There’s lots to explore in the recap for YouTube Music this year, including your top tracks and your ‘music character’.

The YouTube Music 2024 Recap is rolling out nowIt shows you your top artists, tracks, albums, and moreYou also get a 100-track playlist of the year

It’s that time of year again – the time when all of our music streaming apps remind us of our listening habits across the last 12 months. We’re still waiting for Spotify Wrapped 2024, but the YouTube Music 2024 Recap is now here for everyone (after appearing for some earlier in the week).

As always with YouTube Music recaps, remember that the music and podcasts you’ve played through YouTube also count towards your stats. If you find some parts of your recap a little baffling, that might be why.

The recap isn’t too dissimilar to the format YouTube Music used last year: you’ll be told how much listening you’ve done in total, and the app presents you with the songs, albums, and artists you’ve listened to the most over the course of the year.

You can compare your music cred against other YouTube Music users too: for one of your most-listened-to artists, you’ll be told how much of a superfan you are compared to the average listener on the platform.

How to find your recap

You can see your top albums, artists, and tracks (Image credit: Future / YouTube Music)

The recap should show up the next time you open the YouTube Music app: just tap Let’s do this to see it. If you dismiss the notification, you can find the recap again by going to the Home tab and scrolling past your personal mixes.

You then work through your recap like a story on Snapchat or Instagram – tap to go forward, or tap and hold to pause. You get told the ‘vibes’ of your year, and how many different tracks you listened to, and what your top five tracks were.

Along the way you get invited to save a 2024 Recap playlist to your library: this has the top 100 songs you listened to the most across the year (remember, YouTube is included, and you might see some videos in the playlist too).

The recap will give you a brief timeline history of your listening, as well as identifying your ‘music character’ – how adventurous (or otherwise) your music tastes have been over the last 12 months, for example. Over to you, Spotify.

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The longest Hyundai in the current line-up offers plenty of interior room and an enticing all-electric range.

Spacious SUV arrives to take on the Volvo EX90 and Kia EV9Aerodynamic shape means maximum efficiency Ioniq 9 will be launched in Korea and North America early next year

During a glitzy unveiling in the Hollywood hills, Hyundai took the wraps off the longest car in its current line-up – and the one it hopes will appeal to the local audience of big car lovers.

The Ioniq 9 joins the Ioniq 6 electric Sedan and the popular Ioniq 5 crossover, riding on the same E-GMP electric platform as the recently-released EV 9 from sister company Kia. But here, Hyundai has stretched the wheelbase to the max (3,130mm / 123.2 inches) to ensure it can offer class-leading roominess and comfort.

Global head of design, Sangyup Lee, explained that the vehicle’s sleek silhouette is “almost entirely” influenced by wind tunnel testing and that the car he was showing me around was still being fettled in a wind tunnel right up until just a few months ago.

“Our designers spent more time in the wind tunnel than they did in our studios. But all of the curves are there to reduce the drag coefficient,” he added.

(Image credit: Hyundai)

“We managed to lower it to 0.25 for those models with digital wing mirrors, which is less than that of our Sonata and Elantra sedan models,” he says.

Far from the most riveting subject, the drag coefficient – or Cd number – is a big deal when it comes to electric vehicles, as it generally improves their slipperiness and overall efficiency. Hyundai says it is aiming for a targeted energy consumption of 3.2 miles per kWh, which betters that of both the Kia EV9 and the Volvo EX90.

As a result, the Ioniq 9 is good for around 385 miles on a single charge of the whopping 110.3kWh floor-mounted, NMC lithium-ion battery pack – the largest currently available from the Korean marque.

Pixel burn

(Image credit: Hyundai)

Continuing the brand’s love affair with Parametric Pixel LED lamps, the Ioniq 9 features a full array of cuboid lights that cover much of the front end and surround the rear tailgate, which is neatly pulled in like a boat tail.

Sangyup Lee says the pixelated lights give a neat nostalgic touch, citing one of his favorite retro video games in Tetris. “Kids these days play Roblox,” he added, while explaining how he plans to take the “pixel identifier” to the next level with future models.

The retro theme continues at the front, with a large black fascia housing all of the sensors and cameras required for advanced levels of autonomous driving.

Sangyup describes it as a “VHS cassette” that can be removed, allowing the team to update the internals as technology improves without having to change the overarching design of the front end.

(Image credit: Hyundai)

Available as either a three-row seven-seat model, or a six-seat version, there’s masses of room inside for up to seven adults. Sit in the front seat and you almost have to send a carrier pigeon to communicate with those in the rearmost rows.

All of the interior seats fold and slide elegantly at the press of a button, making it simple for everyone to get in and out, while front seat passengers get the latest Relaxation Seats that use pressure and vibration to stimulate blood flow and circulation.

Six-seat versions feel even more palatial inside, with the ability for the second row of ‘captain’s chairs’ to swivel and face those in the third row. Like a London cab but a lot more comfortable and luxurious.

“We listened to feedback from customers of the six-seat Kia EV 9 and found that some were complaining that the rear passengers brushed knees when the chairs were facing each other, which is part of the reason why we stretched the wheelbase, to ensure maximum legroom for all occupants,” Sangyup Lee explained.

Practical magic

(Image credit: Hyundai)

Clearly designed with families and folks with a lot of kit to carry in mind, the Ioniq 9 boasts plenty of neat and clever touches. There are two wireless charging trays for smartphones, for example, with one of those cubbyholes using UV-C invisible light to sterilize small items, like keys, wallets and your dirty, finger-smudged phone.

There’s also a revised ‘Universal Island’ that sits in-between the driver and front passenger. It’s a little bit like the laptop part of the taco tray found in the Kia EV3, but this entire unit slides backwards or forwards by 190mm.

Why? Well, because self-confessed people-watcher and designer, Sangyup Lee, noticed the number of folk clambering across seats to exit a car parked too closely to other vehicles or a wall.

As a result, this console allows a neat ‘walk-through’ area for occupants to move from one side of the vehicle to the other, but also allows passengers to access the almost 20-liters of storage space from the back seats.

(Image credit: Hyundai)

Predictably, there are USB-C charging outlets everywhere and vehicle-to-load functionality allows for most electrical devices to be powered by the car’s battery. What’s more, all of the seats can be folded completely flat in the rear to create an enormous, car-camping friendly space to hang out.

The infotainment system is made up of a 12-inch cluster and classy, curved 12-inch touchscreen system, but with much of the core functionality committed to good old fashioned buttons.

Lee confirmed that Hyundai was very much in favor of physical buttons in order to reduce the distraction posed by navigating endless menus on touchscreen displays.

Power to the people

(Image credit: Hyundai)

The Ioniq 9 will first go on sale in Korea and North America, where models will be delivered in the first half of 2025. The UK and Europe will have to wait until around May 2025 and prices haven’t been announced for any markets.

That said, Hyundai has revealed that the large electric SUV will be powered by a 160kW rear motor in the rear-wheel-drive models, which will be able to hit 62mph from rest in 9.4 seconds.

A Long Range AWD version adds another 70kW motor to the front axle, while the Performance AWD model uses two 160kW motors. This most potent version can dispatch a 0-62mph sprint in just 5.2 seconds and go on to a top speed of 124mph. Not bad for a ridiculously heavy SUV.

Speaking of weight, the Ioniq 9 also offers a respectable towing capacity of 5,000lbs, which is on par with a Tesla Model X. However, Hyundai says the vehicle features a ‘trailer mode’ that automatically detects the weight of the trailer and adjusts the predicted battery range accordingly.

It’s a big, clever SUV that’s sure to resonate with a US market and, although final opinions will have to be reserved for a test drive, the Ioniq 9 looks to pack enough clever features and interior luxury to stick it to the more established ICE players.

Its slippery shape and wind-tunnel-tested exterior design also mean it might be marginally more efficient than its Kia EV 9 sibling – something that has let down an otherwise excellent electric SUV.

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Google’s Pixel Tablet 3 might be canceled, but I think that’s great news for the Pixel Fold.

Google might have cancelled the Pixel Tablet 3Pixel Tablet 2 still rumored to be releasingMimics its Pixel Slate cancellation in 2019

Google’s next tablet could be its last, with a new report teasing that the Google Pixel Tablet 3 project has been recently canceled. That would mean that while we’ll hopefully still see the rumored Pixel Tablet 2 it likely won’t get a successor – and could be bad news for support and software optimization.

Android Headlines reports that “Multiple industry sources close to the project” have confirmed that development of the Pixel Tablet 3 – codenamed Kiyomi – has been halted. This isn’t the first time Google has canned its tablets with it pulling the same stunt in 2019 when it scrapped the Pixel Slate line (via Business Insider) only to revive its tablets last year.

As with all rumors these details should be taken with a pinch of salt. There’s a chance the leak is incorrect, or that the Tablet 3 will be reborn in a new form (I have some thoughts on that below), but it reminds us that Google is no stranger to killing off its projects. If Pixel Tablets are dead then it does raise the question of how much support the Tablet 2 will get, leading us to wonder if it’ll be a solid long-term investment or not.

Giving up on tablets, or going all-in on foldables?

(Image credit: Google)

I’ve been trying out the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold recently for an upcoming project, and just like I’ve found previously with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, the folding phone is basically just a pocket-sized tablet.

Sure, it’s not quite as large as a full-sized iPad or Pixel slate, but it many ways it’s big enough and it more than makes up for its size deficiencies with its portability; I don’t need a backpack or carry case for it, I just need a pocket that can fit a Google Pixel 9 Pro (which is the size it shrinks down to when folded).

With many tablets already feeling kinda like big phones, perhaps Google doesn’t see the advantage in continuing to work on a Pixel tablet, especially if it hopes its foldable will one day replace tablets altogether. Combine that with the fact its foldable has been better received than its tablet – our Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review gave it four stars, while the Google Pixel Tablet review awarded it half a star less – and that the tablet space is dominated by one name (Apple’s iPads), and a foldable focus would make plenty of sense.

The only downside for us is that Google’s tablet-like phone isn’t affordable; sure its Tablet costs $499 / £599 / AU$899, which is already a little pricey, but at $1,799 / £1,749 / AU$2,699 the foldable is a lot less accessible. A foldable only approach would lock plenty of people out from its Pixel tablet-likes unless it introduces some kind of Pixel Fold 9a – to match its affordable Pixel a phones.

We’ll have to wait and see what Google announces, but hopefully the Pixel Tablet 3 door closing just means a new door is opening – and if that could lead to better (and cheaper) folding phones I’m not going to complain.

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