Daily Crunch: Bing has a child porn problem

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here:

1. Microsoft Bing not only shows child pornography, it suggests it

A TechCrunch-commissioned report has found damning evidence on Microsoft’s search engine. Our findings show a massive failure on Microsoft’s part to adequately police its Bing search engine and to prevent its suggested searches and images from assisting pedophiles.

2. Unity pulls nuclear option on cloud gaming startup Improbable, terminating game engine license

Unity, the widely popular gaming engine, has pulled the rug out from underneath U.K.-based cloud gaming startup Improbable and revoked its license — effectively shutting them out from a top customer source. The conflict arose after Unity claimed Improbable broke the company’s Terms of Service and distributed Unity software on the cloud.

3. Improbable and Epic Games establish $25M fund to help devs move to ‘more open engines’ after Unity debacle

Just when you thought things were going south for Improbable the company inked a late-night deal with Unity competitor Epic Games to establish a fund geared toward open gaming engines. This begs the question of how Unity and Improbable’s relationship managed to sour so quickly after this public debacle.

4. The next phase of WeChat 

WeChat boasts more than 1 billion daily active users, but user growth is starting to hit a plateau. That’s been expected for some time, but it is forcing the Chinese juggernaut to build new features to generate more time spent on the app to maintain growth.

5. Bungie takes back its Destiny and departs from Activision 

The creator behind games like Halo and Destiny is splitting from its publisher Activision to go its own way. This is good news for gamers, as Bungie will no longer be under the strict deadlines of a big gaming studio that plagued the launch of Destiny and its sequel.

6. Another server security lapse at NASA exposed staff and project data

The leaking server was — ironically — a bug-reporting server, running the popular Jira bug triaging and tracking software. In NASA’s case, the software wasn’t properly configured, allowing anyone to access the server without a password.

7. Is Samsung getting serious about robotics? 

This week Samsung made a surprise announcement during its CES press conference and unveiled three new consumer and retail robots and a wearable exoskeleton. It was a pretty massive reveal, but the company’s look-but-don’t-touch approach raised far more questions than it answered.

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Amazon Dash buttons judged to breach consumer rules in Germany

Amazon’s Dash buttons have been found to breach consumer ecommerce rules in Germany.

The push-to-order gizmos were debuted by Amazon in 2015, in an attempt by the ecommerce giant to shave friction off of the online shopping process by encouraging consumers to fill their homes with stick-on, account-linked buttons that trigger product-specific staple purchases when pressed — from washing powder to toilet roll to cat food.

Germany was among the first international markets where Amazon launched Dash, in 2016, along with the UK and Austria. But yesterday a higher state court in Munich ruled the system does not provide consumers with sufficient information about a purchase.

The judgement follows a legal challenge by a regional consumer watchdog, Verbraucherzentrale NRW, which objects to the terms Amazon operates with Dash.

It complains that Amazon’s terms allow the company to substitute a product of a higher price or even a different product in place of what the consumer original selected for a Dash push purchase.

It argues consumers are also not provided with enough information on the purchase triggered when the button is pressed — which might be months after an original selection was made.

Dash buttons should carry a label stating that a paid purchase is triggered by a press, it believes.

The Munich court has now sided with the group’s view that Amazon does not provide sufficient information to Dash consumers, per Reuters.

In a press release following the ruling, Verbraucherzentrale NRW said the judges agreed Amazon should inform consumers about price and product before taking the order, rather than after the purchase as is currently the case.

It also expressed confidence the judgement leaves no room for Amazon to appeal — though the company has said it intends to do so.

Commenting on the ruling in a statement, Verbraucherzentrale NRW consumer bureau chief, Wolfgang Schuldzinski, said: “We are always open to innovation. But if innovation is to put consumers at a disadvantage and to make price comparisons more difficult, then we use all means against them, as in this case.”

Amazon did not reply to questions about how it intends to respond to the court ruling in the short term, such as whether it will withdraw the devices or change how Dash works in Germany.

Instead it emailed us the following statement, attributed to a spokesperson: “The decision is not only against innovation, it also prevents customers from making an informed choice for themselves about whether a service like Dash Button is a convenient way for them to shop. We are convinced the Dash Button and the corresponding app are in line with German legislation. Therefore, we’re going to appeal.”

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YouTube Uploader – Let Others Upload Videos to your YouTube Channel

It is easy to upload videos to your own YouTube channel but there’s one limitation. Only the owner of the channel can upload videos to their YouTube account and they cannot delegate the task to someone else in the team.

Google Drive has the concept of shared folders. A folder can have multiple collaborators and anyone can upload files to that folder. Wouldn’t it be useful if such a feature were available for YouTube channels as well? You maintain a single YouTube account and multiple people can upload videos to your common account without the owner having their the Google account credentials with anyone.

YouTube Video Uploader for Collaboration

Introducing YouTube Uploader, a simple file upload form that lets anyone upload videos to your YouTube channel from their desktop or mobile phone. The uploader doesn’t even need a Google account and they’ll still be able to upload video files of any size to your YouTube channel.

Before we get into the implementation details, open this live demo page and upload a video file. Once the file is uploaded, YouTube will take a minute or two to process the video and it will go live immediately on the YouTube channel.

Make your Own YouTube Uploader

If you have a collaborative YouTube channel with multiple contributors, you may consider setting up your own private YouTube Uploader form and any of the contributors will be able to upload their work on your channel directly via the form.

Here’s how you can build a YouTube uploader in 3 easy steps.

1. Click here to make a copy of the YouTube uploader script in your Google Drive. It is recommended that you create a new Google account to test the YouTube uploader before using it with your main account.
2. Enable the YouTube API for your Google project. Go to Resources > Cloud Platform Project, click the project name and enable the YouTube Data API from the API library. Watch the video guide for details.
3. While inside the script editor, go to Publish > Deploy as Web App and click Update.
4. You’ll be presented with an authorization screen as the script needs permission to upload videos on your behalf and also send email notifications when a new video is uploaded. Click Allow.

That’s it. You’ll be presented with a unique URL that you can share with your team members.

The user is presented with a simple web form where they can fill in the video title, description, the video category, and the privacy mode (should the video be private,  public or unlisted). All they have to do is select a file and click “Upload” to send the video to your YouTube channel directly.

Important Points to Know:

• When deploying the web app,  choose “Me” under the “Execute the App as” section and “Anyone, even anonymous” under the “Who has access to the app” section.
• If you would like to disable the uploader, go to Resources > Deploy as web app and choose “Disable web app.”
• The uploader is written in JavaScript (ES6) and compiled to Google Apps Script with Babel, Clasp and the Apps Script starter kit.
• Keep the YouTube Uploader URL secret and only share with people you know.
• This program comes as it is with no warranty. It may not be used for commercial applications.

The post YouTube Uploader – Let Others Upload Videos to your YouTube Channel appeared first on Digital Inspiration.

Jabra Elite 85h: The Best Noise-Canceling Headphones at CES 2019

Jabra, once best known for their range of business audio accessories, has been branching out into the consumer audio space in recent years. Their ambition has never been more evident than at CES 2019, where they took to the floor to showcase their latest noise-canceling over-ear headphones, the Elite 85h.

At first glance, it’s hard not to be impressed with the headphone’s design. Although the form is always the same, Jabra has made the Elite 85h stand out, not with loud colors, but with a subtle and elegant design. Even the outside of the earcups has been covered in wind-resistant colored fabric, rather than the more traditional metal or plastic finishes.

They are available in Black, Titanium Black, Gold Beige, and Navy, with all colors making the headphones look understated but smart. The earcups themselves are shaped like ovals, rather than circles so that they remain comfortable to wear over long periods.

The Elite 85h come equipped with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) but are still able to deliver an incredible 32 hours of battery life with ANC enabled. If you forget to turn off your headphones, the Elite 85h have on-ear detection and will automatically power down when you aren’t wearing them.

The noise cancellation is achieved using internal and external microphones on the headphone’s earcups. The external mics pick up the sound around you and cancel it out before it interrupts your listening. There are also microphones inside the earcups which will cancel the noises created inside, like the earpads rubbing against your skin.

The level of detail the ANC can detect means that the Elite 85h has some of the best noise cancellation performance on the market. That would be impressive on its own, but Jabra have teamed up with audEERING, an AI audio technology company, to detect the noise environment and automatically switch the noise cancellation profiles accordingly. These profiles can be customized with the Jabra Sound+ app, with default profiles including commute, in public, and in private.

Along with nearly every product showcased at CES this year, the Elite 85h come with support for smart voice assistants. Fortunately, Jabra hasn’t pinned all their hopes on just one ecosystem. The Elite 85h integrate with Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa so no matter which of the mainstream smart assistants you use, you should be covered.

The headphones are rain-resistant with IP52 dust and rain resistance, so a spot of rain shouldn’t ruin your day either. If you register for the free two-year Jabra warranty, all dust and rain damage will be covered for the duration too.

As someone who has reviewed many headphones, including noise cancellation favorites like the Bose QC 35 II, the audio quality was something I was eager to test. Jabra had set up a closed booth for the Elite 85h demos at CES. Although this sounds like a way of controlling the environment to best showcase the headphone’s performance, they used the closed space to play pre-recorded background noise from a busy train, and London’s Victoria railway station.

During the test, it was hard not to be overwhelmed by just how clear the audio sounded. The headphones were immensely comfortable to wear, and they felt light and unobtrusive. When the background noises were changed, the AI would recognize the new landscape within 15 seconds, and adjust to the new profile. This proved to be the case each time the environment changed.

I didn’t attend CES expecting to be blown away by anything I saw, but with the Elite 85h, Jabra may have found a way to displace the Bose QC 35 at the top of my list. The headphones will be available from April 1st, 2019, priced at $299.

Read the full article: Jabra Elite 85h: The Best Noise-Canceling Headphones at CES 2019

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Unnecessary Tech: LavvieBot Unveils a Smart Toilet for Cats at CES

What’s the worst part of owning a cat? The hair? The smell? The scratch marks? Maybe. But for many people, it’s the cleaning out the litter box.

If you’re a poop-adverse cat lover, PurrSong might have the answer for you. At CES 2019, the South Korean company unveiled a self-cleaning litter box called LavvieBot.

 

LavvieBot isn’t the smallest device in the world—it’s at least two-feet tall and more than a foot wide, but it’s well designed and looks sleek, meaning it won’t look out of place in most people’s living rooms and kitchens. The device is only available in white.

The device cleans the litter box with a rake, storing the waste in an internal bag which you’ll only need to empty once every couple of weeks. The litter is refilled from a 6.5-liter storage bin.

The litter box pairs with a smartphone app that’s available on both Android and iOS. You can use the app to set the cleaning intervals, and you can even receive an alert when your cat uses the tray. LavvieBot is also Amazon Dash-enabled; you can order more litter with a single press of a button.

The device can track your cat’s weight over time, and it can distinguish between multiple cats in your household.

PurrSong’s biggest competitor is Litter Robot, but LavvieBot has some notable benefits. For starters, Litter Robot is bigger. It also can’t refill the litter box, and the design isn’t as neat.

Sadly, if you own a Maine Coon or Savannah cat, the LavvieBot is not for you—those breeds are above the maximum weight.

You might also have second thoughts if your cat is old or has weak legs. The litter entry point is 16-inches above ground. In a worst-case scenario, you can supply a ladder or cushion to aid entry.

LavvieBot will start its crowdfunding campaign in May 2019. The rep suggested a price tag of around $380.

Read the full article: Unnecessary Tech: LavvieBot Unveils a Smart Toilet for Cats at CES

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Want Better Health? A Breath Analyzer Has the Answers at CES 2019

Can something as simple as a breath analyzer improve your diet and provide health feedback? Those are the assertions made by Lumen at CES 2019 in Las Vegas.

The claims are undoubtedly grandiose. Lumen claims that by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide in your breath, its analyzer can monitor your metabolism. As a result, it can tell you whether you’re burning carbs or fat so you can adjust your food intake accordingly. Use the device for long enough, and it will even recommend recipes to match your personal situation.

The device itself is about the size of a regular asthma inhaler. Users blow into the mouthpiece. The results appear in the accompanying smartphone app. The app then uses the data to suggest dietary goals for the upcoming day. Goals include advice such as “Eat more pasta”, “Get some extra sleep”, or “Skip your workout today”.

Exercise fanatics will also find Lumen very useful. Testing your breath before a workout will tell you whether you have enough fuel in your system to get you through your session. At the end of your workout, you can use the device for a second time to the effects of your routine.

Lumen is only available in black.

According to the company, the device has been heavily tested by users. Scientists, however, have their doubts. There is yet to be any serious academic research that backs Lumen’s product. In the company’s defense, it has made all its research public and readily invites feedback.

Co-founder Michael Mor said Lumen continues to work with academics in its field:

“Rest assure that every analysis we have done, was openly shared with the scientists of each institution, and we are continuing our work with those scientists to publish the research as a next step.”

Lumen has raised more than $2 million on Indiegogo and is now fully funded. The first units will start shipping this summer. You can preorder one for $250. If you wait until the summer, you will need to pay $299.

Read the full article: Want Better Health? A Breath Analyzer Has the Answers at CES 2019

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House of Marley: Newest Eco-Friendly Speakers and Headphones

Bob Marley was undoubtedly one of the best-known reggae musicians of all time, and although he may be gone, his legacy lives on through his music and his children. House of Marley, started by his son Rohan, design eco-friendly audio accessories ranging from speakers to headphones.

House of Marley took to CES 2019 to showcase their new products, all due out throughout the year. Although smart speakers featured heavily at CES, the Get Together Mini speaker stood out. Integrating with Google Assistant, the wireless speaker, capable of connecting via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth 5, brings House of Marley’s eco-conscious design into the home.

The Get Together Mini is made of bamboo, recyclable aluminum, and the company’s REWIND fabrics made up of recycled plastics, organic cotton, and organic hemp. The Google Assistant is integrated into the speaker for voice-activated control and access to Google’s myriad of Assistant capabilities.

For the privacy-minded, there is even a mute button on the top of the speaker to pause the always-on listening. The portable speaker has a built-in rechargeable battery, capable of delivering eight hours of audio playback. The speaker can even be used as a USB power bank to recharge your other gadgets on-the-go. The Get Together Mini smart speaker will be available from August 2019, priced at $199.99.

The company also showed their latest turntable at CES, the Stir It Up Wireless vinyl player. Vinyl has experienced a resurgence over the last few years, resulting in the launch of many reasonably-priced turntables with modern features. House of Marley initially launched the Stir It Up turntable a few years ago, but at the time it was only capable of a wired connection to external speakers, or via USB to a PC.

Stir It Up Wireless adds Bluetooth 5 to their popular turntable to allow you to enjoy a cable-free vinyl experience, perfect for chilling out to some Bob Marley classics. As with the Get Together Mini, Stir It Up Wireless is made from eco-friendly materials including REWIND fabric, bamboo, and recyclable aluminum. Stir It Up Wireless will be available from September 2019, priced at $249.99.

For a more personal audio experience, House of Marley showcased two new headphones at CES; Liberate Air and Exodus ANC. Wireless earbuds are becoming more commonplace since Apple released the AirPods, but it seems 2019 will be the year of the wireless earbud. House of Marley’s Liberate Air represents their take on wireless earphones, due out in July 2019.

The Liberate Air is made from bamboo, natural wood fiber composite, and REWIND fabric. The earbuds have seven-hour battery life, and IPX4 rated for rain and sweat resistance. The carry case has an auto on/off feature, so when you pop the buds back in, they can power off automatically. As with all House of Marley products, their unique design sets them apart and may make them an indispensable accessory.

If over-ear headphones are more your style, then the Exodus ANC may be right up your street. The Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) means that you can enjoy your music, audiobooks, and podcasts in relative peace for up to 24 hours on a single charge. If you disable the ANC, you can even extend that playback time to an incredible 40 hours.

A Bluetooth 5 connection allows wireless connection to your smartphone for your enjoyment on-the-go. The USB C charging point means that a full charge takes three hours, while a 10-minute quick charge can give several hours of playback. The Exodus ANC will be available for $249.99 from September 2019.

Read the full article: House of Marley: Newest Eco-Friendly Speakers and Headphones

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Magic Mitte Filter Can Turn Tap Water into Mineral Water in Minutes

Mitte returned to CES in 2019 to show off a product that promises to transform the way we consume water at home.

The device can purify your home’s tap water to turn it into high-quality mineral water. While it began as a Kickstarter campaign, it’s now ready for general release.

As you probably know, regular tap water contains a lot of impurities, many of which are added by water utilities. Those impurities include chlorine, fluoride, pesticides, heavy metals, and hundreds of other things that you really don’t want to be putting inside your body.

Mitte’s product can remove many of the impurities and replace them with the beneficial minerals that water receives when it flows through rocks over thousands of years. Thankfully, Mitte’s device is somewhat faster than nature’s approach. It can produce a liter of water every two hours.

The system relies on mineral cartridges. Three cartridges are available: Vitality, Balance, and Alkaline. Each cartridge can create 250 liters (66 gallons) of water and will cost around $40. As a result, each liter of water that the machine produces costs about $0.08.

As you’d expect, there’s also a smartphone app which can provide feedback on your machine, manage purification schedules, and monitor the amount of water produced.

The app can also help you automatically replace old cartridges. Each cartridge is equipped with an RFID tag; when it’s running low, it will tell the app which in turn will make an order without your input.

We think the device is going to be popular. During the demo at the company’s CES booth, we were impressed with how easy it was to set up and operate. It also looks great; the white 16.5 x 17 x 12.5 inches appliance won’t look out of place alongside a coffee machine and toaster on any kitchen work surface.

The water filter will start shipping in June 2019. The company has not yet confirmed the retail price, but Mitte’s rep on the CES show floor said it would be around $380.

Read the full article: Magic Mitte Filter Can Turn Tap Water into Mineral Water in Minutes

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Dog Lovers Rejoice: Fido Will Soon Have His Own Odor-Free Indoor Bathroom

It turns out that ways to manage your pet’s toilet habits are a big topic at CES 2019.

We’ve already told you about LavvieBot, the smart self-cleaning cat litter box. But if you’re more of a dog lover, don’t worry, a startup called Newton’s Box and its Inubox device can help. In simple terms, it’s an automated indoor dog toilet.

The indoor element is excellent news for people who live in high-rise apartments or who have to leave their dog locked in the house while they head out to work for the day.

Inubox has a folding shelf which lays flat on the floor. The shelf is covered in a hydrophobic material upon which your dog does its business.

The shelf has a weight sensor, so when Fido steps away the machine knows the animal is finished. The tray then folds up, and a wiper pushes the waste into an out-of-sight sand bin (similar to a cat litter).

Next, a rake moves the waste out of the sand, along a hydrophobic ramp, and into a disposable bag. The bag is similar to what you would find in a baby’s diaper bin. Finally, the bags are sealed and ejected through a small compartment for you to dispose of.

The device has a couple of other cool features: Firstly, when the dog has finished, a treat will be dispensed to encourage your pet to keep using the toilet. Secondly, when the entire process is finished, Inubox will eject small squirt of fragrance to sweeten the air.

We spoke to co-founder Raymundo Rincon. He said the Inubox could comfortably handle breeds around the size of an English Bulldog, though if pushed it could stretch to Golden Retriever size

The Inubox will retail for $1,200. Early backers on Kickstarter can pick one up for $1,000.

I’m a dog owner, and honestly, I was extremely impressed. So, now all you need to do is teach your dog to use Inubox in the first place. Depending on your pet’s personality, that might be easier said than done!

Read the full article: Dog Lovers Rejoice: Fido Will Soon Have His Own Odor-Free Indoor Bathroom

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Audio Technica’s ATH-M50xBT Wireless Headphones Are Worth It

1MORE Launches Penta Driver In-Ear Headphones for Audiophiles

Purveyors of premium audio products, 1MORE, announced their new in-ear headphones at CES 2019. The Penta Driver in-ears expand their range of high definition headphones designed for both audiophiles and casual listeners alike.

The Penta Driver in-ears will be available in Q1 2019 and priced at around $300. As the name suggests, the Penta Drivers are equipped with five audio drivers: two bass, two mids, and one treble.

Unlike many headphones on the market which use micro-USB ports, the Penta Driver comes equipped with a USB-C connection. This allows them to transmit data and charge the headphones from a single cable.

The digital data transfer, rather than the more universal 3.5mm analog jack, means that the headphones can receive near-lossless HD audio; that is if you have lossless or HD audio and a capable player.

While high definition audio is a priority for some, many of us want to open Spotify, connect our headphones and get listening. The Penta Driver in-ears connect wireless to your smartphone with Bluetooth 5. There is even support for all the major high-quality Bluetooth codecs like AAC, AptX, and LDAC.

The design of the Penta Driver is undoubtedly eye-catching. Instead of two in-ear buds connected with a small wire, the buds are both attached to a neckband, used to stabilize the earphones while in use. The neckband is also where you can find all the hardware controls including volume, play/pause, and power.

The physical appearance of the headphones is an important factor when purchasing any wearable products. However, the actual audio quality is even more essential. Unfortunately, 1MORE didn’t have a demo unit of the Penta Driver at CES, so we weren’t able to say for sure just how good these CES Innovation Award winning headphones really are.

Read the full article: 1MORE Launches Penta Driver In-Ear Headphones for Audiophiles

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Skyroam Solis Offers an Affordable Data Hotspot Worldwide

The Skyroam Solis is a global Wi-Fi hotspot that doubles as a power bank. You can get affordable and unlimited high-speed data in up to 120 countries, with no contract or SIM card required.

The Solis acts as a data hub that can connect up to five devices at the same time. The setup requires the Solis app. By connecting to the hub and scanning the QR code on its underside, you can complete the setup in seconds. Finally, log into your account.

Download: Solis WiFi for Android | iOS (Free)

Once you’re set up, you can purchase data plans inside the app. Plans start at $9 for an unlimited 24-hour day pass. $9 will also get you 1GB of data to use over 30 days. For $99, the Solis will give you unlimited 4G LTE data for 30 days. You can activate plans via the app or using the Wi-Fi button.

The Wi-Fi button will soon turn into a Smart Button. The feature is already present in the Solis WiFi app, but Skyroam has not activated it yet. Once live, you’ll be able to control devices, apps, and services by pressing the Smart Button. For example, you could automatically send a message to a loved one, letting them know you’ve arrived at your destination.

The Solis’s integrated power bank has 6,700mAh and should provide your device for up to one charge, while also powering the Wi-Fi hub for a full day. Once they’re totally worn out, you can easily replace the batteries.

Presently, the Solis is the perfect companion for the avid traveler who depends on mobile data for work or play. The second generation, Solis 2, will support 5G. Skyroam is also working on integrating a VPN in future versions.

If you’re not keen on carrying around a physical hotspot, Skyroam has something in the pipeline for you. SIMO is a virtual SIM that gives you access to Skyroam’s global mobile internet network via the SIMO app.

For this product, Skyroam has partnered with MediaTek, a Taiwanese chip manufacturer. Rather than a Wi-Fi hotspot, you’ll use a phone outfitted with a chip that has two antennas, one of which Skyroam can use to provide its services. Similar to the Solis, you’ll be able to purchase data packages for wherever you are, but at much more competitive prices.

Skyroam is currently running a trial in Indonesia and will then roll SIMO out to the Americas, as well as India. Unfortunately, they could not comment on a timeline.

Read the full article: Skyroam Solis Offers an Affordable Data Hotspot Worldwide

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SecureData Launches First Ever App-Based Unlock for Secure Data Storage

Spotify’s increased focus on podcasts in 2019 includes selling its own ads

Having established itself as a top streaming service with now over 200 million users, Spotify this year is preparing to focus more of its attention on podcasts. The company plans bring its personalization technology to podcasts in order to make better recommendations, update its app’s interface so people can access podcasts more easily, and broker more exclusives with podcast creators. It’s also getting into the business of selling ads within podcasts, as a means of generating revenue from this increasingly popular form of audio programming.

In fact, Spotify has already begun to dabble in podcast ad sales, ahead of this larger push.

Spotify, we’ve learned, has been selling its own advertisements in its original podcasts since mid-2018 year, including in programs like Spotify Original “Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith,” “The Joe Budden Podcast,” “Dissect,” “Showstopper,” and others. With more exclusives planned for the year ahead, the portion of Spotify’s ad business focused on podcasts will also grow.

The company appears to be taking a different approach to working with podcasters than it does with it comes to working with music artists.

Today, Spotify gives artists tools that help share their work and be discovered – it invested in distribution platform DistroKid, for example, and now lets artists submit tracks for playlist consideration. With podcasters, however, Spotify wants to either bring their voices in-house, or at least exclusively license their content.

“Over the last year, we become very focused on building out a great podcast universe,” said Head of Spotify Studios Courtney Holt, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. “The first step was to make sure that we’ve got the world’s best podcasts on Spotify, and integrated the experience into the service in a way that allowed people to build habits and behavior there,” he said.

“What we started to see is that the types of podcasts that really were working on Spotify were ones where they were really authentic voices…so we just decided to invest more in those types of voices,” Holt added.

Spotify’s collection of originals has been steadily growing over the past year. Last August, for example, Spotify nabbed an exclusive deal with the “Joe Budden” podcast, which is aimed at hip-hop and rap culture fans, and launched its first branded podcast, “Ebb & Flow,” focused on hip-hop and R&B. Its full original lineup today also includes “Dissect,” Amy Schumer’s “3 Girls, 1 Keith,” “Mogul,” “The Rewind with Guy Raz,” “Showstopper,” “Unpacked,” “Crimetown” (Its first season was wide, second season is exclusive to Spotify), “UnderCover,” and “El Chapo: El Jefe y su Juicio.”

At CES, Spotify announced the addition of one more –  journalist Jemele Hill is coming Spotify with an exclusive podcast called “Unbothered,” which will feature high-profile guests in sports, music, politics, culture, and more.

In growing its collection of originals, the company found that podcasters who joined Spotify exclusively were actually able to grow their audience, despite leaving other distribution platforms.

For example, the Joe Budden podcast had its highest streaming day ever after joining Spotify.

This has led Spotify to believe that influencers in the podcast community will be able to bring their community with them when they become a Spotify exclusive, and then further grow their listener base by tapping into Spotify’s larger music user base and, soon, an improved recommendation system.

There are other perks for Spotify, too – when users come to Spotify and begin to listen to podcasts, they often then spend more time engaged with the app, it found.

“People who consume podcasts on Spotify are consuming more of Spotify – including music,” said Holt. “So we found that in increasing our [podcast] catalog and spending more time to make the user experience better, it wasn’t taking away from music, it was enhancing the overall time spent on the platform,” he noted.

While chasing exclusive deals to bring more original podcasts to Spotify will be a big initiative this year, Spotify will continue to offer its recently launched podcasts submission feature to everyone else.

With this sort of basic infrastructure in place, Spotify now wants to help users discover new podcasts and improve the listening experience.

One aspect of this will involve pointing listeners to other podcast content they may like.

For instance, Spotify could point Joe Budden fans to other podcasts about hip-hop and rap. It will also leverage its multi-year partnership with Samsung to allow listeners pick up where they left off in an episode as they move between different devices. And it will turn its personalization and recommendation technology to podcasts – including the ads in the podcasts themselves.

“Think about what we’ve done around music – the more understand you around the music you stream, the more we can personalize the ad experience. Now we can take that to podcasts,” said Brian Benedik, VP and Global Head of Advertising Sales at Spotify, when asked about the potential for Spotify selling ads in podcasts.

The company has been testing the waters with its own podcast ad sales since mid 2018, Benedik said. The sales are handled in-house by Spotify’s ad sales team for the time being.

Benedik had also appeared on a panel this week at CES, where he talked about the value of contextual advertising – meaning, ads that can be personalized to the user based on factors like mood, behavior and moments. This data could be appealing to podcast advertisers, as well.

But to scale its efforts around podcast ads, Spotify will need to invest in digital ad insertion technology. We’re hearing that Spotify is currently deciding whether that’s something it wants to build in-house or acquire outright.

Spotify’s rival Pandora went the latter route. It closed on the acquisition of adtech company Adswizz in May 2018, then introduced capabilities for shorter, more personalized ads in August. By November, Pandora announced it was bringing its Genome technology to podcasts, which allowed for a recommendation system.

Now Spotify aims to catch up.

The addition of podcasts has reoriented Spotify’s focus as company, Holt said.

“We’re an audio company. We’re trying to be the world’s best audio service,” he told the audience at CES. “It’s a pure play for us. We’re seeing increased engagement; there’s great commercial opportunities from podcasting that we’ve never seen on the platform…And, obviously, exclusives are to give us something that makes the platform truly unique – to have people come to Spotify for something you can’t get anywhere else is the sort of cherry on top of that entire strategy,” Holt said.

Image credits: Spotify

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Californians may get a break on their mobile bills after tax is struck down in court

Californians have a lot to enjoy — great weather, big waves, solid microbreweries, and of course extremely high taxes on prepaid mobile service. But this controversial last feature is being adjusted after a judge found at least part of the state’s Mobile Telephony Surcharge to be unconstitutional. As a result, bills could shrink by a couple bucks starting this month.

The tax, which funds various local services like 911 and so on, was raised in 2016 and depending on various factors could be around 20 percent of the bill. That turns a $50 bill into a $60 bill, which is especially rough when you consider that lower prepaid plans are often preferred by people with limited incomes. So the tax was unpopular from the start — not that many are particularly liked.

In addition to making users angry, it attracted the attention of wireless carriers: MetroPCS filed a lawsuit alleging that the way the tax was calculated conflicted with federal rules set by the FCC. The details are buried in a mound of legalese, but essentially the problem was that California was effectively taxing inter-state services as well as within-state ones, which is not allowed either by state or federal law.

The challenge took its course and although the California government argued that its tax was compliant with the FCC’s rules, the judge ultimately decided otherwise.

“The California Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services Surcharge Collection Act [i.e. the tax increase passed in 2014 and instituted in 2016], in its entirety, conflicts with federal law and therefore is preempted and unconstitutional,” she wrote in the order concluding the case.

Example bills from T-Mobile show how fees could change. The amounts will differ based on region and bill total.

Although California is appealing the case, the judge’s order prevents it from collecting the tax in the meantime. So as long as that injunction remains in place, mobile bills should see a small break.

It won’t be a lot — an example provided by T-Mobile showed total taxes and fees reduced by about $3. But hey, every little bit counts.

The actual amount you pay your carrier shouldn’t change, though. Your $40 or $75 plan will remain the same; it’s only the associated taxes that are effected. The way they’re listed may also change; for instance, AT&T is replacing the “Prepaid MTS Surcharge” line item with “CA Surcharges, Fees & Taxes.” Its announcement doesn’t explicitly mention a change in amount, but unless it adds a fee of its own to make up the difference, it seems that users there and at other carriers will see similarly lowered taxes.

If you’re curious how much your bill will drop, if at all, your best bet is to call customer service and ask them to check.

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Research finds heavy Facebook users make impaired decisions like drug addicts

Researchers at Michigan State University are exploring the idea that there’s more to “social media addiction” than casual joking about being too online might suggest. Their paper, titled “Excessive social media users demonstrate impaired decision making in the Iowa Gambling Task” (Meshi, Elizarova, Bender and Verdejo-Garcia) and published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, indicates that people who use social media sites heavily actually display some of the behavioral hallmarks of someone addicted to cocaine or heroin.

The study asked 71 participants to first rate their own Facebook usage with a measure known as the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. The study subjects then went on to complete something called the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a classic research tool that evaluates impaired decision making. The IGT presents participants with four virtual decks of cards associated with rewards or punishments and asks them to choose cards from the decks to maximize their virtual winnings. As the study explains, “Participants are also informed that some decks are better than others and that if they want to do well, they should avoid the bad decks and choose cards from the good decks.”

What the researchers found was telling. Study participants who self-reported as excessive Facebook users actually performed worse than their peers on the IGT, frequenting the two “bad” decks that offer immediate gains but ultimate result in losses. That difference in behavior was statistically significant in the latter portion of the IGT, when a participant has had ample time to observe the deck’s patterns and knows which decks present the greatest risk.

The IGT has been used to study everything from patients with frontal lobe brain injuries to heroin addicts, but using it as a measure to examine social media addicts is novel. Along with deeper, structural research, it’s clear that researchers can apply to social media users much of the existing methodological framework for learning about substance addiction.

The study is narrow, but interesting, and offers a few paths for follow-up research. As the researchers recognize, in an ideal study, the researchers could actually observe participants’ social media usage and sort them into categories of high or low social media usage based on behavior rather than a survey they fill out.

Future research could also delve more deeply into excessive users across different social networks. The study only looked at Facebook use, “because it is currently the most widely used [social network] around the world,” but one could expect to see similar results with the billion-plus monthly Instagram and potentially the substantially smaller portion of people on Twitter.

Ultimately, we know that social media is shifting human behavior and potentially its neurological underpinnings, we just don’t know the extent of it — yet. Due to the methodical nature of behavioral research and the often extremely protracted process of publishing it, we likely won’t know for years to come the results of studies conducted now. Still, as this study proves, there are researchers at work examining how social media is impacting our brains and our behavior — we just might not be able to see the big picture for some time.

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Shareholder suit alleges Google covered up its sexual harassment problems with big payouts

Months after an earth-shattering New York Times investigation exposed Google parent company Alphabet’s $90 million payout to Android co-founder Andy Rubin, despite the accusations of sexual misconduct made against him, a Google shareholder is suing the company.

James Martin filed suit in the San Mateo Superior Court Thursday morning, alleging the company’s leaders deployed massive allowances to poor-behaving executives to cover up harassment scandals. Both Rubin and Google’s former head of search Amit Singhal, who peacefully left the company in 2016 amid harassment allegations that weren’t made public until the following year, are listed as defendants in the court filing. This is because the plaintiff is seeking a full return of the massive payouts awarded to the embattled former execs.

With charges including breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, abuse of power and corporate waste, per The Washington Post, the lawsuit asks for an end of nondisclosure and arbitration agreements at Google, which ensure workplace disputes are settled behind closed doors and without any right to an appeal. Martin is also requesting Google incorporate three new directors to the Alphabet board and put an end to supervoting shares, which gives certain shareholders more voting control.

The lawsuit also targets Rubin, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, chief executive officer Sundar Pichai and executive chairman Eric Schmidt. Former human resources director Laszlo Bock, chief legal officer David Drummond and former executive Amit Singhal are also named, as are long-time venture capitalists and Google board members John Doerr and Ram Shriram.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Following the release of the NYT report, Googlers across the world rallied to protest the company’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations. The protestors had five key asks, including an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination, a commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity and a clear, uniform, globally inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously. Google ultimately complied with employees and put an end to forced arbitration; other tech companies, such as Airbnb, followed suit.

Google walkout organizer: ‘I hope I still have a career in Silicon Valley after this’

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The next phase of WeChat

Thousands of people gathered Wednesday night in a southern Chinese city for Zhang Xiaolong, Tencent’s low-key executive who built WeChat eight years ago. It’s no longer adequate to call the app a messenger, for it now enables myriads of functions that infiltrate Chinese people’s private and public lives.

It wasn’t just the tech circles tuning into the event. Civil servants, real-estate agents, salon owners, fruit vendors, teachers, artists — anyone who use WeChat to facilitate daily work — watched attentively for news and tips that came out of the annual conference.

Zhang, nickname Allen, is by nature a hardcore product manager. He went to great lengths during his 4-hour speech telling people productivity is WeChat’s holy grail, and that he wants to make user sessions “short and efficient.” He called out apps obsessed with keeping users on, which many may agree include ByteDance’s video app TikTok and news aggregator Jinri Toutiao.

That’s a tough sell, though, for WeChat is anything but a disposable tool. The app now boasts over 1 billion daily users. 750 million of them open WeChat Moments, a scrolling feed of friends’ updates, each day during which they check it more than 10 times. User growth is cooling, but that’s expected given the super app’s enormous base. In addition to being a social network, the juggernaut has also devised a host of new features that may generate more eyeball time — and help it maintain meaningful growth.

An app universe

Two years ago, WeChat made a move that would speed up its evolution from a simple app into an all-in-one platform. It rolled out so-called mini programs, which are stripped-down versions of native apps with only core features in exchange for smaller size and quicker access. To date, there are over 1 million such lite-apps and 200 million people access them every day, an achievement that inspired other tech giants to follow suit.

Zhang said from the outset that mini apps weren’t meant to replace regular apps, for the latter provide a more complete user journey. In effect, mini apps are getting more powerful as they further integrate with chats and gain new capabilities, such as an upcoming Siri-like voice assistant. Mini programs are also making inroads into the offline world, facilitating transactions like scan-to-pay at subway turnstiles, all without the fuss of app downloads.

There’s no mini-program “store” at the moment, but a less conspicuous infrastructure is taking shape. Users can already look mini apps up on WeChat’s internal search engine and may soon be able to rate them, according to Zhang. WeChat will in turn factor those reviews into search results, akin to how the App Store works.

The public space

Whether mini programs threaten the existing app ecosystem is disputed, but one thing is certain: They have a strong appeal to those without the capacity or need to build full-size apps, like a teacher who wants a tool to broadcast announcements to parents. There may be only a few dozen users, so a lightweight, easy-to-build app makes more economic sense.

WeChat’s annual company conference in Guangzhou, China. Photo: Tencent

Governments have also warmly embraced WeChat as part of a national effort to streamline public services. Anyone who’s lived in China would dread its red tape. Mini programs are digitizing many tasks that traditionally required numerous visits to government offices, such as renewing one’s social security card.

While public services may not be a big revenue driver, they do boost users’ dependence on WeChat. Alibaba’s digital wallet Alipay also offers a plethora of public services, though many are limited to payments. “After all, WeChat has more use cases, from social networking to payments, so local governments find it closer to people’s lives,” a third-party mini program developer for government services told TechCrunch, asking not to be named because the person wasn’t allowed to discuss the matter publicly.

New growth fuel

The world is watching when China’s most used app will hit its wall on user growth. WeChat hasn’t seen much momentum overseas except among Chinese expats and outbound tourists. Back home, senior users are fueling its growth. 65 million of WeChat’s monthly users are now over the age of 55, the app’s fastest growing cohort. Many of them turn out to love mini games, which are part of the mini-program universe. These games, which tend to be casual and easier to play than PC or mobile app games. have surpassed 400 million monthly users. For some context, China reached an estimated 700-million mobile game population in 2018, according to market research firm iResearch.

Curiously, WeChat hasn’t pushed monetization aggressively despite commanding a gigantic user base. Zhang has reiterated that monetization isn’t his priority, but changes are underway. WeChat is planning to add more advertising inventories to mini apps in 2019, executive of WeChat open platforms Du Jiahui said during the event. Tencent earnings show that lite-apps and Moments are already driving advertising revenues for the company over the last few months. Tencent is also under pressure to find alternative monetizing channels as its core revenue driver — video games — took a hit amid an industry shakeup last year, prompting the firm to place more focus on enterprise-facing businesses.

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