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Hulu's Android TV app adds voice support for playback controls
Making binge-watching just a little easier
Those of you who've been marathon-watching a ton of Hulu on your Android TV devices are in luck. Hulu has just added voice support for some playback controls for its Android TV app, making it easier to be even lazier while binging some Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
For any video app or service, a queue is an essential feature. The laws of the world don't apply to YouTube though, and the online streaming giant has thrived without a proper queue for years. Users got algorithm-approved videos to play next and that was it. But YouTube seems to now be aware, all of a sudden, that it should add the feature and so it's working on it. It's in temporary testing on the web and anyone can give it a try.
Here at Android Police, us writers are encouraged not to use the word "finally" in titles, as it can manufacture unnecessary excitement for something that not a lot of people may care about. However, for something as miraculous as this, there really is no better word to use. Google has at long last begun testing speed controls in the YouTube Android app, something that people have been wanting for years. It's about time.
YouTube's Offline Playback feature was first introduced alongside Music Key back in November, finally giving people a way to store a (limited) selection of videos for trips into areas with poor connectivity, or just to avoid using up capped data plans. While it has remained mostly unchanged in the last 8 months, the latest update finally brings a few modifications. The interface is now a bit more informative and uniform, and there's a new low-quality option (which is actually a good thing). A teardown also revealed some big improvements to the voice command interface that has been in the works for a while.
The list of actions is pretty comprehensive, covering just about everything except jumping to a specific time or toggling subtitles. Semi-advanced actions like connecting and disconnecting a Chromecast are supported. There's even a command to skip ads.
Google has big plans for both YouTube and Google Play Music. We've heard a lot about YouTube's potential subscription music playback service, background audio, and offline playback, and there's been much speculation about what such an arrangement would mean for Play Music All Access. What we've got today gives those rumors and clues some clarity.
Update: The Android version of Shazam has now received this update as well. Here's the new changelog posted to the Play Store.
If you're an audio perfectionist, you've surely stumbled onto flac, an audio compression format designed to deliver lossless recordings. The file sizes are considerably larger than your average MP3, but the sound quality is unparalleled by lossy compression algorithms. It's not hard to see why audiophiles drift towards flac as their preferred storage medium. Now imagine the latest version of Android is causing stuttering, cracks, pops, and static in the otherwise perfect playback of flac.
Last week, we heard from Dan Morrill (via Reddit) that "top men" were working on the "sleep of death" issue that caused 4.3 devices to become unresponsive if they fell asleep while streaming from Netflix through the Chromecast.
Google Currents Update Adds Support For Audio Playlists, Media Bars, And Audio Controls
Google Currents Update Adds Support For Audio Playlists, Media Bars, And Audio Controls
Google released an update to the news reader it hasn't abandoned today, adding a bunch of support for audio-centric features. Playlists are now available for editions that contain audio content, and users will be able to play, pause, and jump forward or backward in the playlist. There are even status bar controls added for when audio is playing, so you don't have to sit staring at a blank playback page while listening.
SoundCloud may not be the most famous app around, but when it comes to sharing a simple audio clip or a song, it's hard to beat. Now, the company's mobile app is getting an overhaul and with it comes a shiny new interface that doesn't suck. The UI upgrade makes use of the action bar, side navigation panel, notification controls and all the other fancy new features that we've grown used to since Ice Cream Sandwich and beyond.
In ancient Greece, Apollo was—among other things—the god of music. In ancient 2012, Apollo became the official music app for CyanogenMod. It was gorgeous, functional, and completely customizable, as you might expect from the world's most popular ROM. At the time, we were told that this lovely bit of software would be coming to the Market "in the coming weeks." That was back when we still called it the Market. Today, though, Apollo is available on the Play Store.
While services like Spotify and Rdio may steal the spotlight most of the time, there are other streaming subscription services out there. Related: we need a better name than "streaming subscription services." Rhapsody, originally founded by Real Networks and since become an independent entity, has a pretty impressive library that users can now download for offline playback. An essential feature for a modern cloud music player. Update: To clarify, it's the ability to download songs on an individual or per-album basis that is new. Users were always able songs by adding them to a playlist first. This simply makes the process simpler.
[Update: More Info About NA Availability] VLC Player Now Available In The Play Store For ARMv7 NEON Devices... But Not In The U.S. And Canada
It seems like we've been waiting forever for an official build of VLC to land in the Play Store, and that day has finally come... for some people, anyway.
It seems like we've been waiting forever for an official build of VLC to land in the Play Store, and that day has finally come... for some people, anyway. First off, the build that just landed in the Store is for devices with ARMv7 NEON CPUs only. This includes most modern processors, like Tegra 3, Exynos, OMAP4, and Snapdragon S2, S3, and S4. If you have an older processor, like Tegra 2 or one that uses ARMv6 architecture, then a build for your device should be available "in a few days."
VLC is one of those tools that's in every geek's toolbox. The video player that supports every video format known to man still doesn't have an official, finished Android version, though. In the meantime, however, developer cvpcs, has done us all the courtesy of setting up an hourly build server for the alpha of VLC for Android.
Based on a tweet by Cyanogen, the G2 isn't going to be sporting another rehash of the Snapdragon family of chipsets that has come to dominate HTC devices for the past 6 months.
One of Android’s major shortcomings is its lack of compatibility with many audio and video file types. Fortunately, doubleTwist stepped in to fix the audio problem, but what about video playback? That’s where RockPlayerBase comes in!