IK Multimedia has their hands in all areas of music creation technology, so it is no surprise that they have now announced iRig Pads, a portable groove controller for iOS, Mac and PC. iRig Pads offers full MIDI controller capability so it can be used with a variety of apps, and is now shipping for $149.99!
A few weeks ago I bought a brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 on a great deal, and wanted to see if it would be possible to use it to replace my iPhone AND iPad, much as I would try to do with an iPhone 6+. As usual I went ‘all in’ with my attempt – and failed. Here is why! Until getting the iPhone 5 in 2012 I had been an Android-only phone user, and had sampled pretty much every new 7″ Android tablet since the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I had a huge library of Android content between Google…
Spiderweb Software alternates between releasing games in the Avernum franchise and a different game. First it was Geneforge games, and more recently Avadon, his first iPad release. In 2011 he brought the original Avernum to the iPad, and modernized and revamped it along the way so it was worth replaying for everyone. This fall we get Avernum 2: Crystal Souls!
Last year I reviewed the iOS and Mac versions of Red Crow Mysteries: Legion and found it managed to wrap together solid adventure game elements and a story worth following. More than a few hours of gameplay, plenty of content, varied locations, a great story, and a fun adventure. And now it is FREE … grab it now!
In the early 80s we saw great leaps in watch technology, and I loved my Casio calculator watch. Every few years a new technology comes (remember the Fossil PalmOS Watch?), but now it seems smartwatches are here to stay. There are many approaches, but for fitness enthusiasts Timex looks to have a great angle with their Ironman One GPS+.
Most fitness watches share a common element – not GPS, or heart-rate, or step-tracking, or Bluetooth sync. They are pretty uniformly NOT fashion watches. They might work as ‘Geek Chic’, but no one will mistake them for a designer product. Wellograph hopes to change that, with the first wellness watch with a sapphire crystal display and a gorgeous design.
Somewhere between Apple’s and Samsung’s last quarterly earnings reports, Dan’s review of the Galaxy S5, Dan & Judie’s Sony Xperia X2s, the Ultra, discussions with friends about a variety of tablets we’ve all used, along with the statement by the Best Buy CEO that ‘tablet sales are crashing’ something occurred to me – we’ve been here before — with Windows CE.
Back in June I reviewed iRig Voice, which is a great fun microphone for amateurs with a solid feature set and a great price. Now they have released the iRig Mic HD, which steps up the features and sound quality and is more suited to budget-minded professionals and those seeking to make professional-sounding recordings. From IK Multimedia: iRig Mic HD is the only mobile digital condenser microphone designed for live handheld performance and recording. It delivers high-quality digital sound via an electret condenser capsule, a 24-bit audiophile-grade A/D converter (with 44.1/48 kHz sample rate) and a built-in low-noise high-definition preamp….
It has been just over a year since I reviewed inkle’s release of Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! interactive game, with the second chapter of that game coming later last year. Now they are back with an interactive game based on Jules Verne’s ‘Around the World in 80 Days’, and once again they have produced a compelling and stunning experience!
I reviewed the iKlip Stand for iPad and iPad Mini last year, and found them to be excellent solutions for the music studio. But then something happened – the iPad Air and iPad Mini Retina arrived and neither fit into the original stands. Oh well, that is just the way it works with accessories, right? Not anymore with iKlip Xpand!
G5 Entertainment and Boon Troll have teamed up to bring us a new hidden object puzzle adventure. Dream Catchers: The Beginning tells the story of Mia, who is away at school and her brother who comes to find out what has happened to her and everyone else at the school. It is a fun and engaging game worth checking out!
My family loves to sing along with songs – it doesn’t matter if we hit the notes, we have fun. Our boys both sing in the high school choir and drama department, so they also like to sing along with songs they need to learn. iRig Voice lets them sing along, record, and have fun with all kinds of songs!
Have you ever wished you had a Fitbit for your pet? Something to track just how active they are during the day? I mean, not as they move from lying under the table to on the couch, but actual high-intensity activity? That is the premise of Whistle, and based on going from winter to spring to summer – it works!
Just two days before my first marathon in 2012, Garmin sent me their new ForeRunner FR-10. It’s an entry-level watch with the right amount of tracking features for most casual runners and racers. I jumped at the opportunity to check out the new entry-level Garmin Garmin Forerunner FR-15 GPS and Fitness Watch!
Last month Carly noted some of the reasons that Prime Music as rumored – limited selection, older titles – made sense in the context of the other Prime offerings. Well, overnight Amazon introduced Prime with access to a million songs and hundreds of curated playlists. The depth and breadth are limited, but it provides a decent entry point.
Just over a year ago I reviewed the iPad version of The Secret Society – Hidden Mystery, noting I “would have reviewed it sooner … but I just can’t stop playing the darn game!” It is a game that constantly sends a ‘rush of good feelings’, but with the annoying hard-sell of in-app purchases. Now it is out on Mac!
The first time I wrote about Marco Minnemann was in the context of Trey Gunn composing against a 52-minute drum solo by Minnemann in 2010. Then last year Minnemann was back as part of the Levin-Minnemann-Rudess trio, producing an incredible collection of music with appeal across jazz fusion, experimental and metal genres. Now he returns with a solo recording ‘EEPS’!
Temple Run was one of those unlikely successes – a simple ‘endless runner’ game that has you continuously running and trying to collect as many coins as possible before dying. It was the simplicity and easy charm that made the game quick to pick up and hard to put down. Now the game has passed 1 BILLION downloads!
In school systems across the country, arts programs are under budget attack – easy fodder in a system that is loaded with required functions and more attractive programs. Some schools still manage to provide arts education, and more efforts are being made to find alternative resources to fund these critical programs. The latest is Humble “Music in Schools” Bundle.
G5 Entertainment and Artifex Mundi have teamed up to produce some excellent hidden object adventures, from Dark Arcana to Nightmares of the Deep to the more recent 9 Clues. Now they have released Left in the Dark: No One on Board, a chilling mystery adventure that has you investigating a ship that has turned up without crew or cargo!
Just about a year ago, I reviewed Scurvy Scallywags for iOS systems, and summed it up as a “great game, great fun, great price”. The game is an innovative Match-3 / RPG Mash-Up designed by game industry veterans Ron Gilbert and Clayton Kauzlaric, and has just released on the Google Play store as a free game with in-app purchases.