Tech
Reducing Artists’ Royalties for Promotion — Haven’t We Heard That Before? (Guest Column)
At the moment, Spotify says Discovery Mode will only apply to the radio and autoplay playlists (the tracks you hear when the playlist or album you were listening to ends). Make no mistake, Spotify is explicitly clear that they intend to expand this “pay for play” program to other “personalized” areas of the service. More opportunities to connect with new listeners and innovative tools are always appreciated, but Discovery Mode brings into question the credibility of Spotify’s recommendation engine. From its beginning Spotify proudly stated that it would be a good partner and maintain a democratized service that would never allow the proverbial “thumb on the scale.” Again, and again, we were assured that all artists would have a fair and impartial chance of success. We were promised that th...
Syng’s New $1,799 Cell Alpha Speaker Will Allow Users To “Hear, See, & Touch Sounds”
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Syng / Syng Cell Alpha Triphonic Speaker Former Apple Designer Christopher Stringer is looking to bring new life to the 90-year-old, stagnant audio industry that seems to have moved its focus from speakers to headphones. Stringer spent 20 years at Apple and helped design groundbreaking devices like the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch. He is trying to bring that same energy to the audio world with Syng’s new Cell Alpha, the world’s first Triphonic speaker. Stringer teamed up with Damon Way (DC Shoes, Incase) to help usher in a new era of sound, and the Cell Alpha, the company’s flagship speaker, is leading that charge. Source: Syng / Syng Cell Alpha Triphonic Speaker Introduced to the world on May.14, the Cell Alpha promises to deliver users a...
Google Is On A Mission To Improve Image Processing of Photos Featuring Black & Brown People
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Vladimir Vladimirov / Getty As the camera systems on smartphones drastically improve year by year, they still have one glaring issue, capturing and processing Black skin tones properly. During its I/O 2021 keynote, Google announced it was taking some steps to rectify this problem. Capturing Black skin and natural hairstyles in photos and properly processing them has been an issue dating back to when using film was the only option for photographers. Now that we are in the digital age, there have been some improvements, but even with flicks taken on smartphones, the images are still come up flat. Google is well aware of the issue and revealed that it would be making a valiant effort to address the issue in its cameras by focusing on photos of Black and Brow...
HHW Gaming:80s Action Heroes Rambo & Die Hard’s John McClane Coming To Call of Duty Games
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Activision / Call of Duty The addition of these two iconic movie characters to the world of Call of Duty makes all the sense in the world. Tuesday (May 18), Activision revealed that 1980s action heroes John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) of the Rambo movie franchise and John McClane (Bruce Willis) of Die Hard fame would be making their “explosive debuts” in Call of Duty video games. Revealed in an action-packed 1-minute trailer, players can use either one of the characters to dish out damage and rack up kills in either Call of Duty®: Warzone™, Black Ops Cold War, and Call of Duty: Mobile as part of the latest mid-season update. Both characters had their own respective video games based on their films. Rambo would go onto be a guest fighter in...
HHW Gaming: StockX Confirms Scalpers Sold A Ridiculous Amount of PS5 Consoles
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Future Publishing / Getty StockX confirmed what we already knew about the PS5 console being sold on the online marketplace. There are still many gamers out there who don’t have a PS5 and have no clue when they can rectify that issue, being that Sony themselves aren’t so sure when production of the consoles will finally meet demand. One of the many reasons contributing to the fact it’s just so damn hard to buy a PS5 is because of scalpers, aka resellers on the internet. Video Games Chronicles reports the company has shared some eye-opening and infuriating data regarding the number of PS5 consoles sold in the United States. A ridiculous 55,000 units of the digital edition and 83,000 units of the disc edition have been sold on StockX alone. To make matters w...
HHW Gaming: The NBA Lands On The Fairway In Latest Update For ‘PGA Tour 2K1’
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: 2K / PGA Tour 2K1 For those who don’t know, HB Studios has an excellent golf game out with PGA Tour 2K21, and now with this latest update, you can rep your favorite NBA team. Tired of rocking those boring golf polos and hats? 2K and HB Studios said no problem and announced Monday (May 17) the arrival of NBA team logo gear for players to throw on their created players when they tee off f on the links. All 30 NBA franchises are represented and accounted for, and players can now bring their NBA fandom to the fairway and show their love for their favorite squad while landing hole-in-ones. The gear is available for all MyPLAYERs and can be purchased in the game shop. PGA Tour 2K1 launched in August 2020 and alongside the release of a hilarious launch tra...
New Merger Alert: AT&T Announces It Is Merging WarnerMedia With Discovery
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: SOPA Images / Getty After fighting to make the initial merger happen, AT&T has decided to switch things up by creating a new media giant. Monday (May 17), AT&T announced that it would be spinning off WarnerMedia by merging it with the TV company Discovery leading to the creation of a new media giant that could compete with streaming titans Netflix and the new kid on the block Disney+. The new deal will see WarnerMedia properties like HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, and the Warner Bros. movie studio plus channels like HGTV, Animal Planet, Food Network, and TLC which Discovery operates under one tent. Both companies also have their own streaming platforms with HBO Max and Discovery Plus. As per the press release announcing the move, the b...
Amazon Music Drops HD Tier to $9.99, Shaking Up Hi-Fi Streaming Market
Amazon’s success with its HD service, which has grown 100% year-over-year, has pushed Spotify to announce a Hi-Fi tier as well, with rumors of an Apple Music Hi-Fi plan possibly also priced at $9.99 a month. For years, the music industry was focused on using high-fidelity audio streaming as a means to raise the average revenue per user with higher-priced subscriptions. That would mean bigger payouts for rights holders and the streaming services. But with Amazon, Spotify, and Apple all getting in on the high-fidelity push, the labels have become more amenable to lowering the price of high-fidelity tiers in the hopes of increasing the overall number of subscribers across the industry. “The other services are coming around to the fact that this is really important.” Boom says. “And that ...
HHW Gaming: Sony Reveals Sexy Red & Black DualSense Controllers For Hard To Get PS5 Console
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Sony / PlayStation Sony has pulled the lid off two new colors for the innovative PS5 DualSense controller. Yes, we know. It’s been 6 months, and trying to buy a PS5 is like trying to get the Platinum Trophy in Returnal. It’s unbelievably difficult. Sony is well aware of that. CFO Hiroki Totoki shared that production issues could carry over into the new year while PlayStation boss Jim Ryan states PS5 production will be ramping up over the summer. So we truly understand if you’re in a state of confusion and when it comes to this console. Production woes aren’t stopping Sony from rolling out new PS5 DualSense controllers for a console a good portion of gamers still does not have in their homes. Thursday (May 13), PlayStation announced a new striking Cosmic R...
T-Pain Hops On Instagram Live With Mark Zuckerberg To Speak About His DMs Dilemma
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Jemal Countess / Getty T-Pain took some time off from handing racists Ls in Call of Duty to speak with Mark Zuckerberg about his Instagram DMs situation. In April, T-Pizzle discovered a “hidden folder” in his Instagram direct messages and decided to take to TikTok to share all of the messages he missed from celebrities and fellow musicians. Unlike Boosie, who demanded an audience with Mark Zuckerberg and called him a “racist” after his Instagram account got shut down because he either couldn’t adhere to the platform’s strict policy of no nudity or sharing a video of himself slapping a man, T-Pain actually got to speak with the owner of Facebook about his DMs dilemma. During the Instagram Live session with Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO and owner of Instagra...
HHW Gaming: PS5 Production Will Be “Ramping Up Over The Summer” According To Sony Boss Jim Ryan
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Future Publishing / Getty Earlier this week, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki dropped some bad news for those still trying to buy a PS5. Wednesday (May 12), Jim Ryan is offering a small glimmer of hope. In an interview with Wired about the highly sought-after PS5 console which has amazingly sold 7.8 million consoles since March 31st, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan spoke on the steps the company is taking to rectify the stock issues. “We’re working as hard as we can to ameliorate that situation,” Ryan revealed to the website. “We see production ramping up over the summer and certainly into the second half of the year, and we would hope to see some sort of return to normality in terms of the balance between supply and demand during that period.” Despite ...
HHW Gaming: PS5 DualSense Controller Now Works On Apple Devices When Using Remote Play
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83 Tired of using your PS4 DualShock controller while playing PS5 games while using the Remote Play feature on your iPad or iPhone? We are happy to report those days are officially over. Thanks to the latest update to the PS Remote Play app, users can now use the PS5’s innovative DualSense controller to play PlayStation games on their iPad or iPhone. Sony finally rolled out the feature, and it works on any Apple iPhone running iOS14.5 and iPads running iPadOS 14.5, giving you the ability to move on from the PS4 DualShock controller. There is a small caveat. You won’t be getting the full DualSense experience. According to Reddit and The Verge, you can play games that utilize the controller’s adaptive triggers, but the e...
