Vinyl Me, What? Vinyl Me, Please!!

Good things come in 12 inch packages. Delivering limited edition pressings of new and classic albums directly to your doorstep, Vinyl Me, Please operates under a simple philosophy: The Album Lives. With a carefully curated catalog of new and hard to find releases, the subscription service is more than just a record club…it’s a lifestyle choice for folks who wish Record Store Day could happen every month. In their living room.

The Skinny

Here’s how it works. You send Vinyl Me, Please some of your hard-earned money (plans start at $25/month) and they send you one meticulously selected album worthy of your time and attention. Easy, right? Each custom pressing (often on colored vinyl!) also comes with special features like original artwork and even a recipe for a companion cocktail. Best of all, you get access to the VMP online store. That means you’ll have a chance to grab a copy of previous VMP selections from the archives – including April’s rollicking reissue of Arctic Monkeys’ debut album Whatever You Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – not to mention a bevy of rare and exclusive releases.

The store is now open. That means members have unfettered access to a slew of sexy new discs, like a slick reissue of Tom Waits’ jazzy, freewheeling live set on Nighthawks at the Diner, and a killer 25th Anniversary reissue of Liz Phair’s grunge-tinged classic Exile in Guyville. If those aren’t quite your speed, jazz fans should definitely catch up with that reissue of Ben Webster’s Gone with the Wind (on white vinyl with exclusive artwork), and if you’re on the hunt for something new and exciting, look no further than Middle Kids’ latest, Lost Friends (on sea glass colored wax, ltd. to 750 copies). Of course, if you’re a lunatic like me and covet hard to find film soundtracks, then there’s a re-release of Jonny Greenwood’s long out of print score for the 2003 documentary Bodysong in the store, and it’s this month’s unrivaled pièce de résistance.

There’s more. A lot more. While the store is open to the public, many of the more exciting selections are only available to members, so you’ll need to sign up if you wanna get your mitts on them. If you’re peckish about relinquishing control of your record collection over to complete strangers, know that VMP’s Swaps Program is in full effect. That means you can flip any VMP pick you don’t like for a past AOM that’s a little more your speed. My advice? Don’t overthink it. Do yourself a favor and sign up today.

So, what’s in this month’s box? Get ready to get down with the soulful sounds of Comfort Me, the sophomore release from “Queen of Memphis Soul,” Carla Thomas.

For the Love of Music, Please DO NOT BEND (or, how I learned to stop worrying and use the Swaps Program)

Those of you who keep track of what Vinyl Me, Please is up to every month are probably wondering why you aren’t reading about their April Essentials selection of Lord Willin’ by Clipse. The answer is quite simple in that – with all due respect to the immensely talented boys behind Clipse (aka Pusha T and No Malice) – Lord Willin’ is an album I listened to once back in 2002 and never felt the need to revisit. Period. Thanks to VMP’s Swaps Program, I didn’t have to. Rather, I decided to use my first swap to test drive one of their supplemental, genre-based subscription services,

The Hiero Band helps travelers communicate with natives from around the world with a point to the wrist.

The Hiero Band Design

Bon Voyage! With band on wrist, travelers and tourists everywhere won’t need a translator anymore. Elegant stones and metal universal icons are wrapped around the Heiro Band. Most of all, the 11 universal icons are understood around the world. They come in a range of different colors and ship anywhere around the world as well.

“Each band comes with pure 100% stone beads, white, turquoise and natural wood color,” Heiro Band writes on their Kickstarter Page. Because the icons are engraved in durable zinc alloy metal, the Hiero Band is also skin friendly and will not weigh your wrist down.

How Does It Work?

To get what they need, travelers use handheld devices, books, or simply hope that someone will understand them. The Hiero Band is for those moments when the phone dies, books aren’t around, and no one can understand what you’re saying, the company explains.

The icons on each bead are: money, travel, phone, medical, water, bike, food, bus, bathroom, bed/shelter, and gas. These 11 icons are the most essential to survival. Simply pointing at a specific icon to a person can help break language barriers.

How to Get One?

Kickstarter helped the startup company receive over their $5,000 pledge goal. As a result, the project can now be funded. Backing the startup company on Kickstarter with a donation of $15 or more can get you a Heiro Band as well.

Related Images:We cannot display this gallery

Can you imagine wearing a sweater that gives great back massages? It’s time to stop imagining it because it actually exists.

It’s called the AiraWear Jacket and Tware, the Singaporean startup behind this jacket, gained more than 1,000 backers and $150,000 on Kickstarter.

This jacket is as a basic regular hoodie with an inflatable vest built into it. The vest has six plastic nubs surrounding the sides of the spine, from shoulder to lower spine. All of the back-massage zones are where the special nubs are located.

How the AiraWear Jacket Works

As the vest inflates behind each acupressure point, the nubs will begin to press into the wearer’s back and shoulder muscles. The nubs mimic kneading fingers.

The hoodie also pairs with an app that can show the wearer which body parts the sweater-massager is targeting. To adjust the intensity, the wearer can use the slider controls.

What It’s Like to Go AiraWear

“For such a simple design, the jacket’s massage feels surprisingly decent. I like my massages strong, and on maximum strength. The AiraWear was powerful enough to work out some painful spots along my lower back.”

Mashable writer, Victoria Ho, who got her hands on the AiraWear jacket reported. “That said, the AiraWear isn’t perfect yet. Its nubs move in and out as the air pads behind them are inflated and deflated, but they can’t make circular motions the way an actual massage therapist, or some other massage devices, can.”

The jacket is currently not capable of vibration but Tware told Mashable that they may build that into future jackets based on requests.

The multipurpose jacket works best if wearers are sitting down. This means, office workers that sit at the desk all day are in luck. Sitting down will help the body weight push the nubs into the muscles better.

Its listing place will eventually be placed at $249 according to Tware. Battery life lasts up to three hours but is chargable through a micro USB.

Related Images:We cannot display this gallery

 

What do narwhals and donuts have in common? They’re the two main ingredients of the insanely addicting mobile game Sky Whale. The game is a real-life version of the app created by two middle-schoolers in Nickelodeon’s Game Shakers, a comedy about two girls who create a successful app as a school project. Not only is the show hilarious and entertaining, the app will keep you glued to your phone for hours on end.

The premise of the game is simple: keep the narwhal in the air. Whenever you hit a cloud in the sky or another object (we’ll get to those later) you bounce up and stay in the air longer. If you want to bounce up but don’t see a cloud nearby, you can tap the screen to jump, using one of your donuts. Whenever you tap the screen, you use up a donut, so make sure to collect as many as you can along the way. The further your narwhal goes, the more points you earn. You can then exchange those points for bonuses that help you stay up in the air, such as monkeys, bottles of soda that catapult you further across the sky, or even pieces of pizza. Be sure to grab the snorkel when you’ve got enough points. Instead of falling into the water and starting the game over, the snorkel lets you swim underwater and go further in the game!

I earned enough points to get all the special bonuses and was worried that the game wouldn’t be as fun anymore. But don’t worry, I checked the game today and they have extra special Halloween-themed bonuses! They have everything from broomsticks to black cats to ooey-gooey eyeballs.

My high score is 3,141. Think you can beat it? Sky Whale is available for free in the App Store for iPhone and Android. Game Shakers airs on Nickelodeon Saturdays at 8:30 EST.

Related Images:We cannot display this gallery

This week, our host Frederick Johnson II and his comrades in Geekdom discuss FFXIV and  its server issues, Whore of the Orient, and Xbone information. They also discuss the relationship between game developers and players, as well as an evil tower that melts cars that park too close.

This week, our host Frederick Johnson II and his comrades in Geekdom discuss all things Batfleck and Gamescom, with a little Nintendo and PS4 thrown in for good measure. Tune in and hear all the geeky goodness that is going on at HotKey this week!

This week, our host Frederick Johnson II and his comrades in Geekdom discuss everything from the pay models of Wildstar and ESO, to Diablo's new expansion. They also discuss Facebook and Gaming security, as well as the new Xbox One controller.

This week, our host Frederick Johnson II conducts an in-depth, exclusive interview with PopCap Game's Lead Designer, Mohan Rajagopalan.  right here on HotKey: The Official Podcast of Geek Insider. Frederick and the Comrades in Geekdom also cover the week's geekiness, including: EverQuest:Next, Elder Scrolls, Nintendo Lawsuits and much, much more!

In our first official podcast, our host Frederick Johnson II chats with his comrades in geekdom, Mr. Jay and Fleeke, about the latest in gaming and technology.