برچسب: New

Spotify announces meaningful new features for all users
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR

Spotify has rolled out new features for both Premium and free users.

Premium users get a revamped Queue, a more powerful Hide button, and a new 30-day Snooze feature.

Meanwhile, the Spotify app now surfaces new “Add,” “Sort,” and “Edit” tools at the top of playlists.

There’s also a new Create button for quick access to several features.
Spotify has just rolled out a series of meaningful updates aimed at giving users, both Premium and free, greater control over their listening experience. These updates, some of which are still experimental, enhance playlist management, track selection, and social collaboration.

What’s new for Spotify Premium users?

Spotify Premium subscribers are getting several upgraded tools, starting with a revamped Queue. Located via the three lines at the bottom of the Now Playing screen, the updated Queue now includes new controls like Shuffle, Smart Shuffle (which suggests personalized tracks), Repeat, and Sleep Timer. Spotify will also show you suggested songs after your queued tracks, helping you decide what to listen to next. If you’d rather not see these suggestions, you have the option of disabling them by turning off Autoplay and Smart Shuffle.

Another enhancement for Premium users is a more powerful Hide button. Tapping it now removes a song from that playlist across all your devices. If you’d prefer a temporary break from a track, Spotify is also testing a new “30-day Snooze” feature. This experimental option removes the song from your recommendations for a month and may roll out to all users in the future.

New features for all Spotify users

In addition to Premium-specific updates, Spotify is introducing broader improvements across its app. All users will now see new “Add,” “Sort,” and “Edit” tools at the top of their playlists. These tools make it easier to customize tracklists, change playlist titles, design custom cover art, and reorder songs to your liking.

In selected countries, including the US, you can now turn your Liked Songs into a playlist. Simply filter them by genre and tap “Turn into playlist.”

The mobile app is also getting a new Create button (+) in the bottom-right corner. This gives all users quick access to playlist creation, collaboration features, and Spotify’s social listening tool, Blend. Premium subscribers get bonus features here, including direct access to Jam for real-time group listening and AI Playlist, which builds playlists with the help of AI.

Lastly, Spotify has slightly reorganized its navigation. Your Library now appears as the third tab at the bottom of the screen.
Source link
08/05/2025
Hegseth’s Use of Passwords Raises New Security Concerns

Some of the passwords that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used to register for websites were exposed in cyberattacks on those sites and are available on the internet, raising new questions about his use of personal devices to communicate military information.

Mr. Hegseth did not appear to use those passwords for sensitive accounts, like banking. But at least one password appears to have been used multiple times for different personal email accounts maintained by Mr. Hegseth. If hackers gain access to email accounts, they can often reset other passwords.

Like many Americans, Mr. Hegseth appears to have reused passwords to remember them more easily. At least one of them is, or was, a simple, lowercase alphanumeric combination of letters followed by numbers, potentially representing initials and a date. The same password was leaked in two separate breaches of personal email accounts, one in 2017 and another in 2018.

It is not clear whether he has updated the compromised passwords, or if he did so before he used his personal phone in March to share sensitive information about planned U.S. strikes on Houthi militia targets in Yemen.

Mr. Hegseth’s digital practices and security have been under scrutiny since he discussed the precise timing of those airstrikes in at least two chats on Signal, a free, encrypted messaging app. At least one of the chats took place on his personal phone. That information could have endangered U.S. pilots if an adversarial power had intercepted it.

In addition to those two Signal chats, Mr. Hegseth used the encrypted app for multiple other ongoing conversations and group messages, according to people briefed on his use of the platform. Some of the messages were posted by a military aide, Col. Ricky Buria, who had access to Mr. Hegseth’s personal phone. The use of the app for multiple ongoing conversations was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Hegseth was initially added to a Signal group created by Michael Waltz, who was the national security adviser at the time, to discuss the Houthi strikes. Mr. Hegseth shared similar details about the strikes with a second Signal group that included his wife, Jennifer. That group was set up on Mr. Hegseth’s personal phone.

Cybersecurity experts have said that because Mr. Hegseth’s phone number is easy to find on the web, it is a potential target for hackers and foreign intelligence agencies. Signal messages are sent across the internet securely, but messages typed into a phone could be intercepted if an adversarial intelligence agency has installed malware on the device.

When two-factor authentication is enabled on the sites, hackers will need more than passwords to gain access to information.

The chief Pentagon spokesman, Sean Parnell, did not respond to a request for comment.

Experts say that finding exposed passwords is easier than ever.

“If you know where to look, you can find them,” said Kristin Del Rosso, who monitors breach data at DevSec, a cybersecurity investigations firm.

Ms. Del Rosso said some companies collect and sell stolen data. Because data breaches are now almost routine, there is a large amount of data that adversaries or criminals could use to get a deeper understanding of an individual and potentially guess other passwords or gain access to more information.

“You can uncover more,” she said.

Passwords belonging to Mr. Waltz, who was removed as national security adviser on Thursday, have also been exposed in internet breaches.

Representatives of the National Security Council did not respond to a request for comment. But a person briefed on the situation said Mr. Waltz had changed his compromised passwords before joining Congress in 2019.

In March, Der Spiegel, a German news publication, found phone numbers and email addresses associated with Mr. Waltz, Mr. Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, who were all on the initial Signal chat.

The phone numbers online for Ms. Gabbard are no longer associated with her.

But like Mr. Hegseth, Ms. Gabbard has reused passwords. The New York Times found at least one leaked password linked to multiple personal accounts used by Ms. Gabbard.

According to a spokeswoman, Ms. Gabbard’s passwords have been changed many times since a breach exposed a password nearly a decade ago. The Times uncovered more recent data breaches involving a similar reused password tied to her personal email account.

John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, has a disciplined public profile. A former prosecutor and member of the House Intelligence Committee, he does not have an easily identifiable phone number and email address and seems to have left a small digital footprint.

Mr. Hegseth has repeatedly said he did nothing wrong in disclosing the Yemen strike details in Signal chat groups that included people who did not have a security clearance. But using his personal telephone, with a number — and password — that is available on the internet, will have undoubtedly left a senior Trump national security figure vulnerable to hacking efforts by foreign adversaries, intelligence analysts say.

“You just have to assume that the bad guys are listening,” Michael C. Casey, the former director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in an interview. He said that senior national security government officials were supposed to enter their jobs from Day 1 with the assumption that their personal devices were being hacked, and act protectively.

The use of phones by government officials has long been a security concern.

President Barack Obama wanted to keep using his personal phone and BlackBerry when he first came into office, former officials in his administration have said.

Intelligence officials said that using a personal phone presented too many risks. But officials at the National Security Agency eventually provided Mr. Obama with a BlackBerry that had been modified to enhance its security. (Mr. Obama routinely joked that his phone had so many security constraints that using it was “no fun.”)

Technology has advanced rapidly since then, and national security officials are now more routinely issued government phones that come with security enhancements. Most phones have extra security protocols in place that prevent installing unapproved apps.

But like Mr. Obama, officials routinely complain that the secured phones are awkward to use and limited in utility, and some continue to communicate with encrypted apps on their private phones.

Source link

07/05/2025
Successful Entrepreneurs Are Using This New Platform to Improve International Connections

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

Expanding into new markets demands more than a great product or service. It requires clear communication with customers partners and employees around the globe.

Business owners often face tight schedules and limited budgets when it comes to language training yet mastering a second or third language can unlock new revenue streams, streamline negotiations, and strengthen relationships with international clients.

Qlango transforms language learning into a game designed to keep you engaged and progressing. The app supports more than 50 languages from Spanish and French to Mandarin and Arabic and encourages you to think only in your target language. A built-in hint system guides you when you feel stuck so you maintain momentum instead of abandoning your studies at the first roadblock. This is also one of the most budget-friendly language-learning platforms, just $34.97 (reg. $119.99) for a lifetime subscription).

Learn 56 languages in one app

Science backs up Qlango’s approach that uses spaced repetition to reinforce each new word at optimal intervals boosting retention without overwhelming you. You’ll work through 6,679 essential words, each paired with example sentences that demonstrate real-world usage in business settings. Over time, the app intelligently surfaces words you struggle with most so you spend less time on familiar vocabulary and more time on high-impact terms.

Learners progress through six difficulty levels so you can begin at a comfortable starting point and advance at your own pace. Smart recommendations help busy executives identify which chapters or modules align with specific goals such as preparing for a client presentation or drafting an international contract. This level of personalization means every minute you invest directly supports your business objectives.

Qlango also offers flexible access on both mobile and desktop platforms so you can practice during coffee breaks commute times or between meetings.

During this limited-time sale, it’s only $34.97 to get a Qlango Language Learning Lifetime Subscription.

Sale ends June 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Qlango Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages)

See Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change

Source link

03/05/2025
Waltz’s Use of Messaging Platform Raises New Security Questions

Michael Waltz got himself in trouble with the White House when, as national security adviser, he inadvertently added a journalist to a sensitive chat on Signal, a commercial messaging app.

Now, as he leaves that job, he has raised a new set of questions about White House use of the encrypted app. A photograph of him looking at his phone on Wednesday during a cabinet meeting makes it clear that he is communicating with his colleagues — including the secretary of state and the director of national intelligence — using a platform originally designed by an Israeli company that collects and stores Signal messages.

This discovery of the new system came when a Reuters photographer, standing just over Mr. Waltz’s left shoulder, snapped a photo of him checking his phone.

He was not using a privacy screen, and when zoomed in, the photo shows a list of messages and calls from several senior officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy who is negotiating on three fronts: the Israel-Hamas talks, the increasingly tense dance with Vladimir V. Putin about Ukraine and the Iran nuclear talks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, are also on his chat list.

While the app that Mr. Waltz was seen using on Wednesday looks similar to Signal, it is actually a different platform from a company that advertises it as a way to archive messages for record-keeping purposes. That is critical, because one concern that came up when senior officials were using the app was whether it complied with federal record-keeping rules.

One of Signal’s benefits is that it is both encrypted and can be set to automatically delete messages. But while that is a feature for users seeking secure communications, it is a problem for the National Archives, as it seeks to retain records.

It is not clear if Mr. Waltz began using the alternative app when he became national security adviser or after a nonprofit watchdog group, American Oversight, sued the government for failing to comply with records laws by using Signal.

While the real version of Signal gets constant security updates and messages are kept encrypted until they reach a user’s phone, security experts question how secure the alternative app is.

“This is incredibly dumb,” said Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who is a longtime member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “The government has no reason to use a counterfeit Signal knockoff that raises obvious counterintelligence concerns.”

Cybersecurity experts said the platform that Mr. Waltz was using is known as TeleMessage, which retains copies of messages, a way of complying with the government rules. The screen in the photograph shows a request for him to verify his “TM SGNL PIN.” Time stamps indicate that the communications were as recent as the morning of the cabinet meeting.

TeleMessage, founded in Israel, was purchased last year by Smarsh, a company based in Portland, Ore.

The TeleMessage platform accepts messages sent through Signal, and captures and archives them.

Security experts said the use of TeleMessage raised a number of questions. Some said it appeared that the company had in the past routed information through Israel, which is renowned for its electronic spying skills.

But a Smarsh representative said data from American clients did not leave the United States. Tom Padgett, the president of Smarsh’s enterprise business, said the collected information was not routed through any mechanism that “could potentially violate our data residency commitments to our customers.”

Mr. Padgett also said the information was not decrypted while being collected for record-keeping purposes or moved to its final archive. Security experts said that whenever information is de-encrypted, security vulnerabilities could be introduced. “We do not de-encrypt,” Mr. Padgett said.

Smarsh representatives took issue with the idea that their platform was a modified version of the Signal app. They said their platform simply allowed financial institutions and governments to capture communications on various channels to comply with record-keeping regulations.

But cybersecurity officials said questions remained about how the TeleMessage platform worked, and what vulnerabilities it could introduce into Signal communications.

Signal is built on open-source code, which allows other organizations to make their own version that uses the same encryption. But Signal Messenger, the company that makes and controls the app, does not support alternative versions and actively tries to discourage their use.

Mr. Waltz’s use of TeleMessage was reported earlier by the publication 404 Media. According to the publication, the U.S. government contracted with TeleMessage in December 2024 to archive Signal and WhatsApp messages. Smarsh representatives said they have worked with the federal government for a decade but declined to discuss specific contracts.

It is not clear if the U.S. government audited TeleMessage to determine how it handles the messages and whether it might break or damage the end-to-end security of Signal. Representatives of the National Security Council staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Smarsh representative said they allowed security audits.

Mr. Wyden said the U.S. government and the Navy had developed secure communications tools that comply with record-keeping rules. Using the modified version of Signal is far less secure, he said.

“Trump and his national security team might as well post American battle plans on X at this rate,” Mr. Wyden said.

In response to reports of the photo, Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a social media post that “Signal is an approved app that is loaded onto our government phones.”

As part of the lawsuit filed by American Oversight, government officials have submitted statements saying that the Signal messages from the chat Mr. Waltz created to discuss strikes on the Houthi militia in Yemen are no longer retrievable.

Chioma Chukwu, the interim executive director of American Oversight, said she had concerns about the use of the modified app.

“The use of a modified Signal app may suggest an attempt to appear compliant with federal record-keeping laws, but it actually underscores a dangerous reliance on unofficial tools that threaten national security and put our service members at risk,” she said. “Americans have a right to transparency and to know their leaders are following the law, not hiding behind unauthorized workarounds.”

Source link

03/05/2025
Starbucks Adding New Staff, Says Machines Alone Won’t Cut It

Starbucks has found that removing human labor in favor of machines doesn’t work for the company — so now the coffee chain is hiring old-fashioned human baristas at thousands of stores.

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol stated in a call with investors earlier this week that the company’s effort to reduce headcount over the past few years and replace humans with machines had backfired: Advanced machinery proved to be an inadequate substitute for human labor.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve actually been removing labor from the stores, I think with the hope that equipment could offset the removal of the labor,” Niccol said on the call, per The Guardian. “What we’re finding is that wasn’t an accurate assumption with what played out.”

By the time Niccol joined Starbucks in September 2024, the company had been testing out human staff increases at just a handful of locations. Niccol broadened the effort this year to include 3,000 locations of the coffee chain’s 40,000 stores globally.

Related: ‘We’re Not Effective’: Starbucks CEO Tells Corporate Employees to ‘Own Whether or Not This Place Grows’

Niccol stated that new technology alone doesn’t cut it. Starbucks needed to adequately staff stores and allow employees access to new equipment to deliver a better customer experience.

“Equipment doesn’t solve the customer experience that we need to provide, but rather staffing the stores and deploying with this technology behind it does,” Niccol said on the call.

Niccol noted that increasing staff would entail higher costs but asserted that “some growth” for the company would accompany the move.

^{Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol. Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images}

The move to hire new baristas is part of Niccol’s plan to turn Starbucks around after five consecutive quarters of declining sales. Starbucks reported on Tuesday that same-store sales dropped 1% in the first quarter of 2025, falling short of Wall Street expectations.

Related: It’s Pay-to-Stay at Starbucks As the Coffeehouse Reverses Its Open Door Policy

Niccol reassured investors on the call that though the financial results proved “disappointing,” Starbucks was “really showing a lot of signs of progress” internally. For example, the average time to deliver in-store orders had declined by an average of two minutes during the quarter, he said.

Niccol’s plan to turn around Starbucks includes limiting the number of items customers can order through mobile, adding ceramic mugs for in-store orders, cutting 30% of the menu, writing customers’ names down with Sharpies on their cups, and asking baristas to make orders in under four minutes. Starting May 12, Starbucks will also require baristas to dress uniformly in a solid black top and khaki, black, or blue denim bottoms.

Starbucks operates 16,941 stores in the U.S. and has 211,000 U.S. employees. The company’s stock was down about 11% year-to-date at the time of writing.

Source link

02/05/2025
Health Connect Jetpack SDK is now in beta and new feature updates
Posted by Brenda Shaw – Health & Home Partner Engineering Technical Writer

At Google, we are committed to empowering developers as they build exceptional health and fitness experiences. Core to that commitment is Health Connect, an Android platform that allows health and fitness apps to store and share the same on-device data. Android devices running Android 14 or that have the pre-installed APK will automatically have Health Connect by default in Settings. For pre-Android 14 devices, Health Connect is available for download from the Play Store.

We’re excited to announce significant Health Connect updates like the Jetpack SDK Beta, new datatypes and new permissions that will enable richer, more insightful app functionalities.

Jetpack SDK is now in Beta

We are excited to announce the beta release of our Jetback SDK! Since its initial release, we’ve dedicated significant effort to improving data completeness, with a particular focus on enriching the metadata associated with each data point.

In the latest SDK, we’re introducing two key changes designed to ensure richer metadata and unlock new possibilities for you and your users:

Make Recording Method Mandatory

To deliver more accurate and insightful data, the Beta introduces a requirement to specify one of four recording methods when writing data to Health Connect. This ensures increased data clarity, enhanced data analysis and improved user experience:

If your app currently does not set metadata when creating a record:

Before
StepsRecord( count = 888, startTime = START_TIME, endTime = END_TIME, ) // error: metadata is not provided
After
StepsRecord( count = 888, startTime = START_TIME, endTime = END_TIME, metadata = Metadata.manualEntry() )
If your app currently calls Metadata constructor when creating a record:

Before
StepsRecord( count = 888, startTime = START_TIME, endTime = END_TIME, metadata = Metadata( clientRecordId = "client id", recordingMethod = RECORDING_METHOD_MANUAL_ENTRY, ), // error: Metadata constructor not found )
After
StepsRecord( count = 888, startTime = START_TIME, endTime = END_TIME, metadata = Metadata.manualEntry(clientRecordId = "client id"), )
Make Device Type Mandatory

You will be required to specify device type when creating a Device object. A device object will be required for Automatically (RECORDING_METHOD_AUTOMATICALLY_RECORDED) or Actively (RECORDING_METHOD_ACTIVELY_RECORDED) recorded data.

Before
Device() // error: type not provided
After
Device(type = Device.Companion.TYPE_PHONE)
We believe these updates will significantly improve the quality of data within your applications and empower you to create more insightful user experiences. We encourage you to explore the Jetpack SDK Beta and review the updated Metadata page and familiarize yourself with these changes.

New background reads permission

To enable richer, background-driven health and fitness experiences while maintaining user trust, Health Connect now features a dedicated background reads permission.

This permission allows your app to access Health Connect data while running in the background, provided the user grants explicit consent. Users retain full control, with the ability to manage or revoke this permission at any time via Health Connect settings.

Let your app read health data even in the background with the new Background Reads permission. Declare the following permission in your manifest file:
<application> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.health.READ_HEALTH_DATA_IN_BACKGROUND" /> ... </application>
Use the Feature Availability API to check if the user has the background read feature available, according to the version of Health Connect they have on their devices.

Allow your app to read historic data

By default, when granted read permission, your app can access historical data from other apps for the preceding 30 days from the initial permission grant. To enable access to data beyond this 30-day window, Health Connect introduces the PERMISSION_READ_HEALTH_DATA_HISTORY permission. This allows your app to provide new users with a comprehensive overview of their health and wellness history.

Users are in control of their data with both background reads and history reads. Both capabilities require developers to declare the respective permissions, and users must grant the permission before developers can access their data. Even after granting permission, users have the option of revoking access at any time from Health Connect settings.

Additional data access and types

Health Connect now offers expanded data types, enabling developers to build richer user experiences and provide deeper insights. Check out the following new data types:
These new data types empower developers to create more connected and insightful health and fitness applications, providing users with a holistic view of their well-being.

To learn more about all new APIs and bug fixes, check out the full release notes.

Get started with the Health Connect Jetpack SDK

Whether you are just getting started with Health Connect or are looking to implement the latest features, there are many ways to learn more and have your voice heard.
We can’t wait to see what you create!
Source link
02/05/2025
Develop a Lifetime of New Skills for Only $20

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

Whether you obtained a college degree or not, training programs can be a great way to qualify for a new career or advance in the one you have. Best yet, developing new skills is now convenient and affordable. You can get lifetime access to EDU Unlimited by StackSkills for just $19.97 while the price has dropped from the regular $49.99 sale price.

StackSkills is the premier online platform offering the most in-demand skills today and this exclusive limited-time promotion provides lifetime access to more than 1,000 pre-selected StackSkills courses. Elite, highly rated expert instructors share important lessons learned from both their successes and failures.

From iOS development to growth hacking, blockchain, more than 350 of the web’s best teachers cover skills of all levels, beginner to advanced. New courses are added every month, so you can choose from business, finance, marketing, IT, graphic design and so much more. Course certifications and premium customer support are included.

There’s no longer any need to add another commute to your day, squeeze in classes at inconvenient times or take classes you don’t want or need. Whether you’re a professional, freelancer, parent or student, you’ll love the flexibility of being able to train at your own pace and focus on just the specific skills you need to develop.

Best of all, you get an entire lifetime of education at one extremely budget-friendly price. No college or individual online courses are anywhere nearly as affordable and a variety of courses remain available even if your needs change over the years.

It’s no wonder StackSkills has an impressive Trustpilot rating of 4.6 stars out of 5. As PCWorld noted:

“StackSkills Unlimited gives you a lifetime of professional training for one low price.”

Get lifetime access to EDU Unlimited by StackSkills while the price has dropped to $19.97 until April 27.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Source link

27/04/2025
Media3 1.6.0 — what’s new?
Posted by Andrew Lewis – Software Engineer

This article is cross-published on Medium

This release includes a host of bug fixes, performance improvements and new features. Read on to find out more, and as always please check out the full release notes for a comprehensive overview of changes in this release.

Playback, MediaSession and UI

ExoPlayer now supports HLS interstitials for ad insertion in HLS streams. To play these ads using ExoPlayer’s built-in playlist support, pass an HlsInterstitialsAdsLoader.AdsMediaSourceFactory as the media source factory when creating the player. For more information see the official documentation.

This release also includes experimental support for ‘pre-warming’ decoders. Without pre-warming, transitions from one playlist item to the next may not be seamless in some cases, for example, we may need to switch codecs, or decode some video frames to reach the start position of the new media item. With pre-warming enabled, a secondary video renderer can start decoding the new media item earlier, giving near-seamless transitions. You can try this feature out by enabling it on the DefaultRenderersFactory. We’re actively working on further improvements to the way we interact with decoders, including adding a ‘fast seeking mode’ so stay tuned for updates in this area.

Media3 1.6.0 introduces a new media3-ui-compose module that contains functionality for building Compose UIs for playback. You can find a reference implementation in the Media3 Compose demo and learn more in Getting started with Compose-based UI. At this point we’re providing a first set of foundational state classes that link to the Player, in addition to some basic composable building blocks. You can use these to build your own customized UI widgets. We plan to publish default Material-themed composables in a later release.

Some other improvements in this release include: moving system calls off the application’s main thread to the background (which should reduce ANRs), a new decoder module wrapping libmpegh (for bundling object-based audio decoding in your app), and a fix for the Cast extension for apps targeting API 34+. There are also fixes across MPEG-TS and WebVTT extraction, DRM, downloading/caching, MediaSession and more.

Media extraction and frame retrieval

The new MediaExtractorCompat is a drop-in replacement for the framework MediaExtractor but implemented using Media3’s extractors. If you’re using the Android framework MediaExtractor, consider migrating to get consistent behavior across devices and reduce crashes.

We’ve also added experimental support for retrieving video frames in a new class ExperimentalFrameExtractor, which can act as a replacement for the MediaMetadataRetriever getFrameAtTime methods. There are a few benefits over the framework implementation: HDR input is supported (by default tonemapping down to SDR, but with the option to produce HLG bitmaps from Android 14 onwards), Media3 effects can be applied (including Presentation to scale the output to a desired size) and it runs faster on some devices due to moving color space conversion to the GPU. Here’s an example of using the new API:
val bitmap = withContext(Dispatchers.IO) { val configuration = ExperimentalFrameExtractor.Configuration .Builder() .setExtractHdrFrames(true) .build() val frameExtractor = ExperimentalFrameExtractor( context, configuration, ) frameExtractor.setMediaItem(mediaItem, /*effects*/ listOf()) val frame = frameExtractor.getFrame(timestamps).await() frameExtractor.release() frame.bitmap }
Editing, transcoding and export

Media3 1.6.0 includes performance, stability and functional improvements in Transformer. Highlights include: support for transcoding/transmuxing Dolby Vision streams on devices that support this format and a new MediaProjectionAssetLoader for recording from the screen, which you can try out in the Transformer demo app.

Check out Common media processing operations with Jetpack Media3 Transformer for some code snippets showing how to process media with Transformer, and tips to reduce latency.

This release also includes a new Kotlin-based demo app showcasing Media3’s video effects framework. You can select from a variety of video effects and preview them via ExoPlayer.setVideoEffects.

Animation showing contrast adjustment and a confetti effect in the new demo app

Get started with Media3 1.6.0

Please get in touch via the Media3 issue Tracker if you run into any bugs, or if you have questions or feature requests. We look forward to hearing from you!
Source link
26/04/2025
New Android Vitals Metrics are here

Posted by Karan Jhavar – Product Manager, Android Frameworks, and Dan Brown – Product Manager, Google Play

Android has long championed performance, continuously evolving to deliver exceptional user experiences. Building upon years of refinement, we’re now focusing on pinpointing resource-intensive use cases and developing platform-level solutions that benefit all users, across the vast Android ecosystem.

Since the launch of Android vitals in Play Console in 2017, Play has been investing in providing fleet-wide visibility into performance issues, making it easier to identify and fix problems as they occur. Today, Android and Google Play are taking a significant step forward in partnership with top OEMs, like Samsung, leveraging their real-world insights into excessive resource consumption. Our shared goal is to make Android development more streamlined and consistent by providing a standardized definition of what good and great looks like when it comes to technical quality.

“Samsung is excited to collaborate with Android and Google Play on these new performance metrics. By sharing our user experience insights, we aim to help developers build truly optimized apps that deliver exceptional performance and battery life across the ecosystem. We believe this collaboration will lead to a more consistent and positive experience for all Android users.”

– Samsung

We’re embarking on a multi-year plan to empower you with the tools and data you need to understand, diagnose, and improve your app’s resource consumption, resulting in happier and more engaged users, both for your app, and Android as a whole.

Today, we’re launching the first of these new metrics in beta: excessive wake locks. This metric directly addresses one of the most significant frustrations for Android users – excessive battery drain. By optimizing your app’s wake lock behavior, you can significantly enhance battery life and user satisfaction.

The Android vitals beta metric reports partial wake lock use as excessive when all of the partial wake locks, added together, run for more than 3 hours in a 24-hour period. The current iteration of excessive wake lock metrics tracks time only if the wake lock is held when the app is in the background and does not have a foreground service.

These new metrics will provide comprehensive, fleet-wide visibility into performance and battery life, equipping developers with the data needed to diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks. We have also revamped our wake lock documentation which shares effective wake lock implementation strategies and best practices.

In addition, we are also launching the excessive wake lock metric documentation to provide clear guidance on interpreting the metrics. We highly encourage developers to check out this page and provide feedback with their use case on this new metric. Your input is invaluable in refining these metrics before their general availability. In this beta phase, we’re actively seeking feedback on the metric definition and how it aligns with your app’s use cases. Once we reach general availability, we will explore Play Store treatments to help users choose apps that meet their needs.

Later this year, we may introduce additional metrics in Android vitals highlighting additional critical performance issues.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to delivering delightful, fast, and high-performance experiences to users across the entire Android ecosystem.

Source link

25/04/2025
Improve app quality and performance with new Play Console insights
Posted by Dan Brown, Dina Gandal and Hadar Yanos – Product Managers, Google Play

At Google Play, we partner with developers like you to help your app or game business reach its full potential, providing powerful tools and insights every step of the way. In Google Play Console, you’ll find the features needed to test, publish, improve, and grow your apps — and today, we’re excited to share several enhancements to give you even more actionable insights, starting with a redesigned app dashboard tailored to your key workflows, and new metrics designed to help you improve your app quality.

Focus on the metrics that matter with the redesigned app dashboard

The first thing you’ll notice is the redesigned app dashboard, which puts the most essential insights front and center. We know that when you visit Play Console, you usually have a goal in mind — whether that’s checking on your release status or tracking installs. That’s why you’ll now see your most important metrics grouped into four core developer objectives:
Each objective highlights the three metrics most important to that goal, giving you a quick grasp of how your app is doing at a glance, as well as how those metrics have changed over time. For example, you can now easily compare between your latest production release against your app’s overall performance, helping you to quickly identify any issues. In the screenshot below, the latest production release has a crash rate of 0.24%, a large improvement over the 28-day average crash rate shown under “Monitor and Improve.”

The redesigned app dashboard in Play Console helps you see your most important metrics at a glance.

At the top of the page, you’ll see the status of your latest release changes prominently displayed so you know when it’s been reviewed and approved. If you’re using managed publishing, you can also see when things are ready to publish. And based on your feedback, engagement and monetization metrics now show a comparison to your previous year’s data so you can make quick comparisons.

The new app dashboard also keeps you updated on the latest news from Play, including recent blog posts, new features relevant to your app, and even special invitations to early access programs.

In addition to what’s automatically displayed on the dashboard, we know many of you track other vital metrics for your role or business. That’s why we’ve added the “Monitor KPI trends” section at the bottom of your app dashboard. Simply scroll down and personalize your view by selecting the trends you need to monitor. This customized experience allows each user in your developer account to focus on their most important insights.

Later this year, we’ll introduce new overview pages for each of the four core developer objectives. These pages will help you quickly understand your performance, showcase tools and features within each domain, and list recommended actions to optimize performance, engagement, and revenue across all your apps.

Get actionable notifications when and where you need them

If you spend a lot of time in Play Console, you may have already noticed the new notification center. Accessible from every page, the notification center helps you to stay up to date with your account and apps, and helps you to identify any issues that may need urgent attention.

To help you quickly understand and act on important information, we now group notifications about the same issue across multiple apps. Additionally, notifications that are no longer relevant will automatically expire, ensuring you only see what needs your attention. Plus, notifications will be displayed on the new app dashboard within the relevant objectives.

Improve app quality and performance with new Play Console metrics

One of Play’s top goals is to provide the insights you need to build high-quality apps that deliver exceptional user experiences. We’re continuing to expand these insights, helping you prevent issues like crashes or ANRs, optimize your app’s performance, and reduce resource consumption on users’ devices.

Users expect a polished experience across their devices, and we’ve learned from you it can be difficult to make your app layouts work seamlessly across phones and large screens. To help with this, we’ve introduced pre-review checks for incorrect edge-to-edge rendering, while another new check helps you detect and prevent large screen layout issues caused by letterboxing and restricted layouts, along with resources on how to fix them.

We’re also making it easier to find and triage the most important quality issues in your app. The release dashboard in Play Console now displays prioritized quality issues from your latest release, alongside the existing dashboard features for monitoring post-launch, like crashes and ANRs This addition provides a centralized view of user-impacting issues, along with clear instructions to help you resolve critical user issues to improve your users’ experiences.

The quality panel at the top of the release dashboard gives you a prioritized view of issues that affect users on your latest release and provides instructions on how to fix them.

A new “low memory kill” (LMK) metric is available in Android vitals and the Reporting API. Low memory issues cause your app to terminate without any logging, and can be notoriously difficult to detect. We are making these issues visible with device-specific insights into memory constraints to help you identify and fix these problems. This will improve app stability and user engagement, which is especially crucial for games where LMKs can disrupt real-time gameplay.

The low memory kill metric in Android vitals gives you device-specific insights into low memory terminations, helping you improve app stability and user engagement.

We’re also collaborating closely with leading OEMs like Samsung, leveraging their real-world insights to define consistent benchmarks for optimal technical quality across Android devices. Excessive wakelocks are a leading cause of battery drain, a top frustration for users. Today, we’re launching the first of these new metrics in beta: excessive wake locks in Android vitals. Take a look at our wakelock documentation and provide feedback on the metric definition. Your input is essential as we refine this metric towards general availability, and will inform our strategy for making this information available to users on the Play Store so they can make informed decisions when choosing apps.

Together, these updates provide you with even more visibility into your app’s performance and quality, enabling you to build more stable, efficient, and user-friendly apps across the Android ecosystem. We’ll continue to add more metrics and insights over time. To stay informed about all the latest Play Console enhancements and easily find updates relevant to your workflow, explore our new What’s new in Play Console page, where you can filter features by the four developer objectives.
Source link
25/04/2025