Audible is testing ad-supported access to select titles for non-members, the Amazon-owned audiobook company revealed on a help page on its website. From a report: The company confirmed to TechCrunch that the test is very limited and does not apply to paid members. The move indicates that the company may be exploring the possibility of an ad-based membership option. Audible declined to comment on any specific plans. The test includes audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals. Audible says the test applies to a limited subsection of titles on its platform. Content providers were informed of the change and given the chance to opt out of ads. Users who are part of the test will hear a total of eight ads within a 24-hour period. Audible says it has taken additional measures to make sure that ads won't be heard too frequently within a short time span.

Anti-piracy group CODA is reporting the shutdown of B9Good, a pirate manga site that targeted Japan but was operated from China. In response to a criminal complaint filed by CODA on behalf of six Japanese companies, which were backed by 21 others during the investigation, Chinese authorities arrested four people and seized one house worth $580,000. TorrentFreak reports: Manga piracy site B9Good initially appeared in 2008 and established itself under B9DM branding. SimilarWeb stats show that the site was enjoying around 15 million visits each month, with CODA noting that in the two-year period leading to February 2023, the site was accessed more than 300 million times Around 95% of the site's visitors came from Japan. B9Good had been featured in an MPA submission to the USTR's notorious markets report in 2019. Traffic was reported as almost 16 million visits per month back then, meaning that site visitor numbers remained stable for the next three years. The MPA said the site was possibly hosted in Canada, but domain records since then show a wider spread, including Hong Kong, China, United States, Bulgaria, and Japan.

Wherever the site ended up, the location of its operator was more important. In 2021, CODA launched its International Enforcement Project (CBEP), which aimed to personally identify the operators of pirate sites, including those behind B9Good who were eventually traced to China. Pursuing copyright cases from outside China is reportedly difficult, but CODA had a plan. In January 2022, CODA's Beijing office was recognized as an NGO with legitimate standing to protect the rights of its member companies. Working on behalf of Aniplex, TV Tokyo, Toei Animation, Toho, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), and Bandai Namco Film Works, CODA filed a criminal complaint in China, and starting February 14, 2023, local authorities began rounding up the B9Good team.

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill has lent his voice to a Ukrainian air raid app to warn citizens of incoming attacks during the ongoing conflict with Russia. The Verge reports: "Attention. Air raid alert. Proceed to the nearest shelter," says Hamill over Air Alert, an app linked to Ukraine's air defense system. When the threat has passed, Hamill signs off with "The alert is over. May the Force be with you."

Invoking his beloved Luke Skywalker character, some of the lines contain recognizable quotes from the Star Wars franchise like "Don't be careless. Your overconfidence is your weakness." You can hear a few lines in the following video starting around 56 seconds in [here].

The crossover of sci-fi fandom might feel like it's trivializing the real-world conflict, but some Ukrainian residents have found solace -- or perhaps the Force! -- in Hamill's Star Wars-influenced voiceover. "It's a very cool phrase for this situation," said Olena Yeremina, a business manager in Kyiv, in an interview with The Associated Press. "I wouldn't say that I feel like a Ukrainian Jedi, but sometimes this phrase reminds me to straighten my shoulders and keep working."

A Chinese startup has invented a long-distance kissing machine that transmits users' kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, which simultaneously move when replaying kisses received. From a report: MUA -- named after the sound people commonly make when blowing a kiss -- also captures and replays sound and warms up slightly during kissing, making the experience more authentic, said Beijing-based Siweifushe. Users can even download kissing data submitted via an accompanying app by other users. The invention was inspired by lockdown isolation. At their most severe, China's lockdowns saw authorities forbid residents to leave their apartments for months on end. "I was in a relationship back then, but I couldn't meet my girlfriend due to lockdowns," said inventor Zhao Jianbo.

Then a student at the Beijing Film Academy, he focused his graduate project on the lack of physical intimacy in video calls. He later set up Siweifushe which released MUA, its first product, on 22 January. The device is priced at 260 yuan ($38). In the two weeks after its release, the firm sold over 3,000 kissing machines and received about 20,000 orders, he said. The MUA resembles a mobile stand with colourless pursed lips protruding from the front. To use it, lovers must download an app on to their smartphones and pair their kissing machines. When they kiss the device, it kisses back.

Apple plans to spend $1 billion a year to produce movies that will be released in theaters, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the company's plans, part of an ambitious effort to raise its profile in Hollywood and lure subscribers to its streaming service. From the report: Apple has approached movie studios about partnering to release a few titles in theaters this year and a slate of more films in the future, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The list of potential releases includes Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio; the spy thriller Argylle, from director Matthew Vaughn; and Napoleon, Ridley Scott's drama about the French conqueror. The investment is a significant increase from years past. Most of Apple's previous original movies have either been exclusive to the streaming service or released in a limited number of theaters. The company has pledged to put movies in thousands of theaters for at least a month, said the people, though it hasn't finalized any plans.

Duolingo, a language learning app with over 500 million users, is working on a music app, TechCrunch has learned. From the report: The Pittsburgh-based tech company currently has a small team working on a music product and is hiring a learning scientist who is an "expert in music education who combines both theoretical knowledge of relevant learning science research and hands-on teaching experience," according to a job posting listed on Duolingo's career page. The company also posted a job that was soliciting a freelance music composition and curricular consultant, but the company is no longer accepting applications for that position. The job listing suggests that the app will teach basic concepts in music theory using popular songs and teachers.

It's unclear how Duolingo's music app will materialize over the next few months -- for example, we don't know whether the app will help people read music, write music, learn instruments, or all of the above -- or if it's just a tiny experiment within an organization known to love a test or 10.

A new proposal targeting hidden fees charged by cable and satellite companies could force TV providers to clearly list their "all-in" prices. From a report The proposal announced today by Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel would require cable and direct-broadcast satellite providers to "state the total cost of video programming service clearly and prominently, including broadcast retransmission consent, regional sports programming, and other programming-related fees, as a prominent single line item on subscribers' bills and in promotional materials." TV providers generally advertise a low rate that doesn't include charges such as the "Broadcast TV" and "Regional Sports Network" fees. Cable and satellite companies say these fees cover the amounts they have to pay for programming. But paying for programming is part of the cost of doing businessâ"there would be no TV channel lineup without channels, after all. By treating programming costs as separate fees, TV providers advertise rates that aren't even close to what customers actually have to pay. Comcast, for example, adds nearly $40 to monthly TV bills in the form of Broadcast TV and Regional Sports Network fees.

Variety has analyzed the often underappreciated process of selecting movie titles in Hollywood. As one of the most crucial aspects of a film's marketing strategy, the title serves as the first point of contact for potential audiences, shaping perceptions and driving intrigue. In a highly competitive industry, a captivating and effective title can be the difference between success and failure at the box office, the article argues.

The naming process typically involves collaboration between a diverse range of stakeholders, including studio executives, marketing teams, producers, directors, and screenwriters. The title must not only align with the film's story and themes, but also appeal to target demographics, meet legal requirements, and translate well into foreign languages. As a result, naming a film can be a complex and lengthy endeavor. Some movies adopt their titles from pre-existing source material, such as books or plays, while others rely on brainstorming sessions, market research, and even audience testing. High-profile examples of title changes include "Pretty Woman," originally named "3000," and "Scream," initially titled "Scary Movie."

"When we learned that a BlackBerry movie was in the works last year," writes Engadget, "we had no idea it would be something close to a comedy. But judging from the trailer, it's aiming to be a far lighter story than other recent films about tech."

Variety notes that the movie has already screened at both Berlin Film Festival and SXSW Film Festival. "The film has received favorable reviews so far, with Variety's Peter Debruge calling it "frantic, irreverent and endearingly scrappy."

That review also calls the film "surprisingly charitable to the parties involved, acknowledging that these visionaries, while making it up as they go along, still managed to change the way the world communicates.... The film, at least, feels fresh, making geek history more entertaining than it has any right to be." But there's also a message in there somewhere. Mashable calls it "a cautionary tale jolted with humor and heart," while Vulture describes it as "a very funny geek tragedy." The stories of tech founders continue to entertain and frustrate us in equal measure, and continue to give us more content to watch on the platforms and devices they created. Clearly, something about power-tripping nerds really speaks to something in our collective psyche.
Actor Jay Baruchel plays BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis — and even tells Vulture he'd kept using his own BlackBerry "until about three or four years ago..."

"I think there's something inherently tragic about these guys that are really significantly responsible, in a really significant way, for the way we all relate to each other. There's a direct line from how we all communicate now, back to what these nerds did in Waterloo in 1996."

The movie will be released on May 12.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: In January, a month before Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was released in theaters, a link to a leaked script was posted on the Marvel Studios Spoilers subreddit. Last Friday, a Marvel Studios affiliate filed DMCA subpoena applications to compel Reddit and Google to expose the leakers. One named user account is shared among the subreddit's moderator team. Court documents indicate the plan is to force Reddit to expose them all. [...]

When information about the script/subtitle file was posted on Reddit mid-January, leak-loving Marvel fans were both excited and impressed. "Yeah this is some next level leak" and "This legit might be the biggest leak in this subs history" set the tone, but the fun didn't last. A moderator of the subreddit commented that since the information was receiving copyright notices, any "future sharing of the material will result in a ban." The thread is still live today and there's no doubt that Marvel is aware of it.

The DMCA subpoena application specifically mentions the thread alongside an email from Reddit's legal team, which had previously agreed to take the infringing content down. In common with the takedown notice sent to Google, the allegedly infringing content may have been deleted before Reddit could remove it. There's no mention of a copyright complaint, instead the post notes, "Sorry, this post was deleted by the person who originally posted it." At this point concern shifts to the rest of the thread, which talks about the document hosted by Google and how the mod team "took the google doc down" to ensure that existing links to the file would no longer lead to it. As a result, Marvel now wants Reddit to hand over "All Identifying Information for the user 'u/MSSmods'," which throws another unpredictable element into the mix. The DMCA subpoena applications can be found here (G1/G2, R1/R2)

Dish Network must pay $469 million for infringing two patents held by parental-control technology maker ClearPlay related to filtering material from streaming video, a jury in U.S. federal court in Utah has decided. From a report: The jury in Salt Lake City reached its decision on Friday in ClearPlay's lawsuit against Dish, finding that Dish's AutoHop feature for skipping commercials on its Hopper set-top boxes is covered by ClearPlay's patents. While jurors found that Dish's technology violated ClearPlay's patent rights, they rejected ClearPlay's contention that Dish copied its technology intentionally. A Dish spokesperson said on Monday that the company was disappointed in the jury's decision and will contest the verdict, potentially through an appeal. Representatives for ClearPlay did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

$4,800 buys you a two-day "immersive" experience on the Star Wars-themed "Galactic Starcruiser" at Disney World — a pseudo cruise ship in space.

But one year after it opened, Disney is "cutting back" some of its bookings, reports SFGate: Earlier this year, it began offering its first sizable discounts to the general public. Now, the Starcruiser booking calendar shows only two voyages per week will be available for most of October, November and December. Only Thanksgiving week and Christmas week are offering three voyages....

"Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is one of the most ambitious, innovative projects we've ever brought to life and is unlike anything we've done before — it continues to be among our highest-rated guest experiences due to its immersive environment and incredible service provided by our stellar crew," a Disney spokesperson told SFGATE. "We learned a lot from our guests during the first year of operation and have made some adjustments along the way to continue delivering an unforgettable experience for everyone who visits."

On March 1st, a European Union regulation went into effect that effectively bans 8K TVs. This is because they exceed the new lower Energy Efficiency Index (EEI) limit that set the maximum power consumption level for all TVs at 90W, which is significantly lower than the 190W that new 8K TVs can consume. According to Tom's Guide, Samsung "seems to have already developed a workaround for this 8K TV ban." From the report: The ban is specifically based on the EEI power consumption numbers, so if you can manufacture an 8K TV that consumes less than 90W then you are in the clear. Because of this loophole, Samsung has decided to ship its 8K TVs with low-powered default settings. According to AV Magazine, the new Samsung 8K TVs will come out of the box with a "brightness-limiting eco mode" as the default brightness setting. This will allow the TVs to still meet the EEI limit while maintaining their 8K resolution.

But does this mean that Europeans will be limited to low brightness settings if they want 8K resolution? Turns out, the answer to that is, no. The E.U. regulation requires that the TVs be energy efficient out of the box, but once users have them set up, they can change to a higher brightness setting and watch to their heart's content, even though their 8K TV will now consume more power than the 90W limit set by the EEI. Other manufacturers will likely find workarounds for the E.U. regulations if Samsung's workaround is successful [...].

Broadcasters are betting that antennas and modern DVRs will help them stay relevant. But a stalled transition to ATSC 3.0 and massive growth of linear streaming services could throw a wrench into those plans. From a report: Antenna television is back. In recent years, millions of cord-cutters have rediscovered antennas as a reliable way to watch broadcast networks like ABC, NBC, and FOX, all for free -- and now, broadcasters are eager to get the rest of us hooked. They've been marching ahead with the deployment of ATSC 3.0, a next-generation broadcast format that supports 4K, HDR, Dolby Atmos audio, and even interactive apps over the air, no cable or streaming subscription required.

A little over a year ago, one of the country's biggest broadcasters made an unexpected acquisition to help bolster the transition: The E.W. Scripps Company, which operates dozens of ABC, NBC and Fox stations as well as a handful of nationwide broadcast networks, quietly bought Nuvyyo, a Canadian startup best known for its Tablo DVR devices for cord-cutters. The acquisition, which hasn't been previously reported, is part of Scripps' multibillion-dollar bet on acquiring stations, networks, and spectrum for an ATSC 3.0-powered antenna TV future. But the transition to ATSC 3.0 has been anything but smooth. Five years after its launch, the format is still not available in many major markets. Support from TV makers has been limited, and some of the promised features likely won't be available for years to come. Meanwhile, free streaming TV channels are growing by leaps and bounds and are quickly becoming a viable alternative to both cable and antenna TV. As it stands, the future of broadcast TV is looking remarkably fuzzy.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has revealed in its annual revenue report that vinyl sales have outpaced CD sales for the first time since 1987. From a report: Sales of physical music formats, like vinyl, CDs, and cassette tapes, saw a 4% increase from 2021 to 2022, but last year vinyl made up $1.2 billion of the $1.7 billion in physical media sales according to the report. In physical units, records outsold CDs 41.3 million to 33.4 million, respectively -- RIAA says this is vinyl's sixteenth consecutive year of growth. CD sales actually fell 18% from $585 million to $482 million in revenue between 2021 to 2022, but the report suggests that 2021 saw a rebound in sales after 2020 took a chunk out of CD manufacturing and sales.

So vinyl is officially booming again, and it may have something to do with the pandemic. The height of the covid-19 pandemic forced concert venues to shut down over health concerns and saw artists and their labels rethinking their music release strategies. Vinyl may have offered a special experience without consumers ever having to leave their homes, and it was an untapped stream of income for artists and labels.

The new 2024 Ford Mustang is losing its AM radio receiver, reports The Drive. A Ford spokesperson confirmed the feature's deletion, citing that "countries and automakers globally are modernizing radio by offering internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, or digital." From the report: The availability of AM radio in new cars has declined over the last decade with shifts in media consumption habits, with AM radio's audience evaporating in Europe and accounting for only a small minority of the U.S. population. [...] It's a trend of concern to current and former U.S. emergency officials, who recently wrote the Secretary of Transportation a letter advising action on AM radio's disappearance. AM radio is a crucial component of the U.S.'s national alert network, with just 75 stations reaching more than 90 percent of the country's population. Officials are concerned that AM receivers' decreasing availability in new cars could compromise their ability to reach citizens during emergencies.

Apple is launching a new music streaming service focused on classical music. TechCrunch reports: Based on its 2021 acquisition of Amsterdam-based streamer Primephonic, the new Apple Music Classical app will offer Apple Music subscribers access to more than 5 million classical music tracks, including new releases in high-quality audio, as well as hundreds of curated playlists, thousands of exclusive albums and other features like composer bios and deep dives on key works, Apple says.

However, while the app is being announced today, it's only available for preorder on the App Store for now. The release date will be later this month, on March 28. In addition, the app will only support iOS devices running iOS 15.4 or newer at launch. Apple Music Classical will present a simple interface for engaging with classical works. Users will be able to search by composer, work, conductor or even catalog number, to locate recordings. These can be streamed in high-quality audio of up to 192 kHz/24-bit Hi-Res Lossless. And thousands of recordings will be available in Apple's immersive spatial audio, as well.

The app will also let users dive into the recordings to read editorial notes about the composers and descriptions of their key works. Famous composers will have their own high-resolution digital portraits available, which Apple commissioned from artists. These were designed with color palettes and artistic references from the relevant classical period, Apple notes, and more will be added in time. At launch, portraits will be available for Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin and Johann Sebastian Bach. The service will continue to be updated with new music over time, too. There's no additional charge for Apple Music Classical if you're an Apple Music subscriber. Android support is coming "soon."

A brand new version of Spotify is being unveiled to millions of subscribers on Wednesday, marking the largest change to the platform since it became available on phones more than a decade ago. From a report: In an exclusive interview airing Thursday on "CBS Mornings," Spotify's CEO and founder, Daniel Ek, said the updates include an "entirely new" home feed that is "completely redesigned from the ground up." "You'll see Spotify, I think, come alive. You're gonna see a lot more interactive content," he said. The popular digital music streaming service allows users to access a vast library of songs and podcasts. Ek said with the change, users will be able to see recommended content in the form of clips, and other visual components.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence discussed the emergence of spatial audio, the state of the smart home, and how a seemingly endless stream of lawsuits between Sonos and Google impact its day to day. Here's what he had to say about looming right-to-repair legislation and how it impacted the company's focus on reparability: We factor in everything. But I would say that our team has been on this for a long time, in terms of being the right thing to do. Also, I think we're learning. When we were first bringing out our products 20 years ago, we were like, "How do you build these things so they'll make the sound you want?" So we had to use things like adhesives. We've been able to come up with ways and inventions that allow us to disassemble these products. It comes into our thinking more broadly about what we're building and how you live up to the law of the land, but even before that, we were already starting to use recycled materials. We were already starting to use things that allow it to be more easily repaired. In late 2021, the company announced plans to extend the lifespan of its products and use less energy. They started a "Design for Disassembly" program that "includes changes like swapping out adhesives for fasteners, which can make it easier for consumers to take apart Sonos products for repair," reports The Verge. When asked for additional information about the program, Sonos wouldn't confirm whether it will also make replacement parts and repair manuals available.

All of its products by the end of 2023 will use post-consumer recycled plastic and they will include "sleep mode," a feature that cuts down on power consumption while the device is idle. The goal is for Sonos products to ultimately use less than 2 watts while idle," adds The Verge.

In the longterm, Sonos aims to cut emissions from its products' energy use by 45 percent by 2040. They also want to essentially cancel its entire footprint by that date by relying on a mixture of carbon offsets and new technologies that remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

Streaming boxes had so much potential. They were going to reinvent the cable box for the internet age and make it easier for users to find and organize and watch everything available in this era of infinite content. They were going to turn our TVs, the hub of our homes, into smart gadgets through which we could do almost anything. They were going to be game consoles. Streaming boxes were the next big thing. Instead, well, streaming boxes suck. From a report: You can't find a single product on the market that comes even remotely close to satisfying this vision. Instead of a thriving hardware and software category, streaming boxes have turned into ever-cheaper commodity items. At the Walgreens down the street from my house, crammed in between AA batteries and bizarrely unbranded wired headphones, sits a Roku Express HD for $30. And it's as good a buy as anything else. Streaming boxes are bad, and they're getting worse instead of better.

You could almost argue that in their current form, streaming boxes don't need to exist at all. By most measures, a majority of consumers in the US already own a smart TV -- and if you're in the market for a new set, you can barely find one that doesn't have some operating system built in. Of course, most of those smart TVs are slow, riddled with ads, and try to track your every move. That's why a good streaming box is such a good idea, at least in theory. The rest of tech's evolution has made good TV hardware and software even more important -- cloud gaming is improving all the time, our homes are getting smarter, we're even using our TVs to video chat. Streaming boxes let you upgrade without throwing out your big screen and add new features that might not come baked into the set itself. Plus, a good box could mitigate some of the worst ills of the smart TV world. To borrow an old-TV analogy: the built-in smart TV stuff is like the rabbit ears of old, and we need the cable box.