Late 2019, Internet provider Cox Communications lost its legal battle against a group of major record labels. Now it's appealing it. From a report: Following a two-week trial, a Virginia jury held Cox liable for its pirating subscribers. The ISP failed to disconnect repeat infringers and was ordered to pay $1 billion in damages. Heavily disappointed by the decision, Cox later asked the court to set the jury verdict aside and decide the issue directly. In addition, the company argued that the "shockingly excessive" damages should be lowered. Both requests were denied by the court, which upheld the original damages award.

Despite the setbacks, Cox isn't giving up. The company believes that the district court's ruling isn't just a disaster for Internet providers. If it stands, the verdict will have dramatic consequences for the general public as well. This week the ISP submitted its opening brief at the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, hoping to reverse the lower court's judgment. The filing begins by placing the lawsuit in a historical context. "The music industry is waging war on the internet," Cox's lawyers write. First, the music companies went after thousands of file-sharers and software companies such as Napster. When those tactics didn't deliver the desired result, Internet providers became a target.

Apple today released macOS Big Sur 11.4, the fourth major update to the macOS Big Sur, operating system that launched in November 2020. From a report: The new macOS Big Sur 11.4 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Preferences. macOS Big Sur 11.4 lays the groundwork for two upcoming Apple Music features: Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio, both of which will be available on the Mac. It also adds support for Apple Podcasts subscriptions, and fixes a number of bugs. Apple today also released iOS and iPadOS 14.6, marking the sixth major updates to the iOS and iPadOS operating systems that initially came out in September 2020. From a report: The iOS and iPadOS 14.5 updates can be downloaded for free and the software is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the new software, go to Settings - General - Software Update. iOS 14.6 introduces support for several previously announced features. It lays the groundwork for the Apple Music Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio functionality, but these new Apple Music capabilities aren't expected to launch until June. The update also adds support for Apple Card Family for sharing Apple Cards, it introduces new Podcast subscription options, and it adds new AirTags capabilities, in addition to addressing several bugs.

China's internet watchdog has named and shamed some of the country's most popular mobile applications, including the Chinese version of TikTok, Kuaishou, LinkedIn and 102 other apps, for the illegal collection and use of personal data. From a report: The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said that after receiving complaints from users, it had found that 105 apps had violated several laws and had infringed personal information through illegal access, over-collection and excessive authorisation, according to a notice on its WeChat official account. Short video apps including Kuaishou and ByteDance-owned TikTok were included in the list as well as Microsoft-owned LinkedIn and Bing, Tencent-owned music streaming service Kugou, and search giant Baidu's mobile browser.

A top Apple executive tasked with defending the App Store in a monopoly lawsuit by Epic Games found himself having to answer Tuesday for a spate of other alleged antitrust fouls by the world's most valuable company. From a report: During Phil Schiller's cross-examination in a trial in Oakland, California, Apple's former global marketing chief was confronted about several instances in which the company has locked in users and made it difficult for them to switch away from its devices. Katherine Forrest, a lawyer for Epic, pointed out that Schiller emailed his colleagues a 2016 news article titled "iMessage is the glue that keeps me stuck to the iPhone," which explained that Apple's messaging platform is a reason people don't switch to Android devices.

She also quizzed Schiller on the idea that users can't easily move music and video purchased on Apple services to Google's Android. She went further, indicating that Apple's iCloud Keychain service for storing passwords on Apple devices can't synchronize with Android devices. Her point: Apple doesn't just lock in developers with its App Store rules, it also locks in consumers, limiting their ability to switch to competitors. In response, Schiller said many users subscribe to video and music streaming services and can input their passwords into a new device manually. He also suggested that users could use third-party password managers.

Today, Google and Samsung announced that they are merging Wear OS and Tizen in an effort to better compete against Apple's watchOS. "The resulting platform is currently being referred to simply as 'Wear,' though that might not be the final name," notes The Verge. From the report: Benefits of the joint effort include significant improvements to battery life, 30 percent faster loading times for apps, and smoother animations. It also simplifies life for developers and will create one central smartwatch OS for the Android platform. Google is also promising a greater selection of apps and watch faces than ever before. "All device makers will be able to add a customized user experience on top of the platform, and developers will be able to use the Android tools they already know and love to build for one platform and ecosystem," Google's Bjorn Kilburn wrote in a blog post.

Wired has more details on what's to come, including the tidbit that Samsung will stick with its popular rotating bezel on future devices -- but it's finished making Tizen-only smartwatches. There will also be a version of Google Maps that works standalone (meaning without your phone nearby) and a YouTube Music app that supports offline downloads. Oh, and Spotify will support offline downloads on Wear smartwatches, as well. Samsung confirmed that its next Galaxy Watch will run on this unified platform. And future "premium" Fitbit devices will also run the software.

Apple Music subscribers will find a big chunk of the catalog sounds better next month: The service is adding support for high-quality, lossless and spatial audio through Dolby Atmos at no additional cost, it said Monday. It'll have 20 million lossless audio songs to start, with 75 million available by the end of 2021. From a report: To try out lossless audio, you should make sure you have the latest version of Apple Music and go to Settings, Music, then Audio Quality. You can choose different resolutions for cellular and Wi-Fi connections, or just download the track. The lossless tier starts at CD quality, which is 16 bit at 44.1 kHz, and goes up to 24 bit at 48 kHz and is playable natively on Apple devices. If you use external audio equipment, you can crank the quality up to 24 bit at 192 kHz. Further reading: AirPods Max, priced at $549, don't support Apple Music's lossless songs, Apple says.

The beauty and misery of private RSS feeds. An anonymous reader shares a report: There's only supposed to be one way to hear exclusive podcast content from sports host Scott Wetzel: by paying $5 a month to subscribe to his Patreon. But the show's also been available on a smaller podcasting app for free. In fact, leaked podcast feeds from dozens of subscription-only shows, including Wetzel's and The Last Podcast On The Left, are available to stream through Castbox, a smaller app for both iOS and Android, just by searching for them.

Two people in the podcast space tell me they've reached out to Castbox multiple times, only for the company to remove a show and then have it pop up again, an infuriating cycle for someone trying to charge for their content. "It's a little bit like playing whack-a-mole with them," says one source, who asked to remain anonymous because of their ongoing work in the space. Podcast subscriptions have existed for years, but they've gained wider attention this past month. Apple, which makes the dominant podcasting app, introduced in-app subscriptions with a button that lets people directly subscribe to a show from the app. Spotify announced its own subscription product, too, but with caveats -- the main one being there's no actual in-app button.

Apple is facing a London lawsuit over claims it overcharged nearly 20 million U.K. customers for App Store purchases, yet another legal headache for the tech giant fighting lawsuits across the world. Bloomberg reports: Apple's 30% fee is "excessive" and "unlawful" the claimants said in a press release Tuesday. The claim, filed at London's Competition Appeal Tribunal on Monday, calls for the U.S. firm to compensate U.K. iPhone and iPad users for years of alleged overcharging. They estimate that Apple could face paying out in excess of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.1 billion). "Apple is abusing its dominance in the app store market, which in turn impacts U.K. consumers," Rachael Kent, the lead claimant in the case and a professor at King's College London. She teaches the ways in which consumers interact and depend upon digital platforms.

The legal challenges come as Apple faces a backlash -- with billions of dollars in revenue on the line -- from global regulators and some developers who say its fees and other policies are unjust and self-serving. Last month, the European Commission sent a statement of objections to the firm, laying out how it thinks Apple abused its power as the "gatekeeper" for music-streaming apps on its store. The suit alleges that Apple deliberately shuts out potential competition and forces ordinary users to use its own payment processing system, generating unlawfully excessive levels of profit for the company. The claimants say any U.K. user of an iPhone or iPad who purchased paid apps, subscriptions or made other in-app purchases since October 2015 is entitled to compensation. "We believe this lawsuit is meritless and welcome the opportunity to discuss with the court our unwavering commitment to consumers and the many benefits the App Store has delivered to the U.K.'s innovation economy," Apple said in an emailed statement. "The commission charged by the App Store is very much in the mainstream of those charged by all other digital marketplaces," Apple said. "In fact, 84% of apps on the App Store are free and developers pay Apple nothing. And for the vast majority of developers who do pay Apple a commission because they are selling a digital good or service, they are eligible for a commission rate of 15%."

From Now is one of the most popular sci-fi podcasts on the market that is now being turned into a TV series, thanks to Amazon Studios. Engadget reports: From Now, which debuted in December, stars Richard Madden (Game of Thrones, Marvel's Eternals) and Brian Cox (Succession) as identical twins separated by time. Madden plays astronaut Edward Fitz, whose spacecraft unexpectedly shows up in Earth's orbit after disappearing 35 years previously. The story deals with the aftermath of the brothers' reunion, with Edward appearing to be the same age as when he left and his twin now an old man. From Now shot up to number two in the overall Apple Podcast charts.

From Now creators Rhys Wakefield and William Day Frank, are adapting the podcast for TV. It's unclear whether Madden and Cox will reprise their roles, but they'll act as executive producers. Madden is already working with Amazon. He's currently filming Citadel, an ambitious-sounding Prime Video spy series from the Russo brothers.

Sennheiser has sold its consumer electronics division to a Swiss company called Sonova that specializes in hearing care, Sennheiser has announced. Engadget reports: Sonova said it made the 200 million euro ($241 million) deal to expand its aging demographic to younger customers, particularly in the wireless in-ear segment. "Even if they don't have hearing loss, most of them will gradually get hearing loss with age, and devices like Sennheiser's allow us to have earlier consumer access to such people," Sonova chief Arnd Kaldowski told Reuters. The company said it would build on Sennheiser's HiFi expertise and "combine it with its own technology expertise and strengths in the field of innovative hearing solutions."

As part of what the company called a "partnership," Sennheiser will completely transfer its consumer business to Sonova. Sennheiser said it had 600 employees in its consumer division, but made no mention of possible layoffs. Sennheiser's Co-CEOs, Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser, said Sonova "not only shares our passion for audio and a commitment to the highest product quality, but also very similar corporate values." Sonova will gain permanent licensing to the Sennheiser brand, giving it an entry into the consumer headphone segment. "Combining our audiological expertise with Sennheiser's know-how in sound delivery, their great reputation as well as their high-quality products will allow us to expand our offering," Kaldowski said.

wiredmikey shares a report from SecurityWeek: Security researchers have shown how a Tesla -- and possibly other cars -- can be hacked remotely without any user interaction from a drone. This was the result of research conducted last year by Ralf-Philipp Weinmann of Kunnamon and Benedikt Schmotzle of Comsecuris. The attack, dubbed TBONE, involves exploitation of two vulnerabilities affecting ConnMan, an internet connection manager for embedded devices. A hacker who exploits the vulnerabilities can perform any task that a regular user could from the infotainment system. That includes opening doors, changing seat positions, playing music, controlling the air conditioning, and modifying steering and acceleration modes. They showed how an attacker could use a drone to launch an attack via Wi-Fi to hack a parked car and open its doors from a distance of up to 100 meters (roughly 300 feet). They claimed the exploit worked against Tesla S, 3, X and Y models. "Tesla patched the vulnerabilities with an update pushed out in October 2020, and it has reportedly stopped using ConnMan," the report notes. Since the ConnMan component is widely used in the automotive industry, similar attacks could be launched against other vehicles.

Apple has "abused its dominant position" in the distribution of music streaming apps through its App Store, the European Commission said Friday. From a report: "Our preliminary finding is that Apple exercises considerable market power in the distribution of music streaming apps to owners of Apple devices. On that market, Apple has a monopoly," Margrethe Vestager, the head of competition policy in the EU, said in a press conference. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, opened an antitrust investigation into the App Store last year, after the music streaming platform Spotify complained in 2019 about Apple's license agreements. The agreements mean that app developers have to pay a 30% commission on all subscription fees that come through the App Store. On Friday, the EU said it took issue with the "mandatory use of Apple's own in-app purchase mechanism imposed on music streaming app developers to distribute their apps via Apple's App Store." App developers are also unable to inform users of alternative ways to purchase the same apps elsewhere --another issue the commission said it was concerned with.

Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition chief, will late this week publicly issue charges against Apple over concerns that the rules it sets for developers on its App store break EU law, Financial Times reported Tuesday, citing several people with direct knowledge of the announcement. From the report: The case started two years ago after music streaming app Spotify brought a complaint alleging that Apple took a hefty 30 per cent subscription fee in exchange for featuring it on its App Store, but refused to let users know of cheaper ways of accessing it outside the Apple ecosystem. The case is among a number against Apple and is one of the most high profile antitrust cases in Europe against a US tech group. The people warned that the timing could still slip.

Spotify is increasing the price of many of its subscriptions this week across the UK and parts of Europe, with the US seeing a hike to Family plans. The Verge reports: Subscribers have started to receive emails informing them of the changes, and they will affect Student, Duo, and Family plans across parts of Europe and the UK, and Family subscriptions in the US from April 30th. Single Spotify Premium subscriptions are unaffected. Spotify family is increasing from $14.99 to $15.99 per month in the US. Fortunately, Duo, Premium, and Student pricing will remain the same... for now. The bigger hits to pricing will affect users in the UK and Europe.

In the UK, Spotify Student is increasing from 4.99 to 5.99 pounds per month, with a Duo subscription (for two people) moving from 12.99 to 13.99 pounds a month. Family users will also be hit with price increases, with the Spotify Family plan (up to six accounts) jumping from 14.99 to 16.99 pounds a month. Similar price increases will affect Spotify users in some European countries, too. Ireland and a handful of other European countries will see both Student and Duo increasing by a euro each per month, to 5.99 and 12.99 euros per month respectively. The Family plan in Europe is also increasing from 14.99 to 17.99 euros per month. Some countries in Asia and South America will also see similar price increases.

All existing Spotify subscribers in the US, Europe, and UK users of Spotify will have a one-month grace period before prices are automatically increased, so existing subscribers will see an increase during the June period of billing.

According to Sacramento CBS affiliate KOVR-TV, Yana Sydnor called the police to report a possible home invasion. Turns out, it was a robovac that her son turned on before leaving for the weekend. Android Police reports: At 1 a.m., she and her 2-year-old daughter woke up to loud booms coming from her stairs disrupting her meditation music. She texted her friends about the sounds before they quickly responded, urging her to call 911. "I hear someone walking down my stairs, so it's like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom," Sydnor recalls telling the dispatcher. Desperate to exit the house and avoid a run-in with the invader, she ran to the bathroom, put her daughter in the tub, and thought about grabbing a ladder to get them both outside to ground level.

Officers arrived within 10 minutes of Sydnor's call. They rammed the front door wide open only to find a poor robovac, fresh from a tumble down a flight of stairs. "My son turned on the vacuum cleaner because he didn't want to do chores before he left for the weekend," she explained to the reporter after a moment of exasperated silence. The vacuum hadn't been used for 2 years and, even after the fall, it still works. We couldn't make out the make and model of the robovac, so we don't quite know if it could stop itself from going over the ledge much less what exactly happened in this case if it did have the ability.

Spotify wants to be the industry's No. 1 distributor of podcasts -- and it's willing to forgo some revenue in order to counter Apple's push into podcast subscriptions. From a report: Next week, Spotify will launch its podcast subscription option for partners. But the company will be letting content creators keep 100% of the subscription fees: Spotify will not take a cut of podcast subscription revenue, sources confirmed, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. By contrast, Apple will keep up to 30% of podcast subscription fees under its program, which is launching next month. Currently, Spotify doesn't allow customers to pay for subscriptions through Apple in-app purchases -- and Spotify has been a very vocal critic of Apple's App Store policies, which has included lodging a formal complaint with the European Union alleging anticompetitive behavior. Similarly, you won't be able to purchase Spotify podcast subscriptions through Apple.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Today, with the expansion of its Galaxy Upcycling at Home service (which is still in beta), users in the U.S., U.K., and South Korea will get access to an experimental feature in the SmartThings app designed to give an old Galaxy handset new life as a useful smart home accessory. By using the app to reconfigure the device's battery usage and optimization, Samsung says even older devices will still be able to deliver good longevity, while the phone's usual assortment of wireless connectivity features makes it easy to pair the phone with other devices in your home.

In the SmartThings app, Samsung provides a range of functions that an old smartphone can perform, including serving as a light sensor that can automatically turn on your smart lights or even your TV when it gets dark. Alternatively, you can also convert an old Galaxy phone into a sound sensor, with the phone using AI to detect common household noises like a barking dog, crying baby, or a knock on the door. In this way, you can also repurpose an old Samsung phone as a baby monitor of sorts [...]. And of course, even without much fiddling, upcycled Samsung phones can also be used as universal remotes, providing an easy way to control your streaming video box, play music on your smart speakers, control your lights, and more.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Vox: The company plans to start selling subscriptions to podcasts and keeping a slice of each transaction for itself. Apple CEO Tim Cook briefly mentioned plans to roll out a subscription feature during the company's keynote event Tuesday, without offering more details. But a person familiar with Apple's plans has spelled it out to Recode:

- Starting next month, Apple will let podcast publishers sell subscriptions to individual shows or groups of shows, and set their own pricing, starting at 49 cents a month in the US.
- Apple won't require podcasters to create Apple-only exclusive shows, but it does want them to distinguish between stuff they're already distributing via Apple and stuff going up on other platforms: That could mean ad-free shows or shows with extra content or brand-new shows that only exist on Apple.
- Apple will keep 30 percent of any subscription revenue creators generate in their first year on the platform. After that, Apple's cut will drop to 15 percent. That's the same pricing scheme Apple already uses for other subscription services, like TV streamers.

According to a new report by industry analysts Mark Mulligan and Keith Jopling of Midia Research, songwriters are getting drastically short-changed in the music-streaming economy. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: The 35-page report, which is available here for free, lays out both the history of this dilemma and some (admittedly difficult) proposed solutions, but what may be unprecedented is the way that it lays out how skewed against songwriters the new music economy is. A handful of the many statistics from the study follow:

- The global music industry revenues (recordings, publishing, live, merchandise, sponsorship) fell by 30% in 2020 due to the combined impact of COVID-19 and a recession
- Streaming has created a song economy, making the song more important than ever, yet music publisher royalties are more than three times smaller than record label royalties
- Streaming will bring further strong industry growth, reaching 697 million subscribers and $456 billion in retail revenues, but the royalty imbalance means that label streaming revenue will grow by 3.3 times more than publisher streaming revenue
- The current royalty system assumes all songs are worth the same - they are not - and rewards poor behavior that dilutes artist and songwriter royalties
- Music subscribers believe in the value of the song: twice as many (60%) state that the song matters more than the artist, than think the artist matters more (29%)
- They also believe that songwriters should be remunerated properly: 71% of music subscribers consider it important that streaming services pay songwriters fairly

In a section titled "The Songwriter's Paradox," it lays out the ways that the song has become more important than ever, but, paradoxically, the songwriter has less income and influence:

- Big record labels have weaponized songwriting: In order to try to minimize risks, bigger record labels are turning to an ever more elite group of songwriters to create hits.
- The emergence of the song economy: The audience has shift its focus from albums to songs.
- Writing and production are fusing: As music production technologies have become more central to both the songwriting process and to the formation of the final recorded work, there has been a growing fusion of the role of production with writing. This has led to a growing body of superstar writer-producers.
-The industrialization of songwriting: Record labels are reshaping songwriting by pulling together teams of songwriters to create "machine tooled" hits - finely crafted songs that are "optimized for streaming." While the upside for songwriters is more work, the downside is sharing an already-small streaming royalties pot with a larger team of creators and co-writers.
- Decline of traditional formats: Songwriters have long relied upon performance royalties from broadcast TV and radio. However, as the audiences on these platforms migrate towards on-demand alternatives, performance royalties face a long-term decline. Similarly, the continued fall in sales means fewer mechanical royalties for songwriters.
- Streaming royalties: The song is the first in line culturally but it is last in line for streaming royalties. Of total royalties paid by streaming services to rights holders, between a fifth and a quarter is paid for publishing rights to the song. Labels are paid more than three times higher than publishers on streaming. An independent label artist could earn more than three thousand dollars for a million subscriber streams, whereas a songwriter could expect to earn between $1,200 and $1,400, and even then, only if they are the sole songwriter on the track. On average, songwriters will therefore earn between a third and a half of what artists do. After proposing a series of solutions, such as implementing "fan-centric licenses" and revised streaming prices, the report concludes: "What is clear is that today's' song economy is not working as it should and that everyone across the value chain will benefit from a coordinated program of change."

Apple Music told artists it pays a penny per stream in a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. From a report: The disclosure, made in a letter to artists delivered Friday via the service's artist dashboard and sent to labels and publishers, is part of a growing effort by music-streaming services to show they are artist-friendly. For Apple, it can be seen as a riposte to Spotify Technology, which last month shared some details of how it pays the music industry for streams on its service. Apple's penny-per-stream payment structure -- which music-industry experts say can dip lower -- is roughly double what Spotify, the world's largest music-streaming service, pays music-rights holders per stream. Spotify pays an average of about one-third to one-half penny per stream, though its larger user base generates many more streams. Apple's payments come out of monthly subscription revenue from users. Artists, managers and lawyers, still reeling from the loss of touring revenue during the pandemic, have been calling for higher payouts from music streaming, which has grown rapidly in the past year. Many fans have joined the push to raise artists' compensation.