Tech
Can This Music Rights Search Tool Solve a Big Industry Problem?
Hines, who lives in Atlanta, and New Jersey-based Noble made strides in 2020, first with funding from Collab Capital, an investment fund that targets Black entrepreneurs, as well as WeWork Black Founders, Google Black Founders Academy and early angel investors. Nobles says that Google, for instance, has been “hands on” by providing resources, including a tech support contact who went “deep with us on architecture” and other questions. Hines and Nobles also worked with teams from YouTube and ContentID, the Google-owned platform’s audio recognition technology used for copyright protection. Also, Music Tech Works was in the 2019-2020 cohort of Project Music and Entertainment, the music-focused startup accelerator of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Rightsholder...
Beats & fragment design Come Together For New Powerbeats Pro Collaboration
Source: Beats / Powerbeats Pro x fragment design New year, new Beats By Dre collaboration. Beats By Dre closed out 2020 by collaborating with Japanese contemporary jewelry label Ambush for a sick glow-in-the-dark pair of its Powerbeats. To kick-off 2021, the brand started by Dr. Dre, now owned by Apple, is linking up with Hiroshi Fujiwara’s fragment design fashion label. While Ambush’s Powerbeats were made to stand out, fragment design’s Powerbeats Pro are staying true to the Fujiwara’s love of keeping things very minimal. The wireless buds come in the Japanese musician and designer’s signature monochromatic style. What separates them from any other typical pair of Powerbeats Pro earbuds is the addition of the fragment’s iconic lightning bolt logo while the right side and “FRGMNT” letterin...
HHW Gaming: Snoop Dogg, Marshawn Lynch, & More Will Compete In Pro Bowl: The ‘Madden NFL 21’ Edition
Source: EA / Pro Bowl: The Madden NFL 21 Edition The 2021 NFL Pro Bowl is going to look a lot different this time around. The NFL somehow managed to get a complete season done, even with the country still dealing with the out of control COVID-19 pandemic. Super Bowl LV is set and will be a historic one because Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers are playing host to the defending champs, Kansas City Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes, when they face off in Tampa, Florida, at Raymond James Stadium. This marks the first time in league history that a Super Bowl team will be playing in its own home stadium. The Pro Bowl, which is usually the NFL’s equivalent to the NBA’s All-Star Game, just not as popular, was supposed to be played in Las Vegas at the Raider’s new stadium on January 31 but was c...
GameStop Stock Rises Due To Reddit & Robinhood Users, Wall Street Shook?
Source: Johnny Louis / Getty Back in 2019, GameStop announced that it was closing hundreds of stores nationwide as the need for a brick and mortar video game store started to dwindle. This week, the retail chain is experiencing a boom in stock value, and what makes this unique is that individual investors have somehow bent the market to their will. There may not be any place on the Internet to avoid news or chatter surrounding the huge gains made by the Grapevine, Texas company. Like many other global entities, GameStop’s earnings and impact within its industry were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic with retail sales slowing to a near halt as digital sales continued to boom. On Monday (Jan. 26), smaller investors congregating on Reddit and using the Robinhood app resulted in a short squ...
Apple Is Celebrating Black History Month With A Limited Editon ‘Black Unity’ Apple Watch & More
Source: Apple / Apple Celebrates Black History Month Following the civil unrest that swept across the country and world following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, big tech companies pledged to do more to help push Black racial equity initiatives. Apple is making sure the energy is being kept. Tuesday (Jan.26), as part of its celebration of Black History Month, Apple unveiled a limited edition “Black Unity” Apple Watch. The smartwatch will be a part of Apple’s Black Unity Collection of products and is dressed in the colors featured in the Pan-African flag. The limited smartwatch is a standard Series 6 Apple Watch that will launch on February 1st and will be available at Target and Apple stores. It will feature a unique watch face that “creates an ever-changing ...
HHW Gaming: Microsoft Has A Change of Heart & Will Not Be Raising Xbox Live Gold Subscription Prices
Source: Microsoft / Xbox Live Gold Microsoft is now saying sike after indicating it was going to raise Xbox Live Gold subscription prices. Cyberbullying can be used for good. Friday (Jan.22), Microsoft managed to ruin whatever goodwill it established with gamers when it announced that it would ridiculously raise Xbox Live Gold subscription prices. Understandably people were upset that if you didn’t already have a 12-month subscription — which Microsoft no longer offers — you wouldn’t see a price increase. Still, if you’re a new six-month subscriber, you would have to pony up $59.99, basically $120 for an entire year. Well, Microsoft paid attention to the cries from the pissed off button mashers and has decided not to follow through with the subscription price hike. The company announced vi...
HHW Gaming: Capcom’s ‘Resident Evil’ Showcase Highlights ‘Resident Evil Village’ & More
Source: Capcom / Resident Evil New year, plenty of Resident Evil to look forward to. Thursday (Jan.21), Capcom kicked off 2021 with its first Resident Evil showcase, which also served as a celebration of the iconic survival horror video game franchise’s 25th anniversary. During the pre-recorded and socially distant event, fans of the video game were treated to a new look at the latest installment, Resident Evil Village, a new multiplayer game, an unexpected crossover event with Ubisoft’s The Division 2, and more info on the upcoming Netflix Resident Evil animated film. Let’s break everything down that we witnessed during the stream. Resident Evil Village Source: Capcom / Resident Evil Village Not much was known about Resident Evil Village when it was first announced except for the fact it ...
Excellent !: First Look Photos From ‘Mortal Kombat’ Reboot Have Arrived, Director Promises Plenty of Gore & Fatalities
Source: AAron Ontiveroz / Getty Fans have wondered what to expect from the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot. Entertainment Weekly has provided us some insight. Ahead of the film’s April 16 release in theaters and on HBO Max, Entertainment Weekly unleashed on us some first look photos from the film and they look very promising. In them, we see the iconic characters from the iconic fight game franchise like Lui Kang (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Bi-Han/Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), Scorpion ( Hanzo Hasashi), Kano (Josh Lawson), and newcomer to the franchise via the film Cole Young (Lewis Tan). EW reveals the movie will open up with a 10-minute flashback sequence that will highlight the feud between our favorite ninjas, Scorpion and Sub-Zero,...
Apple Music’s Africa Strategy Is Starting to Pay Off
“Africa has birthed a lot of special talents that have been creating amazing music for a long time and we’re happy to finally have the platforms and the means to share our music across the continent and to the rest of the world,” Tems tells Billboard. “[The Africa Rising program] allowed my music to reach new listeners and [has] also given my supporters and myself something to be excited about in these tough times.” ALL EYES ON AFRICA Over the past several years, labels, distributors and industry trade groups have turned their focus towards the African music market, and Apple Music is not the only streaming service making inroads on the continent, or supporting its local artists. (Tems, for example, was also included as part of the latest class of YouTube’s Foundry program, whi...
Samsung Unveils Its New Flagship Galaxy Phone Lineup The S21, S21+ and S20 Ultra
Source: Samsung / Samsung Mobile Samsung is back, and to kick off the new year announced its newest additions to its Galaxy smartphone lineup and more. On the final day of CES, Samsung held its first virtual unpacked event of the new year, but unlike previous years, the South Korean tech giant decided to hold the event a month earlier. Today (Jan.14), the company unveiled its cheaper Galaxy S21, S21+, and fully loaded S21 Ultra they hope will lure more buyers to its smartphones. The Galaxy S21 & S21+ Source: Samsung / Galaxy S21 and S21+ Kicking things off, Samsung announced the new Galaxy S21 ($799) and Galaxy S21+ ($1,000). Samsung faithful will be happy to see the company shaved $200 off the device, a huge plus in the world still in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. How did they a...
U.S. Postal Service Supervisor Sentenced For Jacking Video Games Consoles From The Mail
Source: Boston Globe / Getty If you were one of the many people suspicious of USPS stealing your items, this story is your AHA moment. A U.S. Postal Service supervisor was sentenced in a case involving the theft of video game consoles back in the spring of 2020, federal prosecutors announced on Wednesday (Jan.13). Derby, Connecticut native Zoheb A. Deura, 34, was slapped with a $20,000 fine and three years probation, and nine months of home confinement. Deura pleaded guilty back in October to stealing numerous packages between February and April 2020. According to Polygon, he took “PlayStation and Nintendo gaming devices,” as well as an Apple iPhone and a computer. Consoles, smartphones, and computers are not the only thing he acquired via the five-finger discount. Deura also lifted packag...
HHW Gaming: ‘Grand Theft Auto 6’ To Feature First Female Protagonist
Source: Rockstar Games / Rockstar It’s been 7 years since gamers lived out their wildest street dreams as Franklin Clinton and others in Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5, but will they get that same kind of satisfaction should the main protagonist be a woman? Looks like we’re about to find out. According to Comicbook.com, development of Grand Theft Auto 6 is already underway over at Rockstar Games for all next-gen video game consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X) and may see a release date sooner rather than later. But that’s not all, the report also states that one of the rumors surrounding the game is that the game will have a playable female protagonist for the first time in the franchise’s history. But don’t worry sexist gamers, she’ll be alongside a man should you feel a ways about having a ...
