The Evolution of Music Consumption: How We Got Here

Spend ten minutes walking down almost any street in the world, and you’ll see a familiar sight: a young person walking down the street with Apple’s iconic white earbuds firmly planted in their ears. They might be bobbing along to the beat, or they could be keeping their head down, just trying to get to work through the crowds. The rise of the iPod, the music-playing mobile phone, and a number of streaming media platforms all point toward a single, simple idea: music is important. It’s important to people on an individual level, it’s important to the human race on...

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Decide Who to Vote for in the UK General Election

I like to think of elections as dysfunctional family parties, and the General Election that is due to take place in the UK on May 7th, 2015, is no different. Hosting the get-together are the Conservatives, and it’s not going very well. First to show was the Greens, along with their plus-one, the Liberal Democrats. The Greens turned up with an unappealing looking quinoa and beetroot salad, while the Lib Dems made grand promises to bring the booze, but instead of beer and wine, everyone is drinking dodgy corner-store vodka diluted with cherryade. Sat in the corner is right-wing, oafish, flatulent...

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Take it from Microsoft! 8 Best Free Ebooks from MSDN’s Huge Collection

We all like free stuff, right? Well, Microsoft just keeps giving. The Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) maintains a massive amount of literature for developers, old or new, providing valuable information on all manner of Microsoft platforms: Windows 8, Office, Dynamics CRM, PowerShell functions, the Microsoft System Centre and much more. They’ve seen it prudent to release almost 300 eBooks, free for our consumption. Excellent for consumers wishing to understand more and developers alike. The full list can be found in the MSDN blog post above and we’ve picked a few that deliver essential Microsoft information that you can use immediately. Windows There is always...

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Ubuntu 15.04: Was Vivid Vervet Worth the Wait, and Should You Upgrade?

You’ve heard the news: Ubuntu 15.04, also known as Vivid Vervet, is officially out in the wild. What new features does it bring, and is it worth your time? Both are perfectly legitimate questions, considering that 15.04 is not a long-term support (LTS) release; it will receive updates for only nine months before its retirement. We set out to address this pressing issue and give you some answers about the latest Ubuntu while it’s still hot. What Was the Hype All About? Prior to release, Vivid Vervet was a regular feature in headlines, as tech news outlets latched onto every...

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How Smartphones Have Ruined Movies Forever

While smartphones have had some awesome effects, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to our pocket devices. Some people are addicted to their phones, and some argue that smartphones are ruining users’ lives. Even if you don’t struggle with using your phone too much, it’s hard to deny that these devices have had an irreversible effect on other spheres of life. Let’s take a look at just one example: movies. Thanks to smartphones… Movie Theaters Can Be Annoying It’s a problem as old as cellphones themselves: you go to the cinema to see the latest blockbuster, and...

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5 of the Best GTA V Mods Available Right Now

So have you been finally enjoying Grand Theft Auto V on your PC, after all of the delays? Congratulations to all one million of you and counting! The PC version has been out less than a month, but it’s already shot to the top of Steam’s list of top-played games. With that many players and with the PC community’s propensity to fiddle with their games’ files, it comes as no surprise that there are already several mods available for GTA V on PC. Mods have not been officially banned in GTA V, but modders and mod users should be cautious. There...

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5 Tragic Computer Accidents You Can Prevent

Computers are vulnerable devices and can often seem to screw up by themselves, but user error is a huge problem causer. There might be things you aren’t aware of being potential hazards and that ignorance could end up wrecking your system. Don’t fear because we’ve rounded up some of the top computer accidents that can have disastrous consequences. The great thing is that they’re all easy to prevent, providing you take action and abide by the advice. Of course, these aren’t all the accidents that can occur, so be sure to head into the comments section afterwards to share your...

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MacBook Air Overheating? 5 Things You Can Do

You might think your MacBook is overheating if it sounds like a hairdryer and feels like a grill. When your computer gets so hot that it randomly turns off, you’ve definitely got a heat problem. There are a few things to remember when troubleshooting an overheating laptop, and today we’ll pay special attention to the relatively silent MacBook Air. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to define “overheating” as being very hot to touch but still operational. Know Your Limitations An overheating laptop can be caused by all sorts of things, from dust buildup to failing fans. Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the more obvious...

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Enter to Win a Free Beats Pill XL Bluetooth Speaker

Do you like winning free stuff? Of course, who doesn’t want to take home something for nothing? Well, guess what? We’re giving away a free Beats Pill XL Bluetooth speaker to one lucky winner! That’s right, you can take home this awesome wireless speaker for the low cost of $0! Keep reading to find out what the Beats Pill XL is and how to enter! What is the Beats Pill XL? In case you’ve been living under a rock, Beats is a very popular brand of music hardware that is now owned by Apple. The Beats Pill XL is the...

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How to Modify & Manage the Hosts File in Linux

A little known feature called the hosts file can be tweaked to modify your system, depending on your needs. Whether you need to create shortcuts, block websites, or much more, you can easily take care of it all in the hosts file. But how do you make changes to it? We’ll show you that plus some usage examples so you get started right away. What’s the Hosts File? Simply put, the hosts file is a plain text file that all operating systems use to translate hostnames into IP addresses. Whenever you type in a hostname, such as facebook.com, your system will look into...

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