Apple Music comes to Android

As promised, Apple has brought its streaming music service into the hands of Android users. It improves on the Beat Music app and adds features like Beats 1 radio stations, curated playlists, access to the 30 million songs in the streaming library, and access to music purchases made on iTunes. This is notable as this is the first time Apple is giving Android users a chance to access iTunes music without any intermediary hardware. It even gets some Material Design touches.

The app is currently in beta and works with Android 4.3 or later. If you want to upgrade your subscription to a family plan, you’ll still need a Mac or iDevice to do that. Apple Music comes with a 30-day free trial.

Source: Android Police | Download: Google Play Store (Free)

Tumblr introduces instant messaging

More than taking on the likes of Snapchat, Tumblr is bringing a much-requested feature into its web, Android, and iOS apps—instant messaging support. The app builds on the fan mail feature of the site (which will be phased out in the future) and introduces instant messaging. Tumblr isn’t rolling it out to everyone yet though. The company’s taking a “viral” approach by rolling it out to 1,500 users to start and then anyone these users message will get the ability to use the feature, too.

Tumblr claims all its users will get it sometime next month. What you can do on it now is text and one-on-one conversations. The support for GIFs, images, and group chat will be coming in the future. Also, private and group blogs don’t have access to it at the moment. Once you have it though, anyone can message you but you have the option to just have the people you follow message you. If you see the smiley balloon icon, it means you have the feature; those on mobile need to have the latest version of Tumblr.

Source: Tumblr | Via: The Verge

Canadian team wins James Dyson Award

For the first time a Canadian team won the international James Dyson Award. Four engineering students from the University of Waterloo—Jesus Zozaya, Alroy Ameida, James Pickard, and Katarina Ilic—made the Voltera V-One, a laptop-sized printed circuit board (PCB) printer to help SMEs and startups bring new tech into the market without the unnecessary expense that comes with having to develop new electronics. The machine makes prototype PCBs using the principles that underpin 3D printing.

Describing the process, the Voltera V-One lays down conductive and insulating inks to create a functional, two-layer circuit board. The machine also has a solder paste dispenser to allow components to be added to the board and it’s then reflowed by a 550w heater. As winners of the James Dyson Award, the team takes home $54,000 to further develop the idea.

Review: Sennheiser RS 175 Wireless Headphones

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Like many city dwellers, apartment living has forced a lot of compromises when it comes to my setting up a workable home theater system. The limited amount of space and the nearness of neighbours necessitates creative solutions which wireless headphones can easily solve.

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