Technology - Google News

Spotify HiFi is a lossless streaming tier coming later this year - The Verge
The Morning After: Apple’s next-gen AirPods and Samsung’s AR concept glasses leaked - Engadget
Apple Takes Step to Prevent Further Spread of 'Silver Sparrow' Malware on Macs - MacRumors

Spotify HiFi is a lossless streaming tier coming later this year - The Verge

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 08:35 AM PST

Spotify is going hi-fi. Well, "HiFi." It's taken longer than competitors like Tidal and Amazon Music, but today, the leading subscription music service announced a new lossless streaming tier that will allow listeners to get the most from their digital music library. The news came at the company's Spotify "Stream On" virtual event.

Spotify HiFi will be available later this year and "will deliver music in CD-quality, lossless audio format to your device and Spotify Connect-enabled speakers, which means fans will be able to experience more depth and clarity while enjoying their favorite tracks."

Spotify has done small tests of higher-quality streaming in the past, but now it's going to launch the feature more widely — with the caveat that it'll be available only "in select markets." Pricing is yet to be announced. Higher-quality streaming has apparently been among the top requests from its customers; as it stands today, Spotify tops out at 320kbps audio.

Amazon rolled out Amazon Music HD in 2019. The lossless plan costs $14.99 per month (or $12.99 for Prime customers), a premium over the standard Amazon Music Unlimited service. Tidal, which has supported high-resolution audio since its very beginning, is priced slightly higher at $19.99 monthly for the "Hi-Fi" plan. Tidal offers what it calls "Tidal Masters" that go up to high-resolution 96 kHz / 24 bit audio. Smaller services like Qobuz have also sought to appeal to audiophiles with lossless streaming.

Apple Music, on the other hand, still lacks any kind of lossless streaming tier, despite Apple selling the very high-end AirPods Max headphones.

Developing...

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The Morning After: Apple’s next-gen AirPods and Samsung’s AR concept glasses leaked - Engadget

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 04:48 AM PST

It seems like it was a weekend of leaks. Pick your company: Samsung's concept for AR glasses, replete with some far-too-chunky frames, or maybe the next generation of Apple's AirPods, the in-ear kind.

These are two very different kinds of leaks. Samsung's appears to be the sort of conceptual video tease that may, or may not, result in a device. Previous teases resulted in hardware that looked pretty different to the heady dream from years earlier. The company's foldable phones are a great example, here.

With Apple, a photo of what might be its next iteration of AirPods are reassuring middling — and highly likely to happen. They appear to be wireless buds that would fit between the original AirPods and the pricier (more capable) AirPods Pro. The hardware looks like the Pro iteration, with a wider case and redesigned stems. But will these headphones pack active noise cancellation?

A Bloomberg report previously said the third-gen model wouldn't support ANC, like the Pro, while this more recent leak from 52Audio suggests ANC features are "highly probable" as the hardware inside looks pretty similar to the Pro model.

— Mat Smith

The game will feature cross-progression between platforms.

There goes any semblance of my social life. Blizzard is remastering Diablo II — a game that got its claws into me as a teen. You'll be able to replay the classic action RPG later this year on PC and consoles with support for cross-progression between platforms. The remaster will feature both the original game, its Lord of Destruction expansion and seven different character classes. You'll be able to play through D2's five-act story with up to seven other people. Quality of life enhancements include remastered cinematics, a bigger stash and the ability to transfer items between your heroes. Diablo II: Resurrected will come to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. Continue reading.

It could have big implications for space travel.

Scientists from NASA and the German Aerospace Center launched several fungal and bacterial organisms to the stratosphere back in 2019 as part of the MARSBOx experiment. The Earth's stratosphere has conditions that closely resemble Mars, making it the perfect place to send samples to figure out if they'd survive on the red planet. Now, the scientists have published their findings, showing that some organisms could live on the surface of Mars, if only temporarily. The researchers found they could revive the returned spores, which could have repercussions for protecting astronauts in space. The research may identify microorganisms that could help space explorers produce food and material supplies independently from Earth. Continue reading.

The goal is to avoid "greenwashing" so consumers can make sustainable decisions.

The EU's Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) plans to create eco-ranking labels for the airline industry, similar to its trains, according to a report from Germany's Welt am Sonntag. The EU is reportedly trying to counterbalance potential "greenwashing" from airlines that promote exaggerated claims of flights being eco-friendly. Aviation contributes 3.5 percent of the pollution responsible for global warming, according to a recent international study. Continue reading.

And sell it to you.

Chanel has announced the AI-powered Lipscanner app, which uses your phone's camera to identify a hue — whether it's on someone's lips or just the color of your favorite purse — and suggest a match from Chanel's "lip universe," which includes more than 400 products. It's not the first beauty brand to offer this feature (or the ability to virtually test the shade yourself using AR), but the process appears more streamlined than others. And with all the cachet that Chanel commands. Continue reading.

And there's more:

Hitting the Books: How NASA survived the Reagan era 'Dark Ages'

How Apple and Bandai tried selling dreams to kids and the internet to adults

Tesla stops taking orders for the entry-level Model Y

'Diablo IV' will see the return of the rogue class

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Apple Takes Step to Prevent Further Spread of 'Silver Sparrow' Malware on Macs - MacRumors

Posted: 22 Feb 2021 06:13 AM PST

Over the weekend, we reported on the second known piece of malware compiled to run natively on M1 Macs. Given the name "Silver Sparrow," the malicious package is said to leverage the macOS Installer JavaScript API to execute suspicious commands. After observing the malware for over a week, however, security firm Red Canary did not observe any final payload, so the exact threat to users remains a mystery.

Nonetheless, Apple has since informed MacRumors that it has revoked the certificates of the developer accounts used to sign the packages, preventing additional Macs from being infected. Apple also reiterated that Red Canary found no evidence to suggest the malware has delivered a malicious payload to Macs that have already been infected.

For software downloaded outside of the Mac App Store, Apple said it has "industry-leading" mechanisms in place to protect users by detecting malware and blocking it so it cannot run. Since February 2020, for example, Apple has required all Mac software distributed with a Developer ID outside of the Mac App Store to be submitted to Apple's notary service, an automated system that scans for malicious content and code-signing issues.

Malware targeting M1 Macs has simply been compiled to run natively on the Arm-based architecture of the M1 chip, now that Intel-based Macs are slowly being phased out. For more details about the "Silver Sparrow" malware, read our earlier coverage.

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