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Step aside dancing fountains and community gardens, it’s the age of the urban swing set. I’m not talking about playgrounds. These are swings designed for adults, enticing the tushes of office workers, college students, and tourists—city dwellers young and old who all want to take a turn kicking their legs up into the sky.
Five years ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt proclaimed that laptops would become disposable. We’re nearly there. Starting today, you can buy a new Chromebook for just $150—the cheapest price ever. And this spring, there’s a $250 Chromebook coming that looks pretty incredible.
Launched in late 2013, the littleBits Synth Kit lets you snap together the different components of a synthesizer into an extremely minimal modular instrument. Today, littleBits is adding three new modulates to its lineup, allowing its toy synth to connect with other musical tools like, uh, your computer.
Elon Musk's teases some new tesla tech, Jay-Z wants to change the world (with a music streaming service), and benchmarks lay the rumored Z4 bare. Welcome to Bitstream, all the news tidbits and rumors you missed in the last 24 hours.
During a performance a band is completely reliant on its drummer for setting the rhythm, but what about during rehearsal when a musician is practicing alone? Or when a musical group doesn't have a drummer? That's where this new wearable comes in. It doesn't tell time, it doesn't have notifications, and it can't run apps. All it does is precisely keep the beat using strong but silent vibrations.
Few of us have the mental bandwidth to care about the latest hot new social thing. When Foursquare split its app, I never downloaded Swarm in protest. I never signed up for Ello. Do I sound too get-off-my-lawn when I say screw Snapchat?