Vine starts taking note of loop counts, revamps Home and Activity feeds

Prolific and good Vine users might get more traffic with the new feature introduced. Vine is now tracking the loop count of a video across its platforms (mobile and Web). Some videos might have the “+” attached to its loop counts because that means the videos had been looped before April 3 (when they started tracking Vine loops).

Vine has also redesigned the Home Feed for Android and iOS to make it easier to like and comment as well as see videos from edge-to-edge. They have also retouched the Activity feed so you can see the separation between New and Older Activity. It also lets you know if your Vines surpass certain milestones like 25 or 100 likes.

Google Play editions of HTC One M8 and M7 get Android 4.4.4 upgrade

Good news for owners of the Google Play editions of HTC One M8 and M7! It would seem the latest version of Android KitKat has begun rolling out to your devices. Don’t expect any user interface changes or the like though because Android 4.4.4 is for the backend of your device. It says it improves performance, security, and stability.

Source: Android Central

Audi, Mazda, Jeep, Chrysler and Alfa Romeo rally behind Apple's CarPlay connected platform

The connected car platform wars are heating up. Audi, Mazda, Jeep, Chrysler, Fiat and Alfa Romeo have joined the growing list of Apple CarPlay partners whose upcoming models will offer the ability for users to plug in their iPhones and control various functions and apps right from their car's touchscreen or via Siri.

Many of these manufacturers and sub-brands are also part of Google's Open Automotive Alliance which means the type of smartphone you own may be a big determining factor on the next car you buy. CarPlay has 31 partners so far and companies like Pioneer and Alpine are creating CarPlay head units for those of us with older cars but who want the latest tech. Check out our video demo of Apple's CarPlay on the sexy $300,000 Ferrari FF.

Source: Apple

Google feels sting of Apple's Beats acquisition, buys Songza

Not one to sit around and wait what Apple and Beats have in store for streaming music fans, Google's gone off and pulled the trigger on Songza. The music streaming and reccomendation service uses playlists created by 'music experts'  such as DJ's and music critics and tries to suit playlists to user's moods. Songza charges a US $ 0.99 weekly fee for ad free version of its service.

A post on Songza's blog states, "Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re becoming part of Google. We can’t think of a better company to join in our quest to provide the perfect soundtrack for everything you do. No immediate changes to Songza are planned, other than making it faster, smarter, and even more fun to use." It will be interesting to see what plans Google has of monetizing Songza as well as how they will position it against other popular streaming music services and its own Google Play Music service.

Source: Songza