singing

A new social site for music discovery called WorldSings has launched and to celebrate that, it has also announced that it will award $1 million in prizes to users who participate in its World's Best Song Competition.

According to the company, WorldSings will combine artists and music fans to create an environment where they can interact with each other and share music. The site is open to any musician or band performing original music and fans can vote for their favorite songs. The bands who recorded the top 20 most popular songs will be sent to Las Vegas to … Read more

Microsoft Research on Thursday is releasing software that gives musicians, both casual and professional, a new way to speed up song development. Called Songsmith, the $29.99 application creates musical accompaniment based on whatever is sung into the computer's microphone.

In order to do this, the software processes the pitch and tone of what's recorded and lets users hear how it might sound if they had a little backup in the form of a virtual piano, drums, and keyboard. Microsoft is expecting them to use the new track either as inspiration for further song development or as a … Read more

When you talk about car audio, you're usually discussing amplifiers, audio sources, and speakers. The harmonic qualities of your vehicle's tires usually don't come into play. That is, unless you're talking about Honda's Civic Musical Road in Lancaster, Calif.

The road was modified as part of an advertisement for Honda's Civic and is the latest in a series of musical roads around the world. Grooves were cut in the road in such a way that, when driven over at a certain speed, they cause the vehicle's tires to vibrate and play music. The … Read more

Early Wednesday, antivirus vendor Sophos reported that some visitors to the Sony PlayStation site may have been prompted to download an antivirus scanner.

Pages promoting the PlayStation games SingStar Pop and God of War contained SQL-injected code. Visitors to those specific game pages would see a fake antivirus scan , then a message that their computer was infected with different viruses and Trojan horses. Warned, the user would then be asked to purchase the scanner to remove the bogus malware.

The injected code linking to the scanner has since been removed.

Sophos said the attack could have downloaded malicious payloads, but … Read more

Considering how unfortunately popular karaoke remains here, it's surprising that it has taken so long for this music game to arrive on U.S. shores. But Singstar is finally getting a stateside launch for the PlayStation 3 on May 20, according to I4U News.

The game, which is already on the European market, comes with 30 songs loaded on its disc but also allows hundreds more to be purchased and downloaded from the "SingStore," which will be expanded by 25-30 songs each month. Each tune, which goes for $1.49, comes with a video of the artist.… Read more

Having made a fool of ourselves last Friday crashing at every turn in the SingTel F1 simulator race, we were relieved to see somebody else being a klutz behind the wheel.

Toyota has developed a computer simulation dubbed Total Human Model Safety (THUMS), which re-creates high-speed accidents to examine the impact it has on human physiology, according to Fareastgizmos. The system is part of a new study conducted jointly with the FIA Institute that is designed specifically to examine high-speed rear-impact collisions at the FIA Formula One World Championship and Indy Racing League.

Driving an F1 car, as you might … Read more

Earlier today, we had a go on SingTel's F1 simulator. Designed by U.K.-based BallRacing Developments, this machine is not your usual arcade fare. The Singapore operator commissioned it to simulate just one track, the one that F1 drivers will actually use in Singapore come September.

Not only does it look like an F1 car, but it feels real, too. You're almost fully reclined while an assistant adjusts the foot pedals to the reach of your legs. The steering wheel is then snapped on, just like the real thing.

Once you start the engine, the entire machine vibrates. Though you are controlling what happens on the screen, the "car" moves according to your driving. Granted, it won't spin you around like a theme park ride, but it does add to the sensation that you are really in an F1 racer.… Read more

Contrary to popular belief, Hello Kitty isn't the only animal that's trying to infiltrate all segments of human life. Penguins--or "gwins," as fellow Craver Caroline McCarthy affectionately refers to them--are a close second.

The latest example is the "iBird 1000" (aka the "Singing Chick"), a Chinese-made MP3 player that has OLED screen, FM tuner, voice recorder and integrated speaker. But as Technabob rightly notes, the headphone-wearing penguin's most distinguishing features are its LED-blinking eyes, moving beak and, of course, its red bow tie.

Apparently a Chuck E. Cheese/Showbiz Pizza Place animatronic band has found new life singing modern hits like "Lithium" from Evanescence, "London Bridge" from Fergie, "Dani California" from RHCP, and my favorite, "Ms. New Booty" by Bubba Sparxxx (shown after the break).

If you've never experienced the delicious trauma of seeing the Chuck E. Cheese furry robot band as a kid, then these videos will probably be more funny than creepy. For the rest of us who remember crying under the table while holding back pizza vomit, these videos tap into an especially dark place populated by H.R. Pufnstuf episodes and David Bowie's musical interludes in Labyrinth.… Read more