ShinyShiny tech roundup: Spotify testing a new TikTok-style video feed
Spotify is testing a new TikTok-style video feed in its beta iOS app that shows fullscreen video clips as songs are played, TechCrunch reports. The feature was first spotted by Chris Messina, who posted a video of the feed in action. When available, the video feed is accessible from a new fourth tab in the navigation bar labelled “Discover.” Individual tracks can then be liked as you scroll through the feed, and there’s also a three dot menu icon to bring up options for each song. Spotify confirmed the test in a statement provided to TechCrunch, but declined to comment on if or when it might see a wider rollout. “At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience,” a spokesperson said. “Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have any further news to share at this time.” The Verge
Collins Dictionary has chosen the term NFT as its word of the year after surging interest in the digital tokens that can sell for millions of dollars brought it into the mainstream. NFT is short for non-fungible token. Collins defines it as “a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible.” Most people didn’t know what an NFT was until this year, when sales boomed, sparked in large part by artist Beeple’s March auction of a digital collage NFT for nearly $70 million…Experts at Collins, based in Glasgow, Scotland, said Wednesday they chose NFT because of its “meteoric rise in usage,” up 11,000% in 2021. AP News
The government has introduced new legislation to protect smart devices in people’s homes from being hacked. Recent research from consumer watchdog Which? suggested homes filled with smart devices could be exposed to more than 12,000 attacks in a single week. Default passwords for internet-connected devices will be banned, and firms which do not comply will face huge fines. One expert said that it was an important “first step”. Cyber-criminals are increasingly targeting products from phones and smart TVs, to home speakers and internet-connected dishwashers. Hackers who can access one vulnerable device can then go on to access entire home networks and steal personal data. BBC
Twitter recently changed the behavior of its website to pause your Twitter feed until you refresh, and it has now done the same with its iOS app. It follows a promise the company made back in September to fix one of the most annoying things about the platform. It’s happened to all of us: You see an interesting tweet, start reading it, and… whoosh! It’s gone as the feed refreshes and you have to scroll down to find it again. Or, even more frustratingly, you only glimpse a tweet as it scrolls away and then can’t find it again. Twitter said in September that it was aware of this frustration, and was working on a fix. That fix came to the website last week, and Twitter says that it has now rolled out to the iOS app too. 9to5Mac
Samsung’s QD-OLED technology looks set to make an appearance at next year’s CES, with a new report from Edaily Korea suggesting that mass production will begin at the end of this month. The report quotes leaked internal communications, from Samsung Display CEO Choi Joo-sun, that say that “QD Display will mass-produce and release 65-inch and 55-inch TVs and 34-inch monitors, and decide whether to increase production based on market reaction”. Intriguingly, multiple recent rumours also suggest that Sony, a key customer of LG Display’ OLED panels, is also planning on launching QD-OLED TVs in 2022. A report from ChosunBiz hints that Samsung Display will start supplying OD-OLED panels to Sony from November 2021. What HiFi
