Google Play Music

With its All Access subcription service, the updated Google Play Music has come of age. The inclusion of this subscription service trumps Apple's iTunes, and Google delivers an excellent, well-designed system, with a large catalog of any music most people are likely to crave, and a beautiful, full-function interface similar to Rdio's. Equalling iTunes Match is Google Play's scan and match feature, which saves you from having to upload all your music files to your Google digital locker. Unless you're tied to your iPhone or iPad, Google Play Music, and in particular, its new All Access option, at $9.99 a month, is worth a very close look. But Play Music still falls slightly short of the best streaming services in some ways, and if you use Apple's mobile devices, you're out of luck.

Google Play Music All Access
We've complained about Apple's not offering and all-you-can-eat music subscription in the iTunes Music Store for years, so maybe Google's move here will finally force Apple to reconsider its policy on music subscription. Facebook users already have easy access to Spotify app, which over 10 million users have used. Another strong contender and Editors' Choice is Slacker Radio ($9.99 a month), which offers fine-tuning of your custom internet radio stream. Google's All Access costs the same $9.99 a month as Spotify, but only $7.99 if you sign up before June 30. Google, however, surprisingly doesn't offer a free ad-supported account type. If you want an excellent free music player, you're well served by Songza, our Editors' Choice for free streaming music services. The also excellent Rdio also costs $9.99 a month for full access.

As mentioned, Apple has no equivalent to All Access, but you do get some pretty great stuff with the iTunes ecosystem that you don't get with Google Play Music?AirPlay, podcast playing, access to public internet radio stations, and the ability to play easily to a home theater system through Apple TV. This last is important to me, since when I'm serious about listening to something, I want to be able to do so on my hi-fi system. Microsoft offers subscription with its Xbox Music Pass, also $9.99 a month, but it only works Windows 8, Windows Phones, and Xboxes. The Xbox part, however, solves the problem of getting your music to you home theater sound system, to which Google Play Music has no simple answer.

Setting up Google Play Music All Access couldn't be easier. It's far less of a process than you have to go through to get up and running with Spotify, which you can't even use unless you specify some contacts whose music choices you want to follow. This brings up the point of social integration: if you really need the input of your friends' music ideas, you're better off with Spotify or Rdio, but if you just want to discover on your own All Access serves you well. All Access does of course require your entering a payment method, and if you have a Google Wallet account, you'll simply have to okay the transaction.

The service worked fine in all browsers?even Internet Explorer 10! Remember, competitor iTunes doesn't run in a web browser at all, but it does have the advantage of an unobtrusive mini player window.

Sound quality was excellent. The service detects your internet connection speed and serves up an appropriate bitrate. Fast connections get a very fine 320Kbps bitrate. While listening, you can click the full-screen icon to show the album art moving around the browser window.

Creating a Station
Once you're in your Google Play Music All Access account, you just search for a musician, and a grid of tiles with artist images shows up. Click on one, and you've got a playlist of related tunage. Google only claims "millions" of songs in its catalog, where competitors like Spotify boast 15 million, so you may not find what you want. I didn't have much problem with the selection.

I first tested with Ulrich Schnauss, an otherworldly German electronica artist, and then with a lesser known artist, Leggo Beast, and neither tripped up the service. Switching musical gears drastically, the service did find Stile Antico, a top-notch vocal early music ensemble, but the group's latest album wasn't available?but it wasn't on Spotify, either, but Rdio did! It did find an impressive 88 albums sung by Kings College Choir.

I like how the All Access radio's music affinity engine finds not just a very limited genre of nearly identical songs with the same "musical DNA," the way Pandora does. Instead, it pushes the edges of the style of the musicians you select. This lets you create playlists including everything you like, not just a narrow band of musical style. I also found Google Play Music's interface easier on the eyes than the busy iTunes-like Spotify, though Rdio's slick web interface is its equal.

But there was one major problem with Google Play Music All Access's radio stations: After an hour, its browser window told me, "The queue is currently empty." This would never happen in Pandora or any other of its ilk. It could be a sign that Google doesn't have as large a music library or that its algorithm still needs tuning.

Another downside was that there was a sometimes a significant pause before the next song in the playlist started playing. I couldn't find any setting to omit this gap. Another problem is one shared with most digital music is that you don't get all the performance information you would on a CD booklet?soloists for choral performances and other credits.

You can thumbs up or down any tune in the playlist at any time, and switch to any song to play immediately. In the browser, no matter what you've got going on in the main window area?settings, library, whatever?you'll see the play controls with the album thumbnail, repeat, skip back, pause, skip ahead, and shuffle. The volume slider, thumbs up and down, and playlist buttons are to the right of these. A nice touch is that the song you're playing becomes the browser tab title?this means, that in Windows 7, you can hover the mouse cursor over the browser's taskbar button to see the track name. The same goes for when you're working in another browser tab and you hover the cursor over the Google Play tab.

At any time while you're playing the radio stream, you can add the current song to your library, create a new playlist, or share the song. The sharing option at first looks like it's limited to acquaintances with Google accounts, but you can also type an email address in the To box. Unlike a lot of streaming radio services, you can see several songs ahead, and nix those you don't want to hear or play those you do immediately.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/9J1aS6WoKDs/0,2817,2385570,00.asp

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Powerball jackpot lures last-minute players

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? It's all about the odds.

With the majority of possible combinations of Powerball numbers in play, someone is almost sure to win the game's highest jackpot during Saturday night's drawing, a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars ? and that's after taxes.

The problem, of course, is those same odds just about guarantee the lucky person won't be you.

The chances of winning the estimated $600 million prize remain astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. That's how many different ways you can combine the numbers when you play. But lottery officials estimate about 80 percent of those possible combinations have been purchased, so now's the time to buy.

"This would be the roll to get in on," said Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich. "Of course there's no guarantee, and that's the randomness of it, and the fun of it."

That hasn't deterred people across Powerball-playing states ? 43 plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands ? from lining up at gas stations and convenience stores Saturday for their chance at striking it filthy rich.

At a mini market in the heart of Los Angeles' Chinatown, employees broke the steady stream of customers into two lines: One for Powerball ticket buyers and one for everybody else. Some people appeared to be looking for a little karma.

"We've had two winners over $10 million here over the years, so people in the neighborhood think this is the lucky store," employee Gordon Chan said as he replenished a stack of lottery tickets on a counter.

Workers at one suburban Columbia, S.C., convenience store were so busy with ticket buyers that they hadn't updated their sign with the current jackpot figure, which was released Friday. Customer Armous Peterson was reluctant to share his system for playing the Powerball. The 56-year-old was well aware of the long odds, but he also knows the mantra of just about every person buying tickets.

"Somebody is going to win," he said. "Lots of people are going to lose, too. But if you buy a ticket, that winner might be you."

The latest jackpot is the world's second largest overall, just behind a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012. The $600 million jackpot, which could grow before the numbers are drawn at 10:59 EDT Saturday, currently includes a $376.9 million cash option.

Charles Hill of Dallas says he buys lottery tickets every day. And he knows exactly what he'd do if he wins.

"What would I do with my money? I'd run and hide," he said. "I wouldn't want none of my kinfolks to find me."

Clyde Barrow, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, specializes in the gaming industry. He said one of the key factors behind the ticket-buying frenzy is the size of the jackpot ? people are interested in the easy investment.

"Even though the odds are very low, the investment is very small," he said. "Two dollars gets you a chance."

That may be why Ed McCuen has a Powerball habit that's as regular as clockwork. The 57-year-old electrical contractor from Savannah, Ga., buys one ticket a week, regardless of the possible loot. It's a habit he didn't alter Saturday.

"You've got one shot in a gazillion or whatever," McCuen said, tucking his ticket in his pocket as he left a local convenience store. "You can't win unless you buy a ticket. But whether you buy one or 10 or 20, it's insignificant."

Seema Sharma doesn't seem to think so. The newsstand employee in Manhattan's Penn Station has purchased $80 worth of tickets for herself. She also was selling tickets all morning at a steady pace, instructing buyers where to stand if they wanted machine-picked tickets or to choose their own numbers.

"I work very hard ? too hard ? and I want to get the money so I can finally relax," she said. "You never know."

Officials will conduct the drawing live Saturday night from Tallahassee, Fla.

___

Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., John Rogers in Los Angeles and Verena Dobnick in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Barbara Rodriguez at http://twitter.com/bcrodriguez .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/last-minute-fortune-seekers-buy-powerball-tickets-185535895.html

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This Week On The TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast: All Google I/O, All The Time

Google's major developer conference, Google I/O, went down this week. Was it a bit of a letdown? Probably. Did cool stuff still come out of the event? Eh? Maybe? We discuss these topics and more this week on the TC Gadgets podcast. In fact, we even had Frederic Lardinois join as a guest, along with John Biggs, Matt Burns, Jordan Crook (that's me!), Romain Dillet, and Darrell Etherington as Bob McKenzie.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/6DQwkEU34ug/

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How to Make Your Own Anti-Venom without Poisoning a Horse

The Iocane Powder trick really does work! As this slick educational short from the SciShow explains, you've got two choices when it comes to treating deadly, deadly snake bites: you can either hopefully make it to a hospital in time to counter the toxins with dozens of expensive vials of delicate anti-venom, or you can slowly inoculate yourself against their effects?effectively turning yourself into a poison-immune mobile anti-venom factory. Where do I sign up? [SciShow]

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/JCMCkFLc660/how-to-make-your-own-anti-venom-without-poisoning-a-hor-508287684

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Men Struggle With Wives' Breast Cancer, Too

Seventy two hours after Elissa Bantug's mastectomy, she felt broken. She was only 25 years old, but she had lost both breasts and her strawberry blond hair to cancer. Drainage tubes still hung from her chest to remove excess fluid from the operation.

In that moment, she just wanted to have sex with her boyfriend.

"I just needed something to make me not feel so broken," said Bantug, who is now 31. "Anything to make me feel beautiful."

But instead of responding to her advances, Bantug said, her boyfriend pushed her off of him and told her it was crazy for her to have sex when she was so sick -- and so obviously in pain.

"It was awful," said Bantug. "It ended in a screaming match with doors being slammed."

Bantug said it was just one of the instances in which she and her boyfriend -- to whom she is now married -- didn't communicate well during her cancer experience. He had a hard time figuring out when he was supposed to let Bantug make decisions and when he was supposed to help her decide what to do. He didn't tell her how afraid he was.

When they did have sex, Bantug's boyfriend didn't know where to put his hands or whether putting them certain places would draw attention to Bantug's scars and upset her. He thought he should sleep in the guest room because he thought she needed the space to heal, but that made her worry that he was pulling away.

Now, Bantug knows better than to stay silent about these things, and it's her job to make sure cancer patients at Johns Hopkins Medical Center do, too. She runs the hospital's Breast Cancer Survivorship Program, where it's her job to answer the questions cancer patients and their spouses feel silly asking their oncologists.

Annette Bunch/Getty Images

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Couples want to know about what to eat and how to tell their children about the diagnosis, but they also want to know about nipple sensitivity, body image and whether cancer patients will be able to have an orgasm again, she said.

Even though breast cancer is primarily about the woman fighting it, psychologist Jennifer Wolkin said conversations about relationships inevitably come up in her sessions with patients.

In addition to finding themselves thrust into the unfamiliar role of emotional supporter, men feel they need to deny their own feelings to be stoic, said Wolkin.

"They give off an air of self-assuredness to protect women, but, ironically, it comes off as rejection," said Wolkin, who works at the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at NYU Langone.

She said men often lack support centers and have to journey through cancer alone. If they show their feelings, they worry it somehow makes them weak. Sometimes, a man's libido can even drop -- not so much because he's no longer attracted to his wife, but because of the uncertainty and unknown associated with the situation and her body.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Men and women just need to communicate and ask for help when they need it.

"Mastectomy is horrific, but I think it has potential to offer this place where a man and woman could really significantly grow in their relationship," Wolkin said.

It's important for both partners to be as informed as possible about what's going to happen during breast cancer treatment and recovery, said Lynn Erdman, the vice president of community health for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Erdman, a nurse who specializes in oncology, said men have their own set of concerns and emotional issues when it comes to having a spouse with breast cancer, but they often don't feel comfortable talking about them because they think it makes them selfish. She said many hospitals now offer support groups for men as a safe place for them to ask questions that would otherwise seem taboo.

"What we hear a lot of times is, 'What's the breast going to feel like after the implant is in and the tissue in it has been removed?'" Erdman said. "'If I hug her, is it going to hurt her?' 'Will it change our sex life?'"

"I've seen it often bring couples much closer together," she said."It's part of going through the cancer battle together."

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/men-struggle-wives-breast-cancer/story?id=19204485

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92% Jurassic Park: An IMAX 3D Experience

All Critics (100) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (101) | Rotten (8) | DVD (39)

The enthralling man-vs.-nature parable based on the late Michael Crichton's best-selling novel hasn't aged one bit.

The 3-D process adds not just dimension but depth - a technological extension of cinematographer Gregg Toland's deep-focus innovations in The Grapes of Wrath and Citizen Kane. The change in perspective creates greater intensity.

I'm a fan of this movie. It is thrilling, and the 3-D treatment is a nice enhancement.

This movie doesn't just stand the test of time, it transcends it.

"Jurassic Park" remains an absolute thrill from a Spielberg in top form: Funny, scary, fast-moving and full of just-right details.

"Jurassic Park" was impressive in 1993. Twenty years later, it's flawless.

Some things have dated - Sam Jackson wouldn't be allowed to smoke in the office; everyone would have mobiles; Google Earth would have kept the island from being kept a secret - but the power of the film's pioneering CGI remain strangely undiminished.

Steven Spielberg's summer adventure is still one of the ultimate movie roller coaster rides.

Jurassic Park is a how-to guide for structuring a multi-character disaster film.

Still proves as thrilling as ever.

A classic gets even better.

Steven Spielbeg's 1993 tale of an island plagued dinosaurs running amok holds up surprisingly well in the special effects category.

The film is a classic and the chance to see it on the big screen again (or for the first time) should not be missed

Sentiment is explained by science as the family impulse that motivates so many Steven Spielberg stories is revealed to be an evolutionary imperative in this near-perfect action-adventure.

[Looks] better not only than effects-driven movies of the same period, but better, frankly, than half of what gets released nowadays.

Kids who love dinosaurs will love it. And who doesn't?

confirms both Spielberg's mastery of cinematic thrills and the comparatively empty bombast of today's summer tentpole movies, even the better ones.

Jurassic Park shows us a director in transition, and the film captures his transformation in its own kind of cinematic amber.

[The] 3D [conversion] provides the definitive version of this classic film. Jurassic Park has been transformed with with artistry, nuance and sophistication, and it's an absolute must-see during this brief run.

The 3D effects had me nearly jumping out of my seat. Some say Hollywood is converting too many old films to 3D. But, "Jurassic Park" was the perfect choice. There's nothing more fun than sharing a seat with a snapping dinosaur.

Spielberg treats us as he does his characters, leading us into a strange land and expecting us to make it out with all our faculties intact; it's a tall order, given the heart-stopping, bloodcurdling, limbs-numbing excitement packed into the second hour.

It is as if time has passed the movie by. "Jurassic Park" remains solid entertainment, but the awe and wonder have faded.

The thrill of seeing live dinosaurs on screen is not as acute today as it was 20 years ago admittedly, but there is still some 3D awe left in the creations that roared 65 billion years ago...

The 3D isn't pushed on the audience, but it does reveal the amount of depth that Spielberg actually put into the film 20 years ago.

While it's not the most profound of Spielberg's works or the most entertaining from a popcorn perspective, it's one of the most technically flawless movies he's ever produced.

Jurassic Park 3D is like being reunited with an old friend; an old friend that wants to eat you and maul you to death, but still. A classic is reborn in glorious IMAX with a vibrantly stunning use of 3D.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jurassic_park_an_imax_3d_experience_1993/

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Google Offers comes to Google+ with in-line save and share feature

The I/O keynote may be a fading memory, but Google's work isn't done just yet. Today its various services are getting a little more tightly knit as Offers comes to your Google+ stream. A select few brands (Zagat, Hello Kitty, Art.com, NOOK and Adafruit) will be part of the pilot program, which will allow businesses to post special updates that include discounts you can save directly to your Offers queue. Obviously, you can also share these offers with people in your circles who you think might be interested. It might seem like a small tweak, but it's one companies are likely to embrace as a way to simplify their digital coupon offerings and increase engagement on Google+. You should start seeing in-line offers pop up today, so long as you follow one of the pilot brands.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Google Offers (Google+)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Jo9Sf8Sy_3o/

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