Hands on with Yamaha's Spotify Connect AV receivers

Spotify's new Connect service was launched this week and audio device makers used the IFA electronics show to launch the first wave of products that tie into it. I tried it out with the Yamaha RX-A830, a $900 audio receiver that also supports Pandora and Rhapsody streaming on some models.

Spotify Connect allows home audio equipment such as speakers and amplifiers to directly stream content from the popular Internet music service.

To use the feature, you'll first need a Spotify Premium account. These cost $10, €10, or £10 depending on your country. And you'll also need to download the Spotify Connect app, which is currently available for iPhone and iPad. Android and desktop versions are promised "in the coming months."

The service works in a similar way to the Google's recently-launched Chromecast dongle for TVs.

Like Chromecast, the device is controlled from a smartphone or tablet PC while the actual streaming takes place directly between the device and Internet source. This is a step away from the current method of streaming video or audio via the phone or tablet to the TV.

The change means the phone isn't continually tied up streaming and can even be switched off or taken away without affecting the stream.

On the new Yamaha receivers, the control with the receiver is accomplished via the Internet and can take place from anywhere with a connection. So, while the receiver is fixed in, say, the living room, the controlling device doesn't necessarily need to be on the same network. It could be on a different wireless LAN or connected via a 3G cellular signal from anywhere in the world.

IDGNSThe Spotify app running on an iPad at IFA 2013

Setting up the service is quite simple. Your audio gear needs to be connected to a network and registered with your account in Spotify. On the RX-A830 this done using an Ethernet cable.

Once connected, control was easy through the Spotify app. The app on the Yamaha booth had a couple of devices registered, so I first chose the RX-A830 receiver. Then it was as simple as clicking on a song to play.

The instruction to stream the song is sent from the app to Spotify which sends the music directly to the RX-A830. It all happened without any perceptible delay.

Songs can be played, skipped or paused using the app or through the RX-A830's remote control. The app also displays the current volume level of the RX-A830 and you can adjust it.

The shift of streaming from being via the phone to direct to the audio device is what's most useful. No longer is Spotify tied to a computing device.

While Yamaha's demonstration at IFA worked without any problems, the company said the firmware for the service wasn't quite working perfectly. It expects an update in the coming weeks that will fix any lingering problems with this new feature.

Martyn Williams covers mobile telecoms, Silicon Valley and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service.
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Spotify Connect is like Chromecast for connected audio systems

Spotify is introducing a new cloud-based feature for premium subscribers designed to make it easy to start to play music on your mobile device, then push the stream to wireless home speakers, which will continue rocking even if you wander away with your phone—similar to the way Google's Chromecast works.

Called Spotify Connect, the new service is rolling out over the next few months to iOS devices as well as home audio systems from companies such as Argon, Bang & Olufsen, Denon, Hama, Marantz, Philips, Pioneer, Revo, Teufel, and Yamaha.

Think of Spotify Connect as a remote control for Spotify—a remote that lets you switch quickly between devices. You can, for example, start listening to a playlist on your iPhone, and then when you get home switch to listening on your home stereo or iPad.

The list of audio manufacturers pledged to support Spotify Connect.

That may sound a lot like other services that let you share data and files between devices, such as Miracast or Apple’s AirPlay functionality. But instead of streaming music from your iPhone directly to a pair of speakers, Connect streams the music directly from Spotify's servers.

The company says its approach will help users save on battery life as well as cut down on interruptions to your Metallica listening sessions from phone calls or notification alerts.

When Spotify Connect lands on your device, you should see a green speaker icon next to the play controls inside the Spotify app. Tap it and a menu comes up with all the various devices that can receive your playlist—all devices must be logged in to the same account for Connect to work.

Spotify Connect is aimed at encouraging more users to pay $10 per month for Spotify instead of freeloading with the ad-supported service. In addition to Connect, Premium subscribers also get full access to their Spotify playlists on mobile devices (free users can only use the radio feature) and ad-free listening.

Spotify Connect certainly sounds interesting—assuming the audio manufacturers indeed release hardware to support it—but it will also be a fairly exclusive addition out of the gate.

Connect will also be absent from Android and PC desktops at first, with plans to add the new service to these platforms at a later date. Spotify did not specify exactly when Android users can expect to see Connect on their devices.

Also, while the roster of companies supporting Spotify Connect is vast, one notable audio hardware maker missing from that list is wireless system maker Sonos. Spotify wouldn’t comment on whether Sonos is coming, but Spotify did say that more hardware makers will be added in the future.

Spotify has certainly been busy this summer. Earlier this year, the service also released a number of new music discovery tools, includingBrowse and Discover.

Ian is an independent writer based in Tel Aviv, Israel. His current focus is on all things tech including mobile devices, desktop and laptop computers, software, social networks, Web apps, tech-related legislation and corporate tech news.
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Don't Call It A Mind-Meld: Human Brains Connect Via Internet

In what they call "direct brain-to-brain communication in humans," researchers in Washington state say they've successfully passed signals from one mind to another via the Internet, without using surgical implants. In their test, two people collaborated on a task while sitting in different buildings, using only their minds.

"The Internet was a way to connect computers, and now it can be a way to connect brains," researcher Andrea Stocco says, in a release from the University of Washington. "We want to take the knowledge of a brain and transmit it directly from brain to brain."

But the researchers say that any talk of a "Vulcan mind meld" like that seen on Star Trek is wildly premature, noting that their work focuses on sharing brain signals, not actual thoughts.

Stocco and his collaborator, Rajesh Rao, conducted the experiment on themselves, using electroencephalography (EEG) sensors to detect signals in the sender's brain and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to stimulate a response in the receiver's brain. Both technologies are noninvasive, requiring contact only with the subjects' scalp.

To test their concept, the researchers used a video game that requires pushing a "fire" button to control a cannon. The sender, Rao, could see the game on a screen, but he had no way to fire. At the proper instant, he imagined hitting the button.

"Almost instantaneously, Stocco, who wore noise-canceling earbuds and wasn't looking at a computer screen, involuntarily moved his right index finger to push the space bar on the keyboard in front of him, as if firing the cannon," according to the school's release.

Here's how Stocco explains the sensation, in an interview with NPR member station KPLU in Seattle:

"My arm wanted to move by [itself]. It was actually moving. I saw it, like, lifting up and pressing the button," he said. "The feeling was that I was quite literally lending parts of my brain to somebody else."

On a website explaining their research, Rao and Stocco emphasize that the brain impulse was received "only indirectly through the changing magnetic field" of a coil that was placed over the part of the receiver's brain that controls hand movements.

And they say that as the sender became more adept at generating the signal, the overall success rate neared 100 percent — in their four sessions of testing, the test subjects achieved "close to perfect performance" in the final round.

Because the process doesn't involve implanting electrodes or other gear, the findings could represent a large step beyond existing research. As we reported earlier this year, scientists have previously used the Internet to pass signals between the brains of rats.

"The next phase of the study will attempt to quantify this transfer of information using a larger pool of human subjects," the researchers say.

With advances in how we understand the brain, and in computer technology, it's possible that the experiment's concepts could eventually help people perform tasks or communicate — after all, the brain signals don't rely on language.

The approach could also change the way people learn.

"Right now the only way to transfer information from one brain to another is with words," says Chantel Prat, who collaborated on the research (and who is married to Stocco). Noting that some processes are hard to verbalize, Prat tells CNET that brain-to-brain transfers of data could help, "especially when knowledge cannot be easily translatable into words."

In the university's release, Prat also says that we shouldn't start worrying about our bodies being hijacked by remote mind control just yet.

"There's no possible way the technology that we have could be used on a person unknowingly or without their willing participation," she says.

As with the research into communications between rats, Rao and Stocco's brain tests are partially funded by the U.S. military. They have also been aided by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Their pilot study has the approval of the University of Washington Institutional Review Board.

In addition to studying computers and the brain, Rao has also worked to interpret the 4,000-year-old Indus Valley script, a topic about which he delivered a TED talk in 2011.

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Facebook, Zuckerberg rally partners to connect the whole wide world

Facebook, Opera, Qualcomm, Samsung and others said Tuesday night that they’re setting out on a quest to bring the Internet to remainder of the world that doesn’t yet have access.

The ambitious goal has been laid out on Internet.org, the Web site Facebook and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, formed with its partners to make the vision a reality. So far, however, the vision is just that: a set of ambitious goals with no real timeline to accomplishing it, and a basic roadmap for how to get there.

The partners include Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm, Samsung, and other, future partners. The goal is to make Internet access more affordable, in part by reducing the cost of data access, while also encouraging businesses to adopt the Internet as well.

”Everything Facebook has done has been about giving all people around the world the power to connect,” Zuckerberg said in a statement released Tuesday night. “There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy. Internet.org brings together a global partnership that will work to overcome these challenges, including making internet access available to those who cannot currently afford it.”

GoogleGooge’s Project Loon is designed to connect rural areas with Internet access.

Internet opinion will likely be split on the the new initiative, with some lauding it for its goals. On one hand, connectivity has helped foster early attempts at democracy in the Middle East and China, allowing those like-minded individuals to collect online and work to enable change.

On the other, ambitious efforts to bring Internet access to underserved areas, through projects like Google’s Project Loon, have been met with skepticism, if not scorn, by men like Bill Gates. Gates and his wife, Melinda, have dedicated enormous sums of money to improving living conditions in the Third World. Recently, Gates was quoted criticizing Project Loon: “When you’re dying of malaria, I suppose you’ll look up and see that balloon, and I’m not sure how it’ll help you,” Gates said, according to the interview.

Bill Gates has been critical of the real value of providing Internet access to the Third World.

And, of course, connecting the rest of the world would imply that at least some of those connected would join Facebook. It’s also easy to see how some of Internet.org’s partners might be attracted to the notion; at present, for example, Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone provider. MediaTek has been instrumental in developing inexpensive application processors. And Opera’s Opera Mobile technology can compress Web pages, saving data.

The Internet.org backers intend to use the Open Compute Project as a guide. For its part, the OCP has been a disruptive partnership that basically works to take as much cost out of the server market as possible through collaboration and shared engineering. That’s benefited companies like Facebook while also putting pressure on server makers to find other, differentiating technologies. The same pressure now could be applied to wireless carriers, as well as open-sourcing a low-cost, wireless handset for the Third World.

On the Facebook Web site, an unsigned memo (presumably written by Zuckerberg himself) posited that connectivity was a human right, a common refrain among the Internet.org partners.

”Universal internet access will be the next great industrial revolution,” Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop added, in a statement.

But how to do it? Zuckerberg suggested several methods: network extension technology, to bridge wireless networks with in-house wired networks, eliminating the need for more wireless infrastructure; edge caching, essentially placing the most frequently-accessed data on the edge of the network to be quickly and cheaply accessed; and to use “white space” spectrum to provide greater connectivity.

Facebook also hopes to cut data usage through such technologies as compression and by simply encouraging developing nations to share text, rather than photos. Facebook alreasy has a Facebook for Every Phone technology for feature phones, and the company said it hopes to cut down the bandwidth required by its Android app from its current size of 12 MB per day to about 1 MB per day,

Finally, Facebook hopes that it might be able to subsidzize the cost of some data in countries if users use it for Facebook, and maybe use Wi-Fi as a hedge against wireless costs.

Over time, the partners will work to bring the carriers into the fold, as well as NGOs and other policy makers. Zuckerberg has been instrumental in leading the fight for immigration reform, allowing more workers to come to the U.S. via an advocacy site called FWD.us.

It’s likely, over time, that Internet.org may indeed effect change. Any gains it makes will most likely be incremental, however, in parts of the world often ignored by the West. But it’s a noble goal, and one that makes business sense for those involved—as the Zuckerberg memo proves. Maybe all of the planet’s ills can’t be solved by giving the world a smartphone. But some of them? If Zuckerberg is willing to take money out of his pocket to do so, it’s tough to say no.

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Adobe Connect upgraded to offer conference recording and mobile streaming

Although Adobe is a household name when it comes to computer software, it hasn’t made serious inroads in the world of videoconferencing services, despite being on the ninth version of Adobe Connect, its flagship Web conferencing system. In this world, Webex and Citrix remain synonymous with online video communication, education, and training.

Today Adobe is rolling out some impressive upgrades that it hopes will increase its competitiveness in this space, with the release of Adobe Connect 9.1.

Adobe senior product marketing manager Rocky Mitarai gave me a personal demo of the new version of the service and it’s looking good. The focus of the system is on “going above and beyond basic screen sharing,” says Mitarai, “with a particular eye on things like training and webinars,” which require more sophisticated videoconferencing environments.

Adobe Connect is optimized for mobile clients, and this is one of the key areas in which Connect is getting an upgrade in version 9.1. Now even more of the service’s desktop features are available on mobile platforms, including the ability to stream recordings across any mobile device. (Formerly, pre-recorded streams were only viewable on desktop clients.) The new version also offers support for multipoint videoconferencing with two live and unlimited paused webcams. Mobile platforms can also now be branded with a customized background (like your company logo), and more advanced features like interactive quizzes are now supported on mobile devices, too.

AdobeAdobe Connect 9.1 for the Apple iPad

Another major feature of the 9.1 update is an enhancement to tools that let you save and re-stream live recordings. Existing tools (both on Adobe Connect and other platforms) to do this, says Mitarai, are difficult and cumbersome. Adobe Connect 9.1 now lets you record any videoconference, host and stream it from the cloud, and post it online just about anywhere, including Youtube. Recordings can be edited (and things like the chat box and attendee list can be removed) before the video is finalized and stored in the cloud. Video conversion costs extra, and this is charged as a service on a per-minute of video converted basis.

Other enhancements are also coming to expand Adobe Connect’s ease of use and increase user productivity. Widescreen webcams are now supported (the user can toggle between a 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio), and the active speaker’s name is now placed as a caption at the bottom of the window in which he can be seen talking.

One thing remaining the same is Connect’s unique feature of creating meetings with a persistent URL that remains static for future meetings. This way, users needn’t be re-invited to recurring meetings every week. They can bookmark one URL and use it in perpetuity. Materials uploaded to the meeting space—like slide decks or other supporting files—are retained for future use, as well, saving users time and centralizing storage. Adobe Connect is also distinguished from most other Web conference platforms by letting attendees very quickly jump into a meeting. For most, a single click is all it takes, with no additional client download required (aside from Flash, upon which Connect is built).

Aside from charges for video conversion, pricing isn’t changing. Adobe Connect is sold per named user or host, by simultaneous users, or per minute. The named host model runs $4,200 per month for 100 hosts.

Christopher Null is a veteran technology and business journalist. He contributes regularly to PC World and Wired, and is a technology columnist for Executive Travel magazine.
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Adobe tries to simplify mobile viewing of Connect Web meetings

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Microsoft to connect schools in South African white-spaces project

Microsoft is expanding the push for so-called "white spaces" broadband to South Africa, where it will help to deploy the technology in a pilot project serving five primary and secondary schools.

The pilot project is aimed at getting schools in rural parts of the country's northeastern Limpopo province connected to the Internet. If successful, it could give South Africa a tool that would help the country reach its goal of affordable broadband for 80 percent of the population by 2020.

White spaces are unused frequencies in TV bands, which Microsoft, Google and others advocate making available on an unlicensed basis for wireless broadband. Advocates won approval for that use in 2008 in the U.S., which was the first country to authorize white spaces. To ensure the new networks use only the slivers of spectrum in between licensed uses, devices need to have a database of licensed users and sensors to detect other activity in the band.

Commercial white-spaces networks are just starting to get off the ground in the U.S., but Microsoft has talked with governments in at least 50 other countries about the possibility of making such frequencies available, said Paul Garnett, Microsoft's director for technology policy.

TV channels are in the same general area of the spectrum band worldwide, so widespread use of white spaces could create a market for mass-produced, low-cost wireless devices, Garnett said. Africa, with more than 1 billion, could play a big role in making that happen, he said.

"That's a huge market, so if there are ways for us to expand access in those markets, then yes, that absolutely helps to create that global marketplace that any new technology is looking for to scale," Garnett said.

Just as the U.S. did, countries across Africa are converting their TV networks from analog to digital, which makes broadcasting more efficient and frees up some of the bandwidth for other uses. But in South Africa, there also are more frequencies in that band that haven't been claimed for anything, he said. That might create an easier path for unlicensed white spaces, which in the U.S. faced strong opposition from TV broadcasters and some other wireless users. South Africa is still evaluating whether to authorize unlicensed white-spaces networks, Garnett said.

"It's an even bigger opportunity ... for this kind of access to radio spectrum than exists in the U.S. or the U.K.," he said. For example, while some U.S. residents suffer from slow DSL (digital subscriber line) speeds, they at least have copper phone lines. Some parts of Africa have no connectivity at all, he said.

In the South African project, Microsoft will work with the University of Limpopo, government agencies and a local network builder called Multisource. The project will set up a central white-spaces radio at the university and one at each of the five schools.

At the schools, the project will give laptops to teachers and make tablets available in a classroom for students. Those clients will talk to special Wi-Fi access points that connect on the back end to the local white-spaces radio. Each school's radio will in turn connect to the Internet through the main white-spaces radio at the university, which has a fiber network.

Though each school's white-spaces radio will have a range of about 10 kilometers, initially they are intended only for use in the schools.

The project will also provide projectors, training and educational content, as well as solar panels where electricity is unavailable or unreliable, Garnett said.

The Limpopo project is part of a broader Microsoft initiative called 4Afrika, which has also included a white-spaces effort in Kenya.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

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