App Store reviews

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Matthew Panzarino:

By a huge margin, the number one request by these developers was for Apple to allow them to respond directly to reviews on the App Store.

I agree.

More CNET ‘Hands on’ trickery

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It looks like CNET has done it again — or is at least trying. In it’s latest “Hands On” a CNET reporter films a video while a Microsoft employee flips through the start screen on a Windows phone. So someone had their hands on the device, just not CNET. […]

TabToolkit for iOS now has a Tab Store

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TabToolkit now includes a Tab Store right inside the app, with instant access to hundreds of officially licensed, full-score transcriptions with complete notation for each guitar, bass, drum, and keyboard part, as well as vocal tracks with lyrics.

I’ve been using TabToolkit since it was first released. Love this app.

The Surface and the iPad

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My latest Techpinions column looking at Microsoft’s Surface strategy compared to Apple’s:

From what I’ve seen, it seems to me that Microsoft is trying to do a similar type of dance with the Surface that it did with previous tablets. The company is trying to convince consumers that this device can be a computer and a tablet at the same time. Based on the sales of the iPad, I’m not sure that’s what consumers really want.

Android app can steal credit card data

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The app, dubbed paycardreader, will skim card numbers and expiry dates, along with transactions and merchant IDs, and was successfully tested against a German PayPass Mastercard.

A big pile of steaming Nick Bilton shit

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Nick Bilton for The New York Times:

The iPad, for all its glory, suffers from one very distinct flaw: It’s very difficult to use for creation. The keyboard on the screen, although pretty to look at, is abysmal for typing anything over 140 characters. There isn’t a built-in pen for note-taking, either. Of course all of this is intentional by Apple. Although there are hundreds of third party products available, Apple doesn’t seem to want the iPad to be a creator, but more of a consumer.

Really Nick, you can’t create things on the iPad? What about the musicians who record songs and albums, the artists that make amazing digital paintings, the authors who write books, or the millions of consumers who create memories with movies and photographs.

You lost some credibility with that one Nick.

Ballmer

Written by

Ben Brooks:

Today, Ballmer is bailing water out of the ship. I don’t know if he can bail fast enough to right the ship, but I do know that I am willing to give him a chance to do that.

AmpliTube 2.5 for iPhone and iPad

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AmpliTube 2.5 is a major update that offers the newly released AmpliTube Slash gear model integration, MIDI and digital audio support, a redesigned recorder and mixer section, audio copy/paste, Retina display graphic updates and much more.

I downloaded it, but haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.

Amplified: A kickstand on everything I own

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Jim and Dan continue their conversation about the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. They also offer perspective on Microsoft’s Surface announcement, purchasing music, page views, proper attribution, guitars, and more.Sponsored by Harvest, and Squarespace.

RIM layoffs

Written by

Rose Simone:

RIM spokesperson Tenille Kennedy confirmed on Tuesday that RIM has reduced some positions as part of its cutback program, “and may continue to do so as the company methodically works through a review of the business.”

I hate seeing people lose their jobs because executives mismanaged the company.

3D printed guitar bodies

Written by

Anthony Doesburg:

Diegel is an exponent of 3D printing. His zany guitar bodies are created using computer-aided design (CAD) software, output in one piece on an EOS 3D printer. This is the new world of additive manufacturing.

Part of a guitars tone comes from the woods used in the guitar. I’m not sure how this would sound.

Educating an NPR intern about stealing music

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David Lowery at The Trichordist aims to educate Emily White, an NPR intern who admits to buying only 15 CDs in her life, but has 11,000 songs in her library. Lowery says he doesn’t want to embarrass or shame her, but I think she should be horrified at what she’s done.

The pageview beast

Written by

MG Siegler:

Most are stories written with little or no research done. They’re written as quickly as possible. The faster the better. Most are just rehashing information that spread by some other means. But that’s great, it means stories can be written without any burden beyond the writer having to read a little bit and type words fast. Many are written without the writer even having to think.

I am glad that I don’t make my money based on pageviews. I say what I want, when I want because I believe it to be true. That’s it.

The stupid continues

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This time with CNN’s “5 ways Microsoft’s Surface may be better than an iPad.” But what about the COM and Parallel ports?

WTF Gizmodo

Written by

Jesus Diaz for Gizmodo:

That weapon is Microsoft Surface. And it is beautiful. Beautiful and functional and simple and honest. Surface just bumped the MacBook Air and the iPad to the back seat…

Really? Remember this morning I said that New York Times article was really stupid — Jesus just took the stupid to a whole new level.

Then again, Giz seemed to like the PlayBook too.

Announcing vs. shipping

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Dermot Daly on the differences between Microsoft’s and Apple’s strategy of announcing products:

People’s reactions are then about sprinting to their local Apple store, or reaching for their credit card.

He’s right. Apple creates a furor around its products and people race to buy it. It shows a real lack of planning and knowledge when you don’t even know how much it’s going to cost.

Video: Playing guitar at the beard party

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This is the first video I’ve seen online, so I thought I’d post it. I was playing an EVH Wolfgang guitar through an Avid Eleven Rack. I was very pleased with the tone from the Eleven Rack. […]

Civilization V: Gods and Kings expansion pack

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This robust expansion covers the entire scope of time from founding your first Pantheon of the Gods and spreading religion across the world, to deploying your spies in enemy cities in order to steal information and technology.

Stupid New York Times

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Sam Grobart for The New York Times:

Microsoft’s answer to this question seems to be: “Of course you can!” The new Surface runs Windows — either a lightweight, tablet-friendly Windows RT version or the original gangster Windows 8. It has a keyboard. The Pro version has a stylus.

Usually with these stupid articles, I highlight a paragraph for the readers. With this one, I could have just put brackets around the whole thing.

Sam, Microsoft and its partners tried the tablet-as-a-PC-replacement thing for a decade and it didn’t work. Consumers didn’t like it because tablet computing is different than desktop computing.

Apple knows that it’s different and so do consumers — it’s time Sam and Microsoft faced that too.