Hasta La Gadget!

On its blog today, Rdio announced that it will now support up to five people on its family plan. Previously, only three customers were able to buddy up on the music-streaming service, with monthly pricing set at $17.99 for two users and $22.99 for three. Fees for two and three users will remain the same, while four members cost $27.99 and maxing out with five listeners will set you back $32.99 per month. If you already have an account and want to get your sibs in on the actions, head to your Rdio settings and select “Unlimited Family.” From there, you can invite the family to sign on.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Rdio Blog

As Google Reader’s closing in on the end of its days, a spate of new RSS aggregators have popped up to replace it. Sure, web-based readers from AOL, Digg or Feedly could do the trick, but what if you want your RSS stored locally? You’re in luck, because one of the elder statesmen in the RSS world, NetNewsWire, has what you need with its version 4 open beta. This new beta is a more refined version of NetNewsWire 4 Lite, which was released in 2011, and will allow folks to pull down all their GReader archives and store them locally for free while it’s in beta. The catch? You’ve gotta be running Mac OS X 10.7.3 or later, and while the beta’s free for now, the software will cost you once it’s final — $10 dollars for those who pre-order, and $20 after that.

Filed under: Internet, Software

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Via: The Next Web

Source: NetNewsWire

Edward Snowden may now be far from Hong Kong, but the South China Morning Post has just revealed more details from an interview he granted on June 12th while he was still there. According to the paper, Snowden reportedly said that he took a job with NSA-contractor Booz Allen Hamilton in order to gather additional evidence about the spy agency’s activities. “My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked,” he said. “That is why I accepted that position about three months ago.” He reportedly further said “correct on Booz,” when asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen to gather evidence of surveillance. As the paper notes, Snowden also said that he took pay cuts “in the course of pursuing specific work” in an online Q&A with The Guardian last week, and he’s also indicated that he has more information he intends to leak, saying that he’d like to “make it available to journalists in each country to make their own assessment.”

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Source: South China Morning Post

Microsoft really, really doesn’t want your Xbox One’s online services going offline. In a near $700 million investment ($677.6 million), the company’s opening a new data center in Iowa specifically aimed at powering Xbox Live and Office 365. Microsoft’s Christian Belady told Iowa’s Des Moines Register that the data center “supports the growing demand for Microsoft’s cloud services” — a much lauded function of both the Xbox One and Office 365. Alongside the $700 million investment, the company’s getting a $6 million tax rebate from the state to move in, effective for five years. As for Microsoft’s cloud, we’ll assuredly hear more about it — for both Xbox One and Office 365 — this week at Build.

Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, Microsoft

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Via: NeoGAF

Source: Des Moines Register

Think you’re carrying a tad too much debt? Spanish telecom giant Telefónica wants to reduce its red ink to 47 billion euros ($62 billion) by the end of the year, so it’s decided to sell its Irish mobile and broadband business to Hutchison Whampoa’s Three for 850 million euros ($1.1 billion). If regulators approve the deal, it’ll let Telefónica hack about 750 million euros of debt from its books, while giving Three a 37.5 percent share of the nation’s mobile business and a strong number two position behind Vodafone. The deal follows a £200 million ($273 million) sale of Telefónica’s fixed phone line business to Sky. Considering the whopping level of debt, though, that may be just the start.

[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Internet

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Via: WSJ (subscription)