Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product

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Seth Stevenson, writing for The Wall Street Journal, on Snapchat’s new hardware product, “Spectacles.”

What initially appears to be a normal pair of sunglasses turns out to be Spectacles, the first hardware product from Snap Inc., as the firm has been newly christened (Spiegel is refreshing the company name because its offerings now go beyond the Snapchat app). When you slip Spectacles on and tap a button near the hinge, it records up to 10 seconds of video from your first-person vantage. Each new tap records another clip.

They’re hideous and I expect to see them at concerts in the not so distant future.

My Thanks to Every Time I Die

•Sponsored Post

Every Time I Die released their new album, Low Teens, yesterday. I think you should definitely check it out if you haven’t yet. Every Time I Die are one of those bands that every time I listen to I realize how much I enjoy, but I always forget when talking about bands with the best catalogs. Anyway, this album is no doubt up there with the best the band have done — and you should give it a listen. My sincere thanks to the band and Epitaph Records for sponsoring the website this week, it means so much to me to see bands I love and respect working with us.

Every Time I Die will be on tour this fall with Beartooth, Fit For a King, and Old Wounds. Tickets are on sale now and all the dates can be found below.

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Riding Shotgun With the Boss

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Dwight Garner, writing at The New York Times, reviewed Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography:

The book is like one of Mr. Springsteen’s shows — long, ecstatic, exhausting, filled with peaks and valleys. It’s part séance and part keg party, and then the house lights come up and you realize that, A) you look ridiculous dancing to “Twist and Shout” and, B) you will be driving home in a minivan and not a Camaro.

His writing voice is much like his speaking voice; there’s a big, raspy laugh on at least every other page. There’s some raunch here. This book has not been utterly sanitized for anyone’s protection, and many of the best lines won’t be printed in this newspaper. Most important, “Born to Run” is, like his finest songs, closely observed from end to end. His story is intimate and personal, but he has an interest in other people and a gift for sizing them up.

The 40th Anniversary Edition of the Voyager Golden Record

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A Kickstarter has launched to press a reproduction of the Golden Record that was included on the Voyager space probes:

The Voyager Golden Record contains the story of Earth expressed in sounds, images, and science: Earth’s greatest music from myriad cultures and eras, from Bach and Beethoven to Blind Willie Johnson and Chuck Berry, Senegalese percussion to Solomon Island panpipes. Dozens of natural sounds of our planet — birds, a train, a baby’s cry — are collaged into a lovely sound poem. There are spoken greetings in 55 human languages, and one whale language, and more than one hundred images encoded in analog that depict who, and what, we are.

Tim Lambesis Filed a $35 Million Lawsuit Against Medical Team

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Graham Hartmann, writing at Loudwire, on how ex-As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis has filed a $35 million lawsuit against a California medical team:

In a legal document filed by Lambesis’ representatives, Tim claimed “a nurse, doctor, and psychiatrist at the San Diego County Sheriff Department’s Vista Detention Facility and George F. Bailey Detention Facility acted with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs in May and June 2014 by denying him medication which had been prescribed for him prior to his incarceration.” According to a separate document on CaseText, that medication is revealed to be anastrozole, which was prescribed to Lambesis to combat side effects of withdrawal from anabolic steroids.

Tim Lambesis remains incarcerated for attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged wife.

A Mini Throwback Thursday: Warped Tour 2016

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What can I say? Warped Tour is Warped Tour. My older brother took me to my first in ’98 and every year I tell myself this is going to be my last. As a photographer I have become pretty complacent when shooting Warped, since everyone seems to get the same images as everyone else. This year I tried to focus on getting more isolated portraits, while still capturing Warped in its typical form. I am pretty proud of how a lot of these came out as my goal was to get some images that you couldn’t necessarily identify with the traditional Warped Tour photos. Hope you enjoy.

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Yahoo Confirms 500 Million User Accounts Breached

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Yahoo has confirmed a breach of over 500 million user accounts:

Based on the ongoing investigation, Yahoo believes that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen and the investigation has found no evidence that the state-sponsored actor is currently in Yahoo’s network. Yahoo is working closely with law enforcement on this matter.

J.K. Rowling Reviews the Violent Femmes

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J.K. Rowling has reviewed the debut album from the Violent Femmes for Ruth and Martin’s Album Club:

I’m not quite sure how the Violent Femmes passed me by. I turned 18 the year this album came out, but I was obsessed with The Beatles at the time. Of contemporary bands I really loved, the standouts were the Smiths and the Psychedelic Furs. I loved any band with a great guitarist. I played guitar myself, mostly alone in my bedroom.

It’s possible that I heard the Violent Femmes but I’ve forgotten. They could easily have been part of the informal seminars on alternative music I received from the muso I dated in my late teens.