Light Start: Apple Music HiFi coming, LG flagships selling, Black Widow incoming and Guitar drumming

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Apple teases big update to Apple Music

This weekend, reports emerged that Apple may be planning a special announcement event for Apple Music. Users started noticing banners displaying the tagline: “Get Ready – Music is About to Change Forever.” Of course, this comes at a time where rumours about the third generation of Apple AirPods are being discussed (unofficially, of course). This means Apple may be planning an event completely aimed at audiophiles. 

In addition to a potential hardware reveal, we may see Apple finally announce HiFi/lossless audio quality on its music streaming platform — a feature recently announced for competing platform Spotify. Apple won’t let Spotify and Tidal have all the fun, now would it? We may even see an announcement regarding Spatial Audio using Dolby Atmos capability on some of its existing devices like the AirPods Max and any unannounced hardware. This basically means that Apple Music users will now be able to stream lossless audio via the platform, considering they have an audio device capable of HiFi quality. 

This isn’t the first time we’re noticing mentions of lossless and high-quality music streaming — references to the features were already found in the beta versions of the upcoming iOS 14.6 update. The event may be scheduled as early as this week, but there’s no confirmation as yet. 

Source: 9to5Mac[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

LG is selling new flagship smartphones internally

While LG announced it was withdrawing from the smartphone business back in April 2021, the company was still developing a few new devices at the time. One of these flagships, codenamed ‘LG Rainbow’ (which turned out to be the LG Velvet 2), has now launched unofficially and is being sold to LG employees in Korea. 

According to reports on Twitter, LG is only making around 3,000 units of the LG Velvet 2 available to the employees of LG Korea. Apparently, the sequel looks very similar to the design of the first Velvet device (which was one of Stuff’s favourite LG devices). One of the major differences being a touch-sensitive volume rocker along the side of the device. It also comes in three colours, including something called ‘Bimetallic Bronze’ — a colour that we would’ve liked to see in person. With regards to other specs, there’s a triple rear camera array, a waterdrop-notch selfie shooter upfront. 

While the devices are being sold at a fraction of the OG Velvet’s price at just $170 (R2,700), employees know that they’re buying into hardware that won’t be supported in terms of software updates for the extended future. 

Source: Android Authority[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Marvel drops new Black Widow action scene

It’s become increasingly evident that feature films don’t have to premier in a cinema to do well. Streaming services have taken over the role in a large way, but it’s also important not to forget the importance of cinemas and the effect that lockdown had on them. If there’s one thing that can save cinemas around the world, it’s a new feature-length film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the form of Black Widow. 

We’ve known about Black Widow’s solo film for a fair amount of time — so long, in fact, that we almost forgot about its existence. Luckily, however, Marvel decided to treat us with a small look at an action-packed sequence in a new trailer. The film was due out exactly a year ago now (thanks, global lockdowns), and will give us a deeper look into the character’s dark past and her roots in Russia. Black Widow takes off just after the events of Captain America: Civil War, when a threat tied to Natasha’s past finally gets a hold of her. 

We suggest you take in the unadulterated action in this short 1-minute clip as we all wait for the film to release in cinemas (and on Disney Plus) on 9 July 2021.

Source: Cnet[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Use Mooer to turn a guitar into a drum kit

If you’re at all into audio mixing and playing with effects, you’d know that it’s possible to turn just about any instrument into another instrument using only software. Now, Mooer Audio has built the GTRS S800 Intelligent Guitar that happens to also be 128 other instruments. No, really. 

The Mooer guitar is a six-stringer that is fitted with the capability to sound like 126 other instruments, including a drum kit, thanks to various effects. While it’s not clear from current reports how it manages, or how the user will access the various effects, we know there’s a tool called the ‘Super Knob’ that may have something to do with it. “You can also expand the guitar’s features through both a GTRS mobile app and an optional GWF4 wireless footswitch. It will offer Bluetooth for wireless connections and should last up to 15 hours on standby thanks to the built-in 4,000mAh battery,” according to Engadget.

While the guitar isn’t publicly available for purchase quite yet, Mooer plans to crowdfund the instrument in a bid to get it to the market. As you’d expect with this level of functionality, the GTRS S800 may cost a fair bit more than a generic guitar. 

Source: Engadget[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]