Google feels sting of Apple's Beats acquisition, buys Songza

Not one to sit around and wait what Apple and Beats have in store for streaming music fans, Google's gone off and pulled the trigger on Songza. The music streaming and reccomendation service uses playlists created by 'music experts'  such as DJ's and music critics and tries to suit playlists to user's moods. Songza charges a US $ 0.99 weekly fee for ad free version of its service.

A post on Songza's blog states, "Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re becoming part of Google. We can’t think of a better company to join in our quest to provide the perfect soundtrack for everything you do. No immediate changes to Songza are planned, other than making it faster, smarter, and even more fun to use." It will be interesting to see what plans Google has of monetizing Songza as well as how they will position it against other popular streaming music services and its own Google Play Music service.

Source: Songza

RFID-Blocking Vest introduced by SCOTTeVEST to stop identity theft

SCOTTeVEST (www.SCOTTeVEST.com) has been developing tech-enabled clothing since 2000, but they recently launched a new series of products intended to protect their customers from people using technology to exploit weaknesses in cell phones, credit cards and passports.  Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) security is a growing concern in an increasingly-connected world, and SeV’s new flagship product - the SCOTTeVEST RFID Travel Vest - is engineered with a high-tech pocket to protect the traveler’s most sensitive information.

Click to read more ...

Lenovo files patent for a Google Glass-like wearable concept

Lenovo looks like it wants to enter the wearable technology market with a new US patent they applied for. They are trying to patent a headset design that features dual screens, voice recognition, and touch-based navigation. It has a bone-conducting microphone about your nose bridge to make it easier to catch your voice. We’re not sure what Lenovo will do with this patent but it gives us an idea of what we might get in the future.

Source: Engadget

Microsoft tipped to add folders to Windows Phone

It seems Microsoft is starting to take design cues from iOS and Android with reports that Windows Phone 8.1 will carry the ability to have folders on the Metro interface of the mobile operating system. The Verge reports that a removed support article showed the company’s plans to support app folders natively. It will be similar to how Android and iOS implement it by letting users drag one tile on top of another to create folders that users can rename. We will let you know if we find out anything else about this new report.