Google Buys Songza

<a href="https://plus.google.com/+GooglePlay/posts/9FotaTDAw34">Google announced</a> that it has acquired <a href="http://songza.com/">Songza</a>, a music streaming service that offers music curated by experts. Songza is only available in the US and Canada. It's free and supported by ads, but you can disable ads by paying $3.99 a month.<br /><br />"We aren't planning any immediate changes to Songza, so it will continue to work like usual for existing users. Over the coming months, we'll explore ways to bring what you love about Songza to Google Play Music. We'll also look for opportunities to bring their great work to the music experience on YouTube and other Google products. In the meantime, check out their service on <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ad60.songza&hl=en">Android</a> or <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/songza/id453111583?mt=8">iOS</a> to find a playlist for any mood you're in — whether you're feeling a little mellow or a lot funky," suggests Google.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgND11wyV9302cnsE7N6_vRo2GRXOW-9FwmHryLhjc9-va49Iz7dMQ_QcCH0ItU0glO0oSEDaopMqoQZVXwlm_jK53d0_uIlXY6Iz5A9xE7G9hfeyhdv1OHbcj6jSIocZrKGIRYtmL55xgo/s1600/songza-logo.png" /></div><br />Songza's site has <a href="http://daily.songza.com/google/">a page</a> about the acquisition: "Today, we're thrilled to announce that we're becoming part of Google. We can't think of a better company to join in our quest to provide the perfect soundtrack for everything you do. No immediate changes to Songza are planned, other than making it faster, smarter, and even more fun to use."<br /><br />There's also a Googley logo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUZV3RDQQvdJSp6Z67zzkv9oIb3aT5SIxmvbCfND5ar8ZviR4serZCLJ6GoLrlZRQFp5YqYTdTRky1kJEanraPOLcPTaMantHMxUHnbbOoxOa_TN0qQYstf6DBrWYFahPuJ7w53_MA7HLf/s1600/songza.png" /></div><br />Curated playlists are very popular nowadays. That's the main feature of the Beats Music service recently acquired by Apple.<br /><br />"Stating that its playlists are made by music experts, the service recommends various playlists based on time of day and mood or activity. Songza offers playlists for activities such as waking up, working out, commuting, concentrating, unwinding, entertaining, and sleeping. Users can vote songs up or down, and the service will adapt to the user's personal music preferences." (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songza">Wikipedia</a>)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmwxSXXiEG5LxaUlxVY4kJS2zh9bW1uTDeZgLZrf7jVMR-j0eFlkTZMAliHK2SvvQedqNwrzwZBna7sUzAfUNQs24IYsBpjCgTg6Ci41Y0zhrdDclpeSNjXjYtaKnJKH70mXqRpnTlJKt/s1600/songza-android.png" /></div><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/02/business/media/google-buys-songza-a-playlist-app-for-any-occasion.html?_r=0">The New York Times reports</a> that "Google paid more than $39 million for Songza".

Google Buys Songza

Google announced that it has acquired Songza , a music streaming service that offers music curated by experts. Songza is only available in ...

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Google Buys Flutter, Gesture Recognition App

Google acquired <a href="https://flutterapp.com/home/">Flutter</a>, a startup that built a software that lets you control music and movies with gestures. The desktop software uses your computer's webcam to detect your gestures. "Just put your hand up to stop the media playback, point your thumb right for 'next' and left for 'previous'," <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/hands-on-with-googles-latest-acquisition-flutter-a-webcam-gesture-app/">reports ArsTechnica</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Sioxdsp3C8PtDwmjfLseMsF_MJMlaj4DmeRq8qu6mrBLV655wmOttXU_D1KYJpfFxvz_VWeuAXNvV9QCck0vmhnUviGZt5G4KYj-zKJNjrpo9S0MeBLnylMFG_6_CYd6Pl4GOOZdBKbr/s640/flutter-home.png" /></div><br />You can still download the apps for Windows and Mac OS X. The software supports media players like iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, Spotify, VLC, but also sites like YouTube, Netflix and Pandora using a Chrome extension.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglZNZBfQoTsxLdGEi3uvw2HwQspGompZYAkajUCr74LbZ01UZ3-efZblwVYEEaYhW9i-sC_a6gbwEH6diomwuQ55u4KAOqzv_IyGTobKqY6BRYKvy0JEVySEYPC24-YzuvOy1pr7BVtQlL/s640/flutter-home2.png" /></div><br />Gestures are intuitive, but detection didn't work that well for me.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZtNxqZRP70XCThlvGsUlo4FlFsaVVl3lU48g5c80AD0nyGmqYY1JrWTTGrVX2uWSWdzSKJV_hFyWZYwnSXdrfFEIQrzzXlW_xcMroZfn_5XsGk-0SKr9-36ui4OIc3Xqr8LX9nORNXce/s640/flutter-tutorial.png" /></div><br />Flutter's comic-style site asks users to join "the fight against unnatural user interfaces".<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZZFllEgy3Nas-HXM-5Gjt2oxHP8AdpYBwhrj-HaJpgaS6tHK8uXSPGTsduitMihB6FPMshp3PrENttEORuOmk4ZPeCUJOB5qsght77hoyypPTx0wA1wcmblbj6W2duSR3juSIxWvKWFQy/s640/flutter-about.png" /></div><br />"When we started three years ago, our dream to build a ubiquitous and power-efficient gesture recognition technology was considered by many as just 'a dream', not a real possibility. Since then, we have strived to build the best machine vision algorithms and a delightful user experience. Today, we are thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our research at Google. We share Google's passion for 10x thinking, and we're excited to add their rocket fuel to our journey," wrote Navneet Dalal, Flutter's CEO.<br /><br />From touch interfaces, voice-driven user interfaces to gesture recognition, object recognition, facial recognition and biometric scanning, it looks like computers will change dramatically and natural user interfaces will make computers disappear into the background. Xbox Kinect, Google Glass, smartwatches and other wearable computers, flexible screens are probably just the beginning.<br /><br />{ via <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/hands-on-with-googles-latest-acquisition-flutter-a-webcam-gesture-app/">ArsTechnica</a> }

Google Buys Flutter, Gesture Recognition App

Google acquired Flutter , a startup that built a software that lets you control music and movies with gestures. The desktop software uses yo...

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