Thursday
Mar042021

Spotify beta tests endless playlists on CarPlay

You no longer have to worry about switching from a track you don't like while driving with this new feature Spotify is testing out on its CarPlay app. The audio streaming service brings its Go to Song Radio function to the CarPlay app's Now Playing screen. The feature will make sure the service plays tracks similar to the ones you're listening to. Plus, it'll be an endless playlist of sorts if you keep hitting the button, so you don't have to be distracted by making a song choice while you're on the road.

Members of Spotify's beta program are the first ones to try this out. But it isn't clear when the feature will roll out to all users. It might be something to look forward to.

Source: 9to5Mac

Wednesday
Mar032021

VW ramps up R&D on autonomous driving vehicles

In case you haven't noticed VW is aggressively positioning itself as a premier electrified vehicle proponent with the recent release of its I.D.4 EV. The company is also doubling-down on autonomous driving technology, which goes hand in hand with smart and zero-emissions platforms. The Autonomous Driving Component will be first seen in commercial vehicles, however, rather than consumer cars and SUVs.

“With the confirmation of the group’s supervisory board for our Autonomous Driving R&D program, we are setting the course for the future of mobility. Autonomous, electric driving will make an important contribution to urban mobility and road safety. Our vehicles are the logical first choice to apply such systems to", explains Carsten Intra, CEO of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, after today's Supervisory Board meeting of the Volkswagen Group.

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Wednesday
Mar032021

Microsoft boosting Teams features for work-from-home users

Microsoft Teams has become a vital tool for many remote workers. The collaboration and video calling suite of tools has continously evolved and now gets even more useful for those who spenf the majority of their working lives tethered to their PCs.

Teams can be used to create interactive webinars for up to 1,000 attendees, and it will support view-only webinars with up to 20,000 attendees later this month.  Microsoft also announced that a new feature, PowerPoint Live, is also generally available in Teams, combining slides, notes, and meeting chat in a single view. This makes it easier to manage presentations and other collaboration windows from a single interface.

Lastly, a Dynamic view for Teams meetings feature is touted as enabling video conferences even more engaging for attendees by dynamically focusing on various components of a meeting,. A new Presenter mode is also coming soon and will allow meeting organizers to use three different modes to display their content next to their video feed.

Tuesday
Mar022021

OnePlus event announcement for Mar. 8 teases 'moonshot' photo

Source: OnePlus

OnePlus is all set to announce its new flagship next week on March 8. Expected to be called the OnePlus 9 series, the teaser site features a photo of the moon and the words "Something new is on the horizon." 

The Verge mentioned the picture looks quite similar to the famous Earthrise photograph of the Apollo 8 mission, which was shot with a Hasselblad camera. The significance of that is that OnePlus is reportedly working with the 180-year-old Swedish camera maker for its upcoming phones.

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