Google Assistant coming to IOS

Watch out Siri, here comes Google Assistant to take your place! Google announced on Wednesday that they will be bringing their assistant to iPhone’s through a separate app on their store. While the announcement loomed large the features that come with the assistant are rather small, it can only send over messages and play songs from Spotify. Another negative that comes with this is that you’re home button is still programmed to take Siri commands. So while the announcement came in strong at IO17, the resulting product seems to disappoint for IOS based products so seems like Siri still holds her throne.

Music to our ears?(Spotify, Apple Music or Tidal)

These three are considered giants of the music industry, but which one stands superior to the others?

A study by Edison Research says that Americans listen to up to four hours of audio a day, that’s a lot of time spent listening to music, videos etc. How we stream this audio is a whole different story, Spotify, Apple Music an Tidal are three giants in the music streaming service. As of March 2nd Spotify’s numbers were at an astonishing 50 million subscribers while Apple Music trailed with 20 million as of December and Tidal was far behind with a total of 800,000 subscribers in March of 2016.

Subscription Price and perks

We start with the pricing of these three music services, Apple Music gives two separate plans for Apple Music customers after the initial three month free trial,  there is the individual plan which is $9.99 a month, the student(college) plan for $4.99 a month  and the family sharing plan which is $14.99 a month and can be used for up to six people on an ICloud family sharing program. With an iPhone the perks of Apple Music are Siri can launch any song on your playlist, your iTunes library can integrate with your Apple Music playlist and Beats 1 radio station. This is one of the large perks of Apple Music, many artists that have exclusive deals with the company debut their albums on different radio shows on the station. These include Drake’s recent album More Life premiered first on the station.
Spotify also has multiple plans these include a free plan(none of the other two streaming services mentioned have this option), a $9.99 monthly plan, a $4.99 student subscription plan and a $14.99 family plan. Their monthly, student and  family plan stack up identical to the subscription plans that Apple Music offer but some people can use the app for free. Some perks of Spotify include places you can stream music, such as your PlayStation 4, Amazon Echo and all Smartphones. Spotify also has a free streaming plan where you can view their entire catalog of over 30 million songs. Hi-fi streaming service may also soon be coming to Spotify, which is a higher level of sound quality.
Tidal has two plans to choose from one is the basic $9.99 streaming plan and the other is a $19.99 streaming plan that includes hi-fi sound. Tidal also has some exclusives such as some of Jay-Z’s albums and they were the first to obtain the Prince discography after he passed away and released rapper Future’s Mix-tape. They are also the only company as of this post to offer Hi-Fi Streaming.

How do these companies outdo each other?
Exclusive deals and signing artists have been a long time way of one-upping another service. Apple music had strong pulls such as Taylor Swift, whose entire catalog of albums is Apple Music only with only a couple appearing on Tidal. Spotify is in the dark when it comes to music by Taylor Swift. Some of music industries biggest names such as UMG’s  Lucian Grainge have decided to fight against this practice of offering exclusives to the streaming service. This decision came two days after Blond an album by Frank Ocean was released first exclusively  on Apple Music according to Bob Lefsetz. UMG is the only label at the moment curating a ban on exclusive deals. This was a main way the Apple Music and Tidal were trying to catch on to Spotify and dethrone them as the leader in streaming services but with the ban’s being curated it makes it easier for Spotify to keep it’s ground.

Services offered by each service
Radio: With Spotify when choosing a artists radio you are able to get many songs and artist that relate to that artist or song but not much else except similarities. Tidal gives you realistically the same thing as Spotify with music and artist radio stations. Apple Music is the clear cut leader of the radio battle between the three offering Beats 1 24 hour radio stations with special hosts, new music and more. Apple Music also has non musical radio stations such as BBC, ESPN and NPR, with this large variety of radio stations Apple Music is ahead of the competitors with radio stations for everyone.
Radio Winner: Apple Music
Personal Playlists and Music Discovery: Apple Music has a share and create your own playlist feature which helps share music among friends, it also tailor makes playlist specifically for you with albums that Apple Music feels like you would like to listen to. Tidal also has a create and share playlist feature. Spotify offers a multitude of user generated content and playlists. One of it’s two biggest playlists our new music playlists that come out every Friday and a release radar playlist that debuts all types of new music from artists. This gives user one place to discover all the latest songs. Users are also able to upload their playlists to Spotify for everyone to listen to, these include public playlists and playlists shared among friends. Spotify also allows you to follow your friends and keep tabs on what they are listening to and what they like. Every Monday on Spotify you have a new Discover Weekly playlist that has music tailor made for you, it includes up to two hours of playback with music that you have not listened to before and deep cuts from artists you love. With all these outstanding options Spotify takes a win in Personalizing your music.
Personal Playlist and Music Discovery Winner: Spotify
Usability of Apps and websites: Apple Music has an easy bottom screen with the search tab a library Tab a browse Tab and radio tab. All these features are easily accessible and Apple Music is usable with Siri, just say your command and Siri brings it up. This feature though is exclusive to iPhone only taking away from android users. Tidal has all of the same features to find music through the sidebar on the app with playlists, search bar and a place for your music. Spotify has many sub categories and categories to store music and has a higher output of where it can be streamed then any of the other two. Spotify works with top tech items such as the Google Chromecast, Amazon Echo, and Playstation 4(Covered by Cps Warranties https://www.cpscentral.com/). The Amazon Echo system also responds to commands such as “Alexa play Spotify”. At the end of the day with the easiness to move around the app/website and the amount of music output, Spotify again holds the upper edge against the other two.
Winner in Usability of Apps and websites: Spotify.
With all the different comparisons made one thing is evident and it is that Spotify still reigns supreme over Apple Music and Tidal and without exclusive contracts it should continue to do so.

*All electronic items mentioned in the article are covered by CPS warranties, visit us at https://www.cpscentral.com/ for more details today.

Justin Kushnir is a tech blogger at CPS Central who researches highly enticing tech topics and puts out blog posts every Monday. His post range from Music to gaming to sports and everything in between! Make sure to visit our website every Monday for more posts by Justin.

StatCast in the MLB

The stats shown are for a batter with different traits who hits the ball at high speed. Photo Credit to MLB.com

That ball is long gone! It was crushed! This is a common thing to hear after a player crushes a home run during a baseball game. But how long did it really go? With the implementation of Statcast in the 2015 MLB season all of thee questions are easily answered. Baseball advanced media(BAM) took on  a 3 million dollar risk tracking players every move on the field. Flash forward to 2017 and we have one of the mos popular on field tracking devices in sports. These stats let some unappreciated players show off their skill set. This is not just for hitters though, Stat cast also measures pitch rates such as spin rate on a baseball, the velocity of the pitch, etc.
The longest home run in the 2017 Statcast season is Jake Lamb with a home run that measured 481 feet. Along with the distance another important stat that Statcast’s measures is exit velocity or how fast the ball hit off your bat, the hardest hit ball of the year came on New York Yankee’s Aaron Judge 435 foot home run that left the bat at a 119.6 exit velocity. Talk about heavy hitting, Now the next question most people have is how? How is major league baseball able to measure so many small statistics during the course of a game. The data is collected using optical cameras and radar equipment that are able to track locations and movements of the balls and players on the playing field. This is another example of technology taking over the sports world. Prior to Statcast players could go under the radar or underappreciated while in a slump, but looking at the numbers that are available now you can see that all it is, is the player is unlucky. They can be hitting the ball at 94 mph but it might be finding the other teams glove, with the information provided you can now see that this “player” should be getting out of his slump soon. One strong example of good hitting with bad luck would be in 2016 when Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton hit the hardest ball in Statcast history at 123.9 mph, you would think the result might be a home run right? Rather than a home run Giancarlo hit in a double play which is two outs.
Pitching is also calculated with the strongest pitch ever recorded came from Yankees Closer Aroldis Chapman and clocked in at 105.1 MPH. The fastest pitch speed on average from a starting pitcher is Noah Syndergaard of the New York Mets who’s pitches are clocked at an average of 98.7 MPH. The higher the spin rate and velocity of a pitch on average it would be that much harder to hit a pitch at that speed.
The two biggest innovations that have caught on from Statcast are exit velocity and pitch speed as these are the easiest two translate directly into the game. Players,teams and announcers have all caught on to the stat and use it in their everyday routine. One example is Arizona Diamond backs third baseman Jake Lamb who in a Sports Illustrated article said that when he was in his cold streak in 2016 he was watching a MLB show when he noticed that he was leading the league in exit velocity he realized he did not have to change a thing while he was struggling he was destroying the baseball he just couldn’t get it to pull through. So thanks to the new Statcast tracking a player like Lamb is able to realize that this is just a cold streak and he is doing everything right. Every team has also added an analytics team to their roster to study these traits and habits of players, Technology is big in baseball and is changing the way the game is viewed and played.
One website that can really help the analytics in baseball is fangraphs.com who track may different stats in baseball and use graphs and other helpful charts to give out information. With this they are able to project players and the trend they are moving in. Who said we would never use math again?

Confused About Insurance? Check Out These Helpful Tips.

Some more helpful tips from Consumer Priority Service – If you have an agent that offers the insurance you need, you can learn from them all the kinds available.

When you initially purchase insurance, be sure your insurer gets you a physical copy of your new policy via mail. Getting a written copy informs you that your agent has sent the insurance provider your premium payment.

For almost every type of insurance that you can obtain, increasing your deductible will reduce the amount you have to pay in premiums. Having a high deductible can keep you from making too many frivolous claims that can raise your premiums. If you have a higher deductible, you will probably not file tiny claims.

Tips And Tricks For Dealing With Insurance

Tips from Consumer Priority Service – With so many types of policies, payments and red tape, it can all be very confusing. The advice presented here offers guidance to help you maneuver through the minefield of  insurance policies to find those best suited to your needs.

Most insurance companies offer the ability to bundle different policies to offer its customers a discount. These plans often include insurance for large assets, such as homes, cars, and boats. By using insurance package rates, fewer companies need to be dealt with and more money is saved.

Paying your insurance premiums up front will usually net you a discount. If you pay your insurance each year, you won’t have to pay monthly billing and interest fees that can be up to 3%.

How Much Money Can You Save When Researching Different Insurance Companies

Consumer Priority Service – It can be frustrating to shop for insurance policies. Don’t let your insurance needs be a source of frustration or confusion. By having the correct knowledge, you can purchase a policy with a minimal amount of stress.

Try to choose a local agency with actual people you can meet with when selecting an insurance company. Talking to someone face to face is often the best way to get a great deal; they usually want to please you. They also know you can go in anytime if you are having any issues. Local insurance agencies may cost a bit more, but ultimately you will get more for the money you invest.

It is very important to be sure to pay your insurance on time. This saves money over the long run. Companies will tack on late fees if you are late, while also reviewing your policy to make sure you pay on time. Your payments may be increased if your insurance company sees that you frequently miss payments and pay late.

Consumer Priority Service

Consumer Priority Service (CPS) provides extended warranties for many items when they fall outside of the manufacturer’s warranty period. It’s important when you purchase a high-priced item or even an item that is highly prone to damage that you consider an extended service plan (ESP) to keep it protected at all times.

Consumer Priority Service at CES 2010

Consumer Priority Service is Set to Unveil the Digital Warranty Assistant at CES 2010.