Hasta La Gadget!

Louisville guard Kevin Ware suffered a gruesome lower right leg injury against Duke in the Elite Eight of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

“I don’t know if in basketball I’ve ever seen one like that,” Jim Nantz of CBS said as medical personnel attended to Ware. Trainers quickly covered his leg with towels due to the graphic nature of the injury.

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From Marlene Cimons, Climate Nexus:

Marlene Cimons writes for Climate Nexus, a nonprofit that aims to tell the climate story in innovative ways that raise awareness of, dispel misinformation about, and showcase solutions to climate change and energy issues in the United States.  She contributed this article to LiveScience’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

This spring could be the most miserable one ever for those of us with allergies, and we can blame it on climate change. 

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Apple is reportedly gearing up to launch its own web-based music streaming service, and one that will rival Pandora. The new music service will be called iRadio, and will follow Pandora’s example of music streaming. Music services like Spotify and Pandora provide a great revenue stream for music labels. According to the labels, Pandora accounted for 25% of their revenue last year.

However, the labels are getting worried because Pandora is attempting to negotiate for lower royalty fees. Currently, it pays 12 cents per 100 songs, but it needs to have a lower rate in order to generate a profit. Despite it not generating a profit, Pandora’s 12 cents per 100 songs fee is much lower than the 21 cents per 100 songs recommendation provided by the Copyright Royalty Board. Even Spotify, with its millions of users, is paying 35 cents per 100 songs.

The labels aren’t planning on lowering Pandora’s royalty fees however. They believe that the web radio industry is still growing, and that there will be other services that will be just as good as Pandora. They’re banking on Apple’s iRadio becoming a success. A source told The Verge that there is no doubt that Apple’s iRadio is coming, and that Apple has achieved a lot of progress with music labels. The sources say, “Apple is pushing really hard for a summertime launch”.

If Apple really is far into negotiations with music labels, perhaps the music labels were able to convince the company that a 6 cents per 100 songs royalty fee was too low. Regardless, with Apple’s power, its iRadio service would most likely be an instant hit, and it may deal incredible damage to Pandora’s business, especially since Pandora has just restricted its mobile users to only 40 hours of free music streaming per month. If the music labels offer Apple a better rate than Pandora, Pandora is expected to make a case in front of Congress with the Internet Radio Fairness Act (IRFA) bill. The bill, if approved by Congress, would lower Pandora’s (and other web radio’s) royalty fees so that they can generate a profit.

[via The Verge]

Apple will reportedly launch iRadio by Summer is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, here’s another thing to add to that never-ending collection of turtle toys. It’s an official TMNT keychain speaker from Sakar.

Pictured above is Leonardo, but as you know, ninja turtles always travel in fours, and you can also get Raphael, Donatello or Michelangelo speakers too. Though from the looks of the pictures here, the versions with the keychains are the final production speakers, while the brighter green ones were the earlier prototype designs.

You can find the TMNT speakers over at Toys R’ Us for $14.99 (USD) each.

[via Nerd Reactor]

There’s something really meditative about these slotted lamps. They’re made out of wood from California cypress trees and the light inside is a constant current LED, but the sculptural elements come through more than the utility as a lamp. More »