the restriction that you need to subscribe to a TV provider that includes ESPN3 in its package, but if you do have the service (and shell out for XBL, of course) it should be available the next time you load up your console. Check out the YouTube videos embedded above and after the break along with a press release for a runthrough of some of the new features.

Continue reading Xbox 360′s ESPN3 app updated with more voice control, split screen and more

Xbox 360′s ESPN3 app updated with more voice control, split screen and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hangouts has been joined at the hip with YouTube ever since the chat platform launched as part of Google+ at the end of June. Hangouts users can launch YouTube videos right from within the group video chat, and up to ten participants can watch the same video simultaneously.

So far, only recorded videos have been featured within Hangouts, but Badger is going to officially reveal at Vidcon in Los Angeles Saturday afternoon that users can easily watch live streams together as well (check out a step-by-step guide in the box on the right if you want to try this yourself).

The current method of manually searching for live video feeds is somewhat cumbersome, but YouTube is actively working on a much closer integration. Soon, it will feature ongoing live streams within the YouTube tab of Hangouts. The next step after that will be to directly integrate Hangouts into YouTube pages for live streams. “We would show you some of the available public Hangouts,” Badger told me during a phone conversation, adding that these Hangouts would be featured right next to a live stream.

A final component will be personalization: Imagine you’re going to watch a soccer game live on YouTube.com, and you can immediately see which of your friends have joined up in a Hangout to watch the same game. Badger couldn’t give me any time line for the integration of these features, but he assured me: “It’s something we’ve been working on.”

Live streaming providers have long experimented with audience participation, and a number of platforms now offer integration of Facebook and Twitter live feeds during events that are broadcasted live online. YouTube has in the past experimented with this as well, and Badger said live streams regularly provoke more commenting than prerecorded YouTube videos.

The face-to-face interaction of Hangouts takes this type of interaction one step further. Users are able to talk to each other in real time while watching a sports game, a concert or a newscast, much as if they were sitting on the couch together. The limited nature of Hangouts — only ten users can chat with each other at a given time — also adds a sense of intimacy that’s lacking from a Twitter or Facebook feed.

However, the ten-person-limit has also been a point of contention, especially around popular Hangouts. Some users have already taken matters into their own hands to circumvent the limit. When musician Daria Musk had her first Hangouts concert two weeks ago, users simply daisy-chained multiple Hangouts to offer more than ten people to join in on the fun.

Musk’s second concert was streamed live on Hangoutparty.com, a site that has since been offering live screencasts of other Hangouts as well. Badger didn’t have any specifics to share about similar options offered by YouTube itself, but he said his team is certainly aware of the phenomenon: “We have definitely seen lot of demand to live stream Hangouts.”

Image courtesy of Flickr user kevindooley.

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Text message marketing.

To begin a mobile marketing campaign with your band, you must 1st gotten a mobile program. My favorite is located here: mobile marketing Chicago. It is easy to operate, cheap & it allows the user to use the most recognized and also memorable five digit number on the planet, 90210.

The moment you have got a mobile system up and running, begin marketing it constantly.

The singer we work with performs by the group name of Alibaba. Taking advantage of the mobile message marketing program we made for him, all his followers need to do is message “thebandsname” to the number “90210″. If they text this, they’re automatically added to their cell phone database & they’re entered to win free seats to one of their concerts.

They put the phrase “Text bandname to 90210” on all of their marketing and advertising pieces, Facebook & YouTube videos. The band also asks followers to text it during the live concerts. Our program involves a good little feature that totally allows you to have an instant contest. So for instance during a concert, he will ask everyone to pull out their cell phones & message in to win a bunch of booze. Our system will randomly select one cell number & send them a mobile message telling them they have won! Band marketing will make you famous.

When you’re always getting followers to text your mobile database and also putting this information on all your advertising pieces, you should create a big following that you could message a few hours before your show. Come to our concert at 10pm to win free alcohol always seems to work extremely great. Very quickly, the band will be filling the littler bars & will not have to beg to play anymore.

Sure this person was selling the AT&T and T-Mobile deal based on AT&T’s need for spectrum, but the statements also ran counter to what AT&T itself has said back when it launched the iPad. At the time, an executive with AT&T said that Ma Bell expected a “substantial” percent of usage to occur over Wi-Fi networks. I couldn’t get details on actual usage in the last few months from the executive I met recently, although AT&T loves to talk about Wi-Fi connections in laudatory press releases. But it started me thinking about the perception of Wi-Fi and the reality. How can we make the reality match the perception of Wi-Fi as this fabulous place for offloading mobile traffic?

Making Wi-Fi Mobile.

One of the problems with Wi-Fi is that it’s for fixed mobile access, meaning a person is sitting still. But it doesn’t have to be this way as several startups such as FON or Anyfi have shown. It is possible to create a Wi-Fi network that allows a user to remain on the Wi-Fi network, even when moving. Other good work on this comes from chip firms where engineers are discussing standards to enable seamless hopping from hot spot to hot spot or perhaps even a handoff between a cellular and Wi-Fi network. The bottom line, is that for Wi-Fi to be mobile, the device must hop from network to network and authenticate without the user being aware of it. The Wi-Fi Alliance is working on a standard and authentication with operators to make this happen, with a suggested standard to surface later this year and an actual standard some time in the first part of next year.

Look at the Cable Companies,

The next step after a way to hop seamlessly from network to network is to actually get hotspot owners to let that happen. The standards mentioned above will help, but folks should take a page from the cable guys that already do allow roaming on their networks. In New York City, the three cable providers share a Wi-Fi network, essentially turning the city into a giant hot spot for their customers. Plus, this week Deutsche Telekom signed a deal with iPass to create a carrier Wi-Fi market that essentially wholesale Wi-Fi access for carriers and enables them to allow their end-users to roam onto this combined network. Another option are services such as Boingo that folks can subscribe to and that offer apps to make hopping fairly consumer-friendly.

Muni Wi-Fi 2.0

Once Wi-Fi is everywhere, seamless and one can roam and can be mobile using Wi-Fi,the next step is to put it in more places. The AT&T executive pointed out that someone enjoying lunch in a public park likely can’t find a Wi-Fi network, so will surf on the cellular network. But more and more cities, shopping malls and other developments are adding Wi-Fi access as a lure to get consumers to hang around. Some of these take the form of public-private partnerships where a business development district might implement a network in partnership with a corporation located nearby, and some are just public networks. In three or four years, if the Wi-Fi Alliance, Intel or another large player can set up the infrastructure to make seamless roaming and authentication happen then having those networks in more places helps solve the final piece of the puzzle — finding networks everywhere.

There are plenty of other startups and efforts aimed at making Wi-Fi more usable and better, but it will likely never replace cellular when it comes to convenience. But I think these would be a start. What else might help?

Image courtesy Flickr user Adventures in Librarianship.

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