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16 September 2013
News: Netflix turns to pirates to pick new shows

If you're wondering which TV shows Netflix hopes to add to its catalog in the coming months, look no further than sites like the Pirate Bay. When the online streaming company wants to figure out what people are watching, Netflix looks at what does well on piracy sites, Netflix vice president of content acquisition Kelly Merryman reportedly told the Dutch-language site, Tweakers.
News: Rdio to rock free, ad-supported tunes by end of 2013 thanks to radio partnership

With so many free streaming choices available to music fans in the U.S., some services are struggling to find an audience. On a given day, the average online music fan can hop from their personal library on Google Play Music, to Pandora radio-like tunes, to the on-demand listening of Spotify and Xbox Music--all without paying a dime.
14 September 2013
News: 5 pilots (and one returning show) you can stream before they're on TV

The fall TV season starts soon, and you can be forgiven for having a little deja vu. When we went looking for pilots and season premieres streaming early online, we found a good handful on the networks' websites and apps, not to mention good old Hulu. But even the brand-new series feel awfully familiar--from straight-up remakes to "homages" that just feel like remakes. Still, familiar isn't necessarily bad, and these shows are pretty darn entertaining.
13 September 2013
News: New Twitter Music app brings trending tunes straight to Spotify

Spotify users no longer need a separate app or a subscription to hear what the world is listening to on Twitter.
11 September 2013
News: Roku plans Chromecast-like features, disses Chromecast

Roku may not have much love for Google's Chromecast TV dongle, but that's not stopping the company from adding Chromecast-like features to its set-top boxes.
News: Surprise! iPods get the Space Gray treatment too
09 September 2013
News: Aereo fumbles on NFL opening day, but it's still a streaming sports champion

Ditching your hefty cable bill sounds great on paper, but one glaring issue has prevented scads of would-be cord cutters from flipping the all-digital switch: The lack of live sports. While Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and their ilk carry a cornucopia of TV shows and movies, none cast live sports, and the scant few streaming options offered directly by professional sports leagues tend to be expensive and limited to a handful of devices. And the NFL--the most popular sport in the U.S.--is the worst of the bunch.
News: Meet the PS Vita TV, a $100 Apple TV clone that plays nice with Sony's PlayStation line

Sony may soon take on Apple TV, Roku, and Google's Chromecast in the U.S., but first the company is planning an initial run in Japan with a newly announced set-top box, the PlayStation Vita TV.
News: Microsoft Xbox Music now available on Android, iOS and free online

Microsoft is expanding its Xbox Music service to iOS and Android devices, and also adding free streaming via the Web.
06 September 2013
How-Tos: More on playlists and syncing music to an iPod shuffle

I get lots of questions about playlists: how to create them, how to work with them, and how to organize them. In this week's column, I look at several questions related to playlists, and I also tackle a bonus question about syncing music to an iPod shuffle.
05 September 2013
News: Are mix tapes legally protected? Spotify suit questions originality of compilations

Here's a question that 1995-You may be very interested in: Can you copyright a mix tape filled with tracks not created by you, but that you meticulously curated? That's the basic question at the heart of a lawsuit filed in UK Courts against Spotify.
News: Smartwatch parade keeps on ticking with Qualcomm's Toq

Qualcomm on Wednesday announced the Qualcomm Toq, a smartwatch slated for a fourth quarter release to provide a focal point for the technologies and services under development at the company.
04 September 2013
News: Jawbone unveils Jambox Mini, an even more portable Bluetooth speaker

First there was the Jambox. Then, there was the Big Jambox. And on Wednesday, Jawbone unveiled its third portable Bluetooth speaker: the Mini Jambox.
03 September 2013
News: Spotify Connect is like Chromecast for connected audio systems

Spotify is introducing a new cloud-based feature for premium subscribers designed to make it easy to start to play music on your mobile device, then push the stream to wireless home speakers, which will continue rocking even if you wander away with your phone--similar to the way Google's Chromecast works.
News: iTunes tagging basics and tips

Items in your iTunes library need tags, or bits of information that identify them and help iTunes organize and sort them properly. These tags (aka metadata) tell iTunes what a file is: the type of file (music, movie, ebook, and so on), its name (the first movement of Beethoven's 5th symphony, The Beatles' "A Day in the Life", or an ebook of Henry James's The Ambassadors), and more.
02 September 2013
Test Centre: The 11 best smartphones of 2013

Here's where we rank and review the 11 best smartphones available to buy right now. Keep reading to find out what the best phone of 2013 is.
How-Tos: Backing up and restoring musical instruments

A musician who wishes to remain anonymous finds his instrument suddenly silent. He writes:
30 August 2013
News: TV binge-watching at its best

If you've never seen a single episode of Lost, I envy you. Not because it's a bad show--far from it, faaaar from it. Because you get to watch it, the whole thing, all the way through, for the first time. I'll never be able to see it for the first time again. But you better believe I'll watch it anyway.
News: Dorm room entertainment: Build a killer system with just two devices

Dorm rooms are tiny, but that won't stop you from having friends over after a long day of classes. But while you might be fine with watching a movie on your laptop, its screen is too small for a group of people--and with your limited space (and college student budget), you can't really splurge on a tricked-out entertainment system either.
News: Remains of the Day: Bugging out

A T-Mobile move may hint at the next iPhone's release date, bugs swarm OS X and iOS, and Apple's bringing free music to the masses. The remainders for Thursday, August 29, 2013 are calling in the exterminator.