Streaming music report sheds light on battle between Spotify, Amazon, Apple, and Google

Market share for the world’s largest music streaming services. | Image: Midia Research

Spotify was the largest music streaming service in the world as of the second quarter of 2021 with a market share of 31 percent, with Apple Music in second place at 15 percent, and Amazon Music and Tencent Music each tied at third with 13 percent apiece. That’s according to a report from Midia Research, a media and entertainment-focused research and analysis agency.

Although exact subscriber numbers and market shares may have changed in the months since Q2 2021 (the use of older data is because of how long the market analysis process takes, Midia tells me), the report sheds light on how the world’s biggest music streaming services are stacking up against one another. While Spotify releases official subscriber numbers at the end of each...

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Crypto.com admits over $30 million stolen by hackers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

In a blog post published in the early hours of Thursday morning, cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com acknowledged that the company had lost well over $30 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum after a hack that took place on January 17th.

The company has been criticized for vague communication around the hack, which was only officially confirmed yesterday by CEO Kris Marszalek.

The new blog post said that the total value of the unauthorized withdrawals was 4,836.26 ETH and 443.93 BTC — equivalent to roughly $15.2 million and $18.6 million respectively, at current exchange rates — as well as $66,200 worth of other currencies. According to the post, 483 Crypto.com users had their accounts compromised.

Crypto.com has said that all affected...

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Facebook and Instagram are reportedly exploring plans to make, showcase, and sell NFTs

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Social media conglomerate Meta is exploring plans to let users create, showcase, and sell NFTs on Facebook and Instagram, according to a report from The Financial Times.

If the company launches such tools, it would be the biggest show of mainstream support for NFTs to date, and help solidify the controversial assets’ place in the digital world.

As per the FT, the plans are “at an early stage and could yet change.” The publication says teams at Facebook and Instagram are “readying” a feature that will let users display NFTs as their profile pictures, as well as working on a prototype to let users mint new NFTs. Others at Meta are reportedly discussing “launching a marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs.”

Exactly how far along these...

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Twitter Communities now work on Android

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter is rolling out its Communities feature, a rival to Facebook Groups and Reddit, to Android users worldwide. Since its launch in September, Twitter Communities has been limited to iOS or the web, meaning Android users could only join and participate in communities through a browser and not the native Twitter app.

Android users can now easily join, request to join, or participate in Twitter Communities, opening up the feature to a lot more of Twitter’s userbase. Twitter Communities work like a private group, or like a subreddit. Twitter users can choose to tweet directly to a Twitter community, and that tweet won’t show up on their own feed or to their followers.

Twitters Communities is still in beta

Twitter Communities is still an...

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Amazon’s first clothing store lets you summon clothes to the fitting room

Image: Amazon

Amazon Style is a new kind of physical store from the online shopping giant that will focus on clothing, footwear, and other fashion accessories, the company announced today. It’s due to open at The Americana at Brand shopping mall in Los Angeles later this year, where it will be Amazon’s “first-ever physical apparel store.”

In line with Amazon’s existing retail locations, the new Amazon Style store is packed to the gills with shopping tech. Amazon says clothes racks will feature QR codes, which customers can scan to see available sizes, colors, customer ratings, and product details. Then, with a tap of a button, selected items will be sent to a fitting room to try on without having to first rummage through racks. Amazon will also send...

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Windows 11 is getting a new Task Manager design

Microsoft is getting ready to overhaul the Task Manager in Windows 11. Like the rest of the operating system, the Task Manager is getting a new design that matches Microsoft’s new Fluent Design language. It seems Microsoft hid the new design in the bowels of recent Windows 11 builds, but engineering student Gustave Monce, who previously got Windows 11 running on a phone, uncovered the work-in-progress and shared it on Discord this week.

It’s possible to enable the new Task Manager inside the latest preview builds of Windows 11, but Microsoft hasn’t officially announced the redesign. “This is a hidden feature in the new build,” says Monce. “Everything is broken though.” It’s clearly early days for this new design, but it already includes...

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Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are personally lobbying senators against antitrust legislation: report

Photo credit should read NOAH BERGER/AFP via Getty Images

The United States’ biggest tech companies are seriously worried about new antitrust legislation. So much so that Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai have been personally “calling and meeting with senators,” urging them to oppose the mooted legislation, according to a report from Punchbowl News that cites “​​multiple Senate aides.”

The legislation in question is The American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a bipartisan bill spearheaded by Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). The legislation is currently in its early stages, and is set to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee today. The bill would need to pass votes from both the House and Senate to become law, but it’s still easy to see why it’s...

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Sony expects Microsoft to ‘continue to ensure’ Activision games stay multiplatform

Sony has responded to Microsoft’s blockbuster proposal to buy Activision Blizzard with a comment on what that might mean for the future games like Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles. “We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform,” a spokesperson tells The Wall Street Journal.

That statement’s wording is less than definitive. It’s not surprising that Sony would expect Microsoft to honor any existing contractual agreements regarding PlayStation games, as it did when PS5 console exclusive Deathloop was released after Microsoft’s acquisition of publisher Bethesda Softworks. Once existing agreements expire, it opens the door for Microsoft to pursue Xbox exclusivity...

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Canon’s EOS R5C is a 2-in-1 stills and cinema camera

Canon has announced a new camera that brings cinema-grade video capabilities to a conventional full-frame mirrorless body. The EOS R5C looks a lot like the EOS R5, which in turn looked a lot like a Canon DSLR, but it’s much bulkier in the back. This is to accommodate an active cooling system so it can shoot for long stretches without overheating.

How long? Well, Canon says the cooling system allows the R5C to shoot up to 8K/60fps indefinitely. This was an issue with the R5; it was advertised as being able to shoot 8K for about 20 minutes, and Canon later released a firmware update to improve overheating problems. The R5C also supports 8K HDR recording in HLG and PQ formats as well as 4K/120fps recording in 4:2:2 10-bit color without...

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Roku outage leads to frozen TVs and unresponsive devices

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Roku experienced a significant service disruption on Wednesday evening, which resulted in some of the company’s streaming devices and even Roku TVs getting stuck on the loading screen or going through a reboot loop and becoming effectively useless. Roku TV sets from TCL, Hisense, and other manufacturers were affected.

Users took to social media and Roku’s subreddit to report problems with their Roku hardware, and Down Detector showed a spike for Roku’s services. The company’s support account acknowledged the ongoing issues at around 8:30PM ET.

“Roku is aware of an issue reported by users who are unable to access some Roku services,” the company said. “If you are trying to activate your device, please try again later. Our priority is to...

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You can now save $20-$36 a year on YouTube Premium and Music Premium with new annual plans

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you’re a new or existing user of YouTube Premium and Music Premium, which let you watch and listen ad-free, you might be able to save up to $36 a year with Google’s new annual plans, as _9to5Google_reports. From now until Sunday, January 23rd, users can receive an extra discount with the promo rate, but the new annual plans cost less than the current monthly rate either way.

YouTube Premium’s new annual plan is currently selling for $107.99, roughly $36 less than you’d pay for a year at its current monthly price of $143.88.

For YouTube Premium Music subscribers, the annual rate is currently $89.99, but will be priced at $119.88 after Sunday — still nearly a $30 savings over paying monthly.

Users are still able to sign-up for a...

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AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT meta-review: even desperate gamers should think twice

You’ve heard that PC graphics cards are nearly impossible to find, or that you’ll have to pay exorbitant sums. But if you were hoping the $200 budget AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT was about to change that, we have some very bad news. Reviewers are positively ripping it a new one, and not just because of its cost, or the fact it only has 4GB of VRAM — but apparently because this brand-new GPU is laughably bad.

“[T]his is the worst GPU release since I can remember, and I’ve been doing this job for over two decades,” writes TechSpot’s Steven Walton.

“AMD RX 6500 XT is worse than 2016’s GPUs,” declares Gamers Nexus.

“WTF AMD!?” and “WTF is AMD thinking?,” ask Hardware Canucks and KitGuruTech respectively. “A GPU you might be able to buy... but...

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Here’s how to clean your $19 Apple cleaning cloth

You can’t just throw it in the wash. | Image of cloth: Apple

Here’s the scenario: you managed to get your hands on Apple’s hottest product, its $19 polishing cloth meant for cleaning nano-texture screens and other Apple devices. But oh no! Instead of hanging it up with the rest of your priceless artifacts, you accidentally used it to actually clean something, and now it’s dirty. Thankfully, Apple has bestowed us with a guide on how to make our cloth good as new, and 9to5Mac has brought those instructions to our attention.

Are you ready? Here’s how Apple’s “How to clean the nano-texture glass on your Apple display” support article describes the process:

1. Hand wash the polishing cloth with dish soap and water.

2. Rinse thoroughly.

3. Allow the polishing cloth to air dry for at least 24 hours.

T...

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Super Bowl 2022 won’t stream in 4K on NBC

Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

The 2022 Super Bowl won’t be broadcast or streamed in 4K again this year when the game takes place on February 13th, NBC Sports has confirmed to The Verge. The lack of a 4K stream marks the second year in a row that the big game won’t be available with the higher level of picture quality.

“The game will not be in 4K,” Dan Masonson, a spokesperson for NBC Sports, told The Verge.

NBC, which is hosting the big game this year, has never actually aired an NFL game in 4K or HDR before, despite hosting the nationally televised Sunday Night Football game every week during the regular NFL season. NBC, for what it's worth, isn’t the only network: CBS doesn’t produce any of its games in 4K (the network cited COVID-19 issues for the lack of a 4K...

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You can now make a Playdate game right in your browser

Playdate Pulp is in public beta. | Image: Playdate

Panic, the maker of the quirky Playdate handheld, has released a public beta of its Playdate Pulp in-browser game builder. The company describes it as “a friendly tool for making tiny but visually and narratively rich games for Playdate,” in its developer documentation.

In the Pulp editor, you’ll be able to do things like make pixel graphics, build levels, write music, and even create custom fonts. As you’re working on your game, you can test it right in your browser, and when you’re ready, you can export your game as a .pdx file (a clever reference to Panic’s Portland roots) so you can load it onto a Playdate handheld. You don’t have to write any code to make a game in Pulp, but if you do want to try your hand at some coding, you can...

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Disney is putting a Disney Plus exec in charge of Hulu

Disney has named Joe Earley, a former EVP of its tentpole streaming service Disney Plus, to the position of president of Hulu.

Earley previously served as EVP marketing and operations at Disney Plus and is headed to its sister service after joining the company in January of 2019. In the new role at Hulu, Earley will be tasked with building on the service’s brand and will liaise with its various content studios.

The announcement comes as part of a reorganization as Disney continues to rally resources around its streaming business. Earley will report to Michael Paull, who the company has appointed to the role of president of Disney’s overall streaming business. In this newly created position, Paull will oversee the company’s ESPN Plus,...

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Google launches beta of Android games on Windows PCs

Google is launching a limited beta of its app to bring Android games to Windows PCs. Google Play Games will be available in beta in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan today, allowing Windows PC owners to play popular Android games like Mobile Legends, Summoners War, State of Survival, and Three Kingdoms Tactics.

Players in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan will be able to sign up to access the beta and access Google’s standalone app on Windows PCs. Google is promising “seamless gameplay sessions between a phone, tablet, Chromebook, and Windows PC,” suggesting that you’ll be able to easily resume games between multiple devices.

“Players can easily browse, download, and play their favorite mobile games on their PCs while taking advantage...

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Apple TV Plus teases its WeWork series with Jared Leto

Photo by Apple

A new trailer gives us a glimpse of Apple TV Plus’ WeCrashed, an upcoming miniseries about the real-life buildup and dramatic downfall of WeWork, the coworking space with the weirdly bombastic public filing that laid off thousands of employees while later giving its brash CEO a huge golden parachute. The script practically writes itself.

Jared Leto stars as WeWork’s former eccentric CEO, Adam Neumann, while Anne Hathaway takes on the role of his wife, Rebekah Neumann, who served as the company’s chief brand and impact officer and was former CEO of WeGrow. The trailer opens with Leto reimagining a run-down building as a vibrant office space — and then making that vision a reality. Leto and Hathaway are then seen leading a “WeWork” chant...

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The battle between the FAA, AT&T, Verizon, and airlines over 5G

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

C-band’s rollout has endured months of controversy

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Crypto.com CEO confirms hundreds of accounts were hacked, hedges on other details

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, Kris Marszalek, has finally confirmed that hundreds of user accounts were indeed compromised by hackers and had funds stolen as a result, though details of the exact method of breach remain unclear.

Marszalek acknowledged the hack in an online interview with Bloomberg Wednesday, stating that around 400 customer accounts had been compromised. He also told Bloomberg that he had not received any outreach from regulators since the attack was first disclosed but would share information if official inquiries were made.

Previous statements from Marszalek and other communications from Crypto.com have been criticized for being vague and unclear. Official messaging from the company referred to a...

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New Meta Quest update lets you access some settings with a pinch

Update v37 adds many new features. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Meta is adding a new feature to its Quest virtual reality headsets that lets you pinch your fingers to access the Quick Action menu, according to a blog post published Wednesday. The Quick Action menu functions similarly to the Control Center on iOS, so this new feature should give you an easier way to access some top-level settings.

To do the gesture while using hand tracking on the Quest, “hold your hand palm-up, then make a pinching motion, and you’ll be able to call up a shortcut menu that will make it easier to take screenshots, activate voice commands, and more,” Meta said. The company also made a handy GIF to show the gesture:

This new gesture is arriving with v37 of the Quest software, which is rolling out...

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Halo Infinite gets a hotfix to address Big Team Battle problems, but it hasn’t helped

Halo Infinite multiplayer | Image: 343 Industries

Microsoft’s latest Halo game has finally arrived, and as we’ve seen, the Infinitecampaign mode delivers. But for players already missing features like campaign co-op and Forge customizations, ongoing issues with the Halo Infinite Big Team Battle matchmaking have been another source of disappointment. A little over a week ago, the developers at 343 said a hotfix was on the way, and now it has arrived. But there’s bad news — it doesn’t seem to work.

The size of the update varies by platform, but players report it comes in at about a gigabyte on Xboxes and 110MB for PC players via Steam. If you’ve been online the whole time, you may need to restart your game to download it.

Here’s 343 on what’s happening:

Hey everyone - The Hotfix was...

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Half of internet-connected devices in hospitals are vulnerable to hacks, report finds

Over half of internet-connected devices used in hospitals have a vulnerability that could put patient safety, confidential data, or the usability of a device at risk, according to a new report from the healthcare cybersecurity company Cynerio.

The report analyzed data from over 10 million devices at over 300 hospitals and health care facilities globally, which the company collected through connectors attached to the devices as part of its security platform.

The most common type of internet-connected device in hospitals was an infusion pump. These devices can remotely connect to electronic medical records, pull the correct dosage of a medication or other fluid, and dispense it to the patient. Infusion pumps were also the devices most...

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How to file for a tax extension

irs (ray tsang flickr)

When, in 2020, the IRS pushed the due date for federal income taxes from April 15th to July 15th because of the upheaval brought about by COVID-19, a lot of taxpayers must have breathed a sigh of relief. Depending on where we lived, many of us were dealing with product shortages, layoffs, sudden isolation, and trying to figure out how to cope with the new normal.

Time marches on, however, and two years later, the tax deadline is back to mid-April (April 18th for most states, April 19th in Maine and Massachusetts). So if you won’t be able to file your taxes by then, what do you do?

One thing you don’t do is panic. You can still file for an extension — and it won’t take long.

If you’re an individual (and let’s assume you are), you can file...

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Google will make free ‘legacy’ G Suite accounts pay for its office apps starting in July

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

If you’re part of a business or school that is a G Suite legacy free edition user, your organization will soon have to sign up for a paid subscription to continue using Google Workspace (via 9to5Google). Google will automatically upgrade free plans to a Google Workspace subscription “based on the features you currently use” if your organization doesn’t sign up for a paid plan by May 1st.

The free edition was initially available in Google’s first iteration of Workspace, called Google Apps, which launched in 2006. Google Apps rebranded as G Suite in 2016, before becoming the Google Workspace we know today in 2020 by bundling Gmail, Docs, Meet, Sheets, and Calendar along with some extra perks. Google stopped offering the legacy free edition...

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The FAA says some 777s are cleared to fly to airports with 5G C-band

Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The Federal Aviation Administration has announced that more planes will be able to land in low-visibility conditions despite the rollout of 5G C-band, including some models of the Boeing 777 aircraft that’s used by many international airlines. According to a statement from the regulatory agency, it’s cleared three more models of radar altimeters as safe and reliable, even in areas where the upgraded cellular technology has been rolled out. This change comes after several international airlines announced on Tuesday that they were suspending flights to some US airports due to the 5G C-band rollout.

According to the FAA’s statement, which you can read in full below, it cleared three additional altimeters on Wednesday morning, after clearing...

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Moon Knight’s Gaspard Ulliel has died following skiing accident in the French Alps

Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images for the Cesar

Gaspard Ulliel, the French actor known for his portrayal of Yves Saint Laurent in director Bertrand Bonello’s _Saint Laurent_and his upcoming role in Marvel’s Moon Knightseries, has died at the age of 37 following a skiing accident in the Alps.

Variety reportsthat Ulliel was initially rushed by helicopter to a hospital in Grenoble after a collision with another skier in the Alps’ Savoie region that left the actor with traumatic brain injuries. A burgeoning fixture in the French cinema scene, Ulliel’s roles in projects like A Very Long Engagement and _La Princesse de Montpensier_made him one of the most recognizable faces at Cannes over the years during which he also became an in-demand model for brands like Vogue and Chanel.

Ulliel first...

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Strava can help you avoid the runs on those long runs

Points of Interest is Strava’s latest feature | Screenshot: Victoria Song / The Verge

There’s nothing like being 45 minutes into a run on a new route, far from civilization, and feeling the tell-tale gurgle in your intestines signaling the dreaded runner’s trots. Sometimes, Google can come to your aid, but searching for a public restroom while trying not to publically poop your pants is, needless to say, incredibly stressful. So, it’s nice to see that Strava’s quietly added a new feature called Points of Interest that will help users find helpful locations on a given route.

According to a Strava support post, Points of Interest is a feature that adds “community-powered local hotspots” to make outdoor activities like running, cycling, and hiking more enjoyable. These hot spots can include the obvious, like public...

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Instagram is testing paid subscriptions with a small group of creators

Image: Instagram

US Instagram users will soon be able to subscribe to a small number of creators and influencers to access exclusive content and features. In a blog post, the company says it’s launching a test of subscriptions today, with more creators being added in the coming weeks.

10 creators are part of the early test, including basketball player Sedona Prince, Olympian Jordan Chiles, and astrologer Aliza Kelly

Fans will pay a monthly fee to access subscriber-only content from creators they follow, like exclusive Lives and Stories. Subscribers will also get a purple badge by their username that signals their status to the creator. Price tiers will range from $0.99 to $99.99 per month, and creators can select the price point for their subscriptions....

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Belkin’s Boost Charge Pro is a $60 MagSafe puck with a kickstand and braided cable

The cable is also a meter longer than Apple’s version. | Image: Belkin

Belkin’s new Boost Charge Pro wireless charging pad takes Apple’s MagSafe puck and ... well, makes it “pro” with a 2-meter-long braided cable and a kickstand for propping your phone up to make it easier to see while it’s charging (via MacRumors). It also comes in black, a must for any accessory sporting the pro moniker. There is a bit of a catch, though — like many accessories with official MagSafe certification, it doesn’t come cheap.

At $60, which it’s listed at in both the Apple and Belkin stores, the Boost Charge Pro costs significantly more than Apple’s $40 MagSafe charger, which was already seen as a bit on the pricy side. Yes, you do get that kickstand, and having a longer cable is definitely a plus. But is it really worth an...

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