Uncrowned Guard

A small number of Discord servers are getting a Watch Together feature that is focused on watching YouTube videos together, according to The Verge. This feature would not exactly be a new feature as it was being tested around one year ago, but never seemed to get much support and disappeared. Perhaps with the recent banning of multiple YouTube-based bots, Discord is trying to find a solution for users to listen to music together or is simply pushing the feature while bots are limited. The feature seems very similar to current broadcasting features that current users of Discord can use now for sharing games and other applications with their servers. However, it is focused on making the service heavily integrated within YouTube and even allows sharing playback controls of the video. It does seem quite easy for users to use this feature to listen to music together and the feature itself does seem toned towards that goal. There will be advertisements as per the normal YouTube experience although according to the article posted by The Verge, neither Google nor Discord provided much information about YouTube Premium perks and such. Currently, it seems that only Discord’s friends and family servers have the feature, but it appears that Discord plans to expand the testing very soon. It sounds like a late October release is possible for this feature, but official information is currently lacking. Image: Denys Prykhodov - stock.adobe.com View full article

A small number of Discord servers are getting a Watch Together feature that is focused on watching YouTube videos together, according to The Verge. This feature would not exactly be a new feature as it was being tested around one year ago, but never seemed to get much support and disappeared. Perhaps with the recent banning of multiple YouTube-based bots, Discord is trying to find a solution for users to listen to music together or is simply pushing the feature while bots are limited. The feature seems very similar to current broadcasting features that current users of Discord can use now for sharing games and other applications with their servers. However, it is focused on making the service heavily integrated within YouTube and even allows sharing playback controls of the video. It does seem quite easy for users to use this feature to listen to music together and the feature itself does seem toned towards that goal. There will be advertisements as per the normal YouTube experience although according to the article posted by The Verge, neither Google nor Discord provided much information about YouTube Premium perks and such. Currently, it seems that only Discord’s friends and family servers have the feature, but it appears that Discord plans to expand the testing very soon. It sounds like a late October release is possible for this feature, but official information is currently lacking. Image: Denys Prykhodov - stock.adobe.com

Plex Pass subscribers who use the Plexamp app have gotten a massive upgrade to the backend server that Plex uses to run the app. Users can now enable the Sonic features via their server settings that will allow Plex to scan the media and provide much improved playlists and song matches than before. The sonic feature uses an analysis tool to match the actual sound of the music to other songs instead of a simple tag-based system (there is a bit more to it, but that is basically how it works). The biggest issue that this update fixed is the lack of proper metadata on the music itself that can result from using in-house metadata or simply unpopular music not getting much love from the community. The second issue that we are happy to see corrected, is the fact that two identically tagged songs may not be even close to each other in sound or tone. Hopefully, this means much better sounding playlists for users using the app! Users can also see what tracks are matched to their songs within the app once the features are enabled and processed. For those that missed the old Plex Mix feature that was lost when Plex changed their data provider, they will be happy to hear that Track Radio has been added to achieve the same function and so has an Album Radio for those crazy users. Plex has also added album sorting within the libraries, and this is even seen within the normal Plex apps as well! Albums (or album-like groupings) are now broken down into groups like most other music libraries, where studio albums, live albums, compilations, etc are separated within the same listing. There is also an On This Day feature being added to add some life into the app for daily users. Don’t forget that you will need to enable these features in both the server and the libraries that you want to use these features with. You will need to enable sonic analysis as a task with the Settings > Server > Library settings on the web app (although it is likely already enabled by default after you upgrade the server). You will then need to go into the advanced settings of the music library(s) that you want to add this feature to and enable Sonic Analysis within the settings (this is not enabled by default after the upgrade). Just be aware that depending on your server settings, this may wait until a scheduled task time to analyze or analyze right away, but the features for the end-user will not be enabled until this process is complete. Overall, this is exciting news for hose who use Plex as their music server and I can personally say that improved song matching will receive much love from myself! View full article

Plex Pass subscribers who use the Plexamp app have gotten a massive upgrade to the backend server that Plex uses to run the app. Users can now enable the Sonic features via their server settings that will allow Plex to scan the media and provide much improved playlists and song matches than before. The sonic feature uses an analysis tool to match the actual sound of the music to other songs instead of a simple tag-based system (there is a bit more to it, but that is basically how it works). The biggest issue that this update fixed is the lack of proper metadata on the music itself that can result from using in-house metadata or simply unpopular music not getting much love from the community. The second issue that we are happy to see corrected, is the fact that two identically tagged songs may not be even close to each other in sound or tone. Hopefully, this means much better sounding playlists for users using the app! Users can also see what tracks are matched to their songs within the app once the features are enabled and processed. For those that missed the old Plex Mix feature that was lost when Plex changed their data provider, they will be happy to hear that Track Radio has been added to achieve the same function and so has an Album Radio for those crazy users. Plex has also added album sorting within the libraries, and this is even seen within the normal Plex apps as well! Albums (or album-like groupings) are now broken down into groups like most other music libraries, where studio albums, live albums, compilations, etc are separated within the same listing. There is also an On This Day feature being added to add some life into the app for daily users. Don’t forget that you will need to enable these features in both the server and the libraries that you want to use these features with. You will need to enable sonic analysis as a task with the Settings > Server > Library settings on the web app (although it is likely already enabled by default after you upgrade the server). You will then need to go into the advanced settings of the music library(s) that you want to add this feature to and enable Sonic Analysis within the settings (this is not enabled by default after the upgrade). Just be aware that depending on your server settings, this may wait until a scheduled task time to analyze or analyze right away, but the features for the end-user will not be enabled until this process is complete. Overall, this is exciting news for hose who use Plex as their music server and I can personally say that improved song matching will receive much love from myself!

The Asus ROG Phone 5S and 5S Pro will feature the new Snapdragon 888 Plus processor to make the series of phones even more overkill in performance. The new S series phones will also feature more responsive displays and a reported maximum of 18GB of RAM. These upgrades come only a few months after the release of the ROG Phone 5 and according to GIZMOCHINA, the upgraded phones will start shipping on August 24th in Taiwan. Other release dates are currently unknown in other regions and the current price tag is around $1000 to $1400 depending on the model. It is safe to say that the new ROG phones will be king of the benchmarks for a while and an excellent gaming platform for mobile gamers. Reports about the Pro model include extra touch sensors on the phone and being paired with an AeroActive Cooler in the box. View full article

The Asus ROG Phone 5S and 5S Pro will feature the new Snapdragon 888 Plus processor to make the series of phones even more overkill in performance. The new S series phones will also feature more responsive displays and a reported maximum of 18GB of RAM. These upgrades come only a few months after the release of the ROG Phone 5 and according to GIZMOCHINA, the upgraded phones will start shipping on August 24th in Taiwan. Other release dates are currently unknown in other regions and the current price tag is around $1000 to $1400 depending on the model. It is safe to say that the new ROG phones will be king of the benchmarks for a while and an excellent gaming platform for mobile gamers. Reports about the Pro model include extra touch sensors on the phone and being paired with an AeroActive Cooler in the box.

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The DMCA problems faced by Twitch streamers have certainly been a widespread and confusing mess within the community. From content creators being unsure of what will be deemed copyrighted material, to Twitch releasing limited information about the procedures. Thankfully, Twitch has released new guidelines about DMCA policies and overall, they do clear up many of the unknowns. The best news to come forth from these new guidelines is that Twitch will be focusing on repeat offenders and trying to keep new/accidental offenders running on the platform. A three-strike rule (like YouTube currently uses) will help the platform identify repeat copyright infringers. The guidelines also reference that those strikes will be removed from accounts over time but do not give any detail to this. Twitch will also be using a very “YouTube-like” counter strike system where content creators can fight a DMCA strike placed on their content. Granted YouTube has been mentioned many times in this article and that is a good thing as YouTube has years of experience dealing with DCMA claims, but it is also not a great model to follow if you ask many of the YouTube creators who are still dealing with numerous DCMA issues. View the full guidelines here: https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/dmca-guidelines/ View full article

The DMCA problems faced by Twitch streamers have certainly been a widespread and confusing mess within the community. From content creators being unsure of what will be deemed copyrighted material, to Twitch releasing limited information about the procedures. Thankfully, Twitch has released new guidelines about DMCA policies and overall, they do clear up many of the unknowns. The best news to come forth from these new guidelines is that Twitch will be focusing on repeat offenders and trying to keep new/accidental offenders running on the platform. A three-strike rule (like YouTube currently uses) will help the platform identify repeat copyright infringers. The guidelines also reference that those strikes will be removed from accounts over time but do not give any detail to this. Twitch will also be using a very “YouTube-like” counter strike system where content creators can fight a DMCA strike placed on their content. Granted YouTube has been mentioned many times in this article and that is a good thing as YouTube has years of experience dealing with DCMA claims, but it is also not a great model to follow if you ask many of the YouTube creators who are still dealing with numerous DCMA issues. View the full guidelines here: https://www.twitch.tv/p/en/legal/dmca-guidelines/

Independence Day is a holiday in the United States, although many nations have a holiday where they celebrate independence from another nation, to celebrate America’s independence from Great Britain and the creation of the United States. The holiday is often called The Fourth of July and is set on the day when the Declaration of Independence was published declaring independence from Great Britain in 1776. The Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, when the New England states began fighting British forces over their objection to Parliament's taxation policies and lack of colonial representation. As the war expanded, the national congress of the 13 colonies voted in secret to declare independence from Great Britain, and on July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed. As one would expect when fighting the British at this time (the world’s most successful military power), the United States struggled to claim its independence via a military campaign. However, on October 19, 1781, the British would surrender during the Siege of Yorktown and the fighting would come to an end in the colonies. Thanks to America’s ally, the French, and a massive resolve to become independent, the United States would be formed as a nation. September 3, 1783, made the British surrender official as both sides signed the Treaty of Paris and the United States could officially call themselves a free nation. Today the holiday is celebrated through picnics, BBQs, festivals, and of course fireworks.

Father’s Day a national holiday in the United States that honors fatherhood and was first celebrated on June 19th, 1910. While that may have been a straightforward intro to a holiday for our blog, the fact is that Father’s Day also had a quite simple and uneventful start when compared to most holidays out there. In Europe, Saint Joseph’s Day was started in the Catholic faith as a feast day to celebrate fatherhood. This feast day was usually celebrated on March 19th and started in the very early 1500s (some believe it may have been the late 1400s) and was eventually brought to the Americas by Spanish and Portuguese settlers. This holiday never truly began a world holiday and while it is celebrated commonly in Europe, in America it was not a well-recognized event. In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd, who was raised by only her father along with multiple bothers, attended a Mother’s Day event at her church and pushed to make a holiday for fathers as Saint Joseph’s Day was mostly unknown in America. She ended up suggesting this idea to the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and requested a worldwide Father’s Day to be celebrated on her father’s birthday of June 5th. The Spokane Ministerial Alliance ended up supporting the idea but made the holiday fall on the third Sunday of June instead. June 19, 1910 was the first Father’s Day celebration and was hosted in Spokane, Washington thanks to Sonora’s efforts. However, the holiday struggled to gain ground and ended up fading in the 1920s, even after President Woodrow Wilson praised the Spokane services in 1916 via a telegram. Oddly enough, Father’s Day not only almost never became a holiday but also nearly ended Mother’s Day as a separate holiday as well during its early years. In the 20s and 30s, men were not very receptive of the day or willing to receive gifts for being a father and this created a movement to merge Mother’s Day and Father’s Day into Parent’s Day. The Great Depression and its rampant effects on the commercialization of these holidays would end up defeating the effort to merge them together. World War II would bring attention back to the need of a national holiday for fathers and the 1960s would bring Father’s Day back into the national spotlight as in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon would establish the holiday as a permanent national observance as we know it today.

Juneteenth, which is short for June Nineteenth, celebrates the day when United States federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to occupy the state and ensure that slaves were being freed following the Civil War. The event took place on June 19th in 1865, two months after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at the Appomattox Court House to end the Civil War. It is often considered the longest-running African American holiday and honors the end of slavery in the United States. Even after the Civil War had ended slavery was mostly unaffected in Texas against the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 that freed all the slaves in in the Confederacy. This was the case until General Gordon Granger entered Texas and read General Orders No.3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”. Some consider this action to be the true beginning of the end of slavery in the United States as the Emancipation Proclamation did not uniformly end slavery in the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation was a military focused action that only freed the slaves currently living in the rebelling Confederate states and had no affect on the Union states that still used slaves. This action was to gain the support of local slaves to fight against the Confederacy but would go on to swing Lincoln’s stance on slavery and be a driving force to the end slavery. While Texas did succeed and join the Confederacy, it was mostly unaffected by the war as no large-scale fighting or Union troop occupation was seen throughout the war. Many slavers found the state to be a haven for slavery and started to travel to the state from other areas. Even after General Granger’s arrival and orders, numerous slavers would continue to use slaves and hide their freedom until after the current harvest season. In December of 1865, the 13th Amendment would pass, and slavery would officially end in the United States. In 1866, freed slavers in Texas would organize “Jubilee Day” on June 19th and it would become an annual celebration of freedom in the state. The event would be full of music, prayer, barbecues, and other community events to celebrate. In 1979, Texas would become the first state to make Juneteenth an official holiday and several other states would follow over the years. In 2021, the US Senate passed a resolution establishing Juneteenth National Independence Day as a national holiday, but as of writing this article it has yet to pass as a full law. To this day, many will still refer to the holiday as Jubilee Day, June Nineteenth, Emancipation Day, or even Freedom Day.

On June 24th Microsoft is going to be hosting an event to "Join us to see what's next for Windows" and it is highly suspected that a new version on Windows (Windows 11) will be revealed during this event. This is backed up even more by the fact that many Windows 10 products now have an End of Life listed on Microsoft's website. However, I do have to note that all of these products listed seem to be enterprise level products or specialized Windows 10 products, and the standard Windows 10 Home, Pro, Server, Workstation, etc. are not listed at this time. Lately a few YouTube channels like Linus Tech Tips, Austin Evans, and even Windows Central (not an official Windows Channel) has posted videos of Windows 11 running in a leaked version. This is following numerous teases by Microsoft that Windows 11 is coming soon. So, it appears safe to assume that Windows 11 is a real product and that in upcoming Windows event will be its reveal. What are you thoughts on this? Personally, I don't like the "mobile/tablet" UI changes over the older desktop focused UI, but I can truly understand why these are needed as Windows needs o get into the mobile product space if we want to keep enjoying the OS for years to come. I am actually quite hopeful that Windows 11 will fix the minor touch interface and small screen issues of Window 10 and that we will see a bigger tablet-like device push from Microsoft while still having that highly capable and power user friendly desktop. The leaked versions seems otherwise very close to Windows 10 and can even run Windows 10 apps and software just fine, even games. So it seems compatibility will not be an issue. Granted, we have no idea where the leaked product is in the development stage or any sort of planned road map for Windows 11, but it does seem to be going well in my view.

Google added a screen capture ability to Chrome OS already, but it has been an awful experience so far. The current software lacks many features standard in the screen capture apps (like long recordings) and even requires the user to convert the file after recording to get all access to standard video features. But now that will hopefully be changing once Chrome OS 93 arrives to users as Google has revamped to app in a serious fashion and seems to have a quality screen recorder now. This will be a major move for the platform as currently users need to use third party apps (often full of subscriptions) to record their screens on par with other built-in solutions. While the solution for capture screens on Chrome OS is still an odd process due to how dependent the OS is on its browser, the new solution seems to offer a much more user-friendly solution. Sadly, Google seems to have completed the fix for this app, but it will not be released in Chrome OS 92 for some reason. If you are in dire need of a better screen capture option, then you may want to jump into the beta release channel on your Chromebook instead of the stable channel. Of course, you can always go down the third-party app route, but we would advise doing a bit of research first as many are lined with pay-walled features. View full article