These Roland BOSS pedals make you sound like a guitar god

Learning to play guitar is a lot of fun (and easier than ever), but somewhere around my 500th attempt at the main riff from “Black Sunshine” I got frustrated. I was playing the right notes, but it didn’t sound like White Zombie. In fact nothing I played sounded right – that is, until I added some Roland effects pedals to my practice sessions. Effects pedals allow you to change your guitar‘s tone with a stomp of your foot. This makes it simple to change from the crunchy sound of a heavy metal verse to the clean tones used in wailing…

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CHEAP: Get a ridiculously good Dyson cordless vacuum for 61 percent off

Corded vacuum cleaners suck (I’m sorry). The cables snag. Your range is limited to the nearest available wall socket. They’re often bulky and cumbersome. And, if you’re as hopelessly clumsy as I am, you’re perennially tripping on the wires. Lugging my ancient Vax to the top of my home’s landing area always feels somewhat dangerous, as though I’m Dyson with death (absolutely 100 percent not sorry). It’s for that reason why, if I lived in the states, I’d grab this Dyson V7 Motorhead cordless vacuum cleaner, which is currently on sale at Newegg for $154.99. That’s $245 (61 percent) less…

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Xbox enshrines wholesome ‘trash talk’ in its community standards

Microsoft changed the wording of its standards, explicitly banning offensive trash talk on its services and offering less crass alternatives. It sounds hokey at first — the examples of player banter sound so calculatedly good-natured they’ll make your teeth ache at first glance — but considering how often players can’t seem to tell the difference between trash talk and harassment, it’s an instruction some will need. The changes to Xbox‘s community standards were first spotted by eagle-eyed Redditors. The strictures on trash talk are in the fourth section, “Keep Your Content Clean,” where Microsoft outlines its desire to keep the platform accessible…

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ASUS made a souped-up gaming phone… so I used it to play Snake

With phones getting endlessly more powerful, it sometimes feel like a pointless arms race. Like, what do we need all that juice for? Faster scrolling on Instagram? 3D GIFS? Fucking Animoji? Well, with its beefed up ROG phone, ASUS has an answer: gaming. Muscular mobiles should be for gaming. I first covered Asus’ ROG phone over the Summer of 2018. Then, recently, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a review unit for a few weeks. While I was messing about with it, I was struck by something: yeah, a phone this powerful can play modern, 3D games easily, but…

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TNW2019 Daily: Working parent? We got you

We’re exactly one week away from TNW Conference! As we get closer to the event, I’d like to share some practical resources for you to use on May 9 and 10. TNW2019 tips and tricks Make your life easier by downloading the official TNW2019 app. Get in touch with attendees, network with companies, and build your personal schedule! Working parent? Get free onsite daycare for your kids (six months to 12 years old) during the conference. Also, there’s a dedicated space in the first aid tent for breastfeeding mothers Find the first aid tent and directions to TNW2019 on our…

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Want a blockchain job in big tech? This course might help you land one

What do Facebook, Visa, Shell, IBM, and EY have in common (other than being stupid rich)? They’re all hiring blockchain talent. Indeed, blockchain jobs are popping up all over the place these days. If you ever thought about learning the ins and outs of distributed ledger tech, now might be a good time – and we’ve got an idea where you can start. The University of California, Berkeley is currently running a “Blockchain Technology” online course on EdX. Among other things, the course will familiarize you with various consensus mechanisms (like Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work or Ethereum’s upcoming Proof-of-Stake), the concept of tokenomics, and…

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1 million crypto-jacking attempts blocked daily, despite Coinhive’s demise

The cryptocurrency mining script Coinhive may have shut down earlier this year, but crypto-jackers are still active across the internet. Many devices originally infected with Coinhive are also still trying to illicitly mine cryptocurrency. According to new figures from Malwarebytes, the cybersecurity firm blocked over 200,000 requests to connect to the Coinhive network the day after it shut down on March 8. Domain requests have since tailed off to an average of 50,000 per day over the past week. Malwarebytes is also blocking over 1 million cryptocurrency mining requests per day from Coinhive competitor CoinLoot. Late last year, reports suggested…

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Analogue’s $190 Mega Sg is a treat for Sega fans who saved their cartridges

Over the past couple of years, Seattle-based Analogue has been warming retro gamers’ hearts with its systems that faithfully run 8-bit and 16-bit NES cartridges with high-resolution audio and video output. The company then set its sights on Sega’s family of consoles, and recently released the delightful Mega Sg. This handsome little box plays your 8-bit and 16-bit Mega Drive cartridges, and comes with an adaptor to support a Sega CD connector. With that, you’re all set to take another crack at your favorite titles for Sega’s machines – of which there are more than 2,180 in existence. I spent…

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10 things we learned from the Democratic candidates’ Instagrams

In a crowded pool of candidates, one stacked from top to bottom with political icons and young upstarts hoping to unseat them, it’s time to put up or shut up. The Presidential Election is still more than 18 months away, but we find ourselves quickly encroaching on primary and caucus season. The first, in Iowa, is scheduled for Monday, February 3. A month later there’s Super Tuesday, a single day smackdown with 12 primaries in 24 hours that could make or break a candidate’s chances at taking on President Donald Trump (the presumptive Republican nominee) for a bid at the…

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The Bitcoin bear is dead, but Tether drama could spell bad news for traders

The price of Bitcoin has “bottomed” – or so say the cryptocurrency analysts who predicted the end of the bear market. But now they’re warning the recent Tether drama could turn Bitcoin bearish in the short term. If that’s true, Bitcoin could soon mirror 2015 market cycles that led to a bull market lasting two years, independent research firm Delphi Digital reports. “In our […] report that we released in early December, we made a call that Bitcoin will bottom by the end of Q1 2019,” said Delphi Digital. “We continue to stand by that call, we believe Bitcoin has bottomed.”…

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How Facebook and Google are using algorithms to predict your next thought

Advertisements follow you everywhere. Google and Facebook have become the de facto diarchs, mining your online attention to track every single move to serve their needs. While it’s becoming increasingly impossible to quench the big tech’s thirst for user data, collect they must in order to sell ads, and for them to survive and grow. So don’t be surprised the next time you have a private conversation with your friend about a specific brand of earphones you were planning to buy, only to see an ad for that very earphone the next time you pick up your phone. According to…

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JP Morgan helps Canada and Singapore trial bank transfers on the ‘blockchain’

Central banks in Canada and Singapore claim to have successfully completed a cross-border payment using distributed ledger technology. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced earlier today that it has successfully settled an international payment with The Bank of Canada, in what it refers to as “Project Jasper-Ubin.” The project’s technology was developed with assistance from management consulting firm Accenture and American bank JP Morgan. The announcement didn’t disclose the total value of the transaction. Both banks have been experimenting with their own proprietary digital coins and distributed ledgers which they linked up using what it calls “hashed time-locked contracts,”…

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NYPD: Bitcoin thieves posing as government officials have stolen over $2M

New York’s Police Department (NYPD) is alerting the public about phone scammers posing as Social Security Administration officials and requesting payment in Bitcoin, prepaid gift cards, and bank wire transfers. NYPD noted the scammers have already thieved millions of dollars by exploiting the trusted reputation of government agencies. Such scams are on the rise, NYPD said. So far this year, the NYPD has received more than 200 complaints with losses totalling more than $2 million. In 2018, the NYPD received only three similar complaints. “Sophisticated phone scams use the trust victims have in their own governmental and law enforcement agencies against…

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Bitcoin whale moved $212 million in cryptocurrency — for just $3.93

An infamous Bitcoin ‘whale’ has moved an enormous cryptocurrency fortune in a single transaction, and the network charged less than $4 in fees. Bitcointalk's famous whale Loaded is moving its 40k BTC stash again.https://t.co/t6y909jN2Ehttps://t.co/TrHwb4s2H6 — Antoine Le Calvez (@khannib) May 1, 2019 “Loaded” is an old-school investor famous for their posts on mainstay forum BitcoinTalk. They’ve held 40,000 BTC for years, and every so often, they move it around. This time, the Bitcoin blockchain charged Loaded just 0.00074227 BTC ($3.93) to send $211.9 million worth of censorship-resistant digital money. Loaded uses ‘SegWit’ Bitcoin address for cheap fees Bitcoin’s price was still above…

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This Chrome plugin removes search bias to give women the visibility they deserve

Throughout history, women in STEM have contributed massively to build the world as we know it today — from Rosalind Franklin, a chemist whose research helped reveal the components of DNA, to Marie Curie, a physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. But with a quick search of “greatest scientists of all time,” it’ll take a bit of digging to read about these women. A new Google Chrome plugin S.H.E. — Search, Human, Equalizer — transforms the way we search by removing bias and putting the spotlight on pivotal women. Current search results reflect cultural stereotypes and human…

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Chinese blockchain firm swaps Bitcoin for cannabis in search of new highs

Following the effects of the crypto-winter, one Chinese firm has been forced to diversify its business model away from blockchain. It’s chosen industrial hemp as the next addition to its portfolio. Grandshores Technology has historically invested in blockchain-based infrastructure and hardware but is shaping up to buy a 40-percent stake in Chinese industrial hemp producer Hangzhou Yupu Tading, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. The purchase would give Grandshores Technology access to cultivating over 1,600 kilos of hemp seeds. The firm hopes it would help it to diversify away from a “lethargic Bitcoin market.” The firm’s co-chairman Yao Yongjie told SCMP…

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PSA: You can now auto-delete your location and web history on Google

It’s no secret that, unless you explicitly opt out, Google keeps an extensive record of your every activity on its digital real estate. From your location history to the searches you perform on Google and YouTube, the company goes to great lengths to glean more information about you in the hope that it can serve better ads based on your web habits. To assuage such privacy concerns, the company has announced it’s rolling out new auto-delete controls for Location History and Web & App Activity that allows you to choose a time limit (3 or 18 months) for how long…

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This bus driving simulator game plays like Snake, and looks like a blast

If you ever owned a Nokia dumb phone from the 90s, you probably played the hell out of Snake, which came pre-loaded on most models back then. Now, Seattle-based indie studio Stovetop has a wacky take on the original that replaces the pixel-width snake with a bus, and scales the environment up to an entire city. It’s called Snakeybus, and it promises to test your reflexes and foresight as you drive through Paris, Miami, or a suburban area at breakneck speeds. As you pick up passengers along the way, your bus will elongate, and you’ll have to do your best…

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Q Acoustics 3020i Review: $300 speakers shouldn’t sound this good

British Audio firm Q Acoustics might make $4,500 speakers nowadays, but it’s better known for the performance of its budget speakers. Now that the company has made its entry to the US market, I’ve had the chance to test the 3020i – its midrange speakers – for a few months. At $300, they don’t hype up revolutionary technologies, fanciful designs, or exotic materials. Instead, they’re proof of how far you can get with good engineering and tasteful tuning. That’s not to say the 3020i are boring. Aesthetically, I find them both classy and modern: I like how the rounded corners set them…

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Earthworm Jim 3 releases exclusively on retro console Intellivision Amico

There’s a new Earthworm Jim game on the horizon — but you have to be willing to buy a whole new console to play it. The console in question is the upcoming Intellivision Amico, a retro plug-n-play that’s suddenly looking like a much hotter commodity now that it has a new game to show for itself. It’s a crossover I’d not yet thought of, but but one that makes sense in retrospect: franchise-resurrecting sequels and remasters with retro consoles. It’s a pleasing combination of old and new that does more than just repackage old favorites on a cumbersome box that takes up one…

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