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Google Launches Music Subscription Service

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Google play Music

Google has recently launched a music subscription service, “Google Play Music, All Access“. The launch followed it’s initial announcement at Google’s I/O conference in San Francisco. The service currently comes in two flavors, Standard and All Access. The Standard edition let’s you store up to  20,000 of your songs, have sync-free access to your music from anywhere, and of course you can always buy music from the Google Play library. The All Access option has all of the aforementioned features but also includes an unlimited online radio mode which you can customize to your liking.

The standard option is free. The All Access option will cost $9.99/ month unless you sign up before 6/30, then you can get in for $7.99 / month.

So, Google has a music subscription service now, what’s the big deal? We have seen this before, it’s nothing ground breaking right? Well, the short answer is no but it’s not really about pushing limits, it’s about getting into the game and Google has a big advantage by being deeply integrated to the Android market. That’s a lot of exposure and a lot of potential subscribers. Not to mention that Google will undoubtedly find a way to make things more appealing over time.

 

‘Ring of Fire’ Solar Eclipse Today: How to Watch Live

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dykstra-roswell-eclipse-bird
Photo taken by Joel Dykstra May 20, 2012

From Space.com

The moon will block part of the sun today (May 9) to create a potentially amazing “ring of fire” and you can watch the celestial sight live online.

The “ring of fire” solar eclipse — known as an annular solar eclipse— will be viewable (weather permitting) over certain areas of Australia and islands in the Southern Pacific Ocean where the local time will be Friday (May 10). If you don’t happen to live in those parts of the world, however, you can still catch the cosmic show.

The online Slooh Space Camera will host a free webcast featuring live views of the eclipse today, beginning at 5:30 p.m. EDT.

Watch HERE!

 

Coffee With Tim Cook? You Will Need A least Half a Million

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Apple CEO Tim Cook
Apple CEO Tim Cook (Source:Apple)

You can have coffee with Tim Cook at Apple headquarters but it will cost you at least $600,000 according to the latest bid on Charitybuzz. All of the money goes to charity, in particular the RFK Center For Justice and Human Rights. This number is pretty incredible considering the original value of the meeting was thought to be worth $50,000. Apparently that number was just a bit off.

What makes all of this even more interesting are some of the other auctions that are up on the site for this particular cause, including getting to act in a scene with Chris Hemsworth in a Michael Mann Film. The current bid for that is just over $3,500. Another auction has you visiting Jay Leno’s car collection and meeting him backstage, that one is just under $8,000

 

The World’s Most Portable Gaming System Reveals UI

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The world’s most portable gaming system, GameStick, is now showing off it’s UI in a developer kit video that has recently been released. GameStick has been pushed into a reality thanks to it’s successful Kickstarter campaign and it’s really nice to see how things are coming together. Now, it’s time to get these devices into the hands of developers so they can start cranking out some great content for the new device.

GameStickSide
GameStick Console

The console itself is quite amazing as it’s basically a controller and a USB stick. The console is Android based and really quite unique and actually has quite a bit of power behind it. GameStick plugs straight into your TV’s HDMI slot and connects to the controller via Bluetooth 4.0. It even supports additional memory through the use of a microSD slot.

GameStick-Dock
GameStick Controller and Wireless Charging Dock

GameStick’s simplicity is what makes it stand out in a gaming world that still seems to be stuck on big clunky hardware. It may not be the next-gen PS4 or Xbox but it’s a pretty awesome way to bring the world of Android and gaming to your big screen TV in 1080p.

Here are the System Specs:

  • Processor – Amlogic 8726-MXS
  • Memory – 1GB DDR3 / 8GB FLASH
  • Content Download Manager w/ cloud storage for games.
  • WiFi – 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth – 4.0
  • O/S – Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
  • Controller – Bluetooth 3.0
  • Full 1080p HD video decoding
  • Upgrade memory via microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
  • Support for iOS and Android mobile devices to be used as controllers
  • Support for XBMC.

StarCrafts, A Creative and Hilarious Series

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StarCrafts is an animated series of short skits on YouTube by Carbot Animations that is based on the popular RTS, StarCraft. The skits are every entertaining and the humor translates well even if you don’t play StarCraft, but it’s even better if you do.

Starcrafts

 The characters are taken right from the game but they are artistically speaking, quite different, but in a good way. My personal favorite is the way they have drawn up zerglings and infestors, it’s just hilarious to look at them and how they act.

If you like the artwork in this series you can buy t-shirts and other clothing featuring StarCrafts at Swaging.