2012 | Gear Diary

Ubuntu’s HUD: A New Way to Use Your Linux Computer

Yesterday Ubuntu’s community manager, Jono Bacon put up a post calling for people to test their brand new idea for the Unity interface they currently use. They call it HUD. HUD will be included in the next relse of Ubuntu, version 12.04, code named “Precise Pangolin”. With HUD, you can do many different things like post to Twitter, Search your web history or find a drop down menu in Firefox or any other app. You can do some of this even if you don’t have that app loaded. Above is a video that shows you just what you can do…

News & Features

Wait … Apple TV Is More Popular Than Roku?

There is always loads of data to mine in corporate earnings announcements, and yesterday’s Apple announcement is no different. Dan covered the highlights including iPhones, Macs, iPads and iPods … but I noticed a mention at GigaOM about AppleTV sales. Apparently AppleTV sold 1.4 million units during the last quarter. I really didn’t think too much about that because I am constantly reading about how more and more game consoles are serving as full-service home entertainment systems since they can run Netflix, Hulu and more. I also just assumed that Roku and other ‘set top boxes’ were dominating much like…

News & Features

Appigo’s Notebooks for iPad, a Quick Look and Exclusive Interview

One of the companies that I got to know when I was writing for an iPhone review website was Appigo. Appigo released a task manager, ToDo shortly after the App Store went live and it has been a mainstay on my iOS devices ever since. Appigo is a small outfit that makes quality apps. They are relatively slow to release new products and, over the last few years have proven their commitment to quality and adding value to apps customers have already purchased. Some time after they released ToDo the company also released Appigo Notebook. It was a simple, easy…

News & Features

Case-Mate Phantom First Impressions

I am hard on my phones. Really, really hard. Honestly, it is a miracle my iPhone is unscathed; by 4 months into owning my Droid it had gone down the stairs twice and out of my pocket multiple times. So far the iPhone has been lucky, but every time I slip it in my SPIbelt for a run or fiddle with it while walking the dog, I feel like I am tempting the smartphone destruction gods. So, as soon as Case-Mate’s Phantom arrived, fresh from Judie and Dan at CES, I slapped it on my phone. (Literally — I received it…

Events, Music Diary

Mackie Brings 16-Channel iPad Powered Mixer to NAMM

Each year when I check out the news from NAMM I look at cool new stuff as well as what is happening with companies I already known and love. Mackie Designs is one of those companies. For a long time they were a mixer-only company, and about 20 years ago when I was transitioning from trying to use my Tascam Portastudio as a pseudo-mixer into having a real home studio, the Mackie 1202 provided everything I need in a well made, high quality package at a budget price – and it is still going strong today for myself and my…

Gear Bits, How to Do It Yourself!, Music Diary

A Few Cool iTunes Match and iTunes Cloud Things to Remember

Having used iTunes Match along with iTunes in the Cloud for the last few months, I have developed a few habits that I don’t even realize are new anymore! This weekend I gave my younger son my 4th gen iPod Touch to use as his own, as he was constantly pushing beyond the limits of his 8GB iPod Touch that was the pseudo 3rd gen that was really a 2nd gen model holdover. Since I almost never use it, I had no qualms since I’d rather it actually get used than sit idle. But while going through things with him…

Editorials

Apple’s Amazing Quarter Makes the iPhone Bigger Than ALL of Android!

It was only a few weeks ago when I posted the news that Android and iOS were in a virtual tie for market share of the smartphone market based on recent data, I said that ‘everyone wins’. I still believe that – I think that having strong competition in any market makes everyone work harder … and the results are better products for us as consumers! Last week Nielson put out estimates of smartphone market share for the fourth quarter of 2011, showing that iOS had significantly closed the gap with Android for recent months. Now, after the final tally…

News & Features

New Meme ‘2/10 Would Not Bang’ … C’mon, You Know Someone Like That! [NSFW-ish]

One of my best friends from childhood who ended up transferring into my college and joining my fraternity was excellent at finding a dozen reasons why ANY girl, no matter how wonderful or smart or funny or beautiful, was fatally flawed. So I laughed out loud when my older son shared this with us last night, and immediately my wife and I called out that same person’s name! Apparently this meme is becoming ‘a thing’, and over at Uproxx they have a slideshow of a number of beautiful women with tiny or imagined or potentially paranoid ‘flaws’ pointed out. Here…

Events, Music Diary

Fender and Roland Team Up for the G-5 Stratocaster with COSM Technology

Back in the early 90’s object-oriented technology was a happening buzzword, and Roland introduced COSM – Composite Object Sound Modeling – with their next-generation guitar synthesizer system, the VG-8. But rather than just a guitar synth, it introduced the concept of a ‘virtual guitar’. The thought was that rather than just playing Pat Metheny-esque lead lines, guitarists would be better served if they had a system that provided maximum flexibility of sound. COSM allows string-by-string tuning, processing, and pitch shifting. This allows for on-the-fly tuning changes, virtual capos, and the ability to emulate nearly any other guitar sound from a…

Editorials

Google Says ‘We Do What We Must Because We Can’

The title is a Portal reference … if you haven’t played, you should. I’ll provide a video at the end for context. The basic theme is that Aperture Science (Google) does what it ‘must’ (cruel human experimentation in the name of science) because it ‘can’ (no one can stop them). But also realize that it is presented humorously in-game, and I don’t intent it seriously here. Today we learn that Google is going to be combining all of the login and account data across every service we access with the same credentials. Yawn, right? Well, not exactly Orwellian, but not…

News & Features

Apple By the Numbers… Wow… Simply Wow.

In case you missed it, Apple is doing well. (Okay, ridiculously understated and then some.) Yes, Apple reported revenue of over $46 billion and saw its profit exceeded $13 billion for the quarter. That translates to $13.87 earnings per share. For comparison sake, at this time last year the company earned $26.74 billion, or $6.43 per share. Yeah, wow. ‘Nuff said. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was positive but also a bit understated in saying We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads, and Macs,”. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products…

News & Features

LaserLeap Technologies Wins Best Startup Challenge at Photonics West

Wow … we just jump from show to show to show … from CES to NAMM – and now Photonics West. Sure there isn’t all that much overlap, but each of these shows are rather interesting to me. I haven’t heard much specific technology news of interest from Photonics yet, but today we learned that LaserLeap Technologies has won the 2012 Biophotonics Start-up Challenge based on their new ‘transdermal drug delivery’ system. From Optics.org: [LaserLeap CEO] Serpa’s winning pitch detailed a proprietary laser device that has been developed to aid drug delivery through the skin. The pulsed laser is used…

News & Features

Tired of Boxy Bluetooth Speakers? Check Out These Q-i-sound Speakers From iharmonix

The Q-i-sound Bluetooth speakers from Qmadix leave the square, boring speakers that are so common in the dust. Available in black or white, they have an unusual shape that is sure to grab attention. Each speaker has its own rechargeable lithium polymer battery that charges in 3 ½ hours and gives up to eight hours of playtime. Standby time is up to 10 days. As the company puts it Ultra portable speakers offer music lovers a great listening experience, as well as microphones for clear phone communication It is also worth nothing that, once paired the speakers can be separated…

News & Features

Random Cool Video: Warm Leatherette

I have covered a lot of cool stuff introduced at the Winter NAMM show in the past week, with two prominent themes: analog synthesis and the iPad as the must-have studio tool. As someone who came into music long enough ago to appreciate WHY people ran to digital so quickly in the early 80’s, I also have always appreciated what the technology added to music. I have personally sought analog sounds through digitally controlled systems or sample-based synths … but there is nothing like the real thing, so it is great to see all of the advances in technology applied…

News & Features

Kodak Files for Bankruptcy … an End to a Legendary Era in Photographic History

Image Courtesy of Daily Beast If you are over 30, there is no question that Kodak has touched your life in some way. Myself, I grew up with my father taking pictures on a Kodak camera which were developed as Kodak slides, shown on a Kodak projector, and so on. The first camera I used was an Instamatic, and the first one I remember buying myself was one of the pictured Disc cameras, and I still have disc negatives in photo pouches in my house. This week we learned that the legendary Rochester, NY based company has filed for bankruptcy…

Events, News & Features

Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter Speed Comparison with USB 2.0

We told you about Seagate’s new Thunderbolt adapters last week. Yes, we are finally seeing products come to market that take advantage of the speed increases offered by Thunderbolt. But how fast IS Thunderbolt? Sure you can see lab testing but that doesn’t necessarily tell you about using it at home or work. We shot a video of moving 2.5GB of data from a MacBook air to an external drive using both USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt. This is a normal use-scenario for something like this so the speeds you see here are what you might expect if you get one…

Editorials

What Would It Take to Make iPhones in The United States?

The title of this post was a question posed by President Barack Obama to Steve Jobs nearly a year ago at a dinner attended by the tech glitterati. Mr. Jobs reportedly responded succinctly: “Those jobs aren’t coming back.” In Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher’s New York Times article “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work” , the content makes for an absorbing read. Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured…

News & Features

Google ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Tool – See For Yourself How A Monopoly Chooses For You

I have been very vocal recently about the nasty, dishonest, and disingenuous business practices Google has undertaken that would make their ‘don’t be evil’ and ‘open source’ things laughable … except that real people have been impacted, jobs lost, companies shuttered. In the latest bold move, Google has used their monopoly in search to make an assumption: since you are using Google for Search, everything you find MUST be somehow linked to Google or generate revenue for Google somehow. Yesterday an article by Danny Sullivan at SearchEngineLand shows a new tool developed by engineers from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter that…

eBooks, News & Features

Amazon Makes Good On Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

In my review of the ebook version of Fahrenheit 451 I was sharply critical of the massive amount of typos and mistakes in the text. It was suggested that I take my complaint to Amazon, which I did … but honestly never expected anything. It wasn’t the first time I had complained, but I had never heard anything back in the past. But last night I got a happy surprise – an email from Amazon’s Kindle Store that an update had been made to Fahrenheit 451, and I could download it from my account. So I headed to the link,…

Gear Bits

Starbucks Asks: Venti, Grande, Tall, or Cabernet Sauvignon?

Sure, you hit your local Starbucks for coffee, morning after bleary-eyed morning. And maybe on weekends, you sit with the paper and a nice latte, people watching and catching up on the news. Pretty soon you’ll be able to add happy hour to the list! Starbucks is adding alcohol to several stores as a test run, which in theory sounds like an intriguing idea. After dinner drinks like “Irish coffee” would be a great fit for a cafe. But according to Bloomberg, Starbucks is apparently aiming for the after-work drinkers: Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) — Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop…

Editorials

‘Locker’ Sites Suspend Sharing After MegaUpload Takedown … Could DropBox Be Next?

This weekend, one of the biggest file-sharing sites on the internet – MegaUpload was shut down, its’ top officers arrested and its assets seized. Numerous articles that go into detail everywhere. Here is a snippet from Ars Technica: The indictment charges that the “Mega conspiracy” has for more than five years operated websites that willfully distributed pirated movies, often before their theatrical release, and other illegal copies of copyrighted works, earning the company over $175 million in illegal profits through advertising revenue. Megaupload is also charged with money laundering by paying uploaders through an “uploader reward program,” and paying other companies to…