6 Bands Everyone Will Talk About This Time Next Year

Sure, there may be a lot of downside to the modern music festival experience. But there are a lot of plusses too, chief among them the chance to discover up-and-coming musical talents before they begin gigging at giant venues with top-dollar ticket prices and soundtracking Hollywood blockbusters.

With the Pitchfork Music Festival set to kick off in Chicago’s Union Park on Friday, we wanted to highlight a half-dozen artists playing the fest we feel are most on the verge of a breakout at the music tastemaker’s signature annual event. We’re guessing that, come 2015, you’ll be glad you gave them a listen before your parents were listening to them too.

Can’t make the fest in Chicago? The entire thing will stream live all weekend, so there are no excuses for missing out on these rising talents:

Here's Proof That TV News Is Just As Crazy In Other Countries

Ever feel like US news shows are a more of hotbed for wild, gaffe-filled drama than a place where you get information?

Well, guess what: it’s not just an American thing. The yelling, hitting, falling, misspeaking, and abrupt exits happen on TV news all around the world.

So we’ve compiled a video to show some of these similarities in shows from nearly every continent. Because at the end of the day, network news is network news…and reporter fails are funny in every language.

Ed Snowden: Sharing Porn Selfies is All in a Day's Work at the NSA

Ed Snowden: Sharing Porn Selfies is All in a Day's Work at the NSA

Notorious security campaigner Edward Snowden has given an interview about his times working for the NSA, claiming that employees enjoy poking through people’s private files—and sharing their best finds with their colleagues.

Read more…



MIT Has a Free Photojournalism Course You Should Do

MIT Has a Free Photojournalism Course You Should Do

Lots of schools now offer free, online courses, but here’s a doozy from MIT: an introductory course about documentary photography and photojournalism that won’t cost you a cent to work through.

Read more…



Virgin Media's TV Anywhere streaming app comes to Kindle Fire tablets

After bringing its TV Anywhere app to Android at the end of last year, Virgin Media has continually updated the list of supported smartphones and tablets. Today, it’s adding another range of Android devices to this roster, namely Amazon’s Kindle Fire…

Kyocera teases durable yet affordable Sapphire Shield display

kyocera-sapphire-shieldMany iPhone fans are waiting with bated breath to see if Apple’s next smartphone will indeed sport that much desired sapphire glass display. It seems, however, that whether or not the iPhone 6 boasts this material is no longer relevant to Kyocera’s business plans. The Japanese electronics manufacturer has just put up a video teaser, claiming that it has more … Continue reading

Powered pants could usher in anti-gravity boots

An early 90s Wallace & Gromit cartoon has inspired University of Leicester students to develop a theory on how one might eventually be able to walk on the walls or ceiling. Though not exactly anti-gravity boots, the shoes would be powered by a vacuum and battery pack in one’s pants, giving them gravity-defying abilities. The boots would work with a … Continue reading

DotA 2 The International 4 Finals Will Be Broadcast On ESPN3

blog tickets ti4eSports is a pretty big deal, even though we guess there are some people out there who don’t really think of its as a “sport”, at least not the traditional sense like football, golf, rugby, basketball, and so on. However if the DotA 2 The International’s $10 million prize pool is any indication, it seems that there are many out there who believe that it is more than just a video game.

So much so that it has been revealed that the final match of The International 2014 will be broadcasted lived on ESPN3. In fact an exclusive preview along with an interview with Valve’s Gabe Newell will be broadcasted on ESPN2 ahead of the finals. This is a pretty big deal as ESPN is a channel that many associate with sports, so for The International to get recognized is another feather in Valve’s cap.

According to Valve’s Erik Johnson, “From the success of the Compendium to the collaboration with ESPN, this year’s International really demonstrates how much competitive gaming has grown to rival traditional sports. We believe the teams have also pushed to a new level of play this year and will further demonstrate the incredible advances made across this tournament since it first began three short years ago.”

So if you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, you can check out The International’s schedule on the DotA 2 website, and if you’re already subscribed to ESPN, be sure to tune in to check out the final matches which will no doubt prove to be extremely exciting.

DotA 2 The International 4 Finals Will Be Broadcast On ESPN3

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Google Looking Into Chrome Battery Drain On Windows Laptops

google chromebox meetings 26 640x360Given that laptops run on battery, sometimes choosing what software to run and what activities you want to do on it can make a difference. If you’re planning to use your laptop mainly for work, chances are you will want to keep the video and music playing to a minimum as those tend to drain battery.

Even more so if you were thinking about playing games. However browsing the web should be fine, right? Well it turns out that the answer is yes and no depending on which browser you are using. According to reports, it seems that Google’s Chrome browser is a bit of a battery drain on Windows laptops.

In fact this was an issue that was brought up as far back as 2008, and was highlighted again back in September 2012, meaning that if you were wondering why your laptop’s battery is draining so fast, there is a chance that Chrome could be the culprit. Oddly enough Google has not done anything, at least until a recent article by Forbes brought it to mainstream attention again.

According to Forbes, they discovered that the reason behind the battery drain is due to Chrome cranking up the timer resolution on Windows to ensure a speedy response. Windows is currently set to 15.6ms as default, but upon inspection it was discovered that Chrome is set at 1ms, meaning that the processor on your laptop is being woken up a thousand times a second, which undoubtedly is a huge battery drain!

This is apparently a common coding misstep with Windows applications and the good news is that the priority of the issue has since been raised after the article on Forbes. It has also been listed as a blocker, meaning that it has been flagged as unusable on older devices at least until it has been fixed.

We can’t be sure when Google will actually get around to issuing a fix for it, but at least they’ve taken note of it. In the meantime have any Windows laptop users noticed the battery drain when they are using Chrome?

Google Looking Into Chrome Battery Drain On Windows Laptops

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Academic Wordsmith For Microsoft Word Checks For Plagiarism Within The App Itself

academic wordsmith 640x393When we were students, there were often times when we had to source from academic journals or websites for research for our papers. Sometimes we had to paraphrase, and in some instances even quote directly from the source itself. This is not considering plagiarism if you were to reference the quote properly using academic standards as set out by your school.

However if you’d like to double check to make sure that you have referenced your articles properly or to check to make sure that there is absolutely no form of plagiarism in your work, you might be interested in an app called Academic Wordsmith. What the app does is that it runs on top of the Microsoft Word and will help check your piece of plagiarism.

We know that there are a bunch of other services out there on the web, such as TurnItIn, but what makes Academic Wordsmith so different from the rest is that it checks within Microsoft Word itself, so that it saves the user from having to upload a file or paste it into a separate website to get it checked. For students short on time or rushing an assignment, this could be a boon.

According to Microsoft, the Academic Wordsmith app is developed in Australia and originated from a Microsoft Education DevCamp that the company held in the country earlier this year. The app itself is priced at $19 for an annual subscription so if you’d like to learn more, head on over to its website for the details.

Academic Wordsmith For Microsoft Word Checks For Plagiarism Within The App Itself

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.