Fully Charged: Spotify plays to count towards BBC music charts, The Order: 1886's staggering PS4 visuals

Lufthansa to stream in-flight entertainment to tablets and smartphones

German airline Lufthansa is dragging in-flight entertainment into the 21st century with BoardConnect, a new streaming system. Developed in-house, the system can wirelessly streams movies, TV shows, music and more to Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices.

The content is stored on a server aboard the plane and distributed to passengers’ phones and tablets via several wireless access points. An app is required too, and once installed it’ll also allow flyers to order food and drink.

Because it uses passengers’ own tablets and phones rather than expensive built-in screens and controllers, BoardConnect will be a long-term money-saving solution for any airlines that install it. Virgin Australia already uses the system, and 20 Lufthansa Airbus A321s will have it by the summer.

[Source: TechRadar]

Image credit: daspaddy

The Order: 1886 gameplay trailer shows off stunning next-gen visuals

The Order: 1886 could well be the first must-have exclusive for the PlayStation 4 – a “killer app” of a game that could entice yet more millions of people into purchasing Sony’s console. Until now, we hadn’t seen the actual game in action, but a new trailer shows in-game footage of the third-person action title, and ably demonstrates how the developers have managed to seamlessly move from CGI-quality cutscenes to gameplay.

Streaming plays will now count toward BBC Radio 1’s pop music chart

Spotify and other streaming services will now have a direct effect on BBC Radio 1’s pop chart, according to the station’s Head of Music George Ergatoudis.

Previously, the chart was determined by airplay as well physical and download sales. The BBC’s change of stance is an acknowledgement that the way people, particularly young people, listen to music has fundamentally changed over the past few years. For many teenagers, the idea of buying CDs in a bricks-and-mortar shop is so outdated it might as well be on an episode of Downton Abbey. Oleg Formenko, founder and CEO of Bloom.fm, one of the streaming services that is to be used from now on, had this to say of the BBC’s decision: "It’s great news that the UK charts are set to become more reflective of how Brits – especially younger people – actually consume music. Without this, the charts would just become reflective of a declining group of older music fans, who consume music in waning formats."

The US Billboard chart has been taking streaming plays into account since the late 2000s, and more recently has incorporated YouTube plays into its equation. The Beeb is yet to do that, although with the video service becoming a de facto music player for many teenagers, it’s probably only a matter of time before that changes.

[Source: The Inquirer]

Post ice storm Slovenia documented in stunning drone footage

The drone used to make the video was the DetachY-6, a hexacopter available for a shade under £500 (not including camera, gimbal or flight controller).

Guardians of the Galaxy: Full Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTZ2Tp9yXyM

The full trailer for Marvel’s superheroes-in-space flick Guardians of the Galaxy is out now. It stars Parks and Recreation’s Chris Pratt as space hero "Star-Lord," Avatar’s Zoe Saldana as an alien warrior woman (green, this time, not blue), wrestler Dave Bautista as an alien warrior man (also green), Bradley Cooper as a raccoon and Vin Diesel as a tree. Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan is in it, too. But not her hair.

It’s probably going to be the most insane film of the year, so sit back and enjoy.

About

Tech journalism's answer to The Littlest Hobo, I've written for a host of titles and lived in three different countries in my 15 years-plus as a freelancer. But I've always come back home to Stuff eventually, where I specialise in writing about cameras, streaming services and being tragically addicted to Destiny.