Music

Congrats to John D. of Fruitland Park, Fla., for winning a Crucial M500 SSD and copy of Iolo System Mechanic in last week's giveaway. This week, I asked you for help deciding whether to give away a mini action cam, a waterproof iPhone 5 case, or an ultraportable speaker. The speaker won by a few tweets, so here you go, readers. Ask and ye shall receive (and don't worry; those other prizes will be coming soon).

We're giving away a pocket-size Boombotix Boombot Rex, which connects via Bluetooth to smartphones, tablets, laptops, and any other device with a 1/8-inch standard headphone jack. It's got built-in voice control so you can ask the time, dial a contact, or play a song, all while keeping your handheld device in your pocket. How you'll look talking to your speaker? Well, that's your business. … Read more

If you don't have (white) headphones in your ears, what kind of human being are you?

How can you possibly even classify yourself as human if you don't have a thousand playlists and ensure that every step you take, someone is playing to you?

The modern world is about creating your own soundtrack, in order to navigate its troubling paths and irritate fellow travelers.

Yes, you might be hugging your lover, but you have to be wearing your headphones and so does he. Otherwise, this isn't love. It's just a passing fling, free of melody.

This … Read more

The story so far: Microsoft has dispensed with defense and is throwing at least five (very) wide receivers at Apple -- and Google, Samsung, and whoever else stands in the way of it and nirvana.

Wednesday, Redmond released an ad in which it kidnapped Siri and persuaded her to denigrate the iPad, as if it was, oh, the rotund man in glasses who used to represent Microsoft.

Thursday, the company decided to release another ad offering that the iPad was nothing other than a slab of old bloat. At least when compared, for example, to the slightly lesser-known Asus VivoTab. … Read more

Technology and love have a long relationship.

In recent times, the former has played the dominant role.

We now find partners online and one-night stands on our phones.

However, Samsung would like you to know that the best way to meet the woman of your dreams is to pull out your gadget and stalk her a little.

Perhaps this is already your preferred form of seduction. This new Galaxy S4 ad will be, therefore, a touch redundant for you.

For the rest of us, though, it is an education. Here is a boy who cannot help taking pictures of the … Read more

Pandora listeners can now easily share their favorite tunes with their Facebook friends.

The Pandora Web site and the iPhone and Android apps now let you automatically publish your music listening activity to your Facebook Timeline. On the Web site, simply click on the Publish button under the current tune and choose the Publish to Facebook command. Tapping on the Menu item on your iPhone or your Android device gives you the same choice.

You can set various options to determine what get's shared. Your Facebook friends can then discover which tunes you listen to and which ones get … Read more

Paying for recorded music is a voluntary act -- you can get almost any tune you want on demand from streaming music services or YouTube. Of course, musicians wind up making little or no money from this arrangement, but thanks to crowd-funding, bands can get paid in advance of making a record. At least initially there are no freeloaders, so the band really has an incentive to record! The same Internet that made it harder than ever to make a living from recorded music has made it possible for bands to directly connect to their fans.

Amanda Palmer has been … Read more

In this week's Hooked Up episode, Kevin Frazier hangs out with Grammy-nominated singer, actress, and fashion designer Christina Milian. She talks about her love for technology, how she started off in AOL chat rooms during the early days of the Internet, and the technology and apps she can't go without.

She's also the social-media correspondent for "The Voice," and she talks about how it allows her to connect the performers to the audience in a genuine way.

Christina's truly a gadget girl and she's obsessed with Google Glass so I'll break down … Read more

This week the most streamed song on Spotify in the U.S. is "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and the most shared song on social networks is "Lift Me Up" by Five Finger Death Punch.

How did this information become available?

Spotify launched a new feature Tuesday that provides weekly updates of the 50 most streamed and viral songs within its music-streaming platform.

Dubbed Spotify Charts and available in 28 countries, this top 50 feature also shows how many plays each song has to date. ("Can't Hold Us" is … Read more

Microsoft unveiled its long-awaited new game and entertainment console today, the Xbox One.

The third generation of Microsoft's console, the Xbox One integrates an advanced technical architecture with an all-new design meant to give users a personalized experience that responds almost instantly to their voice and gesture commands.

The new console, black and sleek with a horizontal slit across its center and a modern Xbox logo, features 5 billion transistors, 8GB of RAM, USB 3.0, Wi-Fi direct, a Blu-Ray drive, and a native 64-bit architecture. In addition, it has a 1080P HD RGB camera and an all-new game … Read more