Spotify’s Pandora-esque Stations app will shut down on May 16th

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.

Engadget Podcast: What’s up with ‘Overwatch 2?’

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!

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Topics

  • 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

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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

Facebook accused of deliberately blocking government and health pages in Australia

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 …

Fox Sports will offer World Cup pre-game shows on Twitter for every match

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.

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ says the quiet part out loud

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…

‘Star Trek: Picard’ could only exist on a streaming service

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’…

書き終わるまで帰れない「原稿執筆カフェ」を海外メディア記者が試してみたら | 「記者でも締め切りは楽じゃない…負担和らぐ」

原稿を書き終わるまで退店できないというコンセプトの東京・高円寺にある「原稿執筆カフェ」が、複数の海外メディアでも「Manuscript Writing Cafe」として話題になっている。

中には、このカフェで実際に原稿を執筆してみたという体験ルポを掲載したメディアも。海外メディアのライターは「原稿執筆カフェ」でどんな体…

TikTok will explore sharing ad money with creators

TikTok creators might soon have an easier way to profit from their posts. As part of a TikTok Pulse ad solution, the social media giant will start “exploring” a program that shares ad revenue with influencers, publishers and well-known public personas. Those with at least 100,000 followers will be eligible in the first stage, TikTok said.

The company told TechCrunch it will launch Pulse in the US this June, with other countries due in the fall. TikTok will split revenue equally between itself and producers. That’s slightly worse than Instagram (where creators get 55 percent), but still significant.

The appeal is clear: if you’re popular enough, you could make money with every post. That could encourage more posts on TikTok, not to mention spare some video makers from relying heavily on sponsorships or donations.

This also helps TikTok, of course. It could prevent stars from jumping to Instagram or other, potentially more lucrative rivals. However, it might also encourage more creators to produce ad-friendly clips — you might see cleaner, less polarizing material. That won’t be thrilling if you like TikTok’s more political or risqué content, but it might help TikTok withstand increasingly fierce competition.

Xbox users can share screenshots and clips as Instagram-style stories

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.

New ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ trailer shows a certain Sith Lord being assembled

Happy Star Wars Day! Lucasfilm and Disney+ are celebrating May the 4th by offering another look at the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

There’s not a ton of new footage in this trailer compared with the first teaser. There is, however, a snippet of a conversation between Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) and Owen Lars (Joel Edgerton) about training young Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi. There’s also a look at Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) being pieced together, which is much more than the breathing cameo from the previous trailer.

This clip reinforces one of the show’s main story threads as well. The Empire is desperately trying to hunt down an on-the-run Obi-Wan in an attempt to wipe out the Jedi once and for all. I wonder how that’ll pan out. There’s also a very brief peek of Kumail Nanjiani, whose character is intriguingly wearing Jedi-style robes, along with several shots of the villains.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is set 10 years after Revenge of the Sith and it will fill in some of the narrative gaps between the prequels and the original trilogy. While The Mandalorian, which was the first live-action Star Wars series, has been a hit, Obi-Wan Kenobi should be an easier sell for Disney+ thanks to the familiar characters that are front and center. Because of that, it doesn’t need to give away too much before the series debuts with two episodes on May 27th.