Apple buys audio recognition service Shazam for $ 400 million

Shazam is a pioneering audio recognition service that can quickly listen to and identify music (as well as TV and likely other forms of media). The company and its employees were recently involved in a $400 million purchase by Apple who might look to integrate the service tightly with its iOS and Mac devices.

Shazam boasts more than 120 million active users, using the app 20 million times each day so giving this user base tigher integration with iOS devices will likely keep them longer. The Pixel 2 from Google has a feature that identifies music playing automatically and presents this information on the display.

Shazam can also be used to identify images, determine what TV show or movie is on and has some features related to QR codes and possibly AR (Augmented Reality) functionality. A quiet acquisition, Apple has yet to send out a detailed release about their plans for Shazam and what will happen to the app in other competing paltforms.

Source: CNBC

Netflix Canada reveals what (and how) we binged in 2017

By Sonya Davidson

Canadians watched A LOT of Netflix this past year and the popular streaming service just released some interesting data on just what got most of our attention in 2017. What immediately caught our attention was January 1st being the most popular streaming day of the year! Canada also ranked second globally for having the most members to binge Netflix every single day.

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Where to #DonateTech in Toronto December 11 - 15

We all have some tech gadgets lying around that we no longer use and just haven't had the time to sort out what to do with them. Sure you could dispose of them, properly of course, but some of us think filling the landfills is not the most responsible thing to do. To help, RL Solutions and TechToronto have partner with Free Geek Toronto to help Torontonians donate their unwanted devices.

From December 11 to 15 the #DonateTech Drive is taking place. Donation bins and info booths will be in the downtown core to accept the donations. Think old smartphones, keyboards, wires, monitors or speakers. 

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ASUS ZenFone 4 expected to get Android Oreo update this month

We’ve seen leaked screenshots of Android Oreo for the ZenFone 3 and 4 a week ago and now it seems that does signal that the update is coming sooner. An ASUS forum moderator that goes by the handle Green1_ASUS has all but confirmed that the ZenFone 4, specifically the ZE554KL. According to the post, which was originally written in Chinese and translated, “Hi andymazda, ZE554KL is currently expected to provide upgrades in December Android O…”

If this is true, then ZenFone 4 users will gain access to many Android 8.0 features like picture-in-picture mode, notification channels and dots, smart text selection, and many more.

Source: Android Authority