Disney’s new ‘Star Wars’ and Marvel films to its own streaming service instead of Netflix

We heard last month that Disney planned to put up its own streaming service set to come out late 2019. And that meant it’ll be pulling out of their deal with Netflix that just took effect about a year ago. While we knew that the upcoming Disney films that will be coming out that year will be available on that service instead of on Netflix, the Star Wars and Marvel films were a mystery. Until now that is. Disney CEO Bob Iger announced at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2017 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference that upcoming movies like the fourth Avengers film, Frozen 2, the live action The Lion King, and Star Wars: Episode IX will be shown on its own service instead of on Netflix. Disney’s streaming service will also be home to four exclusive movies and between four and five TV shows.

But for the upcoming immediate Marvel and Star Wars titles. Those still have a home at Netflix. These include Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and the untitled Han Solo movie. We don’t know what the fate of the Netflix-exclusive Marvel shows will be, though.

Source: Android Authority

PodCase Kickstarter bundles AirPod charging and iPhone case

A clever new Kickstarter project bundles the idea of an iPhone case with an AirPod portable charger. Basically merging the charge-on-the-go functionality of the AirPod case, the PodCase keeps AirPods and iPhone together in one case while charging the AirPods when not in use. Sounds like a neat idea, specially for travellers who want to cut down on the amount of devices they carry. I do wonder how secure the AirPods will be in this case

Spotify tries out new video strategy after head of Original Video leaves company

In case you didn’t know, Spotify has experimented with video in the past. It even tried creating an original video series called Traffic Jams. But this approach hasn’t worked from the music streaming service. And with Tom Calderone, head of Original Video, leaving the company, people assumed the service was dropping video altogether. But it looks like they are taking a different approach. As Complete Music Update reports, a spokesperson from the company says they plan to build video content into its most successful playlists and will be linked to new music releases.

And we get to see that with the new single from Sam Smith. The new song “Too Good at Goodbyes” gets a video of Smith singing to the camera. Aside from that, the other songs in the playlist show cover photos of Smith’s other albums while the music plays. While the video can be played on both desktop and mobile, the cover art effect is obviously limited to mobile. Will we see music videos premiere on the service? Maybe or maybe not. Spotify hasn’t been aggressive with video or it just hasn’t caught on, especially with the service working more like a radio than a video platform. Will it work this time? We can’t say just yet.

Google Feed comes to Android phones around the globe

Your Google search app is bringing you the news you want to see with Google Feed now making its way around the world. First launched in the US in July, the feature brings you news related to your search history and other online activity. It is available first on Android devices and will later come to iOS, desktop, and Google’s mobile search site. To use the feature you just need to head to your search app. You’ll see the news cards containing the stories there as well as sports- and music-related updates, travel information, recipes, and the like. You can tweak this to suit your changing preferences by tapping on the three dots in the upper right corner to hide a particular story or customize the feed itself. Google promises it filters out misleading and fake news, making sure you get fact-checked stories and those that come from different perspectives, even if you’re seeing stories related to your interests.

Source: Mashable