YouTube enables HDR support for iPhone Xs and Xs Max

The latest update for the YouTube app on iOS now lets iPhone Xs and Xs Max users watch videos in HDR. Last year’s iPhone X had this feature already, but it seems an update was needed for the new iPhones. The downside is videos are still capped at 1080p, which means still no 2K or 4K viewing for you. This restriction isn’t just for the phones, but it also applies to the iPad, Apple TV, and Mac, if you use Safari. But it’s still great experience to watch Full HD videos in HDR and at least now you can enjoy that on those new edge-to-edge Super Retina displays. 

Source: Cult of Mac

LG officially launches V40 ThinQ, shows off its five-camera setup

Before you ask, LG hasn’t completely shared the specs of its newest flagship but it has teased a lot of the details when it announced the device in its home market. One of the most important things it shared is the five-camera setup on the V40 ThinQ. This doesn’t mean there are five cameras at the rear of the device. Instead, LG has a triple-lens camera at the rear and dual camera setup in front. No word yet what the specs of these cameras are. The phone itself features a glass-sandwich design with a sandblasted rear that gives off a “silky feel” but it has retained its strength and hardness similar to tempered glass, meaning it’ll be scratch-, fingerprint-, and dirt-resistant but still soft to the touch. The metal frame is “treated with glitter.”

The phone will be coming in three colors: Platinum Gray, Carmine Red, and Moroccan Blue. It’ll be the same size as the V30 but will have a 6.4-inch display thanks to its smaller bezel. And yes, it has a notch. LG has kept the rest of the spec sheet, but we’ll hear more when the phone officially launches next week.

Source: BGR

Spotify begins cracking down on friends who share Family plans

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Some “Premium for Family” subscribers in the US and Germany are getting emails from Spotify to confirm if they live in the same address. The move is the music streaming service’s attempt at cracking down on groups of friends who split the discounted plan meant for families. As some users pointed out, not all families live together but as The Verge reported, there is a fine print in the family plan that says it’s available for “you and up to five people who reside at your same address.” But the company made it easy for its users to sign up with no means to verify a user’s family status, thus making it easy for friends to setup accounts.

With the amount of subscribers who use this plan, it suggests that not all of them abide by this rule. As Billboard reported, almost half of global streaming subscribers use the family plan, which reduces Spotify subscription by as much as 75 percent, with six people using one US$14.99 Spotify family plan. And this is affecting the company’s bottom line, with average revenue per user dropping by 12 percent in the second quarter of this year. It isn’t clear though how aggressively Spotify will be going after these users but best keep an eye out on those accounts before you lose them.

Oculus wants you to work in VR with Hybrid Apps

Aside from introducing the Oculus Quest VR, Facebook also introduced some new virtual reality-related tech at its Oculus Connect 5 event. One technology it teased is called Hybrid Apps, which basically translates desktop apps into the VR space. The demo video above shows a user being able to take a digital art project being developed in 2D on a PC and then taken into the 3D space “instantly scaling and manipulating the model’s colors and textures.” Whether you’d want to work in a VR environment is a discussion for another time. Facebook says Hybrid Apps is still in early development.

Source: Engadget