Worst dog food brands

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Being a dog lover, I had to post this. These companies put poison in the dog food and they are some of the most well-known brands in the world.

Amplified: The Analysts Are Stupid

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Jim and Dan talk about profiling amps, Fender guitars, Apple’s first quarter results, Samsung and patent settlements, Bitcoin, and 30 years of Mac.

Sponsored by lynda.com (visit lynda.com/quit to try it free for 7 days), Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME114 for 25% off), Squarespace (use code DANSENTME1 for 10% off), and Hover (brand new customers use code IGLOO for 10% off your first purchase).

Kemper Profiling Amp

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The Kemper Profiler enables you to do what generations of guitar players have been waiting for: to capture the soul of all your amps (and so many more) inside a lunchbox-sized amplifier.

So, how does it work? We use cutting edge technology to capture the sonic DNA of virtually any guitar amp. The resulting profiles are as living, vivid and dynamic as the original amps.

I’ve been watching this company for the last few years and I’m quite impressed. I haven’t tried one outside of NAMM, but everything I’ve read about the amp has been very positive.

Apple reports $13.1 billion first quarter profit

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The Company sold 51 million iPhones, an all-time quarterly record, compared to 47.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 26 million iPads during the quarter, also an all-time quarterly record, compared to 22.9 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.8 million Macs, compared to 4.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

Holy shit, what a quarter.

Image, Deploy and Manage Boot Camp with Winclone and Boot Runner from Twocanoes Software [Sponsor]

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If you run Windows on your Mac with Boot Camp, check out Winclone and Boot Runner. Winclone is an easy and reliable way to make an image of your Boot Camp partition so that you can quickly restore, migrate, and mass deploy Windows in Boot Camp. Boot Runner provides a powerful way for both users and administrators to switch between OS X and Windows on dual boot Macs.

When you get a new Mac or have issues with your Windows installation in Boot Camp, reinstalling Windows is time consuming and difficult. Winclone makes it easy to make a complete clone of the Boot Camp partition, and restore it back to the exact same state on your existing or new Mac. Winclone supports migration of Boot Camp partitions over the network, moving your Boot Camp partition to an external drive and making it bootable, and much more. It also works great for mass deployment so deploying Boot Camp is as easy as deploying a package to a group of Macs.

If you manage lots of dual boot Macs, Boot Runner provides a great way to manage the OS selection. People can decide which OS to use by selecting OS X or Windows prior to logging in. Network administrators can fully customize and manage the selection screen, and can even remotely select the OS through network policy. Boot Runner also includes a scheduling feature to make sure that the Mac is booted into Windows during your maintenance window. Check out the intro video to learn more.

Winclone and Boot Runner are available for purchase and download today at twocanoes.com and have full phone, email and forum support options.

Samson’s Resolv RXA Reference Monitors

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Samson’s Resolv RXA 2-Way Active Studio Reference Monitors deliver the sonic elements that are essential to any studio setup. Featuring Samson’s newly developed Air Displacement Ribbon Tweeters, these monitors produce smooth, natural mixes that will sound great on any system. Sold individually in 5-inch and 6-inch models, Resolv RXA monitors can be used in pairs to provide precise stereo imaging for recording, mixing, mastering and other multimedia applications.

I talked to a few people at NAMM about these and they all liked them. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to check them out for myself.

Bluetooth Adapter for 30-pin docking stations

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Samson’s BT30 30-Pin Bluetooth Adapter transforms Apple 30-pin dock audio players, including select Samson Expedition Series Portable PAs, into Bluetooth-enabled receivers capable of streaming music wirelessly from smart phones, tablets and laptops. Ultra-convenient and easy-to-use, the BT30 lets you enjoy the latest in audio playback technology without sacrificing the useful accessories you’ve grown accustomed to for playing music, such as older iHomes, PA systems and more.

Not a bad idea. I have a few of these older speaker docking stations myself.

The Mac, the iPad and the future

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The Mac has played an important role in paving the way for computing in many areas. I believe the iPad is playing an equally important role in the future of computing. It is interesting to think that in the future we may be celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the iPad while some manifestation of the product is still in the hands of many.

I think that’s exactly where we are.

Vox Soundbox mini multipurpose amplifier

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These type of multipurpose boxes are becoming more popular among amp makers. It gives them the chance to get an amp and a sound system in the hands of users, but I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about the trend.

Taylor’s compact T5z acoustic guitar

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Among the T5z’s distinctive design features are a 12-inch fretboard radius (compared to the T5’s 15-inch radius) and jumbo frets, which make bending strings easier. Otherwise the T5z retains all the great performance features of the original T5: a three-pickup configuration, five-way switching, tone controls that dial in a full-range of tonal flavors, from heavy riffs to delicate fingerpicking, and dual compatibility with acoustic and electric amps.

I’m heading over to Taylor to see this today.

Blackstar’s entry level amplifier

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Our new ID:CORE series are the ultimate entry level guitar amplifiers. Incredible tone and flexibility is accessed by a simple and intuitive control set and delivered in SUPER WIDE STEREO to give an immersive playing experience that will have you hooked on playing guitar.

I stopped over to the Blackstar booth at NAMM, but I didn’t get a chance to hear these yet. I’m interested in the wide stereo sound and how they pull that off while keeping a solid tone.

Vox amps Night Train G2

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Distinctive within the VOX amp lineup for its metallic mirror-finish exterior, the Night Train series provides an easy way to enjoy VOX’s traditional full-tube sound even in small private spaces, and now it’s been powered-up in a big way. High-quality reverb is a new addition on all models, making this the only unit you need to complete your sound.

These are badass amps.

Capo 3 and Sugarland

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Clearly this is a promotional video for Capo, but as a longtime user of the software, the video shows how people use the software in different ways. My workflow with Capo is not the same as theirs, but Capo is flexible enough to do both.

Liquid Rhythm beat creation software

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I stopped by the WaveDNA booth today and got a demo of Liquid Rhythm. This is some powerful software for beat creation—I was impressed.

Google’s Android, free and open: not so much

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The idea that Google’s Android mobile software is both “free” and open-source is so often repeated that it is virtually an article of faith online. There’s only one problem: neither is strictly true.

Google doing what Google does.

Celebrate the Mac

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Great site put together by Jonathan Zufi, the man behind the Iconic book.

Universal Audio’s Apollo Twin

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This sleek 2×6 Thunderbolt audio interface for Mac combines the same high-quality 24/192 kHz audio conversion of Universal Audio’s acclaimed Apollo series with onboard Realtime UAD SOLO or DUO Processing. With its ergonomic desktop design, rugged aluminum construction, and front panel headphone and instrument connections, Apollo Twin allows Mac users to record in real time (at near-zero latency) through the full range of UAD Powered Plug-Ins.

I had some time to play with this today and it’s gorgeous. It’s like a mini version of the Apollo that delivers the same high-quality audio that we’ve come to expect from UA. It’s rugged too, so it will travel well.

VOX AC15C1 guitar amp

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The AC15C1-V-RD limited edition features a Celestion V-Type speaker, custom “British Garnet red” tolex and Bronco patterned Tygon grill cloth. This custom colour projects a powerful presence in any environment – on stage, in the studio, or at home. The V-Type speaker has been built using a carefully balanced ‘recipe’ of both old and new design techniques. It’s a sweet-sounding speaker with a superbly balanced tonal signature that imparts a vintage musicality with authentic Celestion tone that’s suitable for any playing style.

I want one of these amps. I love the Vox sound.

Korg releases Gadget mobile synth for iPad

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Korg releases Gadget for iPad, a mobile synthesizer studio that offers the ultimate mobile synth collection for iPad. It was designed for anyone looking to explore software synthesis, musicians looking for a diverse palate of synths in one integrated app, or those looking to take their iPad music production to the next level.

Eleven Rack Editor

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Avid today introduced Eleven Rack Editor, providing owners of the Eleven Rack guitar system with a faster, more open workflow for creating and editing high-quality, inspiring guitar tones. The no-cost application makes Eleven Rack software control available for Pro Tools 11 and third-party digital audio workstation solutions.

This is huge news for Eleven Rack owners, like me. As a standalone app, I can now use Eleven Rack with any of my software applications.

Pixelmator 3.1

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Enjoy incredibly fast and powerful editing of high-quality pictures. Fully optimized for the new Mac Pro, Pixelmator makes image editing completely seamless. Leveraging the full power of dual-GPU architecture, Pixelmator now supports 16-bit per channel images for the first time.

There are so many changes in this new version, including the ability to order prints and many other features. Great update.

Line 6 AMPLIFi guitar amp and iPad app

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Line 6 on Thursday announced a new amp it is calling AMPLIFi. While the amp was just announced today, I’ve been using one for the past couple of weeks to test it out.