Hasta La Gadget!

Shazam has launched its first app for Windows Phone, with the new software supporting unlimited tagging as well as integration with Xbox Music and Nokia Music. The Windows Phone 8 app can identify songs playing around the phone and flag up artist, track name, and album; they can then jump over into Xbox Music and buy the track, or alternatively – if they’re using a Lumia – Nokia Music to get the song.

There’s also the local tags feature we saw on the updated iOS and Android Shazam apps earlier this month. On Windows Phone, they flag up what’s being tagged and listened to nearby every 30 minutes, with the option of a homescreen Live Tile.

In the US, users can use Shazam to identify TV shows and adverts, with extra “second-screen” content opened up that way. There’s also music reviews and artist biographies, along with lyrics, and there’s a Live Tile “tag this” button for speedy access to the service.

Charts of the most popular artists and tracks are available, and it’s possible to set the cover art for any track as the lockscreen background on the phone.

Microsoft’s OS continues to be criticized for the gaps in its app offering for Windows Phone, though the company is working hard to engage with developers and fill in the holes. The platform has crept into third place in the smartphone OS charts, ousting BlackBerry OS from its position, though still lags significantly behind iOS and Android.

The new Shazam for Windows Phone 8 app is available in the Windows Phone Store. It’s a free download, though there’s an “Encore” premium version which is priced at $5.99, and which adds in recommendations and more.

Shazam hits Windows Phone 8 with Xbox Music support and Live Tiles is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Can you identify Beethoven’s Sonata No. 9 after hearing a mere three notes? Probably not, but a group of computer scientists and music scholars have built a machine that can do just that. The team — composed of Pablo Rodriguez Zivic, Favio Shifres and Guillermo Cecchi — has developed an algorithm capable of identifying patterns across distinct periods of Western music based on semi-tones and notes. Beyond its musical application, the machine represents tantalizing possibilities for research into disorders that affect speech. For example, current mechanical methods are already capable of recognizing vocal patterns common in the early stages of Parkinson’s, but the trio hopes to utilize their project for even earlier detection. Such an algorithm could also be instrumental in identifying psychiatric conditions that impact the speech centers of the brain. Unfortunately, the lack of a comprehensive database of different types of speech patterns stands in the way of wider implementation. Even so, the team is hopeful that verbal tests might someday be used in place of invasive diagnostic procedures to identify certain illnesses.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Via: IBM

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Now with a brand-new streaming music service under its belt, Android player doubleTwist is undergoing a makeover. The app’s latest incarnation has just landed on Google Play and features a Holo-inspired refresh that still keeps the character and dark looks of its predecessor. As you’d expect, the application now uses the system action bar on all screens and incorporates the “Up” button. The fresh release also includes cleaner alert and dialog prompts, refined typography and pages that work in both portrait and landscape views, with the occasional optimized layout for the latter. Despite the big tweaks, the outfit says this is just phase one of its Holo facelift, and that more drastic changes and optimizations for devices toting larger screens are coming down the pike. Click the neighboring source links to download the app and catch a grand tour of the revamp.

Filed under: Software

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Source: doubleTwist, Google Play

Professor David Cope speaks in purposeful abstraction, attempting to brace us for what we’re about to see. We’ve been on the road for a while now, I tell him. We’ve seen a lot of strange and wonderful things — robots and space shuttles and ghost hunts. “Yes, well,” he answers quietly, as we ascend the stairs of his Santa Cruz, Calif., home. “I guarantee you’ve never seen a laboratory like this.”

It’s hard to say precisely what we’ve gotten ourselves into. It’s a fairly standard suburban house from the outside, a few blocks from the base of the hill that holds the University of Santa Cruz. In amongst a forest of redwoods, it overlooks the pristine wilderness of the central coast that so famously inspired Kerouac, Miller and Steinbeck. Cope, a lifelong music professor, wears a denim jacket, floral button-up, white stubble and a sly smile. If there exists a walking manifestation of Santa Cruz, it might well be him. It’s the perfect uniform for an unassuming computer music pioneer.

There’s nothing of particular note to speak of downstairs in the living room, where Cope gives lessons on a grand piano littered with any number of music books. When we first arrive, Cope’s wife answers the door slightly confused and momentarily sure that we’re there to sell magazines — the professor, it seems, has forgotten to inform her that our arrival has been pushed up by an hour. From upstairs, Cope suggests we shoot the art lining the walls above the piano as he readies himself for our conversation. “I made them on a computer!” he excitedly exclaims about the planetary orbs and psychedelic swirls — mathematical, formulaic interactions imprinted into a bronzed-aluminum backing. They’re a small selection of a seemingly infinite and diverse collection of Cope’s artistic expressions that decorate the house.

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Not to be outdone by some of its music-streaming counterparts, Rhapsody’s releasing a revamped version of its iOS app today. Taking on a newly minted look, the service promises this version will make it simpler for subscribers to access and manage their tunes within the application. Rhapsody added features such as a “personalized” organization that, as you’d expect, organizes your jams under the My Music section and splits them into two different categories: Library and Downloads.

Much like on the Android flavor of the app, Rhapsody also updated the Album and Artist pages to display more useful info and tools, including reviews and additional music controls. In theory, these should pair nicely with the all-new fullscreen player and a pop-up menu that allows you to easily add songs to the download queue. Rhapsody tells us the update will be hitting the iOS devices soon, so keep an eye on the App Store if you’d like to be one of the First! first to test out the goods.

Update: It’s live now, and we’ve added the link below to help you get started with the download.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Software, Mobile

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Source: App Store