Mario Aguilar

Lumia 950 Review: Microsoft’s Best Ideas Still Don’t Fit In Your Hand

Microsoft’s Lumia 950 is the first interesting Windows phone to be released in a while, mostly because it’s the first phone designed specifically for Windows 10. It’s a phone created with the ambition of turning around Microsoft’s flailing mobile efforts. At the very least, Microsoft has made a smartphone that’s usable. After forcing myself to…

Adele’s 25 Will Not Be On Spotify or Other Streaming Services

Adele’s highly-anticipated new record 25 will not be available on Spotify, according to the company. Here’s the canned statement provided to Gizmodo: “We love and respect Adele, as do her 24 million fans on Spotify. We hope that she will give those fans the opportunity to enjoy 25 on Spotify alongside 19 and 21 very…

Amazon’s $50 Fire Tablet Sucks, But It’s All The Tablet I Need

Before you go buy a tablet, you should ask this question: “what am I going to use this tablet for?” This seems like common sense, but really, take a moment. What are you going to do with that slab of internet-connected screen? If your answer is I need “something for making life-like 3D animations and…

Brookstone and Indiegogo Are Teaming Up to Fill the World With More Novelty Gadgets

Brookstone, the brick-and-mortar retailer of mass-market novelty gadgets, and Indiegogo, the second-string crowdfunding platform with very few guidelines, are teaming up to try to bring the ideas of inexperienced inventors to your junk drawer. The new partnership was announced yesterday and is aimed at putting the “best and brightest ideas from Indiegogo on the fast…

Six Gifts That Will Take a Music Fan to Their Happy Place

Is there a hardcore music fan you need to unload some holiday cheer at? Don’t buy them music! Mistake! Buy them gear to help them enjoy the music they already have. Sonos Play:1 If you want to know true happiness, get yourself set up with a wireless music system in your house. Our favorite right…

Six Awesome Gadgets That Will Fill You With Holiday Spirit and/or Rampant Consumerism

Some gadgets are so good that they transcend time and space and transport you into NEW UNIVERSES OF PLEASURE AND CONSUMER PRODUCT SATISFACTION. These are those gadgets. Leatherman Skeletool CX I own like five multitools, but this simple little number is my favorite for things like moving and running around the house doing chores. It’s…

YouTube Music Is Breathtakingly Pointless

The new YouTube Music app is a failure. YouTube is quietly one of the most powerful forces in digital music, and this—THIS!—is the app that’s supposed to change everything. It changes nothing. Announced last month, YouTube Music is a cornerstone of YouTube’s strategy for getting people to sign up for its new YouTube Red subscription…

You Can Download YouTube’s New Music App Right Now

Last month, YouTube introduced us to a number of new initiatives aimed at roping people into a paid subscription. Today, we’re getting our first look at YouTube Music, the service’s tailor-made experience for kicking out the jams. The new app is available for both iOS and Android. In short, the app is designed to flesh…

iMaschine 2 Is a Powerful Overhaul of One of the Best Music-Making Apps

It’s been four years since electronic music production leader Native Instruments trotted out iMaschine. Today, we’re getting a total refresh, iMaschine 2, which makes the old app look puny. The old iMaschine was a great tool for the times but it was very much, as NI described it, “a sketchpad.” The new app is aimed…

Spotify is introducing a new “concerts” feature. It will work much like the totally awesome Discover Weekly playlist—in addition to suggesting concerts by artists you already like, you’ll also get recommendations based on what Spotify’s magical algorithms think you might enjoy. Rock on.

I Listened to Sennheiser’s Absurd $55,000 Orpheus Headphones

I’m one of the first people in the world to listen to Sennheiser’s new $55,000 Orpheus headphone system. The new hardware’s 20 years in the making. Real, real serious shit. I’m trying hard to concentrate on the music–trying to give this crazy thing the severe attention I think it deserves. But I keep laughing my…

Meet the Prodigy Who Made 11 Bandcamp Albums That Eventually Got Him a Record Deal

Will Toledo hit the indie rock lottery one Monday last February. Chris Lombardi, founder of legendary independent label Matador Records, rang him up wanting to know more about the 11 albums the 21-year-old Toledo had published online in near anonymity since he was a teen. Lombardi had followed a tip to the Bandcamp page for…

BlackBerry Priv Review: Nope, Not For Me—Not Even For My Worst Enemy

I really wanted to like the BlackBerry Priv. C’mon! Android on a Blackberry phone! Sadly, the company’s latest, and possibly last, shot at appealing to users who’ve long since moved on falls incredibly short. What Is It? A $700(!) Blackberry smartphone, and the first to run Android. It has a 5.4-inch display plus a slide…

Lytro’s Immerge System Could Capture the Most Convincing VR Video Yet

Lytro’s had a rough go since introducing the world to its very cool light field capture technology just over four years ago in 2011. Following a few consumer camera flops, the company’s rolling on to the pros. Immerge is perhaps the most sophisticated virtual reality camera yet. In short, Immerge is a big ass 360-degree…

Clever Earbud Microphones Bring 3D Audio Recording to Your GoPro

GoPros have fundamentally altered the way we think about video—we’ve never been closer to the action. The audio for the extreme footage we’re capturing, however, has yet to catch up to the action footage. Roland’s new Wearpro Mic is a step towards making the videos sound as intense as they look. As its name implies…

Earbud.fm Is NPR’s Guide to the Best Podcasts

Podcasts are on the rise these days, but as with everything on the internet, garbagecasts proliferate just as quickly as sweet audio excellence. Doesn’t in make sense to let the radio mavens at NPR curate the goods for you? Earbud.fm is a newly-launched guide from NPR’s arts desk which lists more than 200 of the…

Twitter Is Replacing the Fav Star With a Stupid Fucking Heart

Whyyyyyy, Twitter? Why are you messing with a good thing? Today, Twitter replaced the age-old favorite star with a heart. A heart! Clicking the new heart feels disgusting. It’s not even representative of how people use the fav: In addition to the concept of liking things, a fav can be a form acknowledgement, a way…

Hacker Hero Quits Seattle Police Department After Just Six Months

Well, that didn’t take long. Back in April, we learned that the Seattle Police Department had hired hacker and transparency activist Tim Clemans to help move the department into the future. Clemans is already out following a conflict with a police captain. Clemans was hired by the police department following a series of provocations meant…

Sonos Play:5 Review: Wireless Music Made Elegant

Sonos conquered wireless music years ago, before wireless music was even a thing to be conquered. With the new Play:5, the company revisits its flagship speaker with a stunning new design and powerful sound customization. The refreshed Play:5 might be the coolest speaker Sonos has ever made. What Is It? An overhauled version of the…

Apple Doesn’t Get That U2 Is Lame as Hell

When Apple took its first public adventure into virtual reality, the company needed a subject that represented the bright, infinite possibilities of this new medium. WHAT? NO! Not U2! Not again! Remember that U2 iTunes disaster last year? Apple put the new U2 record nobody wanted on everyone’s computer and everyone did not see this…