Articles by Michael Anderson

Check Out the New Apple iPod Commercial ‘Bounce’

Apple’s latest ad is for their now-shipping updated iPod line, which has the simple description: Every iPod now in color. The commercial is about the cool and colorful iPod new line-up and offers seamless transitions between the Touch, Nano and Shuffle accompanied by a funky song. It is a positive, good-feeling commercial. Some things (good and bad) not mentioned in the video: + The 5th gen iPod Touch is the most ‘iPhone-like’ version yet. – The iPod Touch STILL doesn’t contain a GPS + The Nano is incredibly small and has a 2.5″ screen – But you have to load the Nano…

Game Diary, Gear Bits, Reviews

Avernum 6 HD for iPad Review and Hands-On Video

Type of app: Role Playing Game (RPG) Platform/where to buy: iPad (no iPhone version); available in the App Store Developer: Spiderweb Games Description: Avernum 6 is an epic, indie fantasy role-playing adventure. It is optimized for the iPad and features an enormous world, a fascinating story, and 30+ hours of gameplay. Travel into the strange subterranean land of Avernum, full of dungeons, labyrinths, and constant warfare. A set of disasters threatens to destroy your homeland in a spasm of famine and warfare. Only you can help your people to get to safety before everything falls apart. As you wander the…

Game Diary, Reviews

Whisper of Fear The Cursed Doll HD for iPad Review

Whisper of Fear: The Cursed Doll is a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) game. It is available for the iPhone and iPad, and you can get it in the Apple App store. The Developer isVogat / G5 Entertainment. Major features: By now you should know the drill – story-based intro, followed up with puzzles, finding items on location screens, and full-blown hidden object scenes. Whisper of Fear meets the ‘standard framework’ of a hidden object game, to be sure. But where it is distinctive is in the depth and connectedness of the game. Most games have areas you are ‘checking off’,…

Music Diary

Wolfgang’s Vault As Membership-Only Site; Have You Joined? Will You?

I have always loved Wolfgang’s Vault – great classic music, and more recently loads of video content as well. We have written about the site several times here before, including 2011’s introduction of video content. But as more and more content – requiring more and more bandwidth – came online, I had wondered how the largely ad and merchandise supported site would survive. The answer: it couldn’t. Ads, merchandise and downloads alone were not enough. Back in early August I got an email from Wolfgang’s Vault that said: Hey Music Fans, we are thrilled to announce that we’ll be launching…

Gear Bits

Sirius XM Kills Off All of the One-Year Free Trial Deals Not Actually ‘Won’

A sad thing happened when I tried to log into SiriusXM on my iPad this morning – I was greeted with the message above. So I tried the other account I had grabbed when I posted about it a couple of weeks ago. I had used Sirius for the 6 month trial that came with my car, but couldn’t justify the $9.99 monthly (back in 2007) fee – particularly as we moved and I changed from a hour commute to a fifteen minute drive. But I knew there was loads of cool stuff, so when I had the chance to…

Game Diary, Reviews

Zaxxon Escape for iOS/Android Review

Type of app: Action Platform/where to buy: iPhone/iPad or Android Developer: SegaDescription: It’s been thirty years since gamers first took on the evil robot Zaxxon, and Zaxxon Escape continues the story of what happened after his defeat. Players must escape a crumbling asteroid base by shooting, swiping, and tilting their spaceship through an ever-changing maze of corridors, guided only by their reflexes and handy powerups like auto-pilot and tractor beams. Find out if you have what it takes to survive the total destruction of Zaxxon. Major features: I was a huge fan of Zaxxon back in the early 80s (it…

Game Diary, Gear Bits, Music Diary

Random Cool Video of Ohio State Marching Band Video Game Themed Halftime Show

Now that my son is in the high school marching band and each weekend involves a trip to watch a dozen different great school bands put on shows, I appreciate marching bands more than ever. So seeing this video from Ohio State University from this past weekend was just awesome. Check it out! Source: Reddit

Game Diary

Angry Birds Star Wars Set to Cause a Disturbance in the Force on November 8th!

By now it should be clear to anyone that Rovio is ready to cash in on any opportunity to keep their money-printing Angry Birds franchise in the public mind … and what better example of how best to do that than the 35-year old Star Wars franchise? On November 8th Rovio will be releasing a Star Wars themed Angry Birds game for iOS and Android. Not many details yet, just this little snippet: On November 8, the Angry Birds and Star Wars universes will collide, in our best game to date. It doesn’t stop there though, we’ll have a whole…

Music Diary

Celebrating 50 Years Since the First Beatles Single!

Growing up and buying our first music in the wake of the Beatles break-up and with my brother a huge fan, I developed quite an in-depth knowledge of their music and history and enjoy their stuff to this day. My preference has always been their ‘middle years’ of Revolver and Rubber Soul, but over time I have appreciated everything they did. It is hard to think that they started 50 years ago. As noted at the Guardian UK, today marks the 50th anniversary of that release. Here is a bit of what they said: Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ newly appointed…

Game Diary, Reviews

Magician’s Handbook II Blacklore HD Review

Type of app: Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) game Platform/where to buy: iPad (iPhone version here); available in the App Store Developer: BC Soft Games / G5 Entertainment Description: Two years have passed and your trip to the Cursed Valley is only a memory. The pages of the Magician’s Handbook remain blank and life has resumed to its natural course, until the day when a tiny fairy appears in your house pleading for help. The evil magician pirate, Blacklore, has captured all the magicians and fairies to use good magic for evil purposes. Search gorgeous, hand drawn locations, learn powerful…

Editorials

Week Number 1 of My iPad-Only Challenge!

Welcome to the first weekly report on my quest for the 99% computer! As noted my plan was to use my iPad for as much as I possibly could, and note whatever functions required me to use a ‘real’ computer. So let’s get to it! Setup Perhaps not surprisingly, there wasn’t much for me to do. I have had my iPad loaded up with email, web, productivity, statistics, music, games, utilities and so on … so there wasn’t much to do. And in fact, I decided NOT to do anything in specific – I really wanted to know how much…

Gear Bits

Nitrodesk Launches TouchDown for iOS!

I had been using TouchDown to access my work email since the original Motorola Droid first launched until for security reasons they clamped down on all mobile email access. It provided me a virtual Outlook environment that enhanced my productivity and let me work without worrying about having access to a laptop for an extended time period. In fact, just about a year ago I featured TouchDown in a post called Apps I Can’t Live Without: Touchdown for Android During these last few years I have heard a constant question – when are you releasing an iOS version? Well ……

Health and Fitness

From Couch to Marathon in 6 Months, Losing 85 Pounds on the Way!

I have to confess that inside of myself, even as I notched 5Ks, 8Ks and a half-marathon, I still held the notion that I wouldn’t be a REAL runner until I completed a marathon. And having just completed my first marathon – the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY – and having done it better than expected … I am now a REAL runner. At the beginning of June, I wrote about what I termed the “Adult Vanquishing of Childhood Monsters” … as I ran my first (and second) 5K Road Race and totally banished my self-imposed thought of myself as…

Health and Fitness, Outdoors

The New Garmin ForeRunner 10 Prepares for the Wineglass Marathon!

I had posted about the Garmin ForeRunner 10 announcement previously, and we were expecting a review sample but had been notified that they were still waiting for stock before shipping. While acknowledging the message and thanking them for the update, I mentioned that it was too bad it wouldn’t arrive in time for the Wineglass Marathon I am running this weekend, but since I would be running a half-marathon in a month it was no big deal. Justin at Garmin got back to me quickly, saying that he would have one in my hands by Friday (yesterday) … just in time…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Check Out This Cool Video of Roy Clark and Joe Pass Playing the Music of Hank Williams!

When I think of Roy Clark, I think first of Hee Haw, but also know that he is an amazing guitarist. Joe Pass is recognized as one of the all time greatest guitarists. In 1994, just before Pass died, the two teamed up to record a selection of music by Country legend Hank Williams. The results were a jazzy-country mix that showed off the great songs, and highlighted two excellent guitarists who played very well together and a rhythm section who could handle the cool stylistic mix. Check out the video! And if you let it play to the end…

Music Diary, Reviews

Vinyl Re-Visions Looks at Steve Reich’s Different Trains (Classical, 1988)

Steve Reich – Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint There are a few pieces of music that absolutely stop me in my tracks; that no matter my mood or intent, if these come on I will listen without fail or interruption. One is Miles Davis’ song Bitches Brew from the album of the same name … another is Steve Reich’s composition Different Trains. This music is amazing on a number of levels that I will describe later, but it also has an emotional pull, as it integrates Reich’s experience as a Jew in America with family in Europe and his thoughts…

Music Diary, News & Features

FL Studio Mobile 2 Video Preview

If you are looking for the best and most robust music studio app for the iPad, you have likely considered GarageBand, NanoStudio, and FL Studio. FL Studio Mobile offers a downscaled version of the popular PC electronic music-focused package – and while almost everyone loved the original, the lack of integrated sampling and limited editing and complete absence of a quality synthesizer were glaring omissions. With the upcoming 2.0 release (free for existing owners) Image Line looks to address these issues and more! As part of this they have released a couple of preview videos to show off new functionality….

Music Diary, News & Features

IK Multimedia Introduces DJ Rig for iPad!

When DJ Rig released back in March, aside from some early bugs that were quickly squashed, my biggest wish was for an iPad version. It was one of those things that was immediately obvious once you touched the software. IK Multimedia agreed and stated they were working on it – but like the rest of their stuff they wanted to get it right and not just ‘upsize’. Well, now DJ Rig for iPad is ready and available! Here is some of the press release highlighting features: Professional DJing for the first time on iPad • Familiar double Deck configuration with…

eBooks, Game Diary, Reviews

Thumbelina Magic Story for iPad Review

Type of app: Interactive Story Book Platform/where to buy: iPad (Universal); available in the App Store Developer: Oleksandr Pogrebniak Description: A miniature red-headed girl has suddenly appeared from a flower. Her enchanting beauty sways many hearts along her travels. She took a trip on a leaf of a water lily, flew on the back of a swallow, and made friends with the tiniest beings. Colorful montages reflect both joy and sadness within these interactive pages of this app. Thumbelina joins an unusual music performance, singing songs of joy to sunshine and summer flowers. A new friend’s charm vanishes, and is…

Music Diary, News & Features

MOTU Releases Digital Performer 8 For Mac & Windows!

Back at NAMM in January MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) announced plans for their flagship DAW (digital audio workstation) Digital Performer to jump to both Mac AND Windows with the release of version 8. Original release was planned for the spring, but today MOTU announced that both Mac and Windows versions are now available – and we also get pricing on the software and myriad upgrade deals! Here are some key new features: ?64-bit support – Digital Performer’s 64-bit support ensures that you can take full advantage of all the memory space in your computer for optimum performance from your…

Gear Bits

Physics Wins, as 32 Out of Sync Metronomes End Up Synchronizing

This is a really cool video that operates on a principle of physics: that the transfer of momentum will result in alignment of motion. In other words, as the metronomes tick, they are transferring force to the table, and due to the design of the table that force is dampened and dissipated through the table causing it to move. That motion begins to impart a force upon the metronomes – amplifying the signal of those aligned with the table, and dampening the signal of those out of alignment. Eventually all of the metronomes will align! Anyway, check it out! Source:…

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