Author: Paul Lamkin
UK top 40 to include streaming songs
The UK singles chart is to be revamped to include songs played via streaming services. The move would mean that, for the first time since it began in 1952, the chart would not be simply compiled via music sales.
With services like Spotify and We7 becoming ever more popular the UK Charts Company said the charts were “bound to” incorporate streams although the changes might not be in place until 2010.
The company said: “The charts have always been there as a popularity poll, as a means of identifying what are the hottest records of the moment. That’s been relatively simple when people have bought stuff to keep forever. But that’s going to become increasingly more complicated.”
No exact details of how streams will be counted have been revealed although it has been suggested that they will carry less weight than actual sales.
In terms of keeping the charts as an actual representation of popular music, the proposal has to be a good thing. But the system will have to be properly monitored as there are a number of additional factors to consider.
What happens, for example, if a tune is streamed but then stopped or skipped by the user? Also, what about when a stream finishes and a new one automatically starts without the user specifically selecting that stream?
It will have to be policed as well, as the system would be open to corruption. It would be fairly easy for an artist to set up a couple of computers to continuously repeat their selected stream over and over again. Some sort of IP address tracking will no doubt come in to play.
Currently the top 2 songs on Spotify are Right Round by Flo Rida which was released in January and Kids by MGMT which first came out in October last year. This would indicate that songs don’t necessarily have to be brand new to be popular. The charts could be in for a bit of shake up then.
(via BBC)
Spotify to stream at CD quality
Last week we told you that Spotify was planning on a new range of services for its premium users. Well music lovers, the first of these services is being launched this week – CD quality streams.
Currently Spotify streams the songs in its catalogue at 160kb/s but this will be doubled to 320kb/s using an ogg vorbis q9 codec. Premium users need to change their preferences in order to benefit from this upgrade by ticking the box that says ‘enable high bitrate’ in their options menu.
To begin with the improved quality will only be available on the most popular tunes but will be rolled-out to the whole database within a few weeks. Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek says the upgrade means an “unparalleled listening experience” for premium users.
Spotify also claims that the upgrade means they will be offering “the highest streaming rate for any digital music service”.
It will be interesting to see how the market responds to this news. Will the amount of subscribers to Spotify’s premium service increase? Will you be upgrading your account?
iPods save lives – it's official
A 14 year-old girl’s iPod could have been her saviour after the headphones attached to it diverted a lightning bolt away from her body during a storm.
Sophie Frost and her, quite brilliantly named, boyfriend Mason Billington were taking shelter under a tree when the incident occurred. Frost wasn’t listening to music at the time, instead the headphones were hanging around her school uniform. She received burns to her chest, stomach and legs and is currently recovering in hospital.
Sophie’s mother Julie told the Sun: “I just thank God my daughter is still alive. The doctors say her iPod saved her. Her nan only bought it a few days ago. Luckily, she wasn’t actually wearing the headphones. If she had been, she might not be here today. Mind you, the only thing Sophie seemed worried about was that her new iPod was frazzled.”
Great PR for Apple then. Surely not even Steve Jobs can conjure up lightning bolts though – can he?
(via The Press Association)
Sony goes Blu-Ray and budget conscious with latest Vaio
Sony has today announced the budget friendly Vaio NW series. For $880 (about £535) lucky American’s can grab themselves a Vaio laptop complete with Blu-ray player. There is an $800 version that comes without the Blu-ray but, quite frankly, we’re not that interested in that.
The laptop has an impressive spec line-up to go with the Blu-ray bonus and relatively low price-tag:
- 15.5-inch WXGA screen
- 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- Radeon HD4570, 512MB graphics
- 400GB hard-drive
- 4GB DDR2 RAM
Also the battery should last over five hours and there’s also HDMI output and multiple memory card slots – MemoryStick Pro, Express Card and SD Card. This looks like being a great option for the quoted price.
(via Engadget)
No details as of yet about a UK release I’m afraid but, as always, when we know – you’ll know.
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Kerchoonz K-Box
We previewed the K-Box last month and since then I’ve been putting it through its paces. Check out my video review below. Be warned though, I am sporting some huge bags under my eyes due to an incredibly heavy session at Royal Ascot yesterday. It was Pimms o’clock all day.
So overall, not bad, but not great either. At nearly fifty quid once you’ve paid for delivery, not too cheap either.
If you did want to get yourself a K-Box then go direct to Kerchoonz.
Headfunk launches some badass earphones
Do you know your airfeets from your missile tips? Your verts from your nuts? Were you born after 1992? If you can answer yes to these questions then the Headfunk HFE243 Freakin’ Buds could be the earphones for you.
There’s definitely an emphasis on the skate culture for these earphones. Apart from the Freakin’ name, they come in a box that states that they are “Badass Earbuds”. Gnarly.
The lanyard style of the earphones is ideal for hanging a small MP3 player, such as the Sony Zappin, around the user’s neck. There are four colours available – phat black, red mist, orange tang and limey green – sounds like the line-up of an American boy-band doesn’t it?
Performance wise they should be pretty decent: High-performance 9mm micro-drivers, ultra-powerful neodymium magnets and Soft Silicone eartips for a comfortable fit.
They’re only £29.99 from here. Get some for a younger brother or a nephew as a present. I’m sure they’ll think they’re pretty sick.
New Xbox planned for 2010? Microsoft doesn't even seem to know
There’s mixed messages coming out of Microsoft with regards to Xbox developments. First off CEO Steve Ballmer hints that there would be a new Xbox coming out in 2010 with motion sensing Project Natal cameras built-in. Now Microsoft’s Xbox boss, Aaron Greenberg, has stated that there are no plans for a new console.
Greenberg was keen to play down any talk of an entirely new console and insisted that Ballmer wasn’t referring to a new generation Xbox: “We are saying that the Natal will run on the Xbox 360, so there’s no new hardware to purchase. We’re barely halfway through this generation. We’re happy with the Xbox 360, so there are no changes from that standpoint.”
Project Natal was unveiled at E3 at the beginning of June and Microsoft hopes that the technology will allow them to compete with the Wii in terms of motion based games. If they can match the Wii’s fun factor then the Xbox certainly contains the hardware to blow the Japanese firm out of the water. Not literally.
(via Kotaku)
iPhone 3G S – what's under the bonnet?
Rapid Repair has dissected the iPhone 3GS and have identified the technology that makes Apple’s new baby the fastest iPhone ever.
First off the processor – the Samsung S5PC100 based on the ARM Cortex A8 design – is much faster than older versions. 600Mhz compared to the iPhone 3G’s 412Mhz.
The 3GS has a PowerVR SGX graphics chip made by Imagination Technologies – far superior to the prior-generation graphics chip in the older models. RAM has been doubled to 256MB.
Apple are promising that the iPhone 3GS will be better, performance wise, to its older siblings in every way. These technical specifications seem to support this promise.
Get your iPhone 3GS direct from Apple or via O2. If you’ve got one already, let us know what you think – is it much faster?
Samsung reveals huge memory module
There have been rumours that Samsung would be unveiling the world’s biggest memory module ever since they started shipping their 4GB DDR3 memory chip earlier this year.
Those rumours have proved correct with the launch of the 32GB DDR3 memory module. The record breaking module is aimed at the servers market.
The 1.35-volt module consists of 72 50-nm 4GB memory chips which are set on nine quad-die packages on each side of the module.
No news of a price just yet – but expect it to be fairly substantial.
(via Hexus)
Google Flipper – a new way to flip through the news
Ever looked at Google News and thought – “I’m loving the content, I just wish it was presented in a more visual way”? No? Me neither, that would be quite a bizarre thing to think really.
But someone at Google obviously has though this by the looks of Flipper – a Google labs project that displays the news in a much more visual way. Check out this screen shot from Tech Crunch to get an idea.
The idea behind Flipper is that users will be able to flip through the news. They’ll also be able to sort the news into personalised sections – by sources, key words, trends, recommendations and the like.
The thing that excites me most about Flipper though is simply its name. Flipper – how awesome is that? You’ll be able to talk to it in the same way Porter, Sandy and Bud used to talk to Flipper the dolphin.
“What’s that Flip, Gordon Brown’s expenses are coming under intense scrutiny? And a man got stuck down a well in Tunbridge Wells?!?” Brilliant – the news will never be boring again.
Flipper isn’t public at the moment – it’s only for the Google boffins – but expect it to launch sometime soon.
(via Tech Crunch)
