Netflix debuts ‘Cloverfield Paradox’ right after Super Bowl

Netflix has done something no streaming service has done before, drop a title it hasn’t promoted right after releasing its first trailer. It was reported before that the streaming service acquired Paramount and Bad Robot’s Cloverfield sequel and a Super Bowl spot promoting the film would come out. What hasn’t been announced was that Netflix will be making the film available for streaming right after the end of the Big Game. No other promotions have been done for the film ahead of this announcement. It’s a bold move but with a big audience it can be considered a wise move, too. The Super Bowl drew an average of 111.3M people in 2017.

As Deadline points out, this unusual marketing strategy complements the non-traditional marketing campaigns the original Cloverfield has done. Netflix describes the film’s plot as such: “In the near future, a group of international astronauts on a space station are working to solve a massive energy crisis on Earth. The experimental technology aboard the station has an unexpected result, leaving the team isolated and fighting for their survival.” It’s directed by Julius Onah and produced by J.J. Abrams and Lindsey Weber and stars Daniel Brühl, Roger Davies, Elizabeth Debicki, Aksel Hennie, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris O’Dowd, John Ortiz, David Oyelowo, and Zhang Ziyi.

You’ll need Apple devices to use HomePod

If you thought Apple would allow for cross-platform use of its HomePod speaker, we’re sad to report that this won’t be the case. The company posted the official specs of the HomePod speakers on its site and it shows the current limitations of the device if you’re not using Apple products. While it supports Bluetooth 5.0, if you want to stream from third-party apps like Spotify you can only do so via AirPlay, which means you need Apple devices to stream (even using Apple Music app on Android won’t work). And if you are using an Apple product to stream Spotify on the speaker, it doesn’t support voice commands using Siri. You’ll need to be using Apple’s own music services for that. On top of this, you can only set up the HomePod with devices running iOS 11 or higher. Of course, Apple could later on change their minds and add support for non-Apple devices but we’re thinking that won’t happen anytime soon. The HomePod is coming to the US, Australia, and UK starting February 9.

Source: Android Authority

Daimler and Bosch to start testing self-driving taxis soon

Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler and Bosch first promised to bring fully autonomous vehicles to the market in the next decade. But with their competition working faster to bring their self-driving cars into the market, it looks like they acknowledged that they needed to work faster. Bosch chief Volkmar Denner told German weekly publication Automobilwoche that they will be testing their self-driving taxis within a few months. No additional details about when exactly but it is at least a more definitive timetable for the project.

The advantage Daimler believes they have over their competition is the purpose-built nature of their taxis. These taxis apparently won’t just be a “technology-kit mounted on a serial vehicle,” or so Daimler VP Wilko Stark says but they’re designed to be autonomous vehicles “from the beginning.”

Source: Engadget

Google Assistant update brings music alarms, the ability to look up TV schedules

Google Assistant adds a couple of handy new features into its arsenal. One is the ability to set alarms to music. So if you want some Beyoncé to wake you up in the morning, you can just say “Set an alarm for 6 a.m. that plays Beyoncé” and it’ll play you just that. It’ll work for whatever music service you’ve set Assistant to use as default, so whether that be Spotify, Pandora, or the songs you’ve uploaded to your Google Play Music library. Another is it can now look up TV schedules for you. So you can ask it things like “When is Big Bang Theory on next?” or like which channel airs a particular show.

Source: The Verge