How to Stream Video to Xbox One from Mac OS X or Windows http://revealedtech.com/tips-solution/how-to-stream-video-to-xbox-one-from-mac-os-x-or-windows/

If you have an Xbox One gaming console in the household, you may be pleased to discover that it’s really quite easy to stream video and audio from a local Mac or Windows PC to play directly on the Xbox One. This offers a nice wireless method to play movies from any Mac or PC onto a TV without having to use an HDMI connection, and the Xbox One Media Player app supports a huge range of popular file types, so you’ll be able to play just about any mp4, mov, avi, divx, mkv, wmv, mp4, m4a, or nearly any other popular movie or audio file. Yes, you can stream your iTunes Library to the Xbox this way. Setup is easy and there’s very little configuration required, we’ll run through the whole process from start to finish and you’ll be ready to go in just a few minutes.

To stream from the computer, we’re going to use the free Plex Media Server for streaming movies and audio files to the Xbox One, Plex Server runs on OS X, Windows, Linux, and FreeBSD, so you’ll be able to do this from just about any computer you have. If you leave Plex Media Serverrunning on the computer, it will sit unassuming in the background and function as a media server that is accessible by the Xbox One at anytime. On the Xbox One side of things, we’re going to use the free Xbox One Media Player app to browse the media files to stream and play video and audio.

Requirements for streaming media to an Xbox One from a Mac or PC are as follows:

• Any Mac OS X computer, Windows PC, or Linux PC, with a folder that contains media files


• Xbox One gaming console with Media Player app installed – if you haven’t done so yet, download and install available Xbox One updates and be sure the Xbox One has Media Player app installed, this is necessary to play the video and/or audio – if the Xbox One doesn’t have Media Player app yet you can find and download it quickly from the apps section of the console, it’s about 45mb


• A TV connected to the Xbox One


• Go to Plex.tv and download Plex Media Server onto the computer and install it, it’s free, you do not need to sign up for anything if you don’t want to


• The Mac or PC and Xbox One must be on the same local network (wi-fi or ethernet)

Assuming you have met the fairly basic requirements, you’re ready to configure and setup streaming from Plex Media Server to the Xbox One and the TV.

How to Stream Any Video, Audio, or Movie to Xbox One from Mac OS X or Windows with Plex Server

Now that you have the Plex app on a computer and the Xbox One up and running, the rest is really easy:

1. Launch Plex Media Server on the computer, this will open a new web browser window where you can configure the media server







2. In Plex app, choose “Add Library”







3. Still in Plex, now choose “Add Folders”, navigating to the directory on the Mac (or PC) where the media you want to stream is stored (you can add multiple folders if you want to, including your iTunes Library from ~/Music/)







4. Now from the Xbox One start screen, go to “My Apps and Games” and find and open “Media Player” from the apps menu (if you haven’t done so yet, you can download it quickly as shown below)







5. Wait a moment or two and Media Player will discover the Plex Media Server app running on the computer and the video / audio library will show up on Xbox One, it’s easily identified and will show the name of the computer running the server







6. Use the Xbox One controller to navigate the media library in Plex







7. Select and play videos which will stream from the computer by hitting the A button on the Xbox One controller

The selected video will start playing immediately on the Xbox One and TV, while the Plex Media Server runs in the background on the computer:

You can play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, and scrub any movie or audio file that is streaming, the whole experience is easy and relatively seamless.

You’ll obviously need to have Plex Media Server open on the computer to have this work, as Media Player on Xbox One will not be able to find media content on the Mac or PC without it.

Another particularly great aspect of using this setup is that if a friend or coworker has a movie, video, photo, or music on their Mac that they want to play on the same TV and Xbox One, all they need to do is download and run Plex Media Server to make their media content accessible for streaming too.

Supported File Formats for Xbox One Streaming and Xbox One Media Player

Plex will play nearly any type of audio or video file on the computer, so your limitation is mostly on the Xbox One side of things, which is also very generous with it’s compatibility and support of a myriad of audio, image, and video file formats and types. Directly from Microsoft, here’s the full supported file format list for Media Player on the Xbox One console:

• 3GP audio


• 3GP video


• 3GP2


• AAC


• ADTS


• animated GIF


• .asf


• AVI DivX


• DV AVI


• AVI uncompressed


• AVI Xvid


• BMP


• JPEG


• GIF


• H.264 AVCHD


• M-JPEG


• .mkv


• .mov


• MP3


• MPEG-PS


• MPEG-2 MPEG-2 HD


• MPEG-2 TS


• H.264/MPEG-4 AVC


• MPEG-4 SP


• PNG


• TIFF


• WAV


• WMA


• WMA Lossless


• WMA Pro


• WMA Voice


• WMV


• WMV HD

With such a diverse option of media types supported, you’re sure to have no problems playing whatever video you want from the computer to the Xbox One, though if you have a more obscure file format, you could always convert it first on the computer into a compatible file format.

By the way, if you want to, you can also download the Plex app on Xbox one, but it’s not necessary and we’re not covering that here, but the Plex app works very well to interact with the Plex Media Server. Of course, another option is copying videos, movies, music, and photos to a USB thumb drive on the Mac or PC, then connecting that to the Xbox One and playing video directly from the USB drive through Xbox One Media Player, but that’s obviously not going to be a wireless streaming experience.

So, even if you don’t have an Apple TV to mirror video from a Mac with AirPlay to, you can still easily stream video wirelessly from a Mac to the TV and an Xbox, and it works flawlessly, how great is that? And who said that Apple and Microsoft don’t get along well!?

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How to Stream Video to Xbox One from Mac OS X or Windows

Apple Music in Taylor Swift backdown http://revealedtech.com/breaking-news/apple-music-in-taylor-swift-backdown/

Taylor Swift: "Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation."

Apple Music has reversed its payment policy, a day after the singer Taylor Swift said she was refusing to allow the company to stream her album 1989.

In an open letter to Apple, Swift said she was withholding the record as she was unhappy with the three-month free trial offered to subscribers.

Now Apple says it will pay artists for music streamed during trial periods.

"We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple," tweeted executive Eddy @Cue.

Swift had said the plan was "unfair", arguing Apple had the money to cover the cost.

"I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company," the 25-year-old said, describing Apple as one of her "best partners in selling music".

"Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.

"We don't ask you for free iPhones. Please don't ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation."

Apple Music launches on 30 June. It will cost $9.99 (£6.30) per month in the US for one person or $14.99 for families.

The singer is due to start the UK leg of her world tour on 23 June

After hearing news of the company's decision on Sunday night Swift tweeted: "I am elated and relieved. Thank you for your words of support today. They listened to us.''

Mr Cue said he did not know if the Shake It Off singer would now make her album available on Apple Music - but he praised her for taking a stand.

"When I woke up this morning and I saw Taylor's note that she had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change," he told Associated Press.

The music industry has generally supported the company bringing its vast music library to paid streaming, and the firm said it would pay 73% of the music subscription revenue to music owners.

Eddy Cue called Swift in Amsterdam to tell her they had made the change

Speaking to Billboard magazine Cue said they had already been been hearing "a lot of concern from indie artists about not getting paid during the three-month trial period" before Swift spoke out. But he said "we never looked at it as not paying them".

"We had originally negotiated these deals based on paying them a higher royalty rate on an ongoing basis to compensate for this brief time", he said.

They will now pay artists during the trial period and "also keep the royalty rate at the higher rate."

He said he spoke to Swift himself to let her know they were making the changes and "she was thrilled and very thankful".

It is not the first time Swift has spoken out against streaming music - she pulled her entire catalogue from Spotify last November and had refused to offer 1989 on streaming services, saying the business had "shrunk the numbers of paid album sales drastically".

She explained to Yahoo Music why she pulled her music from Spotify: "I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music."

If you find a Swift song now on Spotify it will only be from a compilation album.

1989 went on to become one of the biggest-selling albums of 2014 and has sold more than 4.9 million copies in the US alone.

Last week, UK-based independent record label Beggars echoed Swift's comments, saying it struggled "to see why rights owners and artists should bear this aspect of Apple's customer acquisition costs".

It said it did not have an agreement with Apple that would allow it to participate in the new service but hoped the "obstacles to agreement can be removed" in the coming days.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33220189#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa http://revealedtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/83768163_83767391.jpg
Apple Music in Taylor Swift backdown

Rule change for broadband migration http://revealedtech.com/breaking-news/rule-change-for-broadband-migration/

The changes are designed to make it easier to change broadband suppliers

Britons can now start the process of switching broadband supplier with one phone call.

The simpler rules replace the previous "confusing" set-up, under which different systems were used for some services and suppliers.

The changed regime may not end up being faster because of a 10-day notification period built in to the process.

And, say critics, the changes might mean more attempts to switch people without their permission.

Drafted by regulator Ofcom, the new rules apply to both broadband and landline services from BT, EE, Sky and TalkTalk, which use the Openreach network.

The new rules came into force on 20 June and mean anyone who wants to change broadband supplier now only has to notify the company they wish to move to. That supplier should then handle every aspect of the change.

Ofcom boss Sharon White said the change would help people "take advantage of very strong competition in the landline and broadband markets".

Net confusion

In its guidance about the changes, Ofcom warned people that they may face early termination charges if they tried to switch before a minimum service period or contract period had expired.

ISPs must keep records of migration requests to help spot cases of so-called "slamming", in which people are moved to new suppliers without their consent. Critics have suggested that the new system could be more open to abuse and mistakes.

Before now, swapping supplier meant people had to first contact their existing supplier, cancel their contract and get a MAC code, which they then gave to their new provider to start the migration process.

Ofcom said this process could be "confusing and time consuming" because suppliers ran different systems to handle migration requests.

The "one-touch" migration system is already used for moves to and from fully unbundled services - for example, when customers migrate from TalkTalk to Sky.

Sebastien Lahtinen, from broadband site ThinkBroadband, said the updated rules removed some confusion from the whole process but might not end up being quicker because they did away with the faster MAC migration options some ISPs offered.

"We don't feel this change is going to substantially increase migrations per se," he told the BBC "although as the new system stops a losing provider from offering a retention deal after they receive a migration request, this may increase migration rates slightly."

Mr Lahtinen said anyone contemplating moving would be wise to ring their existing supplier before starting the migration process to see if they could offer a better deal.

The changes do not apply to migration to or from ISPs offering broadband via cable, fixed wireless, satellite or through fibre to the home.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33223724#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa http://revealedtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/83779005_3664.jpg
Rule change for broadband migration

Police team to hunt IS web accounts http://revealedtech.com/breaking-news/police-team-to-hunt-is-web-accounts/

Direct recruitment for IS often takes place on Skype, one expert on jihadis said

A Europe-wide police team is being formed to track and block social media accounts linked to Islamic State (IS).

A recent US study found there were at least 46,000 accounts on Twitter linked to the militant group, many of which help to recruit new IS members.

The European police agency Europol will now work with unnamed social media companies to track the accounts.

They aim to get new accounts closed down within two hours of them being set up.

Europol believes up to 5,000 EU citizens, including people from the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, have travelled to territories controlled by IS.

Rob Wainwright, Europol's director, told the BBC that the new team, which starts its work on 1 July, "would be an effective way of combating the problem".

But, he said, tracking all IS-linked social media accounts was too big a task.

"We will have to combine what we see online, with our own intelligence and that that is shared with us by European police services, so we can be a bit more targeted and identify who the key user accounts are... and concentrate on closing them down."

Analysis - Dominic Casciani, BBC Home Affairs Correspondent

Islamic State's propaganda machine is a child of the internet age - always available somewhere, always being shared by someone, always online.

IS uses "official" accounts controlled and operated from within Syria and Iraq and a huge network of supporters and propagandists further afield. Every tweet, video and sermon is shared and magnified in a way that is exceptionally difficult to track and stop.

Can this material be taken down? All the evidence, so far, says no. Some IS supporters dodge law enforcement deliberately, deleting their own accounts and creating new ones before police can catch up.

Some social media services don't have the capacity to respond - although critics say the biggest services are failing to at least try harder to remove extremist material.

So the question is this - if you want to stop IS online, can it be done without changing the nature of the net?

Listen: Islamic State's Social Media Machine

The number of IS-linked Twitter accounts could be as high as 90,000, according to a paper by the Brooking Institution in Washington.

Aaron Zelin, an expert on jihadist groups at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says Twitter is generally used to draw in potential new recruits, not to directly hire them.

The more direct recruitment conversations take place on forums such as Skype, WhatsApp and Kik, he said.

Rita Katz, a director of the jihadi monitoring group Site, said IS militants regularly boasted online of ways in which to circumvent being blocked on social media.

In an article written in April, Ms Katz called for better security by social media firms and said simply blocking accounts was not enough.

She wrote: "It's time to stop shooting in the dark and recognize IS and its followers on Twitter are determined and dangerously adaptive - not because they enjoy tweeting, but because Twitter itself is among the most crucial tools to their growth and existence."

Source Article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33220037#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa http://revealedtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/83773157_a2bf5fba-2139-422c-a7e3-1731b8c27ca1.jpg
Police team to hunt IS web accounts

Computer hack grounds Polish planes http://revealedtech.com/breaking-news/computer-hack-grounds-polish-planes/

More than 1,400 people were affected by the cancellations, LOT said

Some flights operated by Poland's national airline, LOT, were grounded on Sunday after hackers attacked its computer system.

The hacking attack targeted computers issuing flight plans at Warsaw's Okecie airport.

More than 1,400 passengers were affected, with 10 flights cancelled and another 12 delayed.

Services were getting back to normal on Sunday evening. The attack is now being investigated by airline authorities.

Flights to Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Copenhagen and Polish cities were affected, although LOT stressed that the glitch did not affect the airport or aeroplanes that were already in the air.

"We're using state-of-the-art computer systems, so this could potentially be a threat to others in the industry," said LOT spokesman Adrian Kubicki.

The source of the hack is not yet known.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33219276#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa http://revealedtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/83772476_83772475.jpg
Computer hack grounds Polish planes

Online reviews 'used as blackmail' http://revealedtech.com/breaking-news/online-reviews-used-as-blackmail/

Businesses are ambushing rivals with fake reviews and customers are using the threat of online criticism to win discounts, research has found.

Allegations have been made of people "blackmailing" firms with poor reviews to get money off, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said.

Review sites may leave negative commentary unpublished to allow firms to resolve complaints, the CMA added.

Consumers could be unaware that some endorsements in blogs were paid for.

The CMA has now launched an investigation into various companies, as the use of paid-for endorsements without a clear admission of payment may be unlawful.

"We are committed to ensuring that consumers' trust in these important information tools is maintained, and will take enforcement action where necessary to tackle unlawful practices," said Nisha Arora, senior director at the CMA.

"We have opened an investigation into businesses that may be paying for endorsements in blogs and other online articles where the payment may not have been made clear to readers."

'Valuable' service

Holidaymakers' hotel choices are often influenced by online reviews

The CMA found that 54% of UK adults used online reviews, and many found them valuable.

These were found on websites ranging from specialist review sites such as Tripadvisor and trusted trader schemes such as Checkatrade, to booking agents such as Expedia and retailers such as Amazon.

The competition authority estimated that £23bn a year of consumer spending was potentially influenced by online reviews.

However, it discovered cases which have been known as "astroturfing" - the practice of creating fake grass root reviews.

Among the potentially misleading cases, on unnamed sites, were:

• Businesses writing fake reviews of themselves to boost their ratings on review sites compared with rivals


• Firms writing or commissioning fake negative reviews to undermine rivals, for malicious reasons, or for personal gain


• Review sites cherry-picking positive reviews


• Sites allowing businesses to remedy negative reviews, that go unpublished, meaning a complete picture is not clear to review site users

Impartiality could be compromised by review sites' need to make money through subscriptions, click-throughs, or selling reputation management services to businesses.

"A review site may want to maximise its own commercial revenues from subscriptions, and may jeopardise this if it upsets business clients by publishing negative reviews," the CMA report said.

The authority also heard allegations of consumers using reviews to get money off.

"Consumers may be using the threat of a poor review to 'blackmail' businesses into providing some concession, such as a price discount," the report said.

'Despicable'

A BBC investigation has revealed the global market for fake review writers, and the use of stolen identities to post reviews.

Ashley Booth Griffin, from New York, supposedly posted a positive review for a loan website, but in fact she was killed in a car crash seven years ago. The photo used in the review came from her memorial website.

"I think it is despicable," said her father Greg Booth. "They are simply attempting to dupe the public, to cheat and to lie."

The BBC also spoke to a student in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who was paid $5 (£3.15) to write a fake review.

Endorsements

Bloggers may make endorsements to make money from their posts

The CMA also researched the trade in endorsements on blogs and online publications which are paid for by businesses.

"We have seen examples of suppliers paying bloggers sums of between £100 and £500 in return for a blog post about a product or service, and up to £50 for a pair of tweets," the report said.

"We have also heard of payment in the form of gifts, vouchers, tickets to events and, or, hospitality."

In some cases, the payment was made clear in the blog, but in others it was not. An investigation had now been launched into these cases.

Although the CMA did not name any of the companies under the spotlight, many review sites have been defending their processes.

Holiday review site, Trip Advisor said that it had automated, and individual, checks in place to spot suspicious patterns of behaviour. This tackled businesses aiming to boost their own rating, vandalise others, or optimise their position on the site.

"Trip Advisor has been developing and refining its fraud detection process for more than 15 years," the company said.

"We fight fraud aggressively and our systems and processes are extremely effective in protecting consumers from the small minority of people who try to cheat our system."

Kevin Byrne, from Checkatrade.com, told the BBC that most of their reviews came in handwritten.

He also said that reviewers "are vetted by sending a confirmation email" - so supplying a fake email when submitting an online review would not work.

A spokesman for consumer group Which? said: "The CMA was right to launch this investigation as consumers rely on reviews to make decisions, so it is critical that they are genuine.

"Retailers should be vigilant and try to root out bad practice on their sites, and consumers should check a number of difference sources, including genuinely independent experts like Which?."

Source Article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33184207#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Online reviews 'used as blackmail'

Apple Reverses Course, Will Pay Artists During Apple Music Free Trial http://revealedtech.com/apple/apple-reverses-course-will-pay-artists-during-apple-music-free-trial/

Great for artists.

By the way, this is the shortest MacRumors article I've seen in years. Short and to the point. I like it.

Source Article from http://www.macrumors.com/2015/06/21/apple-will-pay-artists-free-trial/
Apple Reverses Course, Will Pay Artists During Apple Music Free Trial