Spotify’s experimental Stations app is soon to be no more. The company says it will shut down the app on May 16th. It took a leaf out of the Pandora playbook with Stations, as the app and web player offered a way to listen to curated playlists in a radio-style format. Stations debuted in Australia in 2018 and arrived in the US the following year. The app has now been removed from the App Store and Google Play Store.
The company says it often conducts tests to “create better listening experiences” for users. Our “Spotify Stations Beta was one of those tests,” Spotify told TechCrunch. “We will be sunsetting the current feature, but users will be able to easily transfer their favorite stations and enjoy a similar radio experience directly within the Spotify app.”
If you’re a Stations user, you’ll be able to move the stations you want to keep over to the Spotify app. You’ll find them in your library in a folder called Spotify Stations.
Those who enjoyed the app and its streamlined design may be disappointed by the move. However, the company noted that the radio feature in the main app offers a similar feature — it can create an ad-hoc station based on any artist, song, album or playlist.
So does the Overwatch 2 beta live up to all of the hype and anticipation? This week, Jessica Conditt joins Devindra to chat about Blizzard’s long-awaited sequel and why she thinks it’s worth the wait. Also, we discuss why you should care about data privacy given the current wave of anti-abortion legislation, and why the Embracer Group is gobbling up so many developers.
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Overwatch 2 beta brings some freshness to a stale game, but is it enough? – 1:15
What does the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade mean for online privacy in the US? – 13:28
Swedish game company Embracer buys several Square Enix studios – 17:47
Sonos is reportedly working on a $250 sound bar called the Ray – 21:46
Obi-Wan trailer drops for May the 4th – 23:19
Engadget’s coverage of Formula-E races in Monaco – 24:53
Working on – 27:14
Pop culture picks – 29:59
Video livestream
Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Jessica Conditt Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos Graphic artists: Luke Brooks and Brian Oh
Whisteblowers are accusing Facebook of purposely blocking government, healthcare and emergency services pages in Australia in order to thwart a potential law that would require platforms to pay for news, according to WSJ. The accusers say the platform …
You won’t have to leave the social media sphere to catch some of the coverage surrounding FIFA World Cup matches. Fox Sports has expanded its relationship with Twitter to offer live pre-game shows and in-match previews (through @foxsports and @foxsoccer) for every match of World Cup 2022 and Women’s World Cup 2023. You can also expect “near real-time” highlights during play as well as post-match discussions.
The exclusive deal for both the men’s and women’s tournaments is a first for Twitter, according to the social network’s global content head TJ Adeshola. Naturally, you can expect Fox to support the streams through ads.
You’ll still have to use the Fox Sports app or website (plus a pay TV subscription) if you want to stream the matches themselves. Like it or not, the broadcaster still wants to steer you toward its most lucrative business. Even so, this at least offers more ways to immerse yourself in the group stages or build up hype for a must-win knockout match.
As always, Geoff Keighley will be the master of ceremonies for Summer Game Fest Kick Off Live. Expect new game announcements, world premieres and fresh looks at other upcoming titles. Immediately after that event wraps up, Day of the Devs: Summer Game Fest Edition will shine the spotlight on a bunch of indie games.
You’ll be able to watch the Summer Game Fest double bill on a wide range of platforms, including YouTube, Twitch, Twitter and Facebook. For the first time, you’ll be able to catch Summer Game Fest Kick Off Live (and, in December, The Game Awards) at IMAX theaters in the US, Canada and the UK. If you really want to see a bunch of trailers and teasers for upcoming games in IMAX, you can buy a ticket for Summer Game Fest on May 12th.
“Video games are the most powerful, immersive and spectacular form of entertainment in the world, so it’s only natural to bring them to fans in IMAX, the world’s most immersive cinema format,” Keighley said in a statement.
The following contains spoilers for the premiere episode of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.’Today Strange New Worlds makes its debut on Paramount+, the long-awaited third live action series in the new Kurtzman-era. But, while Discovery carried the burd…
The following contains mild spoilers for the finale episode of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ season two.Picard has always been an outlier in the Star Trek franchise. It’s not a show about a particular ship and its crew; the title indicates that at its heart, it’…
Microsoft is rolling out an update to the Xbox app for iOS and Android that includes a new social sharing feature. Players will be able to share screenshots, gameplay clips and achievements with their friends and others as Instagram- or Snapchat-style stories. You’ll be able to respond to other people’s stories with a reaction or message too.
You’ll find the stories on the home screen of the app. To share a clip, screenshot or achievement, access the channel, tap the plus sign on your gamertag and choose what you want to post from the gallery. You’ll be able to add a caption before sharing your story.
Although Instagram and Snapchat stories typically disappear after 24 hours, Xbox stories will be available for 72 hours. That means it’s more likely that your friends will see your updates, as long as they can tear themselves away from the new Halo Infinite season for long enough.
There’s another new feature for Xbox consoles as part of the May update. Microsoft calls it Quality of Service (QoS) tagging. It says this is a way of prioritizing “latency-sensitive outbound networking traffic such as party chat, console streaming and multiplayer.” The company says this feature could help to maintain your gaming experience amid connection issues on congested networks.
You can manage QoS tags in the Settings app. After selecting the General option, go to network settings, then advanced settings. You’ll then see the QoS tagging settings. DSCP tagging is enabled at the IPv4 and IPv6 packet level and works on both wired and wireless connections. WMM tagging works on the wireless packed level and is active only on Wi-Fi connections.
These updates are now live in Australia. Microsoft says they’ll arrive in other regions soon.
I thought Apple’s car project had gone a little quiet, but it’s still a thing, according to Bloomberg.
The company has reportedly hired a longtime Ford engineer and executive to work on its car thought experiment, once called Project Titan. Desi Ujkashevic had been with the automaker since 1991 and was Ford’s global director of automotive safety engineering.
Naturally, that means we’ve chewed over her work history and LinkedIn page, noting she’s worked on Ford’s electric vehicles and regulatory issues — expertise Apple will love.
There have been rumors about Apple’s work on autonomous vehicles since 2015, but there have been more setbacks than announcements. Doug Field, who apparently led Project Titan, left Apple to rejoin Ford last September. Are they just swapping execs?
Razer is updating its Blade 15 laptop with an option for what it says is the first 240Hz OLED laptop display. You’ll get the high responsiveness for an edge in multiplayer games, but you’ll still have a color-accurate 1440p panel (100 percent of the DCI-P3 space) with deep contrast. You’ll need deep pockets: The upgraded Blade 15 will arrive before the end of the year for $3,500.
Paramount’s streaming service will arrive in the UK and Ireland on June 22nd. South Korea will also have access sometime in June. For everywhere else, you’ll have to wait until the second half of 2022.
The company announced it added 6.8 million new Paramount+ subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, putting the platform now at almost 40 million customers. Despite Halo.
Work on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake hasn’t gone as smoothly as Ubisoft hoped. The company has now put its Montreal studio in charge of the project, taking it away from Ubisoft’s Pune and Mumbai studios.
Ubisoft Montreal was “the very birthplace of the epic Sands of Time trilogy,” the developers wrote in a message to fans. The original was released in 2003, which was a reboot of, well, 1989’s Prince of Persia. In the original, when you died, you stayed dead.
Hook them up with the latest gadgets before their next trip.
Peak Design
While this guide is for graduates planning trips post-college, I think a lot of us are thinking of going somewhere as travel restrictions relax, and we all start to feel more comfortable with the idea of long-distance travel. Here are some travel essentials to help you stay connected — and have more fun — on the road.
