Announced in October, the YouTube Reporting API lets Creators see detailed metrics about their videos. Today, the API has been updated with historical data going back 180 days. In other features, the Android app is testing a feature that allows users to quickly see their progress through a video.
After announcing the ability to pay for a subscription using Google Play billing, Netflix is now rolling out cellular data usage controls so users don’t go over their monthly carrier caps. The feature requires an updated app with a global rollout starting today.
While the Play Store usually gets more billing, the Chrome Web Store serves an equally large audience and is full of many useful apps and extensions. Google is updating the User Data Policy for the store with more stronger policies in regards to user data.
T-Mobile is adding more services to its Binge On and Music Freedom features, which allow its customers to stream video and audio content from certain apps without eating into their wireless plan’s data allowance.
“It’s a fact … Un-carrier Data is different than Carrier Data. It’s better! Nobody does data like T-Mobile!” said Legere. “Un-carrier Data is not only faster, it lasts a lot longer than the other guys… As of today, you stream unlimited music and video from over 100 providers – without ever touching your Un-carrier Data or worrying about overages—and you can stash what you don’t use for later. Try that with Carrier Data. It’s gone in a flash, and you’re getting hit with penalties—or they repossess it after a month or two. Ridiculous!”
Among the 16 total new services being added today, users can now stream audio data-free from Amazon Music, Chilltrax, ESPN Radio, OHIO.FM, PreDanz and Uforia.
And for video, services officially added to the list today include Dailymotion, EPIX, OVGuide, OWNZONES, Viki, YipTV, 120 Sports, Nickelodeon, Spike, and TV Land.
T-Mobile shared some stats about the Binge On and Music Freedom initiatives noting that users have streamed approximately 90 billion songs without using data since launch (around 210 million songs a day). It also pointed out that its users “are watching 2x more from free streaming sites on plans with limited data and have streamed over 190 million hours of video for free.”
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The addition of the new services today brings up the number of audio and video services supported by Binge On and Music Freedom to 100 total. You can view a full list of supported services on T-Mobile’s website.
It has been a wild 24 hours when it comes to smartphone encryption and user privacy versus national security. Last night, a U.S. judge ruled that Apple must help the FBI obtain data from a passcode-locked iPhone 5c used by one of the gunmen in the fatal San Bernardino shooting. Just hours later, Apple CEO Tim Cook responded by posting an open letter on Apple’s homepage saying that Apple would not comply with the court’s request. Now, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has chimed in on the matter, saying that he agrees with Cook.
Nextbit’s Robin is a new smartphone that’s primary goal is to eliminate the lack of smartphone storage. Robin uses the cloud and intelligently archives stuff you don’t use or need often, while backing it up to the cloud. Recently, we took a trip to Nextbit HQ for a closer look at Robin and to see what it’s all about…
T-Mobile has confirmed this evening that as many as 15 million of its customers have been affected by a data breach. As the company is quick to point out, however, the breach did not occur on its servers, but rather its credit partner’s, Experian.
According to recent data released by Parks Associates, Chromecast is the second most popular streaming device. Roku, according to the data, is the most popular streaming media device manufacturer with 34 percent of the market, while Apple TV currently is the fourth most popular streaming media device based on 2014 sales, down from third place in 2013.
Starting tomorrow, AT&T will be revamping its Mobile Share Value plans by adjusting data tiers and plan prices for new and current subscribers. At the low end, AT&T is consolidating a few data tiers into just two options with different price points. Meanwhile, AT&T’s double digit data tiers are also being reduced, and some subscribers can potentially end up with more data at no extra cost per month or get a better rate on even higher data tiers.
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Many of us are visual learners, and by visualizing data you may be able to notice trends that you otherwise wouldn’t have by just looking at the numbers written out. Google understands this, and is making it possible to quickly visualize data from its AdWords online advertising service through a simple drag-and-drop tool available soon from directly within AdWords itself — yes, no more needing to download your data and explore it elsewhere.
Google has today pushed an update to its Trends product, which it says is the biggest expansion to the search analysis product since 2012. The goal with this update, the company says, is to provide a “faster, deeper and more comprehensive view of our world” through real-time data on everything from the FIFA scandal to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign kick-off.
Speaking in an interview with CNBC, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabe Weinberg said that the company’s traffic has grown 600 percent over the past two years. A variety of factors likely played a role in this explosion of growth, but it is mainly attributable to the NSA’s surveillance program, which was revealed two years ago. It has been reported in the past that the NSA tapped into Google servers and accessed the data of millions of users.
More than a year ago, Google became one of the first tech companies to share data on the diversity of its workforce, and now it has released an updated version of the data. In a post on Google+, the company revealed some of the changes that it has made to improve diversity and the results of those changes. Last month, Google revealed plans to spend more than $150 million on diversity initiatives over the next year.
Virgin Mobile, which offers a number of prepaid Android devices, is introducing a few new plans for its smartphones sold through Walmart.
Data Done Right Single Line and Multi-line Data Sharing plans are available exclusively at Walmart and are currently available on seven different 4G LTE2 smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy S5. All phones come pre-loaded with the Virgin Mobile application, which provides data buy-ups and international add-ons with one touch, directly from the device. Every Multi-line plan also comes with a free mobile hotspot feature, making it even easier to share data across Wi-Fi enabled devices.
The new Data Done Right single line plans are reduced by $5 over previous offerings and include 500MB more high-speed data before throttling users. The plans start at $30/month for 300 minutes talk with unlimited text and data, and go up to $40 for unlimited everything.
There are also new multi-line plans that include an extra 2GB of high-speed data and range from $65/month for 2 lines to $115/month for 4 lines with 6GB of shared high-speed data on the low-end plan up to 14GB shared on the $115 plan.
The new plans will become available this Monday, May 18. You can check out the selection of devices here.
Just one day after T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced the wireless provider surpassed Sprint to become the number three carrier in the country, Sprint today announced a new aggressive shared data plan that it says offers better value compared to T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon.
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Google is reportedly working on a way for users of Android One devices to get free data when using some apps, as data plans are expensive and can sometimes prevent potential customers from getting online. Zero rating is most commonly done in deals between carriers and third-party apps that will let users of those apps use them without it tolling their data usage. But Google has a bigger plan, bringing zero rating to many third-party apps in developing markets like India.
The company may go as far as to make it possible for any developer to zero-rate the mobile data used by their application…
Verizon is following its More Everything holiday promotion today with a new limited time promo for its customers, the carrier announced today. Starting tomorrow, Verizon will begin offering customers data plans at new price points from 1GB up to 20GB with most price tiers being reduced by $10/month compared to their previous rates.
With the new plans, customers can take advantage of plans with the same data amount at a cheaper rate, or pay the same price and receive a data increase. Additionally, Verizon will introduce more data tiers with 12GB, 14GB, and 16GB options.
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AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon need to watch out. The “uncarrier” has announced yet another couple of reasons they hope will get you to ditch your current cellular provider for T-Mobile. Today, CEO John Legere and his cohorts have come out to announce that T-Mobile is now offering a 2-line family plan that comes with unlimited talk, text, and 4G data, for $100 a month.
Google, as it does at the beginning of every month, has updated the Android distribution data this time reflecting data collected during the last week of November. KitKat continues its slow climb up this month, rising to 33.9 percent from 30.2 percent last month. Every other Android version, as a result, fell in usage.
AT&T recently ran a promo that offered double data on a select number of its Mobile Share Value plans. As a follow up, the carrier will soon start extending an extra 5GB of data to customers with 10GB plans at no additional charge. The offer starts tomorrow and runs for a “limited time.”
Samsung’s new Gear S smartwatch officially launches on T-Mobile today allowing customers to pick up the device for $350 or for $0 down with the carrier’s monthly installment plans.
On an instalment plan, that brings the cost to $14.58/month for 24 months for a total of $349.92. T-Mobile notes that “post-paid voice customers can add service to their Gear S for as little as $5 more a month.”
The highlight feature in the newly launched Gear S is network connectivity for making calls, managing contacts, messaging, notifications and email over a data connection. The device also packs in 4GB of internal storage, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.1.
Verizon started offering the Gear S for the same $349 price on contact last Friday, while AT&T is offering $199 on-contract price ($299 off contract) and Sprint is offering a 24-month instalment plan at $16/month.
It seems like every major US wireless carrier went double data crazy this month and the madness doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Today, Sprint announced a new low-cost plan targeting casual data users. For $20 a month, the carrier is offering 1GB of sharable data that can be divided among 10 lines through one of its family plans.
After watching its competitors loosen up their data rates, Verizon has decided to get in on the action. Starting tomorrow the carrier will begin offering increased data allowances to customers committed to its More Everything service plans at no additional cost. Subscribers signed up for Big Red’s $110 12GB data plan will be bumped up to 15GB, while the carrier’s $130 16GB monthly setup will jump to 30GB.
Google said today that the upcoming Android L release would enable data encryption by default when users set up a new device. Previous versions of Android included the security measure as an option, but many users did not choose to activate it. Now the feature will automatically be turned on, meaning no data on the phone will be accessible without the owner’s password.
Essentially this will prevent anyone—including police—from reading stored text messages, viewing photos from the phone’s library, or checking the call history (among other things) even if allowed to do so by a court order. Apple rolled out a similar feature to its iPhone users with an update yesterday.
As reported by the Washington Post:
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