Sony Music Reports Apple's New Streaming Service Arrives Tomorrow

     Well it's about time that Apple inserts itself into another niche in the music industry. With the rumor unveiling of the new Apple streaming music service scheduled to be unveiled later this week at the Worldwide Developer Conference, it of course had to be leaked somewhere. Sony Music CEO Doug Morris reportedly told guests at the Midem Music Industry Festival that Apple's announcement of the Beats-based service is in fact "happening tomorrow". This would mean that at the WWDC keynote speech tomorrow, although he did not confirm anything else such as features or pricing, however he did state that their would be a "tipping point" in Apple's favor regarding streaming hits in the mainstream.

     We know that with programs like Spotify no matter how popular they seem to be no matter how much traffic they drive in they seem to "never be profitable", Morris stated. In Apple's case however they have the cash and marketing tools to quickly branch out to hundreds of millions of potential subscribers which may be the difference between Apple's new streaming service and the many others out there.
     Whether this is all just rumor or fact, will all be decided tomorrow when we see what Apple has to offer and what they can offer that tips the scales in their favor compared to the current streaming services available.

Drones Being Used To Stop Illegal Logging in Rainforest

     Technology is often thought of as something that disconnects us with nature and destroys the world around us, but finally drones are being used to protect the Amazon rain forest rather than destroy it. Finally, a good use for drones rather than filling our local skies with delivery drones (but that's a different kind of Amazon).

     We all know how massive the Amazon rain forest is and with illegal loggers constantly trying to poach the rain forest for its precious materials it makes it just about possible to 100% monitor and protect one of the worlds most precious forests. However, with drone technology there is now a custom-designed $5,000 drone known as "flying wing" which has been keeping an eye on a 550-square-mile reserve. The drone was developed by a Wake Forest University grad student Max Messinger. Although it is a smaller model than most of the drones we have seen in the news it has a greater maximum range and can still be equipped with a decent Canon camera while sporting auto-pilot.

Although the drone may not always catch these illegal loggers in the act, it can be used to spot any tiny trace of tree poachers or gold miners allowing a more ideal tracking system for those responsible in protecting the rain forest preserve.
The drone according to Messinger has already picked up a number of illegal mines and are working to ensure that these mines are eliminated and do not continue to spread through the protected areas.


We at TechEv0lution are extremely excited that we are finally using our technology to prevent further damage to our planet and keep our most amazing forests protected. In the future we hope to see more of these drones in the air to continue to put a stop to the illegal collection of precious materials that is provided to us, because if we don't we will see the rain forest continue to diminish at an even more rapid speed than it already is.

$15 Earbuds that Will Blow Your Expensive Ones Away

     In a world where the prices of audio devices have sky-rocketed in price due simply to good marketing we were delighted to see a new pair of earbuds in a recent review titled "Top-Tier Sound For Pennies" which appeared on a very well-respected web forum head-fi.org.

MRICE E300 EARPHONES

The author who goes by the username AndroidVageta, gave five stars to some headphones that cost less than an average lunch. In doing so he compared the clarity and dynamic range of these earbuds to the JH16 Pro which is a top of the line ear bud set that retails for $1,149. These are the same models that The Absolute Sound had recently praised as "the sonic 'mountaintop' among in-ear headphones."




     According to Wired Magazine "For the $12 I spend shipped (sic) for these Baldoor E100's all I can say is that they are simply amazing. Not simply amazing for the price, mind you, but amazing compared to anything. I've ever heard or have owned."
     We at TechEv0lution are excited to see headphones such as these surface in the industry as we are tired of looking at earbuds that cost 100's of dollars to simply find a good sound. These headphones from Baldoor have what we can only describe as top quality sound at rock bottom prices and in fact are sold out on amazon and in most stores that carry them already, simply because of the praise they have received thus far in the audio marketplace. MRice E300 or the MRice E100 are the current earbuds that Baldoor is bringing to us and we are absolutely sold on the quality of their products.

Google Chrome Updated to Intelligently Pause Flash Animations

     As Adobe Flash has been on a constant downfall over the past few years, but it is still popular enough that often times it is the cause for the auto-play video on a website that makes us immediately leave site or want to smash it. As it is considered poor User Experience for a website to even have an auto-play video we are glad to see that Google Chrome is taking the steps to auto-pause any flash video that begins when the page loads.

     To be perfectly honest we are so thankful for a feature like this to be released with a browser as there are very few people if any who enjoy having auto-play videos especially flash videos which already cause slower load times and a heavier load on browsers. With Google Chrome taking this step it is just another way that Adobe Flash is slowly but surely being removed from our web experience which many of us will not miss.
     However, according to TechCrunch it would seem that Google actually partnered up with Adobe to keep Flash in check throughout web pages, and up until now there were only two options that Chrome offered to allow plugin content or stop all plugins from running automatically.


     Google is also saying that this update "significantly reduces power consumption." It will also stop annoying auto-playing videos from starting in the background. This will allow the browser to work with less power overall and for us laptop users that is a welcome update as often times browsers can have a large drain on laptop battery life.
     This update is now available in the Chrome desktop beta channel and Google says it will roll out the update to everyone soon.

Apple Watch Arriving at Apple Stores in two Weeks

     Apple has finally announced that the Apple Watch will hit US retail stores in two weeks, and hopes to clear up most of its May pre-order backlog by then as well. The watch is also supposedly coming to seven more countries by June 26th, including Italy, Taiwan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland where folks will be able to grab it not only from the Apple Store but also from certain upscale outlets. This news it positive as it indicates that Apple is finally starting to clear up its backed up pre-ordering, and has emphasized that demand for the watch has "surpassed our expectations."

     When Apple began allowing pre-orders for the wearable in April, most customers that didn't purchase one at the first strike saw delivery dates being pushed further and further back to June and later. Although some people speculated that the Watch sales still hadn't met expectations, even though Apple had not released any figures to back that up. So for those of you who haven't been able to pre-order the Apple Watch and still would like to buy one it may be worth waiting for 2 weeks and then visiting the store rather than ordering online. However, the exception is that Apple has said only "some" models will be available at first in store so you may not get the one you have been waiting for either way.

Source: Apple

Video Game Hall of Fame Posts First Class "Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Tetris and World of Warcraft"

     The World Video Game Hall of Fame has inducted the first class of video games. These include Pong, Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., Tetris and World of Warcraft all named to first class.

     We however, would like to talk about World of Warcraft and how it brought tens of millions of people together in a universe like no other, which reshaped the way people think about their online lives and communities.

In 1997, the developer Richard Garriot described his game Ultima Online as the coined phrase "Massivley Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) where people could create their own personal avatars that represent them in this world of exploration, that was constantly evolving and allowing players to shape their own futures. While playing the game, you could chat with one another, form guilds and collaborate as a group, go on epic quests and fight tons of monsters around the world. 7 Years later World of Warcraft was released in 2004 and quickly became the largest and best-selling MMORPG to date. Although World of Warcraft followed the traditional flow of MMORPG's such as Ultima Online with quests, guilds and fighting enemies the games popularity stemmed from the ease at which all of these were done as it allowed both casual and hard-core players to enjoy the experience.


     World of Warcraft also provided one of the best personal and immersive experiences to date with many users viewing their digital avatars as simple extensions of themselves enabling users to create some of their closest friends and associates during their time in World of Warcraft. The game especially connected with people who perhaps had cognitive or physical disabilities and were not comfortable making friendships in the real world, and allowed them to have the safety net of a computer screen.
     Blizzard hosts World of Warcraft servers in countries all around the world, allowing it to be popular in every region and allowing people to forge relationships from across the world as well. In February of 2015 the game had posted over 10 Million subscribers which was only slightly lower than its record-setting 12 million in October of 2010 with 100 million accounts having being created since the games release. As we view the business models of games today, where free-to-play reigns supreme the game still has been able to entice players to a pay $15 monthly subscription model which really speaks to the games quality and lasting popularity.

Sony Looking to Drastically Improve the Playstation 4

     All gamers have griped about it at one point or another, the lack of storage that comes on consoles. Sony is looking to solve that issue with a single swoop as they are discussing a new 1 Terabyte Playstation 4.
     A new FCC filing seems to reveal that there may be 2 new versions of Sony's popular console PS4. The one we care about however is the 1-Terabyte hard drive that may be available to consumers; effectively doubling the current hard drive available.
     With digital downloads become more and more popular as hard-copies popularity drops one of the biggest issues with consoles today is running out of room to store it all one. As most titles can easily reach between 30-40 gigabytes of data taking up large amounts of hard-drive space in a hurry.

Many forum posters are already weighing in on the topic, with some saying that 1 terabyte is still not big enough and that Sony should aim higher, while others are happy that their is an upgrade happening at all. However, in addition to the hard-drive space increase many are noticing that the new Playstations are different in several other ways as well. They are using less power and are lighter (only slightly) than the more recent PS4 revisions which is most likely due to a better design. However, even with all of the updates it seems that many still want to see more out of Sony's PS4 revision, such as being able to support 5 gigahertz WiFi.
     Although in a time where most game updates are sporting a hefty 10-gigabytes we find that it is promising that Sony is taking the step to increase space for the user and hope that other console developers will follow their lead in making next-gen consoles truly next-gen by supporting the increasing digital marketplace.

The Steam Machine Is Coming

     After all of the rumors and our personal hopes, the long awaited Valve Steam Machine has finally opened itself to pre-orders. However, this is only for a small group of Steam Machines, which is a console-like gaming computer which will run on the company's Linux-based Steam OS(Operating System). According to Polygon the pre-order will be available through the Steam store and Gamestop, along with the Steam Machine you will also be able to pre-order the Steam Link which will allow PC gaming to take place on any room in the house with a streaming service from the Steam device (as long as the devices are on the same home network). The steam link is said to support up to 1080p resolution "with low latency" according to Valve.

      The Steam Link as shown to the left will only cost $49.99 and will feature the same Steam Controller that has been released which will also be available by November. On the Steam Website, Valve tells us that the Steam Link is "designed to take advantage of the PC horsepower you already have in your home, with In-Home Steaming". Valve also tells us that it will be easy to setup and use, simply by hooking it up to your television and home network.

     As for the Steam Machine, Alienware and CyberPower have already begun designing their takes on what they want the Steam Machine to be. As you can see to the right Alienware's version of the Steam Machine seems extremely sleek and well to be honest console-like. As of today Alienware and CyberPower are both taking pre-orders on the Steam Machine with a scheduled November release. Apparently anyone can make a Steam Machine and this is what is so tantalizing about the product as two of the large PC companies have already taken on the challenge; we are excited to see who else will enter the race and what special customization each company will bring to the Steam Machine.
     As the Steam Machine is simply just a PC running the Steam OS, it will be extremely interesting to see how each game that Steam has to offer transfers to the new Steam Controller which has a very unique look with 2 touch-type pads on each side along with a joystick and traditional 4-button control on the front.

     The Steam Machine is Valve's attempt at making their already massively successful Online Game Platform into a couch-friendly version and with over 3,700 games being offered it will have the largest library of games especially in comparison to the newest generation of consoles PS4 and Xbox One which are extremely lacking in game options.

     There is one factor that we believe could cause issues and that is the fact that the OS will only run Linux games. Still, Valve is trying to push for between 1,000 - 1,200 games to be supported by its launch date in November and that includes working with the new Steam Controller.

    We at TechEv0lution are extremely excited for the release of the Steam Machine and its equally impressive counter-part Steam Link which will both be coming to us in November of this year!

Windows 10 The Cross-Platform OS

   
Windows 10 Bringing Devices Together
     The goal of windows 10 is to bring all of your devices together. This goal is not easily attainable but definitely in sight for the Windows Development team. With Windows 8 being the huge failure that we all know it was, we have high hopes for the Windows 10 operating system. Imagine being able to access your PC from your phone, Xbox and tablet always having all of your information on hand and not simply through a cloud but rather through an OS that allows constant access. This is what windows 10 is hoping to accomplish, with a free upgrade being offered for windows 10 from windows 7 and 8 devices it definitely will get the users it needs to be thoroughly tested and attract developers to the OS.

Windows Store Updates
     The windows store has been in quite a sad state with not enough developers giving quality applications it has overall been lacking compared to its competitors but Windows 10 will bring several changes that will hopefully attract new developers and bring the store back into the running.
   
      The store will offer businesses admin abilities such as highlighting apps for employees to download, distribute selected apps from windows store to their employees and even use business payment methods to allow quick and easy payments.
     For the end-users, the apps will install and uninstall more easily and completely with support for a global range of payment methods on all devices, this will make it the largest carrier billing footprint of any ecosystem, supporting 90 carriers to help all people who may not have credit cards but still have phones.
     Finally, for developers there are new capabilities being added as well:
               1. Carrier billing throughout all Windows 10 devices, which is estimated to increase purchases the market by up to 8x's.
               2. In-app purchase subscription support
               3. New Windows Store Affiliate Program
               4. Updated Windows 10 Microsoft Advertising SDK with support for video ads and install tracking.
     It is nice to see that Microsoft is seeing the weak-points of the Windows Store and improving them to not only catch up with the other marketplaces but also exceed the capabilities and reach that they have as well.

Windows Continuum Universal Platform Innovation

     With the Windows 10 Universal Platform design, it allows for developers to create a single application which will automatically be able to function on all Windows 10 devices. As the UI/UX for Windows 10 is automatically built to adapt to all different screen sizes the developer will then be able to simply tailor applications to unique capabilities of each device, rather than create multiple applications designed to work for each device individually. This includes integrating Cortana and Xbox Live to their applications, which offer trusted commerce, natural user input, create holograms and more. 

Continuum for Phones

Microsoft HoloLens: Partner Spotlight with Trimble

With all of these updates coming quickly to the Windows 10 scene, we are excited to see what Developers will bring to the table for users like us to enjoy over the next months.

Super Mario 64 HD for Browser! Why aren't you playing yet?!?!

Like most of us who grew up playing the N64 console, we all loved the Mario franchise but none more perhaps than Super Mario 64. Finally, it is being released for our browsers and although so far it is only the first Bomb-Omb Battlefield level we are excited for what this will bring in the future.

 We couldn't believe it either, but it has been giving a beautiful makeover to just about every graphic aspect of the game with new up-to-date textures. It was built in Unity by Roystan Ross and we are thankful to him for making this a reality.

If you would like to play this new HD version of Mario 64 or at leas the one map available so far you can find it at Roystan Ross's Website and play to your hearts content. We are so excited for anything else that he is going to bring us in the near future.

Nintendo's Next Gen Console, What do we know?

      So Nintendo is going to be bringing us another game platform and although we don't know much, we know enough to start getting an idea of what they have in store.
     First, the news that Nintendo will make smartphone games was a bombshell on the community as no one has ever though of Nintendo as a mobile game maker, but it does offer some promising ideas with how well they have been able to do with their handheld Nintendo DS.

     However, the bigger bombshell that they announced in the same week was the new platform they plan to create, which is codenamed NX and is set to unveil in 2016.
     Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated that the announcement should be viewed as "proof that Nintendo remains strong enthusiast for the dedicated game system business." and added during a Q&A session "I wanted to communicate that Nintendo will be progressing with videogame-dedicated devices with a passion." and that "We wanted to make it clear that Nintendo will continue with that as our core business."





     After that Nintendo refuses to say much more about the NX other than it will be built as a "brand new concept." So with a massive amount of room for speculation we can think of a plethora of things that Nintendo could be doing. However, looking at Nintendo's history I'm sure we can all be excited about what they could bring to the table. In addition their unification of hardware divisions in 2013 due to "vast technological advances, it became possible to achieve a fair degree of architectural integration." In other words cross-platforming is becoming easier and should be one of their concentrations.
     This was shown with the creation of the WiiU how Nintendo wanted to start combining the idea, and according to Iwata "It will become important for us to accurately take advantage of what we have done with the Wii U architecture. It of course does not mean that we are going to use exactly the same architecture as Wii U, but we are going to create a system that can absorb the Wii U architecture adequately, When this happens, home consoles and handheld devices will no longer be completely different, and they will become like brother in a family of systems."

     When trying to interpret all that Iwata is telling us, we realize he wishes to merge home and portable systems while "absorbing the Wii U architecture." So this gives the idea of a portable system that will share a common platform to the Wii U. This makes us think that this could lead us to not only one new console, but also a new handheld as well. We are hopeful for what Nintendo has to offer us in the future and what they really seem to stress is Nintendo is going nowhere and continue their legacy for the years to come.

Amazon Gets Permission for Delivery Drone Testing

     Finally, we may all start seeing Amazon drones overhead as of March 19th, 2015 after Amazon had threatened to take their business overseas the FAA has issued them an "experimental airworthiness certificate" 

After Amazon had announced it's drone plans in December 2013, it seemed that the FAA regulations would not allow this to be a reality though. A year later in 2014 Amazon then threatens to move its operations overseas. The FAA had not made any progress on the matter until just recently when last month it published a proposal with new rules which would help legalize commercial drone flight, and have granted a number of exemptions to other companies that wanted to begin field testing with flying robots.
     These new rules however, including the exemption granted to Amazon today, require the drones remain within line of sight of the pilot at all times, and in Amazon's case the driver must also have "a private pilot's certificate and current medical certification" and although these restrictions will allow for initial testing, it is hard to picture how they would ever be able to go commercial with the severely limited distance available.

     It is extremely promising that they are working together now or at least trying to. So we will have to see what Amazon's drone project has in store.