Author: Jacob Yothment

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Spotify for Podcasters offers in-depth listener data

Get key-analytics information about your audience with Spotify for Podcasters!

Finally, Spotify’s new podcaster-friendly service is here!

Spotify for Podcasters is a way for podcasters to have incredible analytics tools at their fingertips. Now podcasters will have a huge amount of data of their listers including their music tastes, gender, age, and location. They will also learn about their podcasts such as how long people typically listen to one of their podcasts, and at what point they stop.

For podcasters that don’t have the money or resources of shows like The Joe Rogan Experience, Spotify for Podcasters is probably the best analytics tool at their disposal. If you’re a podcaster, this tool is right up your alley.

Spotify also released this video to talk about all of the benefits of the new feature:

Wait, is Spotify stealing my data?

Don’t worry, Spotify is not mining user data. In order to listen to music on Spotify, you need to create an account. This account data is where Podcasters are getting all of their new analytics data.

Also, podcasters aren’t getting data that links back to specific users. Basically, if you listen to My Favorite Murder on Spotify, the creators won’t know that you specifically live in the U.S., are a man, and are between 18 and 25 years old. However, they will know that at least one of their listeners falls into those demographics.

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What does it cost?

Spotify for Podcasters is free. But it’s important to note that Spotify won’t host your podcast. You need to provide a link to an RSS feed that’s on a hosting provider in order to get your podcast on Spotify.

You could upload your podcast to YouTube for free where there are a bunch of other great podcasts, but you won’t get access to these same detailed analytics tools.

Wrapping up

If you’re currently dipping your toes into the world of podcasts, we’ve got tons of helpful articles for you to check out below. Until then, make sure you check out Spotify for Podcasters to determine if it is the right tool for you!

Minecraft cancels Super Duper Graphics Pack

Minecraft’s high-quality graphics plan has been canceled.

Minecraft

Back in 2017, Minecraft announced the Super Duper Graphics Pack. The pack promised to give a new, polished look to the blocky world. Unfortunately, the new pack proved to be a bit too ambitious for the development team as they announced today that the project has been canceled.

According to their blog post, the team wasn’t “happy” about how the pack performed on all devices. Basically, it looks like it worked and looked nice on some devices, but not on all devices.

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Sadly, it looks like we still won’t be able to play Minecraft with “super-duper” graphics. Until the day comes when the Minecraft Development Team brings Minecraft’s graphics to the next level, we will just have to watch videos like this and hope.

Facebook dark mode is coming

Soon you will be able to surf through Facebook all in a slick, new dark mode!

It’s 1 a.m. and you’re in bed. Your phone gets a notification. It’s your friend and they just tagged you in a photo. As you unlock your phone to check the notification, you are blinded by the piercing white light from Facebook.

Well, it looks like your eyes are going to be saved as Facebook will soon have a dark mode.

This new feature was discovered by Jane Manchun Wong, a sleuth known for uncovering updates for apps like Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook is working on Dark Mode for mobile

I wrote a blog about this: https://t.co/X5tAZuIlPz

Tip @Techmeme pic.twitter.com/w3vYpRgxUY

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 12, 2019

As you can see in the tweet above, the text will be white on a black background. There is no official release date for dark mode. Wong discovered the update by looking at the code in the Android app.

Facebook’s future plans could eliminate all your privacy

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Twitter’s new feature allows you to subscribe to replies

Twitter is testing a new function that allows users to get notifications when someone replies to a tweet reply!

Twitter is now testing a new feature that allows users to get notifications by subscribing to tweet replies.

Now, if a user replies to a tweet, you can be notified!

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How do I do it?

Well, it’s only for mobile for now. If you were hoping to use it on your desktop, you’re out of luck. If you want to try this out on mobile, tap on the reply that you want to follow. From there, click on the bell in the top right of your screen. After that, you can get notifications for if someone replies to the tweet in question.

You probably have notifications on for your must-follows. Now you can get notifications when there’s a new reply to a Tweet you’re interested in! We’re testing this on iOS and Android now. pic.twitter.com/MabdFoItxc

— Twitter (@Twitter) August 8, 2019

Why would I do this?

The best way to describe this feature would be “neat, but unnecessary.” There aren’t many situations when subscribing to replies sounds like a good idea. If you want to follow some Twitter drama that’s going to stem from a reply, this can help out. If you’re interested in the conversation between users in a reply chain, it can come in handy. However, you can also just periodically check back also.

Before this new feature, you would only get a notification from a tweet reply if a user replied to you. Even if you commented somewhere in the reply chain, you would only get a notification if the replying user also replied to you.

No Man’s Sky Beyond trailer showcases a VR universe

No Man’s Sky Beyond adds 32-player support and populates the galaxy with life!

Hello Games just released a trailer for No Man’s Sky Beyond, which brings incredible VR tech to the massive open-world game. Although we were already burned once, we can’t help but feel hyped from this trailer:

No Man’s Sky Beyond is set to launch on Aug. 14. It will be available for Xbox, PlayStation, PlayStation VR, Steam VR, and PC. This is the biggest update to No Man’s Sky since the game’s initial release.

Back in 2016, gamers everywhere were hyped for No Man’s Sky. It promised to be one of the biggest open-world games ever created if not THE biggest.

Unfortunately, our tears of joy rapidly turned into tears of sorrow once we actually started playing the game.

No Man’s Sky was a giant open-world experience, but all of the planets we were able to visit just felt like more and more of the same. Basically, each planet was not entirely unique; they were basically the same few looped over and over again.

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Despite its checkered past, No Man’s Sky Beyond sold us with just two letters: VR. No Man’s Sky Beyond is the type of game that seems like it was always meant to be in VR. Traveling the galaxy in our spaceship as we hop from planet to planet could be an endlessly fun experience in VR.

Along with playing in beautiful VR, you will be able to explore the cosmos with up to 32 players at once!

All of the empty, barren planets that butchered our hype now look lush and full of life.

5 games we’d like to see in VR

Read now ►

Should I finally buy No Man’s Sky now?

As much as we want to say, “YES, GO BUY THE GAME RIGHT NOW! IT LOOKS AMAZING!” we would recommend waiting to hear reviews first. Yeah, it looks like fun and it looks like it would be next to impossible to screw up. However, we thought the same thing back in 2016.

We are going to hope for the best, but Hello Games already broke our hearts once. We aren’t about to just let them do that again.

These robocall blocking apps are selling your data

Several robocall blocking apps are selling your data as soon as you hit the download button

If there is one thing that every person regardless of race, religion, or political stance can get behind, it’s that we all hate robocalls.

This hatred has gotten so apparent that even the FCC has taken action to stop them. However, many of us have still taken matters into our own hands by downloading apps to block robocalls.

Unfortunately, according to an article from TechCrunch, some of these apps are compromising our privacy as soon as we download them. The robocall apps Hiya, TrapCall, and Truecaller all were selling user data to third-party analytics companies.

How serious is this?

Apps stealing your data is nothing new, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not an issue. Hiya and Truecaller were selling information about your phone such as the model and software, which is in direct violation of Apple’s App Store guidelines.

Although these three apps were the ones called out most in the TechCrunch article, they are not the only offenders. Many robocall blocking apps immediately send some data to Facebook as soon as you hit the download button.

How to stop robocalls from blowing up your phone

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Robocall blocking apps are nice, but you are still running a risk no matter which one you download. Basically, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I have one of those apps! What should I do?

Fear not! There are plenty of robocall blocking apps that you can download that won’t sell your data. Again, you just have to ask yourself if it is worth the risk.

RoboKiller - Block Spam Calls & Identify Callers Download Now ►

If you’re done with these apps altogether and want to make sure you are protected, there are some things you can do. First, you should uninstall the app in question. Once it is uninstalled, use an app like PhoneClean to make sure all traces of it are gone.

PhoneClean Download now ►

The next thing you should do is run a virus scan. Even if the app is gone, there is always a chance that something is happening in the background to send data to third-parties.

Avast Free Antivirus Download now ►

Once you’re done running a virus scan, restart your phone. If the scan found something, restarting your device can make sure that everything malicious caught by the virus scan is gone.

Wrapping up

Look, we all hate robocalls. If we get one more fake call telling us about a car warranty we don’t have, then we might just throw our phone out the window. However, this doesn’t mean that we should pursue a method of blocking robocalls that can potentially do more harm than good.

As stated before, the FCC is working on a way to block robocalls for good. It is probably in your best interest to wait until that plan is unveiled before you go seeking your own solutions.

iPhones can be hacked just by receiving a text

This bug can allow hackers access to all of your personal data just by receiving an iMessage!

We’ve all had close calls when it comes to getting our phones hacked.

Sometimes we click on a malicious link while browsing the internet. Sometimes we download a shady app that is sending data in the background. All of these things typically boil down to our own human error whether it be from lack of knowledge, or taking a chance on a shady app. However, it was recently discovered that an iPhone can be hacked simply by receiving an iMessage. This has brought more attention to a relatively new type of hacking tool known as “interaction-less” bugs.

Should I be worried?

At the Black Hat Security Conference this week, a Google Project Zero researcher showed that there are “interaction-less” bugs in iMessage that hackers can exploit to gain control. Once hackers gain control, they will be able to access your personal data on your phone.

You can click here to see the researcher’s full slideshow presentation.

The bugs were found by looking for flaws while reverse engineering iMessage. The researcher, Natalie Silvanovich, did not find any similar bugs in Android phones. However, throughout the years, she and her team have found similar bugs in apps like WhatsApp and FaceTime.

Ultimate Online Privacy Guide

Read Now ►

What should I do?

The best thing you can do is to make sure you are updating your phone whenever you can. According to Silvanovich, Apple has already patched six of these bugs in updates.

You should also run regular virus scans on your phone to make sure that you are virus-free. We highly recommend using Malwarebytes since it is both free and efficient.

Malwarebytes Download now ►

You can also block texts from unknown numbers so that you won’t hear from them again. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Messages app

2. Tap on the spam message you received to open it

3. Tap at the top of your phone until the “Info” button appears.” Tap “Info”

4. Tap on the number at the top of the screen

5. Scroll down to the bottom, and tap “Block this Caller”

6. You should stop receiving texts from this number altogether

If you do receive a shady text from an unknown number, you should block the caller, and then run Malwarebytes. Once you’re done, check and make sure that your phone is up to date.

Wrapping up

Although there is virtually no chance that your up-to-date iPhone will be hacked through this method, the question now remains: “How did Apple leave this vulnerability in the first place?” If you’re spending hundreds of dollars on an iPhone, you should rest assured that it won’t be easy for a hacker to access your personal data. Just recognize that your security depends on your vigilence.

Google adds podcast episodes to search results

Start listening to an episode of a podcast right from the Google search results!

Your search results just got a lot louder. Google search results will now include podcast episodes based on your search results.

Podcast episodes will only be included when you are searching for a podcast topic on Google. For example, if you Google “podcasts about cooking,” you should get podcast episodes that deal with cooking in your search results.

When you click on the podcast episode, you will be forwarded to Google Podcasts where you can start listening to the podcast right away.

We tried it and the results were… interesting. As you can see, we typed in “true crime podcast” and got the following results.

Although the results in the top bar were ones that made sense, the podcast episodes we could actually listen to did not reflect the top results. In fact, the first episode in the list was an episode of the Ron Burgundy podcast, a comedy podcast featuring Will Ferrell voicing his iconic character from “Anchorman.” Also, the other two podcast episodes weren’t from the top results either. Needless to say, there are still a few kinks to work out in this update.

Google says the episodes are chosen based on the search engine’s “understanding of what’s being talked about on a podcast.” The fact that the Ron Burgundy Podcast episode that appeared first was literally called “true crime” probably led to it being the first result.

Google Podcasts and Google Assistant

Google is also planning to bring this new feature to Google Podcasts and Google Assistant. For Google Podcasts, you will be able to search for podcasts and podcast episodes, and listen right from your device! Also, your listening progress is synced, so you can stop and start again from the same point later!

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Once it is implemented, if you ask your Google Assistant to, let’s say, play a podcast about cooking a turkey, it will offer a few possible episodes.

Google Assistant Download now ►

Wrapping up

Unfortunately, this feature is only available in English and for U.S. users as of now. However, that should change relatively soon.

As we have shown, this new feature is not perfect. We tried it a few more times and got mixed results. We tried Googling “cooking a turkey podcast” and the first option was an episode on turkey hunting.

However, when we Googled “mental health podcast” we got three episodes from the Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast, a podcast that dives into mental illness, addiction, and overall negativity. Clearly, it can work from time to time, but don’t be surprised if you have to fine-tune your searches a bit to get the best results. For example, once we Googled “murder podcast” rather than “true crime podcast,” we actually got more legit true-crime podcasts!

It might take awhile to perfect this new feature, but it is a welcome addition to our search results.

Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony to require games to disclose loot box odds

Loot box rates will be disclosed in all Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo games from now on.

After entering my credit card info, I opened up my loot box in hopes of getting a cool, new skin for my character. After the shimmering box finally opens, a bunch of junk falls out. I then repeat the process 10 more times as my checking account dwindles and dwindles.

If this sounds familiar, you’re probably not a fan of loot boxes either.

Luckily, it seems like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have gotten that memo. Starting in 2020, every game published on a Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony console has to disclose its loot box drop rates. Now, players can at least see their actual chances of scoring decent loot before entering their credit card information.

Also, several video game publishers have agreed to disclose their loot box drop rates in all of their games regardless of the publisher. These include:

Activision Blizzard
Bandai Namco
Bethesda
Bungie
EA
Take-Two Interactive
Ubisoft
Warner Bros.
Wizards of the Coast

This has all been a part of a new initiative from the Entertainment Software Association and the Federal Trade Commission.

Belgium outlaws paid loot boxes

REad now ►

What is the issue with loot boxes?

Back in the day, unlockables were obtained by, well, unlocking them through in-game challenges. Also, if they came out after the game’s release, you would just purchase them as DLC without having to jump through any hoops. However, it seems that nowadays,Sur the name of the game is loot boxes. Game developers have realized that instead of doing the extra work of making in-game challenges, they could make more money by making players purchase loot box after loot box.

A loot box is a relatively new mechanic in games where players spend real-world money on boxes that have the potential to give them rare items. Although there were loot-box-like features in games in the mid-2000s, the loot boxes we know today have mainly been inspired by Overwatch.

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Loot boxes always drop some loot, but most of what you’ll get is junk. It’s a lot like if buying a pack of trading cards.

What are the real dangers?

Since we first saw them enter the world of gaming, loot boxes have left a bit of a sour taste in our mouth. The potential to get cool gear in our favorite games is great, but dishing out real-world money for a chance to get the better loot came has come off as gambling.

A recent article from The Verge dove into the harsh realities of loot boxes. In the article, one gamer said that their loot box gambling addiction lead to about $10,000 in spending.

The Game Theorists also created a video discussing the science behind why buying loot boxes is so addictive. Basically, every time we invest more time and money into buying loot boxes, our brains are telling us that it would be a bigger loss to stop buying them rather than keep going. This is quite similar to what most gambling addicts suffer through.

Wrapping up

Regardless of whether you think loot boxes are good or bad for the gaming industry, the fact remains that knowing the rates of which rare items are dropped will be nice. If we see that we have a 1 in 10,000 chance to get a new skin in a $3 loot box, it’s going to be a pretty easy decision to give it a pass.

Disney+ bundles with Hulu and ESPN+ for $13 per month

The new bundle sounds great to us, but it might be a death sentence for Netflix!

For just $13 a month, you can have a subscription to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. That’s the same as a standard subscription to Netflix.

Both Hulu and ESPN are owned by Disney. Those of us who have been at the edge of our seats waiting to get Disney+ have been anxious to hear about a potential bundle announcement. Now that we have one, it almost seems too good to be true.

ESPN+ costs $5 per month and Hulu costs $6 per month. Add those to the $7 per month Disney+ would cost on its own, that’s an $18 value for only $13.

Will Disney's new streaming service kill Netflix?

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Things aren’t looking good for Netflix

With Disney+, we already know we are getting Disney animated movies, Star Wars movies and shows, and all of the exclusive MCU Phase Four shows. The fact that we are going to get all of that along with Hulu and ESPN Plus for the same price as a standard Netflix subscription makes Netflix look overpriced.

However, there is a bit of a concern as Disney enters the streaming business. If Disney+ runs Netflix out of business with their low prices, they could run prices up once Netflix is gone. Basically, these low prices for the bundle might only be available for a short time.

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If you want Hulu and ESPN+ along with Disney+, we really can’t dissuade you from not taking advantage of this great value. However, you might want to consider holding onto Netflix so that Disney doesn’t get a full monopoly on the streaming market.