Chromecast, Google’s HDMI streaming dongle, has turned one year old today. And to celebrate the occasion, the search giant is giving everyone who owns a Chromecast a free 90-day subscription to Play Music All Access.

There are some caveats, though, chief among which is that the offer is only valid if you’re in the US. Furthermore, it’s not an option for anyone who has previously subscribed to All Access. And that unfortunately includes those who took advantage of the the unlimited music service’s free trial. Read more »

Sony’s SmartBand SWR10 is what you’d call a life logger, a fashionable band, a music/camera remote, and vibrates on notifications. It collects motion data and logs everything within a dedicated app on your Android smartphone.

Despite what the product name may have you believe, the Sony SmartBand is not meant to be a smart personal assistant. It’s an unobtrusive device with exchangeable wrist bands to match your style and blend seamlessly with any other accessories you might have.

And no, it doesn’t have a display, but the lack of one doesn’t get in the way. There are three small status LEDs and it communicates with you with vibrations. Read more »

Wearables are gaining ground but there’s a revolution brewing in home appliances too – Google recently acquired Nest Labs while Samsung announced its own home automation platform. Instead of developing multiple incompatible technologies Nest, Samsung and others have united to create Thread.

Thread is built on 802.15.4 – a low-power wireless standard already used in home automation – but the Thread Group says previous standards built on it were developed before the Internet of Things. Read more »

This may sound like something straight out of science fiction, but you can now control Google Glass with just your mind.

All you’ll need is MindRDR’s software and a Neurosky EEG biosensor headset, and you’ll be good to go. Read more »

Microsoft has started taking pre-orders for its second generation Kinect sensor for Windows. It’s priced at $199, and it will be released on July 15 (which is next Tuesday).

The new device aims to succeed the original Kinect for Windows that went on sale in 2012. The Kinect v2 is based on the corresponding sensor for the Xbox One. Read more »

Most fitness sensors only really excel at running and cardiovascular tracking, but what if you want to get swole by lifting weights? Most trackers are useless when it comes to tracking your pursuit of jakked-dom.

Cue the Beast sensor: a new fitness tracking wearable that’ll let you know when you’re losing form while it also measures the efficacy of your lifts. Read more »

There are plenty of media hubs out there for purchase that allow you to play media files off of flash drives, SD cards, and even stream them from your PC to your TV.

EzeeCube does pretty much all of this, but has two cool features: an innovative stackable design, and the ability to play old-school SNES and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges. Past, meet the present, with a little bit of hacktastic goodness sprinkled on top. Read more »

As the saying goes, “we are all creatures of habit” and the creator of Pavlok, a new wearable, believes wholeheartedly in this mantra.

Pavlok helps to reinforce positive behavior habits. How? Well, it electrocutes you. Seriously. Read more »

The upcoming Android TV seemed to threaten the very existence of Chromecast, but Google seems rather attached to it as it announced cool new features for its highly popular HDMI stick. The most important new feature is screen mirroring, which lets you display any app on your phone or tablet on your Chromecast-enabled TV (is this the end of Miracast?).

Chromecast is also easier to set up for casting from your friends’ devices – they no longer need to be connected to your Wi-Fi network. Read more »

Globalstar doesn’t just make satelliite phones, they now have a product that effectively makes any phone a satellite phone.

Meet the Sat-Fi, a $999 satellite hot spot. Read more »

If you’re on the other side of the pond and wanted to pick up a pair of Google Glasses, well now you’re going to get your chance.

Google is willing to sell you a pair of their beta tech-spectacles, but it’ll cost you £1,000. Read more »

A Firefox-OS-powered streaming stick is in the works and Mozilla aims to provide an alternative to the Google’s Chromecast.

Our colleagues over at Gigaom have their hands on a prototype version and have shared their insights on what we can expect from the stick. Read more »

It looks like Apple’s mobile devices are getting a lot of love from Adobe today. In addition to announcing Lightroom Mobile for the iPhone, Adobe has also made Ink & Slide and Photoshop Mix for the iPad.

Ink & Slide are a pair of image editing accessories that’ll give you a whole new way to use Photoshop on your iPad. Photoshop Mix is a photo gallery app that comes with a few neat features. Read more »

The wearable market is getting pretty inundated lately, with the iWatch, Samsung Galaxy Gear, LG’s G Watch, the upcoming Moto 360, and others, it seems that there are plenty of health-tracking devices out there that users can wear to measure their level of fitness activity.

But lets say you wanted a wearable that let you track and manage your finances? Well that’s the direction that Artefact wants to push the currency world to. Read more »

The really nifty FiftyThree Pencil stylus for iPad will get a new and exciting feature once iOS 8 becomes available.

Once the newest iteration of Apple’s mobile operating system hits the streets, the Pencil will automatically get support for pressure sensitivity. Read more »