digital culture

Internet radio service Pandora is distinguishing itself from the über-competitive music streaming market with its latest station, Pandora Premieres. Listeners will be able to preview select albums on Pandora before they go on sale with the new early access feature, which kicks off with singer-songwriter Laura Marling and roots rocker John Fogerty.

Both artists' albums are available for only a week at pandora.com/premieres, with the option to preorder the new releases on iTunes straight from the Pandora station.

Drawing in new users is very important in the crowded subscription streaming space, and exclusive recordings and early access to albums help music services tap into artists' fan bases. The competition between music subscription services is only getting stiffer. Google introduced its "radio without rules," Google Play Music All Access, last week.

Pandora still has a financial edge over other streaming services, however. Despite being forced into charging a small number of users due to an increase in royalties earlier this year, the site is still a steal at $4 per month or $36 per year for Internet radio.

Everything about this shot by Instagram user undertheyellow is striking. The composition, the geometry of the spokes, the bubbly pods of the London Eye, and the leaves peeking out of the corner are just a few of the visual elements that make this photograph so interesting.

Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!

Microsoft is revealing the next generation of Xbox gaming consoles today at its headquarters in Redmond, WA. Tune into a live stream of the event at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EDT through the Xbox website, Xbox Live, or Spike TV. You can also follow the news via Twitter using the hashtag #XboxReveal or #Xbox.

Will it be an Xbox 720? Kinect 2.0? A new platform for social gaming? We'll keep you updated with all the news from the Microsoft event, so check back later in the day for more info!

At a press event today in New York City, Yahoo! made a big announcement for Flickr. And we mean big: the photo sharing site is getting a full makeover and offering one terabyte of storage to every user (that's well over 500,000 photos) — completely free.

Flickr isn't only making space for more photos, it's putting them front and center, too. The new activity feed, which Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer called "heart-stoppingly beautiful," fills your screen with recent uploads from your friends, yourself, and popular communities. The photostream was designed in a similar vein with large, high-res photos stacked on top of each other and a sweeping customizable cover photo.

Mobile is also getting some love. The new user interface is coming to the Flickr Android app, which features full-screen browsing and the same large thumbnail photostream as the website.

Yahoo! is really working its exclamation point as of late — in addition to the Flickr news, the company officially announced it was acquiring Tumblr for a cool $1.1 billion and moving its headquarters to Times Square in New York City.

Talk about great timing. Birds meet buildings in a whole different way in this photo that Instagram user lfsphotos submitted with the tag #coolcapture.

Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!

Happy Birthday, Craigy Ferg! Our favorite geeky Scotsman turns 50 today. Craig is a nerd-lover's dream; his love of science fiction and geekery come through on every episode and his Twitter account. Plus, he's got a TARDIS on his desk.

As host of the Late Late Show, Craig Ferguson has been keeping us in stitches since taking over late-night hosting duties in 2005. Here are seven reasons why we love the Ferg:

1. Devoted Whovian — He dedicated an entire episode of his talk show to his love of Doctor Who. Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith even made his first American talk-show appearance for the episode.
2. Robot cohost — Craig is such a huge Mythbusters fan that show host Grant Imahara built him a robot sidekick name Geoff Peterson.
3. Geek Peacemaker — When discussing the time old debate of Star Trek vs. Star Wars with guest Adam Savage, Craig explains you don't have to pick a side, each have their own special star themes.
4. Shark Fan — As host of the Discovery Channel's 2010 Shark Week, Craig guided viewers through his "favorite holiday."
5. Loves puppets — Regular viewers of the show are familiar with the frequent use of puppets in the opening monologue and skits. For the 1,000th episode Wavy the crocodile hilariously hosted the whole show and interviewed Jason Schwartzman.
6. Good sport — Craig went along with the original captain William Shatner's request to show off his horsemanship skills by galloping around the stage with Shatner at the reigns.
7. Keeps it real — When Britney Spears was going through tough times a few years ago, Craig refused to joke about her on the show. Proudly sober for nearly 20 years, he understands that such trying issues don't need to be prodded further.

If you need any more proof as to why you should be loving Craig Ferguson, watch the song and dance performed on the Doctor Who episode of the Late Late Show. It wasn't aired on the show due to rights problems with the theme song, but it was later, thankfully, leaked on the web.

It's something you may see every day, but this photog managed to capture the fast pace of the subway perfectly. Instagram user zivanod used the #CoolCapture hashtag to submit this great shot.

Have you been testing out your photography skills and snapped a shot you want to share? Submit your pics to our Cool Capture group or to Instagram with the #coolcapture hashtag, and your pic might be featured on the POPSUGAR Tech homepage. And don't forget to follow @popsugartech on Instagram!