Spotify buys music trivia game 'Heardle'

Heardle interface now shows the Spotify logo on the top left

Spotify recently acquired Heardle, a themed trivia game that came out in the wake of Wordle's massive popularity and success. Heardle is Spotify's first game acquisition. The streaming service hopes to use Heardle to keep music fans engaged and act as a music discovery tool. It'll remain a standalone website for now. Spotify has started integration in a few countries, including Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. But there are plans to bring it more with other language support soon. It also intends to integrate Heardle "more fully" into the app, but Spotify hasn't mentioned how or when that will happen. Spotify hasn't revealed how much it paid for the game, which it says has millions of players now.

Heardle works similarly to Wordle. You have to guess a song being played within six tries. It'll play you a few seconds of the opening notes, with the length increasing after asking for a hint. When the answer gets revealed or guessed at the end, it will now link to the song on Spotify (it used to link to SoundCloud).

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'Wordle' stats can soon be linked to an NYT account

The New York Times is addressing an issue of the popular word game Wordle. It'll soon get the option to sync your stats across devices. NYT plans to offer a chance to link a free or existing NYT account to your Wordle so you can play across your devices with your stats the same. The option will reportedly be available soon. You'll have to be sure you want to link your stats to an NYT account because the move is irreversible.

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Nothing debuts first smartphone, the phone (1)

Source: Nothing

The first smartphone of new tech startup Nothing is finally official. We've heard and seen several details about the Nothing Phone (1) thanks to the strategies of Carl Pei. He is the co-founder and former director of OnePlus, and he brings the style of invite-only/limited partner drops and "slow drip-feed of information) to drum up hype for the new device. So, if you feel like you've seen the Phone (1), you probably already have.

Its main talking point is the "Glyph" design, which employs 900 LEDs spread out and overlaid with a diffuser to create lines and curves beneath the Gorilla Glass 5-covered semi-transparent back. The lights flash and pulsate with a brightness enough to warrant a warning for users with epilepsy. You can adjust that brightness and set what the flashing lights mean to you. If you're worried about the lights draining the battery, you shouldn't. The effect should be negligible even at its standard brightness and kept on for 10 minutes.

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This Nokia feature phone has a hidden charger for earbuds

Source: HMD

Among the new feature phones that HMD recently announced, this new Nokia one offers a hidden charging compartment for included earbuds. The Nokia 5710 XpressAudio has a typical candy bar-style feature phone look in front, but you get a charging compartment on the back hidden when you slide down the plastic cover. It certainly makes it easier to pack away earbuds. These buds offer up to four hours of music playback per charge or around 2.4 hours of talk time. It doesn't look like the phone will have trouble recharging the device. According to HMD, the removable 1,450mAh battery gets you up to six hours of talk time over 4G and up to 20 days of standby with two 4G SIM card support.

Since this is a feature phone, you shouldn't expect access to services like Spotify and Apple Music. The Nokia 5710 XpressAudio runs on a stripped-back Series 30 Plus operating system. That means you can only play back MP3s or listen through the built-in FM radio. It is coming to the UK for £74.99 (around CA$116) later this month.

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