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AI, self-driving cars and cyberwar – the tech trends to watch for in 2017

2016-12-26T01:20:00.000-08:00

AI, self-driving cars and cyberwar – the tech trends to watch for in 2017

In some ways, tech in 2017 will be a steady progression from what came before it. Time marches on, and so too does the advance of technology. In other ways, though, it will be just as upended as the rest of the world by the unprecedented disruption that 2016 has left in its wake.
ere are the trends to watch out for in the coming year:

More AI, less data

The artificial intelligence revolution is well and truly upon us, but so far, the biggest players are venerable Silicon Valley titans such as Google, Amazon and Apple. That’s partially because they have the money to hire teams full of PhDs at seven-figure salaries, but it’s also because they have the data.
That could change. One of the key areas of research for 2017 is data efficiency: the problem of trying to teach machine-learning systems how
to do more, with less. Think about how many times your average three-year-old needs to see a particular animal before they can correctly identify it, compared with the thousands of images a neural network needs to ingest to perform the same basic task.
Solving the problem of data efficiency could dramatically open up the industry, letting new startups compete on a level playing field with those who have access to petabytes of customer data. And it could also change what an AI can do for you, letting an assistant become far more sensitive to your personal quirks and foibles, or a photo-tagging service recognise specific locations, objects, or situations.

Mostly-self-driving cars

Self-driving cars exist on a scale. At one end, you’ll find technologies that are barely more than fancy cruise control: lane-assist features ensure your car doesn’t drift out of lane, while adaptive cruise control will maintain a steady distance from the car in front. At the other end is full automation: a car that can drive from a parking space outside your house to a parking space outside your office with no-one touching the steering wheel, or even sitting in the car at all.
The story of 2017 will be car companies racing almost all the way to that final hurdle, but just stopping short. Not only the tech companies, either (although expect Tesla’s own models to lead the way, closely followed by Google’s sister company Waymo’s alliance with Fiat Chrysler). Conventional manufacturers the likes of Nissan and BMW are jumping into the field with both feet, and their systems will only get smarter. And who knows what Apple’s plans are?
But don’t expect anyone to make the difficult jump to full self-driving capability any time soon. Not only are the regulatory and liability hurdles immense, but the tech just isn’t there for the vast majority of journeys. There’s a reason Google tested its first ever fully automatic trip in Texas, land of wide lanes, huge highways, and car-centric development. Drop that car in the middle of a busy London backstreet and it won’t do so well.
The big question is whether all this automation will actually make things safer. On the one hand, cars don’t get distracted, drunk, or tired, all of which lie at the root of most fatalities on the road. On the other hand, if people are told to supervise a car which mostly drives itself, they tend not to be prepared to take over if it actually does need assistance – a problem that lay behind the first self-driving fatality in May.

Cyberwar

Let’s not mince words: cyberwar has already begun. If it didn’t start in 2008, when (probably) the Israeli and US intelligence services used the Stuxnet virus to destroy Iranian nuclear centrifuges, and it didn’t start in 2015, when the US Office of Personnel Management was hacked by (probably) China, stealing the personal details of millions of government employees, then it certainly started in 2016, when (probably) Russia hacked in to the Democratic National Congress, exflitrating emails which were released with the intention of altering the outcome of an election.
Those “probably”s expose part of the appeal of cyberwar for nation states: attribution is hard, and rock-solid attribution to not just a nation but a chain of command is almost impossible. The incoming US administration is already making aggressive overtures about its desire to get on the attack, which will inevitably also make it a bigger target, according to security expert Hitesh Sheth, head of cybersecurity firm Vectra.
“US businesses and the US government should expect an increase in the number and severity of cyber-attacks, led by select nation states and organised political and criminal entities,” he says.

The ghost of Christmas data breaches past

It feels like data breaches are everywhere. But that’s often not the case; while companies are indeed compromised on a regular basis, modern security practices usually ensure that not much is stolen, and what does get taken isn’t easy to exploit.
Instead, the more dangerous trend is old breaches surfacing, like an unexploded second-world-war bomb, to wreak havoc on the present. That’s what happened to Yahoo, twice in one year, when data breaches from 2013 and 2014 resurfaced. The breaches were huge, containing a billion and half a billion accounts respectively, and the information within them was barely secured. Passwords were obfuscated with a standard which has been known to be insecure since 2005, while other info, including security questions, was in plain text.
Because data breaches can happen undetected, fixing your cybersecurity in 2016 isn’t just locking the stable door after the horse has bolted; it’s locking the stable door without even realising the horse made its escape years ago.
The information in historical breaches has often been traded on the darknet for some time before their existence surfaces, meaning the damage comes in two waves: first, slowly, and then all at once.

Meet eSports, the new sports

Competitive video gaming is a huge business. In 2016, investment bank GP Bullhound estimated it hit a global audience of over 250 million people, and amassed a total annual revenue of $493m – and in 2017, that’s predicted to more than double, making eSports a billion-dollar sector.
The scale of the eSports industry is down to a number of factors, from increased broadband penetration making online multiplayer gaming accessible to most of the world to online streaming allowing budding eSports stars to skip conventional media and go straight to their fans.
But it’s now big enough to warp the very industry that spawned it, with major games publishers courting the eSports community from the inception of their latest releases. Blizzard, a Californian company best-known for its online game World of Warcraft, has been one of the leaders in the field, with games including Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch and Hearthstone all having online viewerships in the millions, but the standout success is Riot Games, whose sole title League of Legends had more viewers in its 2015 world championship than the final game of 2016’s NBA Finals.
GP Bullhound says the next big wave is going to come from mobile, with games like Clash Royale and Vainglory representing the fastest growing segment of the global $37bn games market. Of course, this might all pass you by: over half of eSports fans are millennials, by far the youngest skew of any group of sports supporters.

The great privacy divide

The world’s most advanced surveillance operation will shortly be under the direct control of a far-right demagogue who routinely attacks critics on social media and uses the office of US president-elect to bolster his commercial interests. That has left some people worried.
As a result, many are re-examining their online privacy, switching to encrypted messaging services, locking down social media accounts, and limiting the amount of information they put online. Signal, an encrypted messaging app recommended by Edward Snowden, saw a huge spike in downloads following Donald Trump’s election, while hundreds of tech workers signed a pledge to never implement the president-elect’s proposed registry of Muslims.
At the same time, though, trends in AI and online monetisation have pushed other tech firms to slowly chip away at the amount of privacy their users have, data-mining ever more aspects of their online lives in an effort to offer better services and create smarter software. Google, for instance, will now train a machine-learning system on your photos, read your emails to find useful information to add to your calendar, and save everything you say to it to improve its voice recognition.
Over 2017, this divide will only increase: companies like Apple and Signal on the one side, and Facebook and Google on the other. In the end, the market will decide. Are people willing to give up the latest and greatest fruits of machine-learning to limit their exposure to surveillance, or do they not really care about online privacy and want everything as soon as it’s technologically possible?

Chinese tech goes west

The likes of Foxconn may build the world’s most premium tech, but in the west, Chinese brands are still largely associated with cheap electronics: no-name flat panels and cheap smartphones that spy on you. As for software, the entire country can feel as if it’s seen through analogues to Silicon Valley, from “China’s Google” (Baidu) to “China’s Twitter” (Sina Weibo).
But an increasing number of Chinese companies have their eyes set on the richer markets of Europe and America, without giving up on the customer base in their own country. Shenzhen-based OnePlus, for instance, has slowly carved out a niche for itself with its high-quality, low-price range of smartphones, which aim to match the flagships from Apple and Samsung while offering price-sensitive users savings of hundreds of pounds. Huawei, already a fairly well-known brand in the west, is pushing its Honor brand as a way to drop the budget image for a new demographic.
And software firms are getting in the game too. Tencent, makers of WeChat (that’s “China’s WhatsApp”, for those playing along at home), is pushing hard into the west, taking on Facebook at its own game. The service is currently most popular with Chinese expats, but it’s clear that Facebook is watching closely: a number of features in Messenger are ripped wholesale from the hugely influential service.

Firefox will support Windows XP and Vista until September 2017

2016-12-26T00:54:00.000-08:00

Firefox will support Windows XP and Vista until September 2017

Numerous web browsers have already stopped supporting Windows XP and Vista, but not Firefox. To this day, Mozilla's latest software can work with your decade-old PC. However, even that team has its limits -- it's phasing out support for XP and Vista starting next year. Mozilla will start by moving users on these operating systems to the Extended Support Release in March 2017, limiting them to feature updates that can be "several cycles" behind the curve. And while the company plans to unveil a final support end date in the middle of that year, it'll effectively cut the cord in September, when it stops delivering security updates.

This doesn't mean that Firefox will stop working on XP or Vista in September, of course. But when security flaws are hard to avoid, it'll be impractical to keep using Firefox on those platforms when you could remain permanently vulnerable to exploits. There aren't likely to be many people who both run a 10-year-old operating system and care enough about their web experience to use a recent browser, so the impact may be limited. However, it's still a big deal if you're stuck on a work PC or otherwise haven't had a chance to upgrade to a newer version of Windows. Like it or not, you'll probably have to consider a new OS (or a new PC) if you want to experience the modern internet next year.

Virtual reality content startup Jaunt lands on PlayStation VR

2016-12-26T00:28:00.001-08:00

Virtual reality content startup Jaunt lands on PlayStation VR

The PlayStation VR just got some additional content via the recently announced app launch by Jaunt. The platform will have instant access to 150 cinematic titles from the startup. The app includes videos like the award-winning animation Invasion, CBS' JPL Mars 2020, Shaq Goes to Cuba, Zombie Purge and the Pure McCartney Experience from the former Beatle.

With this news Jaunt is now available on every major VR platform including; PlayStation VR, iOS, Android, Gear VR, Google Daydream, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and major desktop browsers. That's a whole lot of folks putting on face computers and spinning in circles.
Sony recently announced support for 360-degree YouTube videos as the company attempts to add more content to the headset.

Louis Tomlinson Solo Career !

2016-12-04T02:33:00.001-08:00

Louis Tomlinson Solo Career !

It looks like Niall Horan is about to have some familiar company at the top of the music charts soon, since a report is saying that Louis Tomlinson is ready to launch his solo career!
The Sun is reporting that the singer has taken on the role as songwriter again and has been in the studio working on his own songs. It also seems that he is sticking by Simon Cowell, and will be staying on his label.
Label executives at Syco are apparently impressed with the One Direction guy's new music and are looking forward to releasing him as a solo artist, the newspaper reported.
"He's played some to the powers that be at Syco, who are really excited," the source said.
"They think he could be a real success as a solo artist, given his proven ability to write hit records and massive fanbase as part of 1D."
Well, "This Town" took everyone by surprise and it is honestly a fan favorite. So now we'll get to wait and see what Louis' music sounds like and perhaps he will have the same success as his Irish friend

Justin Bieber Did Not Say “Who Even Likes Taylor Swift?

2016-12-04T02:26:00.000-08:00

Justin Bieber Did Not Say “Who Even Likes Taylor Swift?

Justin Bieber is a big fan of Taylor Swift‘s song “I Knew You Were Trouble!”

The 22-year-old entertainer took to Ellen Degeneres‘ Snapchat to share a quick video singing the first few words on the song!

This isn’t the first time Justin has covered Tay‘s song though! Earlier in the summer, he sang a snippet of the hit song with his friend Martin Garrix.

Back in May, he shared another cover video of Taylor‘s song “Teardrops on My Guitar” and she famously liked the video on Instagram.

The Daily Mail claims, “It seems the ‘Sorry’ singer may be trying to start a bit of a tiff with Taylor Swift. Justin was captured by the JustinBieberTracker Instagram account taking a selfie video in which he wears a white t-shirt and holds a bottle of blue drink. After checking to make sure the device was recording, he sings a line from Swift’s I Knew You Were Trouble from 2012. His caption curiously read: ‘Who even likes taylor swift?'”

The British tabloid accuses Bieber of “starting a row” and “throwing shade” with that caption. There is one significant problem, though. The singer himself did NOT write that caption or say anything about Swift at all.

Here’s what really happened: Bieber was at a taping for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” where he filmed a snippet for the program’s Snapchat. It features the performer innocuously singing, “I knew you were trouble when you walked in.” And that’s it.

But the @justinbiebertracker on Instagram shared the footage, and wrote its own caption. The person who runs the account, which attempts to track Bieber’s every move, is the one who wrote, “Who even likes Taylor Swift?” It was NOT Bieber’s own caption from Snapchat or Instagram, and he doesn’t even have personal accounts for either service anymore.

Taylor Swift Gives a Sick Fan a Christmas Surprise!

2015-12-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

Taylor Swift Gives a Sick Fan a Christmas Surprise!

Taylor Swift made a special stop on the way home for the holidays – a visit to a young fan suffering from cancer.Delaney Clements was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2010 and has been a long time fan of Taylor. She recently stopped her cancer treatment and entered hospice care.
Other Swifties started a #DelaneyMeetTaylor campaign and on Saturday (December 19), Delaney‘s dream came true.

“Literally speechless right now!!!!! My new best friend ( as I call her now ) made a special stop from going home to Tennessee and surprised me and gave me the best present/ hugg ever!! Thank you !! I love you!! Happy holidays!!😍💙☃” Delaney wrote on her Instagram, along with an adorable selfie with Taylor , where they both rock bright red lipstick.

The world's 'most powerful' smartphone isn't, but it's still good

2015-12-20T01:22:00.001-08:00

The world's 'most powerful' smartphone isn't, but it's still good

One smartphone maker is learning the hard way why you shouldn't promise more than you can deliver. Yu (partly owned by India's Micromax) has unveiled the Yutopia, which it bills as the "most powerful phone on the planet." There's only one problem: it isn't. You'll find plenty to like in the Cyanogen OS handset between its 5.2-inch quad HD display, Snapdragon 810 chip, 4GB of RAM, 21-megapixel rear camera, 8-megapixel front shooter, fingerprint reader and 3,000mAh battery. However, you've seen all of this or better in phones released months ago -- odds are that you bought a Galaxy Note 5 or Nexus 6P if you were determined to get the best specs.
However, you might forgive Yu's stronger-than-usual marketing bluster when you see the price. The Yutopia will sell for 24,999 rupees off-contract, or about $377, when it reaches India on December 26th. Given that even Motorola's fine Moto X Pure Edition costs $399 in the US, you're getting a whole lot of phone for the money.

Liam Payne Responds to Noel Gallagher's Huge One Direction Diss

2015-12-18T02:39:00.000-08:00

Liam Payne Responds to Noel Gallagher's Huge One Direction Diss

As one of the biggest bands in the world, One Direction has admittedly been dissed more than a few times. During a recent interview, Liam Payne was asked about Noel Gallagher's nasty recent comments. The Oasis rocker made a quip, saying, "Does anybody give a [crap] about what any of these current pop stars are up to? Who gives a [crap] what [stupid] One Direction do?"
Thankfully, we can leave it to Payno to have an eloquent response! He says that he finds the whole situation "sad" because they get along fine in real life.
"The funny thing was, I met him the day the story came out. I didn't know it was coming out, and he came up and said, 'All right, mate? How are you doing?' I was like, 'Fine thanks, mate. Nice to meet you'. The next day I read the story and thought, 'How sad is that?' He completely dissed us. Nice to diss your fans, isn't it?" he said on BBC Radio One.
"It's sad because they genuinely led me to a path of singing. That's something they should be genuinely proud of. They don't think before they speak. You never know who was a fan of your music. Especially when you were as big as they were. Do it with grace. Good old Noel, bless him."
Of course, this is the rock star who dissed Ed Sheeran and insulted Taylor Swift and 1D in one go. At this point, we may just need to tune him out.

Amazon UK will waive delivery fees if you pick your order up

2015-08-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

Amazon UK will waive delivery fees if you pick your order up

In order to be eligible for "free" Amazon deliveries, you either need to spend £20 for Super Saver Delivery or jump aboard the £79 Prime train. From today, though, Amazon has a new shipment option it'd like to run by you. The company has decided to waive delivery fees for orders sent to one of its Pickup Locations, saving you money while letting you collect your packages at a more convenient time.
The idea isn't new, but getting it for free is. If you're at work or continually miss the post, choosing to have an order delivered to Pickup Location like a rail, tube or petrol station, newsagent or Post Office would normally incur an additional delivery charge based on weight (Prime members get it free). Now, you either have to spend £10 on book or £20 on anything else from Amazon's store to be eligible for a free pickup.
Amazon says: "For many people, collecting from an Amazon Pickup Location is the delivery option of choice. Our customers were telling us that free delivery to a Pickup Location would be a great value service and we agree." Makes sense for people who can't stay home to collect their deliveries, but it also puts less pressure on its Logistics team to make door-to-door dropoffs. With over 13,000 Pickup Locations available, free deliveries might change the way some Amazon customers shop online.
Amazon UK

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 pre-orders start today

2015-08-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 pre-orders start today

We know what the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 looks like, but what about the important stuff? Namely, when we'll be able to get our paws on it and how much it'll cost? Well, boy howdy the Korean electronics juggernaut's answered both of those questions this morning. You can pre-order the slate starting today and the device hits "select" US retailers and carriers come September 3rd. A WiFi model packed with 32GB of storage and a 9.7-inch screen will set you back a cool $499.99 while the 8-inch model with the same capacity is $100 less.
Both sizes are available in black (AT&T, Sprint, US Cellular, T-Mobile), gold (WiFi only) and white (Verizon), and Samsung says it's working with Amazon and Best Buy for a sort of trade-in deal where bringing in a qualifying tablet will knock $100 off the S2's purchase price. Meanwhile, if you want something with mobile data, the required ducats will vary based on the carrier of your choice. Now, who's ready for breakfast?

Engadget

'Angry Birds' studio cuts another 260 jobs

2015-08-26T23:16:00.001-07:00

'Angry Birds' studio cuts another 260 jobs

The firm behind Angry Birds has announced that it's laying off a further 260 employees as it attempts to become a smaller and more profitable company. CEO Pekka Rantala admits that Rovio was too eager to "explore new business opportunities," which it did by doing "too many things." Unfortunately, with profits tumbling, the outfit is going to have to go back to being a stripped-down games maker. The lay-offs will come from all areas of the business except those working on the Sony-backed Angry Birds Movie in the US and Canada. It's not much of a surprise since it looked as if the company's day in the sun had ended a while ago. After all, Angry Birds 2 is the thirteenth title in the series, so it's clearly been flogging a seriously-injured horse for quite some time

Engadget

The Most Stylish Selfie of the Week

2015-08-24T01:45:00.003-07:00

The Most Stylish Selfie of the Week

Bella Thorne rocked the cutest striped t-shirt and trendy hat in her new Instagram photo. "Hey you...you are special..," she sweetly captioned her pic.

One Direction Is Taking an Extended Break Sooner Than You Think

2015-08-24T01:28:00.001-07:00

One Direction Is Taking an Extended Break Sooner Than You Think

One Direction is allegedly taking a break after their fifth album to pursue their solo passion projects! According to multiple reports, the band will not be touring after their next record comes out — which means that their On the Road Again tour may be the last time you'll see them perform as a band for a while — and they'll be taking their break starting March 2016.
However, this is not a breakup.
"They are taking a hiatus so they can work on individual projects for a while but they are not splitting up. They will remain together and plan to work together in the future," a source told E! Online.

"They are great friends and fully support one another. They are very aware that they are able to work on their own stuff as well as remain together. This is an exciting time for them creatively and as a group."
Even though it's tearing our hearts apart, this should not come as surprising news. Liam Payne has repeatedly said that 1D deserves to have a little rest. And you know what? If that's what the boys need, then that's what they need! It doesn't mean that the band is over forever.
Plus, they've been working on solo projects for a while, and that hasn't interfered with their dedication to the band. They'll always be brothers, even on hiatus.

One Direction Removes Zayn Malik From Their Facebook and Twitter Profile Pictures

2015-04-21T20:15:00.002-07:00

One Direction Removes Zayn Malik From Their Facebook and Twitter Profile Pictures

One Direction has officially nixed Zayn Malik from their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures! The band's social media managers have finally changed the band's photos to reflect the new four-piece arrangement

The new photo is a cute selfie of Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan.

And their Facebook also reflected the change

Their old profile photo was the cover of their latest album, Four.

However, they still haven't taken him off the members list of their Facebook profile, which means they're still hanging on the good old days. (We are too, a little bit.)

But now that Zayn's making plans for a breakout acting career and has officially changed his own profile pic, it seems like the guys are trying to get their Directioners to move on.

Zayn Malik Shaves His Head for the Asian Awards

2015-04-17T21:31:00.003-07:00

Zayn Malik Shaves His Head for the Asian Awards

We waited with baited breath to see Zayn Malik's first public appearance since leaving One Direction at the British Asian Awards today, and we literally gasped when we saw him. We expected him to look awesome, but we did NOT expect him to shave his head!

The singer rocked a Liam Payne-esque closely cropped style for the awards show, and we can't even handle it.

Navigate YouTube in 15 more languages

2015-04-14T03:15:00.002-07:00

Navigate YouTube in 15 more languages

YouTube's developers are doing what they can to welcome as many people as possible using their own language. Google's video-sharing website has always been a polyglot, but now it has added support for 15 more languages, bringing the total to 76. That covers the native tongues of 95 percent of internet users, at least according to YouTube. To be clear, those 76 options are for site navigation only, and choosing any of them translates the website's links, buttons and text -- the videos themselves already have caption support for over 165 languages. You can see the full list below the fold, but here are the 15 new additions:

Azerbaijani - Azərbaycan (az), Armenian - Հայերեն (hy) , Georgian - ქართული (ka) , Kazakh - Қазақ Тілі (kk) , Khmer - ខ្មែរ (km), Kirghiz - Кыргызча (ky), Lao - ລາວ (lo), Macedonian - Македонски (mk), Mongolian - Монгол (mn), Myanmar (Burmese) - ဗမာ (my), Nepali - नेपाली (ne), Punjabi - ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (pa), Sinhala - සිංහල (si), Albanian - Shqip (sq), Uzbek - OʻZbekcha (uz).

YouTube (Google+)

Mariella Moon
Engadget

Zayn Malik Is Making His First Public Appearance Since Leaving One Direction

2015-04-14T03:10:00.001-07:00

Zayn Malik Is Making His First Public Appearance Since Leaving One Direction

Zayn Malik is making his first public appearance after leaving One Direction, and will be attending the British Asian Awards on April 17th. According to an invite obtained by Sugarscape, "ex boy band member Zayn Malik will also be in attendance" at the event in London.

He's an ambassador for the British Asian Trust (and has gone to the awards show before), so it makes sense that he's going to be there, but we're kind of shocked that it's happening so soon.

Since leaving the band, he's only given one interview, but hasn't really opened up to his fans in any other way. It seems like he's been resting and going on vacation with Perrie Edwards and his family, so maybe he'll be in better shape! If he really did leave the band to be out of the public eye, hopefully he's had some time to recuperate from some of the stress.

Find Out the 2015 Billboard Music Awards Nominees!

2015-04-08T02:39:00.000-07:00

Find Out the 2015 Billboard Music Awards Nominees!

The Billboard Music Awards 2015 nominees are being announced all day, and some of your favorite singers, like Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, and Ariana Grande, have already been nominated.

TOP ARTIST
Ariana Grande
One Direction
Katy Perry
Sam Smith
Taylor Swift

TOP MALE ARTIST
Drake
Pharrell Williams
Ed Sheeran
Sam Smith
Justin Timberlake

TOP FEMALE ARTIST
Iggy Azalea
Ariana Grande
Katy Perry
Taylor Swift
Meghan Trainor

TOP BILLBOARD 200 ALBUM
Maroon 5, V
Pentatonix, That's Christmas to Me
Ed Sheeran, x
Sam Smith, In the Lonely Hour
Taylor Swift, 1989

TOP HOT 100 SONG
Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX, "Fancy"
John Legend, "All of Me"
Sam Smith, "Stay With Me"
Taylor Swift, "Shake It Off"
Meghan Trainor, "All About That Bass"

TOP DUO/GROUP
5 Seconds of Summer
Florida Georgia Line
MAGIC!
Maroon 5
One Direction

TOP HOT 100 ARTIST
Iggy Azalea
Ariana Grande
Sam Smith
Taylor Swift
Meghan Trainor

TOP DIGITAL SONGS ARTIST
Iggy Azalea
Ed Sheeran
Sam Smith
Taylor Swift
Meghan Trainor

TOP RADIO SONGS ARTIST
John Legend
Maroon 5
Ed Sheeran
Sam Smith
Taylor Swift

TOP TOURING ARTIST
Lady Gaga
One Direction
Katy Perry
The Rolling Stones
Justin Timberlake

TOP SOCIAL ARTIST
Justin Bieber
Miley Cyrus
Selena Gomez
Ariana Grande
Taylor Swift

TOP STREAMING ARTIST
Iggy Azalea
Ariana Grande
Nicki Minaj
Taylor Swift
Meghan Trainor

TOP R&B ARTIST
Beyoncé
Chris Brown
John Legend
Trey Songz
Pharrell Williams

TOP RAP ARTIST
Iggy Azalea
J. Cole
Drake
Nicki Minaj
Rae Sremmurd

TOP COUNTRY ARTIST
Jason Aldean
Luke Bryan
Florida Georgia Line
Brantley Gilbert
Blake Shelton

TOP ROCK ARTIST
Bastille
Coldplay
Fall Out Boy
Hozier
Lorde

TOP LATIN ARTIST
J Balvin
Juan Gabriel
Enrique Iglesias
Prince Royce
Romeo Santos

TOP DANCE/ELECTRONIC ARTIST
Avicii
Clean Bandit
Disclosure
Calvin Harris
Lindsey Stirling

TOP CHRISTIAN ARTIST
Casting Crowns
Hillsong United
Lecrae
MercyMe
Newsboys

TOP BILLBOARD 200 ALBUM
Maroon 5, V
Pentatonix, That's Christmas to Me
Ed Sheeran, x
Sam Smith, In the Lonely Hour
Taylor Swift, 1989

TOP SOUNDTRACK
The Fault in Our Stars
Fifty Shades of Grey
Frozen
Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix: Vol. 1
Into the Woods

TOP R&B ALBUM
Beyoncé, Beyoncé
Chris Brown, X
Michael Jackson, Xscape
John Legend, Love in the Future
Pharrell Williams, G I R L

TOP RAP ALBUM
J. Cole, 2014 Forest Hills Drive
Drake, If You're Reading This It's Too Late
Nicki Minaj, The Pinkprint
Iggy Azalea, The New Classic
Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP 2

TOP COUNTRY ALBUM
Jason Aldean, Old Boots, New Dirt
Garth Brooks, Man Against Machine
Luke Bryan, Crash My Party
Brantley Gilbert, Just As I Am
Miranda Lambert, Platinum

TOP ROCK ALBUM
AC/DC, Rock or Bust
The Black Keys, Turn Blue
Coldplay, Ghost Stories
Hozier, Hozier
Lorde, Pure Heroine

TOP LATIN ALBUM
Juan Gabriel, Los Dúo
Enrique Iglesias, Sex and Love
Romeo Santos, Formula: Vol. 2
Santana, Corazon
Marc Anthony, 3.0

TOP DANCE/ELECTRONIC ALBUM
Avicii, True
Disclosure, Settle
Calvin Harris, Motion
Skrillex, Recess
Lindsey Stirling, Shatter Me

TOP CHRISTIAN ALBUM
Lecrae, Anomaly
Casting Crowns, Thrive
MercyMe, Welcome to the New
NEEDTOBREATHE, Rivers in the Wasteland
Chris Tomlin, Love Ran Red

TOP HOT 100 SONG
Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX, "Fancy"
John Legend, "All of Me"
Sam Smith, "Stay With Me"
Taylor Swift, "Shake It Off"
Meghan Trainor, "All About That Bass"

TOP DIGITAL SONG
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, "Uptown Funk!"
Sam Smith, "Stay With Me"
Taylor Swift, "Shake It Off"
Meghan Trainor, "All About That Bass"
Pharrell Williams, "Happy

TOP RADIO SONG
John Legend, "All of Me"
MAGIC!, "Rude"
Nico & Vinz, "Am I Wrong"
Sam Smith, "Stay With Me"
Pharrell Williams, "Happy

TOP STREAMING SONG (AUDIO)
Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX, "Fancy"
Hozier, "Take Me to Church"
John Legend, "All of Me"
Sam Smith, "Stay With Me"
Tove Lo, "Habits (Stay High)"

TOP STREAMING SONG (VIDEO)
Idina Menzel, "Let It Go"
Bobby Shmurda, "Hot Boy"
Taylor Swift, "Blank Space"
Taylor Swift, "Shake It Off"
Meghan Trainor, "All About That Bass"

TOP R&B SONG
Chris Brown feat. Lil Wayne, French Montana, Too $hort & Tyga, "Loyal"
Jason Derulo feat. 2 Chainz, "Talk Dirty"
Jeremih feat. YG, "Don't Tell 'Em"
John Legend, "All of Me"
Pharrell Williams, "Happy"

TOP RAP SONG
Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX, "Fancy"
Iggy Azalea feat. Rita Ora, "Black Widow"
Big Sean feat. E-40, "I Don't F--- With You"
Nicki Minaj, "Anaconda"
Bobby Shmurda, "Hot Boy"

TOP COUNTRY SONG
Jason Aldean, "Burnin' It Down"
Luke Bryan, "Play It Again"
Sam Hunt, "Leave the Night On"
Florida Georgia Line feat. Luke Bryan, "This Is How We Roll"
Florida Georgia Line, "Dirt"

TOP ROCK SONG
Bastille, "Pompeii"
Coldplay, "A Sky Full of Stars"
Fall Out Boy, "Centuries"
Hozier, "Take Me to Church"
Paramore, "Ain't It Fun"

TOP LATIN SONG
J Balvin feat. Farruko, "6 AM"
Enrique Iglesias feat. Descemer Bueno & Gente de Zona, "Bailando"
Romeo Santos, "Eres Mía"
Romeo Santos feat. Drake, "Odio"
Romeo Santos, "Propuesta Indecente"

TOP DANCE/ELECTRONIC SONG
Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne, "Rather Be"
Disclosure feat. Sam Smith, "Latch"
DJ Snake & Lil Jon, "Turn Down For What"
Ariana Grande feat. Zedd, "Break Free"
Calvin Harris, "Summer"

TOP CHRISTIAN SONG
Francesca Battistelli, "He Knows My Name"
Hillsong United, "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)"
MercyMe, "Greater"
Newsboys, "We Believe"
Carrie Underwood, "Something in the Water"

BILLBOARD CHART ACHIEVEMENT AWARD PRESENTED BY SAMSUNG GALAXY (FAN-VOTED)
Iggy Azalea
Taylor Swift
Meghan Trainor

Louis Tomlinson Throws Major Shade at Zayn Malik

2015-04-01T05:58:00.002-07:00

Louis Tomlinson Throws Major Shade at Zayn Malik

Apparently Louis Tomlinson isn't very happy about Zayn Malik quitting One Direction! The 1D guy recently got in a fight with Zayn's mentor Naughty Boy on Twitter and also threw shade at his former bandmate on stage during a concert.

It all started when the singer walked up to the band's keyboard player Jon Shone and said, "You’re not looking for fame? OH WOW, what a great musician!”

Since Zayn left 1D to get out of the spotlight, it's safe to assume that Louis' referencing his former bandmate. And he didn't stop there!

He continued on with his rant saying, "You’ve let me down, you’ve let these beautiful people down. What have you done?”

Yikes! Apparently the guys haven't been as "supportive" as Zayn made it seem. Or maybe Louis is just upset that his friend left and went right to the studio to make new songs.

Limited edition 'Batman' PlayStation 4 scratches that superhero itch

2015-04-01T05:02:00.001-07:00

Limited edition 'Batman' PlayStation 4 scratches that superhero itch

If you missed out on that coveted 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4, don't fret: there's another special-run model coming soon. Sony has unveiled a limited edition Batman: Arkham Knight PS4 bundle that gives you a "steel grey" console emblazoned with the Caped Crusader's silhouette alongside the matching controller and, of course, the game. You'll want to pre-order the $450 pack quickly if you want to stand a chance of getting it on its June 23rd launch day, but there is a standard $400 bundle if you're either late to the party or are more interested in saving Gotham than showing off.
PlayStation Blog

Jon Fingas

Engadget -

This is how you refuel Zero's electric motorcycle

2015-04-01T04:54:00.002-07:00

This is how you refuel Zero's electric motorcycle

If there's one problem to racing a super-cool electric motorcycle, it's that pit stops tend to be a bit slow. After all, in the time it takes a regular hot rod to refuel, you've probably only gained one or two percent of charge. That's why Zero Motorcycles has created a patent pending hot-swappable battery system for the Zero FX that enables you to "refuel" the e-bike in just over half a minute. The clip below shows you how quickly this can be done out on the track, which makes us want to buy one of these $10,000 bikes even more than before.
Daniel Cooper
Engadget

Samsung delays its next-gen home automation devices

2015-04-01T04:50:00.001-07:00

Samsung delays its next-gen home automation devices

It'll take a while longer to see how Samsung's acquisition has improved SmartThings' Hub and sensors. The company was supposed to release its next-gen home automation devices this April, but now it's pushing back the launch date. SmartThings isn't even 100 percent sure when it will be able to release the new devices, but it says it will "most likely [happen in] Q3" 2015. Version 2 of its Hub and sensors just aren't ready for launch yet, as the company's announcement says it's working non-stop "to get the experience to the point where it needs to be."
If you recall, the new SmartThings hub promises faster performance, with the ability to run apps locally instead of in the cloud. It includes a battery backup, so some functions can work even without power, as well as more cellular data options. In addition to ensuring it can deliver on all those promises, the company says it's doing a lot of testing to get to the bottom of recent service outages. As disappointing as delays can be, it's certainly better than the alternative.SmartThings

Mariella Moon
Engadget

Can you Read Inside The Circle? Comment If You Can! ! !

2015-04-01T04:48:00.001-07:00

Can you Read Inside The Circle? Comment If You Can! ! !

Your Guide to the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards Winners!

2015-03-29T01:58:00.000-07:00

Your Guide to the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards Winners!

With so many of our favorite stars up for 2015 Kids' Choice Awards, we've been looking forward to the show all week to find out the winners — and tonight, we'll finally learn the results. In fact, we'll be updating you throughout the night with the list of winners, so stay tuned!

Favorite Movie Actress: Emma Stone, The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Favorite Family TV Show: Modern Family
Favorite Kids TV Show: Austin & Ally
Favorite TV Actor: Ross Lynch
Favorite TV Actress: Laura Marano
Favorite Cartoon: Spongebob
Favorite New Artist: Fifth Harmony
Favorite Male Action Star: Liam Hemsworth, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Favorite Movie: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Favorite Movie Actor: Ben Stiller
Favorite Female Action Star: Jennifer Lawrence
Favorite Animated Movie: Big Hero 6
Favorite Music Group: One Direction
Favorite Song: "Bang Bang" by Jessie J, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande
Favorite Female Singer: Selena Gomez
Favorite Book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Favorite Video Game: Minecraft
Favorite Talent Competition Show: The Voice
Favorite Reality TV Show: Dance Moms
Favorite Male Singer: Nick Jonas
Favorite Villain: Angelina Jolie, Maleficent

Zayn Malik Wants to Go Solo After Leaving One Direction

2015-03-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

Zayn Malik Wants to Go Solo After Leaving One Direction

Zayn Malik wants to go solo after leaving One Direction! In an interview with The Sun, the singer confirmed that he's working on his own music that may be released later this year.

According to the article, he's "[seeking] solace in his music," shutting himself off from the world in a West London recording studio and working on his first release with Naughty Boy. We've known about their collaboration in the past, but we just assumed it was going to be a side project.

The producer has also been posting cryptic tweets since the news broke, teasing that he's working hard on a big project.

While we're obviously happy that we'll get to hear Zayn's gorgeous voice (and high notes!) once again, we're a little shocked that he's launching a solo career.

Of course, it seems like he doesn't want the rigorous schedule that came with being a part of 1D, so he probably won't be trying to replicate their success. It seemed like he was pretty upset after his songs didn't make it onto Four, and he's just looking for a way to get out his music now.

After Zayn Malik left One Direction, fans have been wondering about his relationship with Perrie Edwards. The rumors that he cheated on the Little Mix singer reportedly contributed to his decision to leave the band, but Zerrie lovers can breathe easy because they're still happily together.

"Yeah, she's alright, man. She's a good girl," he said, when asked about their relationship in an interview with The Sun.