Amazon Music HD is a new tier of Amazon's music service that offers lossless versions of audio files for streaming or downloading at a price that aggressively undercuts Tidal, the main competition for this kind of audio. "Amazon will charge $14.99 a month for the HD tier, or $12.99 if you're an Amazon Prime customer," reports The Verge. "Tidal's Hi-Fi plan costs $19.99 monthly." From the report: Amazon says it has a catalog of over 50 million songs that it calls "High Definition," which is the term it's applying to songs with CD-quality bit depth of 16 bits and a 44.1kHz sample rate. It also has "millions" (read: less than 10 million, more than one million) of songs it's calling "Ultra HD," which translates to 24-bit with sample rates that range from 44.1kHz up to 192kHz. Amazon Music HD will deliver them all in the lossless FLAC file format, instead of the MQA format that Tidal uses. Amazon's VP of Music, Steve Boom, tells me that Amazon chose the HD and UltraHD terminology because it found it was more comprehensible to a mass audience than the current terminology for audio quality. And "mass audience" is exactly what Amazon is going for; it doesn't want Amazon Music HD to be a niche player like Tidal and other lossless music platforms like HDtracks or Qobuz. Boom says that "It's a pretty big deal that one of the big three global streaming services is doing this -- we're the first one." In response to today's news, Rock legend Neil Young said (with no hyperbole whatsoever): "Earth will be changed forever when Amazon introduces high quality streaming to the masses. This will be the biggest thing to happen in music since the introduction of digital audio 40 years ago."

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At least 75 out of 176 countries globally are actively using artificial intelligence for surveillance purposes.

At least 75 out of 176 countries globally are actively using artificial intelligence for surveillance purposes.

Corey Lewandowski assails 'angry Democrats', repeatedly refuses to answer questions about his conversations with Trump.

Corey Lewandowski assails 'angry Democrats', repeatedly refuses to answer questions about his conversations with Trump.

Revered news people from the past died today, Cokie Roberts, Sander Vanocur.

Italian side scores two second-half goals to beat Liverpool while Valencia edge past Chelsea and Barcelona draw.

Italian side scores two second-half goals to beat Liverpool while Valencia edge past Chelsea and Barcelona draw.

It takes Charles Fitzgerald a while to get to the point. "Separating the social graph from Facebook has two fundamental benefits: Protecting personal information; Competition."

Facebook is partnering with Ray-Ban parent company Luxottica to help speed up development of its top-secret augmented reality glasses that are being developed out of its Facebook Reality Labs in Redmond, Washington. The social media company is hoping the new partnership will help them complete the glasses between 2023 and 2025. CNBC reports: The glasses are internally codenamed Orion, and they are designed to replace smartphones, the people said. The glasses would allow users to take calls, show information to users in a small display and live-stream their vantage point to their social media friends and followers. Facebook is also developing an artificial intelligence voice assistant that would serve as a user input for the glasses, CNBC previously reported. In addition, the company has experimented with a ring device that would allow users to input information via motion sensor. That device is code-named Agios. The company has hundreds of employees at its Redmond offices working on technology for the AR glasses, but thus far, Facebook has struggled to reduce the size of the device into a form factor that consumers will find appealing, a person who worked on the device told CNBC. Given the long lead time, there's no guarantee that the glasses will be completed on time or ever ship. But one person familiar with the project said that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a strong interest in the glasses, and asked hardware chief Andrew Bosworth to prioritize them.

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Database on Muslims needed to combat 'ill-intended people' in Thailand's universities, says leader.

At least 29 bodies were found stuffed in 119 plastic bags in a well outside of Guadalajara.

At least 29 bodies were found stuffed in 119 plastic bags in a well outside of Guadalajara.

Preliminary results are due on Wednesday and final tally next week, with results expected to be similar to April vote.

Preliminary results are due on Wednesday and final tally next week, with results expected to be similar to April vote.