Microsoft reportedly plans to discuss next-gen Xbox consoles at E3 2019

Sony may have decided to skip the video game industry’s largest annual expo this year, but Microsoft plans to be back at E3 2019 with its usual blow-out press conference. And now, French gaming news outlet JeuxVideo is reporting that Microsoft plans to discuss its next-gen Xbox lineup as well.
We likely won’t get pricing details or product names, the report states, but we’ll certainly get some official confirmation of the two devices Microsoft is planning to release next year. The news lines up with the company’s slow and steady approach to unveiling its future console roadmap following the launch of the Xbox One X in fall 2017.
At last year’s E3, Microsoft unveiled the next iteration of Halo, to be called Halo Infinite, and also confirmed the rumors that it was officially working on a game streaming service for Xbox consoles that would also work across Windows PCs and mobile phones. (A report from just yesterday also has that cloud service coming to the Nintendo Switch.) In contrast to Sony’s more tight-lipped approach to next-gen hardware and services, Microsoft has already come out and revealed the name of the cloud service to be xCloud, with public trials starting this year.
Last December, the codenames for Microsoft’s new consoles apparently leaked, with one called Anaconda and another Lockheart under a new two-console development strategy codenamed “Scarlett.” Microsoft is reportedly taking its existing Xbox One S / One X “good/better” approach and apply that to its new generation as well, so there will be two console options for people at launch.

SoundCloud now helps artists self-distribute music to Spotify and other streaming platforms

SoundCloud announced today that it is adding distribution to its self-monetization Premier program. Those who are eligible in the open beta will now be able to self-upload, monetize, and publish their songs to other streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora for no additional cost — all from within SoundCloud. Notably, SoundCloud says those who use its distribution service will keep “100 percent of their distribution royalties from third-party services.”
To be eligible, users must have a SoundCloud Pro or Pro Unlimited account, have original music (or own all the rights for applicable music), be 18 years old or age of majority in their country, have no copyright strikes, and have at least 1,000 plays in the past month from countries where SoundCloud monetizes.
Although distribution is offered as part and parcel of SoundCloud’s Premier program, this doesn’t necessarily make it a free service. The cheaper SoundCloud Pro tier costs $72 annually, and it only allows you to distribute one release to all major services. Pro Unlimited costs $144 annually, and it allows for unlimited distribution. Depending on how extensively you use the platform, this could actually make it a more expensive option than competitors like CD Baby, which starts at $29 per album, and Distrokid, which is $19.99 a year with unlimited distribution. Spotify took a minor stake in Distrokid last fall, allowing artists in its beta self-monetization program to self-upload for free and then self-distribute through the Spotify for Artists dashboard.

Amazon starts selling Echo Wall Clock again after issuing connectivity fix

After a few weeks back in the product lab, Amazon’s Echo Wall Clock is again ready to ship after the company released a software update to address connectivity issues plaguing the initial version of the product that began selling last month.
The device, costing $29.99, connects to a compatible Echo product and mirrors the series of timers you set through Alexa with 60 LED lights around the edge. That way, you don’t have to continually ask the voice assistant for updates while cooking. It’s a simple and useful integration and, for that price, a pretty decent-looking wall clock to boot.
But it seems like there was some sort of issue with the Bluetooth link between the device and its Echo counterparts, requiring Amazon pull it from the store in late January while it figured out a fix. Now, if you order the Echo Wall Clock, you can get it as early as tomorrow with one-day paid shipping or in two days with Prime.

LG partners with smart oven startup for automated cooking

LG keeps making its ovens smarter — not by building its own software, but by outsourcing the effort to startups. The company announced today that its 2019 smart ovens will now recognize pre-packaged meals from Tovala, a smart oven company based out of Chicago. Owners of LG’s 2019 smart ovens will be able to scan meals through Tovala’s app, then have their oven automatically move through the correct settings to cook them.
While multiple smart oven companies, like June and Brava, have built food recognition systems into their devices, the Tovala team is the only one to have launched a companion meal shipment service. The team creates meals every week, cooks and packages them, and then ships them to customers. It’s a big undertaking that’s clearly caught LG’s attention, which means Tovala will no longer be limited to selling its meals only to Tovala oven customers.
The Tovala oven, which is in its second generation, steams, bakes, toasts, and broils food automatically based on each meal. Tovala also recently started letting users scan Trader Joe’s frozen foods, but it’s unclear whether LG’s ovens will be able to handle those, too.

Twitter has been storing your ‘deleted’ DMs for years

Twitter lets users delete direct messages from their own side of the conversation (the recipient will still get to keep a copy, unless they also choose to delete it). But it turns out, those deleted messages aren’t really getting removed at all, according to a report from security researcher Karan Saini, via TechCrunch.
It turns out that despite showing that the message was deleted, Twitter still stores all those DMs dating back years. Folks can access this simply by downloading the archived data on their account from Twitter. Saini confirms that even messages sent to and from deleted or suspended accounts are still accessible.
Now, this isn’t the most concerning of bugs — the data appears to only be available to the user that sent or received the message, but the fact that Twitter isn’t deleting the messages when it says that it is, isn’t a great look for the company. Twitter is at least aware of the issue, commenting to TechCrunch that it was “looking into this further to ensure we have considered the entire scope of the issue,” but that’s no guarantee that anything will change.

Apple buys AI voice startup that helps companies build Alexa and Google Assistant apps

Apple has acquired a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup called PullString that specializes in helping companies build conversational voice apps, according to a report from Axios. Pullstring was founded back in 2011 by former Pixar employees — its CEO, Oren Jacob, is Pixar’s former chief technology officer. Up until now, PullString was most well known within the tech industry as the software backbone behind voice systems for popular toys, like Mattell’s talking Hello Barbie doll.
It’s not clear what Apple will be getting out of the deal, which is said to be worth under $100 million, but well over the $44 million in venture capital funding PullString has amassed thus far. But beyond toys, PullString has also worked on the enterprise end to help companies build skills and apps for Amazon’s Alexa platform and Google Assistant. In that sense, Apple could be acquiring PullString to help accelerate the growth of Siri-powered apps and features, which are sorely lacking compared to the tens of thousands of integrations, skills, and actions Amazon and Google offer.