SoundCloud gets fresh round of funding to keep it going

Musicians and creators are going to be at the heart of SoundCloud moving forward, we'll probably see more improvements to features like this stats page

A new round of investment into SoundCloud is keeping the music streaming service going for the foreseeable future. As part of the deal, SoundCloud Chief Executive Officer and founder Alex Ljung will be stepping aside and former Vimeo head Kerry Trainor will be the new CEO. Another former exec from Vimeo, Mike Weissman, will be coming in to serve as SoundCloud's chief operating officer. Ljung will act as chairman and will stay on for the long term. His co-founder Eric Wahlforss will stay on with the company as chief product officer. The Raine Group, a boutique merchant bank, together with Singapore-based investment company Temasek, led the US$169.5 million investment to give SoundCloud the much-needed cash. 

Trainor wants to put greater emphasis on developing tools for musicians and other creators, including a "more robust creative toolkit" for them via the Pro Unlimited subscription. The service is used by a lot of artists to do things like public collaborations, promote new songs, or get private feedback before a track is released to the world. Trainor claims this is what gives SoundCloud a unique brand in the digital music arena. He tells Billboard, "SoundCloud is the largest open audio platform in the world. Millions of creators choose these tools to share their work with the world—that will remain at the focus and center of the company." 

Android O will be the last OS update for OnePlus 3/3T

OnePlus 3T

We have some bad news for OnePlus 3 and 3T owners. The two devices will only get Android O as its last major software update. With the company turning its attention to OnePlus 5, we're not surprised that this is happening. However, if we think about the timeline, it's been relatively short and both will fall short of the standard two-year cycle for software updates. The OnePlus 3 came out just June of last year, while the 3T came out just November of 2016. Technically, this will be the second major update for the OnePlus 3. But it does feel like there could be room for one more. OnePlus does mention that there will be security patch updates coming to the devices in the "foreseeable future" but its Open Beta Program will be moving to the OnePlus 5 once the two devices have been updated to Android O. 

Source: OnePlus | Via: Droid Life 

Popular distraction-free writing app Ulysses to follow subscription model

If you write on a Mac or on an iPad, Ulysses is one of the most well-rounded and feature-rich distraction-free word processors. It has personally been my choice for years now and one of the reasons I just can't switch to Windows from MacOS. Ulysses has announced that it is now going to a subscription based model.

"As of today, we're switching Ulysses to subscription payment. This is the result of a of a long-lasting discussion about how to put Ulysses’ development, and the future of our company, on a sustainable foundation.

It’s still the same Ulysses, same features, same distribution, we’re just switching to subscription. There are yearly, monthly, and students plans available, and they all unlock Ulysses on all devices (Mac, iPhone, iPad). To encourage existing customers to switch to the new model, we are offering special migration deals," the spokesperson for Ulysses said.

Click to read more ...

Uber starts rolling out in-app chat for drivers and riders

Sometimes it’s just easier to message your Uber driver than try to call him or her. And that’s why Uber has started to roll out globally an in-app messaging feature to make it easier to get in touch with your driver. When you tap on the Contact button below the driver’s name you’ll see a chat window there. Your messages to the driver will be read to them, so they can continue driving safely. If they need to respond, they can just do so with one tap and a thumbs up icon will be sent to the rider. But if you still need to call the driver, there will be a phone icon on the upper right hand of the window.

Source: The Verge