Report: Wearables get boost in Q3 due to 'hearables'

A recent report from the market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) shows the impact of Apple on the wearable segment. Or we should say, the effect of the Apple AirPods on the industry. The wearable segment has seen a significant rise in the third quarter of 2019 because of the "hearables" market, which is another name for wireless earbuds, headphones, etc. 

A total of 40.7 million units of hearables were shipped over 2018's 11.8 million. This figure means that for the segment alone, there was a year-on-year growth of 242.4%.

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Sony PlayStation 4 now supports 'Minecraft' cross-platform play

Cross-platform play support for Minecraft is coming to the Sony PlayStation 4 today, December 10. If you have the game's Bedrock Edition, then you get a unified version of Minecraft across all platforms. This update means you can play the popular sandbox game with players using an Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, Android, or iOS. The update will begin rolling out on the PS4 starting at 11 am ET. Minecraft developer Mojang confirms that purchases and progress made from other platforms will be carried over to the PS4. Bedrock will come as a free update to Minecraft players.

Apple TV+ scores first award nomination with 'The Morning Show'

The Morning Show's Billy Crudup with Jennifer Aniston

In less than two months since its launch, Apple TV+ gets its first award nomination. The Critics' Choice Association nominated The Morning Show's Billy Crudup for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He goes up against Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage and This Is Us's Asante Blackk. It took Netflix years to get its foot in the door of big award nominations, so we can't entirely discount this nod.

But Apple is still far off from what Netflix has done since. The rival streaming service dominated The Critics’ Choice with 61 nominations for its movies and TV shows. Fourteen of these awards go to The Irishman—the Martin Scorsese film is up for top awards like Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. As for the other streaming services, Amazon Prime Video got 14, Hulu got seven, and CBS All got four. 

Source: Engadget

Google Play Movies might get Dolby Vision support

A recent app teardown by Google Play Movies suggests that the app might be getting Dolby Vision support. The presence of the code doesn't necessarily mean that it'll become an actual feature. But it does hint at the possibility of the feature coming to the app. It also makes sense for the streaming app to get support for Dolby Vision. Play Movies already supports 4K HDR and HDR10. 

Dolby Vision will improve on what HDR10 can offer, making it possible for brightness, darkness, and colour profiles to change from scene to scene. The code XDA Developers found hints at the app being able to inform you if the video you're watching supports Dolby Vision. Again, it isn't clear if Google will roll this feature out officially. But we will keep our eye out for it.