Something you probably use got a major visual overhaul this week, as well as something you statistically probably don’t use.
1. Spotify redesigns itself
Streaming music just got a lot prettier.
A week after the music company announced its $5/month premium subscription for college students, Spotify pushed its visual overhaul out to iOS, Android and the web.
It’s a complete 180 from it’s previous design. Circular icons replace square ones, everything has a rounded edge and there’s dark theme throughout the app. It’s all very flat, very clean and very iOS 7-esque.
Additionally, it’s easier to navigate. There wasn’t any drastic redesign in that area, but a few icons have changed and makes it more intuitive. There’s also no more weird “Hide” button in the corner of the album view. It’s an “X” now, which makes more sense.
The web player (play.spotify.com) has the same dark theme as the mobile app, but is largely unchanged from its previous iteration.
As for desktop clients, Spotify is slowly rolling out the Mac update with a Windows update to come in the near future. The desktop version has a “Your Music” view that lets you instantly add albums or songs to your collection without necessarily tacking them onto a playlist.
2. Microsoft’s Siri Killer
Windows Phone users, thanks for joining the rest of us.
Microsoft finally revealed Cortana, its virtual assistant to users on Wednesday.
Yes, that’s the same Cortana found in the Halo series, though there’s unfortunately no holographic female robot helping you defeat aliens.
Instead, there’s what is basically Siri, S Voice, or Google Now, but with some added features.
For one, Microsoft didn’t want to make anything creepy, according to Marcus Ash, group program manager for Windows Phone. So at any time, you can look at Cortana’s “notebook,” which is basically a list of everything the personal assistant knows at you. For example, if you see that Cortana knows you have a flight coming up — and you find that creepy — you can tell her to stop reading your email to find that out.
It’s a great addition for today’s privacy-minded group of smartphone owners. Control over personal information is vital.
Other than that though, Cortana is your basic digital assistant. It can make appointments, phone calls, send messages, direct you to a location, etc.
While this is still Microsoft catching up to the competition in Apple and Google, the gap between operating systems is getting smaller and smaller.
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That’s it for this week! Make sure to check back next week for the latest and greatest in tech.