Yahoo is today launching a Yahoo Sports app for Apple TV that lets users access free sports news, live streams, and video highlights that the service already offers via an iOS app and across other platforms.

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Kamcord, a popular platform that lets game developers add gameplay recording features to their mobile apps, is today taking its first step into live streaming. The move is a notable one as competitors such as live game streaming service Twitch, now owned by Amazon, move into the mobile space and live streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat begin to gain traction among users. expand full story

Apple directors have been somewhat talkative over the weekend about the imminent release of Apple Music. Former Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers, who now works as a Senior Director of Apple Music, blogged about the product’s launch. He reminisces on the history of digital music and radio saying that seeing Apple Music on stage at WWDC ‘it was hard not to feel like the last 20+ years was leading to this day’.

Interestingly, Apple will be releasing iOS 8.4 at 8 AM on June 30th which includes the newly revamped Music app to support Apple Music. This is slightly earlier than the usual 10 AM release window. The change in scheduling seems to be in service of Beats 1, Apple’s worldwide radio station, which will start streaming from 9 AM on the same day.

Meanwhile, Eddy Cue has also been leaking some tidbits about Apple Music on Twitter …

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From Apple’s ‘Spring Forward’ Apple Watch event today, we’ve rounded up the notable numbers and other updates shared by CEO Tim Cook and other execs throughout the presentation. Among them: Apple recently sold it’s 700 millionth iPhone.  Cook also noted that iPhone is growing at a rate of growth double the industry (as pictured in the slide above).

Apple also shared some numbers on Apple Pay, retail stores, growth in China, and CarPlay.

Head below for more stats and company updates announced today:   expand full story

Super Bowl XLIX with the Seahawks vs. the Patriots kicks off this weekend on February 1st and we’re already getting prepared with a handy list of links for watching on all your Apple devices.

Head below for details on how to watch the game from iPhone, iPad, or Mac. expand full story

Apple has just announced that it will be live streaming its upcoming event later this month on September 9th. Its website also includes a countdown clock pictured above and a link for Apple users to add the event to their calendar.  expand full story

In a quiet over-the-air update today, Apple has just added a new Red Bull TV Channel for Apple TV users. The content is similar to what is offered already through the Red Bull TV website and iOS apps with a selection of action sports, music, and lifestyle related video series including both on-demand and live content. That includes clips, full-length episodes, as well as live coverage of events and more. expand full story

Today at Apple’s iPhone event today in Cupertino, CEO Tim Cook kicked things off with the usual company updates since last checking in. After talking briefly about its iTunes festival and its latest expansion to the Stanford, CA retail store, Cook mentioned that Apple will hit 700 million iOS devices sold by next month. That’s up 100 million devices in just a few months since Apple announced back in June that it hit the 600 million device mark.

Cook also provided some numbers on the iTunes festival noting that the event is now in its seventh year and reaches 100+ countries  with live streams. He also said that around 20M people applied for tickets.

Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad, stars of the upcoming JOBS film, are currently hosting a live hangout on YouTube to answer questions about what it was like playing Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in the film. You can tune in live above and submit questions for Kutcher and Gad to answer through #AskJobsMovie.

Yesterday, we posted the latest clip from the film showing the key moment when Jobs and Wozniak came up with the “Apple Computer” name. expand full story

There were no shortage of details regarding Apple’s much rumored radio service leading up to today’s keynote address. The rumors said Apple was planning on introducing a free, ad-supported radio service, similar to Pandora, that would be highly integrated with a tweaked model for its iAd business. Apple has now officially unveiled the service dubbed ‘iTunes Radio’ and provided some details on exactly how it will work during its keynote presentation this morning at Moscone West in San Francisco.

The new iTunes Radio app is built in to the iOS radio app, and works on the Mac and Apple TV as well. As rumored, iTunes Radio will be free, supported by ads. In a twist, however, iTunes Radio will be completely free (free of ads) if you’re a subscriber to iTunes Match:

The Music app has a beautiful new design and includes the new iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store®, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. iTunes Radio is the best way to discover new music. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac®, PC or Apple TV®, you’ll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you.

As we reported prior to today’s event, the underlining technology is based on Apple’s iTunes Genius feature with iTunes Radio tailoring the experience to your iTunes usage. Apple says there will be Siri integration, and also aims to offer users “access to exclusive “first listen” premieres from top selling artists.” expand full story

Google just announced a new unified messaging service today that will be available across multiple platforms and now the iOS app is officially available to download on the App Store.

The free Hangouts app is available as a universal download for both iPhone and iPad and offers group conversations with photos or 850 emojis, Video calls for hanging out with up to 10 friends, alerts that are synced across devices and more.

More Hangouts awesomeness: — View and continue your Hangouts across devices. — Get notifications just once.  After you see an alert, it’ll be removed on other devices. — Snooze your notifications if you’d prefer to respond later. — See what you talked about in the past, including shared photos and your video call history. — Keep a record of any Hangout for just a short period of time by turning history off. — View collections of photos shared from each of your Hangouts. — Choose from over 850 emoji to express what’s on your mind.

The Hangouts feature will also be coming to Gmail users today: expand full story

Google today announced that it is revamping the Google voice search feature available in Chrome on the desktop. While users have always been able to search with their voice through Chrome, Google is attempting to make the service work more like it does through Google Search apps and Google Now on mobile devices.

Chrome will now include “conversational search” with a brand new interface that doesn’t require users to click in order to search with their voice. Like on mobile devices with Google Now, users will now be able to simple say “Google” in order to activate voice search.

Today, we previewed what this conversational experience will look like in Chrome on your desktops and laptops. Soon, you’ll be able to just say, hands-free, “OK Google, will it be sunny in Santa Cruz this weekend?” and get a spoken answer. Then, you’ll be able to continue the conversation and just follow up with “how far is it from here?” if you care about the drive or “how about Monterey?” if you want to check weather somewhere else, and get Google to tell you the answer.

The new interface, as pictured above from Google’s demo of the feature, is much like the voice search interface for Google Now on Android devices.

The new feature will be coming to Macs and PCs through Chrome soon.

Google also briefly showed off some new content coming to Google Now including new cards for Reminders, Music Albums, TV Shows, Books, Public Transit, and Video games rolling out today: expand full story

From 9to5Google:

Google just announced its much rumored new music service called Google Play Music “All Access” live on stage at its Google I/O event keynote presentation.

Google execs focused on showing off curated playlists but also made a note of pointing out a “radio” feature that will automatically create an endless radio station based on the song you’re currently listening to. The service will also allow users to search for a particular song or view the “playlist” of a radio station to remove unwanted songs.

Also included is a feature called “Listen Now” that will provide quick access to recently listened to songs, customized radio stations based on your preferences, and recommendations for new releases from artists you like.

The service will be available on the web, tablets, and phones through Google Play and cost users $9.99 per month with a 30 day free trial in the US. Those that sign up before the end of June will be able to get the subscription for just $7.99/month and Google said the service will land in other countries soon.

From 9to5Google:

We knew from leaks in the weeks leading up to I/O that Google was planning some gaming related announcements and today the company has officially announced the service in a press release ahead of its Google I/O keynote taking place now. Not only will the service allow Android developers to build in real-time multiplayer, social features, achievements, and leaderboards while storing game saves and settings in the cloud, the SDK for Google Play game services will also be available to iOS and web developers.

Google noted a few titles for Android have already been updated with the feature including World of Goo, Super Stickman Golf 2, Beach Buggy Blitz, Kingdom Rush, Eternity Warriors 2, and Osmos.

Not surprisingly, the cross-platform gaming service will also build in Google+ integration to track high scores, achievements and more:

-Achievements that increase engagement and promote different styles of play.

-Social and public leaderboards that seamlessly use Google+ circles to track high scores across friends and across the world.

-Cloud saves that provide a simple and streamlined storage API to store game saves and settings. Now players never have to replay Level 1 again.

-Real-time multiplayer for easy addition of cooperative or competitive game play on Android devices. Using G+ Circles a game can have up to 4 simultaneous friends or auto-matched players in a game session together with support for additional players coming soon.

Google’s full press release below: expand full story