Topsy specializes in data from Twitter, offering tools to analyze tweets and other information to help track consumer sentiment. Its tools can decipher how often a specific term is tweeted, find an influential person on a specific subject, or measure the exposure of an event or campaign.
Interesting.
Rian van der Merwe did a great job with this. One of the most important things to me is honesty.
Shane Cole:
One of the first concerns facing businesses — and many consumers — when choosing a new mobile platform is how it will enable them to get work done. To answer the question, AppleInsider went hands-on to compare the top three iOS contenders: Apple’s iWork, Microsoft’s Office 365, and Google Docs.
Microsoft badly missed an opportunity here.
Normal English: “You have to mow the lawn”
Death Metal English: “BRING DOWN THE SCYTHE OF GODS UPON THE NECKS OF THE GREEN-RIBBED LEGIONS AND SWEEP AWAY THEIR WRETCHED BODIES; THOU ART IMPLORED BY ME”
Absolutely priceless.
But, for those who are unfamiliar, Nathan created the iconic music for the very first three Tomb Raider games. If ever you heard the music when you picked up a secret, or was facing against a T-Rex, he created them.
We are LogoThief. We exist to name and shame logo thieves and all others who plagiarise the work of logo designers.
Much respect.
Strange stuff.
I’ve been a Pro Tools user for years. It’s a powerful application for recording and editing audio—in fact, there are few, if any, studios you could go to in the world that don’t use Pro Tools. Avid took a bold step with the newest version by changing the plug-in format that third-party developers use for the app. While this caused some initial pain for the users, everything seems to be settling down now.
The new AAX (Avid Audio eXtension) plug-in format gave developers a more advanced native format to work with in Pro Tools 11. The initial problem was getting the plug-ins updated and released for users. While that may have delayed the upgrade for some people, there are now hundreds of AAX plug-ins available for Pro Tools 11.
There are some notable exceptions, like Universal Audio, who haven’t released updated versions yet. UA is one of my favorite plug-in developers, so I’ve been anxiously waiting for the arrival of their updates. I have been using Pro Tools 11 alongside Pro Tools 10, so I can still use the UA gear when needed.
There are a lot of things to like about Pro Tools 11. The most obvious are the changes Avid made to the pure performance of Pro Tools. With a new audio engine and 64-bit support, Pro Tools 11 is multiple times faster than Pro Tools 10. That’s just one version, and with the same hardware, you are already faster just by installing Pro Tools 11. These changes are not just numbers either—you can tell the difference in speed in your every day work, whether you’re loading the app or working with audio, especially with more complex projects.
I don’t worry too much about plug-in DSP because my Universal Audio Apollo and Quad card take most of the plug-in processing away from my system. That’s a bonus for me, but Avid also made improvements in plug-in processing that will allow me to use more plug-ins or instruments. That was a much needed improvement over previous versions.
Perhaps one of my most requested features for Pro Tools finally showed up in version 11: Offline Bounce. It seems kind of funny that with 64-bit support and a new plug-in format that something like offline bounce would be one of my favorite features, but it is.
Offline bounce gives you the ability to export your mix many times faster than real-time1. When you’re bouncing a four minute song, that may not seem like much, but it certainly adds up when you consider the big picture of doing a mix.
It’s also important to realize that it’s not just musicians that are using Pro Tools these days. With interface improvements, speed increases and the ability to use Core Audio hardware, many podcasters have adopted Pro Tools in recent years2. Offline bounce for a two hour podcast is the feature that would make or break the decision to go with Pro Tools for many.
One of my favorite things about using Pro Tools are the key commands3. Like many users, I use key commands, instead of the mouse or menus, to navigate my way through a mix or project. The main benefits are time savings and focus. By quickly zooming or grabbing an editing tool, you can save yourself the monotony of reaching for the mouse and scrolling through menus. More importantly for me is the focus: I want to stay zeroed in on the piece of audio I’m working on—any deviation from that takes my mind away from the task. That may be okay when you do it once or twice, but when it happens all the time through a mix, it becomes a needless distraction.
Pro Tools 11 comes with a few new ways to save you time that I’ve come to appreciate. For instance, if you want to add a new Aux track, you just have to double-click in the mixer window; Option + double-click adds an instrument track; and Command + double-click adds an audio track. Quick, easy and efficient.
New metering options in Pro Tools 11 is also a welcome addition. There are a number of different metering options to choose from, but for me, I’ve enjoyed the addition of gain reduction metering for each channel. Again, another time-saver and something you can see at a glance. You don’t need to have the plug-in open to gauge the dynamics of the tracks—a quick look and you can see the gain reduction right along with the normal meter.
Of course, Pro Tools 11 comes with some other great features, like Elastic Time and Pitch and Clip Gain, that have made it the go-to application for many professionals for years.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Pro Tools 11. The speed and interface improvements make the new version a great tool when recording and mixing. If there’s one thing to watch out for, it’s to make sure your favorite plug-ins are ported to AAX.
A new video tutorial from Groove 3 and multi-platinum engineer and producer Kenny Gioia. Kenny is my favorite when it comes to video tutorials—he just has this way of teaching that comes across really well. I’m excited to watch this one.
This new ad does its best to make the case that the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 (what an unwieldy name) is a better buy than the iPad Air.
It plays it smart, staying away from issues like build quality, app ecosystem, and overall design. If I was given the chance for a free iPad Air or a free Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 (did I mention the unwieldy name?), I’d take the iPad Air in a heartbeat. And I already have one.
Coincidence aside, this is sad. He seemed like a great guy.
Bezos was on 60 Minutes yesterday and spoke about Amazon’s plans for Prime Air, a 30 minute drone-based delivery service. This is from Amazon’s Prime Air page:
We’re excited to share Prime Air — something the team has been working on in our next generation R&D lab.
The goal of this new delivery system is to get packages into customers’ hands in 30 minutes or less using unmanned aerial vehicles.
Putting Prime Air into commercial use will take some number of years as we advance the technology and wait for the necessary FAA rules and regulations.
This is absolutely fantastic to me, in both sense of the word (fanciful and wonderful). If it was anyone else, I would be skeptical to the point of disbelief. But Bezos has done the improbable many times, and just might have what it takes to clear the logistical hurdles to pull this off. And lest you think this is pure marketing fluff, watch the video to see how far along this project is. Wow.
Here’s a link to the entire interview. Gotta love Charlie Rose.
Apple logos at retail stores turned red today as the company showed its support for World AIDS Day.
Apple Store Regent St. (London)
Apple Store Sydney
Apple Store ifc mall (in Hong Kong)
Apple Store Fifth Avenue (in New York)
Valleywag:
The most absolutely awful thing about the story of Nick Starr is not that he exists, but that there are surely more people like him: the Seattle IT drone threw a Facebook fit when he was asked to take off his face-camera at a cafe. “I would love an explanation, apology, clarification…or her termination.”
Here’s your explanation – you’re a douchebag.
Macleans:
Nothing has gutted the indies, emotionally as well as financially, as the practice known as “showrooming.” Prospective buyers come into bookshops, wander the stacks, peruse the artful displays and even — unkindest cut of all — seek the advice of staff. Then they leave and order the books they want online.
Sadly, this is all too common in many retail environments. I see it a lot on the Motorcycle Retail space – going to the local bike shop, trying on gear, then buying that same gear online. Then, to make matters worse, those are the first people to whine when their local shop shuts down and they have no place to get their bike serviced.
Forbes:
Miranker’s passion for Holmes continued when he joined Apple in 1996 to help launch the iMac, eventually becoming the chief technology officer until he retired in 2004. His collection is also rich in letters and other documents relating to early Sherlock Holmes fandom.
I’ve always been a big Sherlock Holmes fan and it would be great to have the resources to invest in creating the kind of collection Miranker has.
Via iOS Dev Weekly:
Brennan Moore’s grandfather was an Apollo engineer. This is from his personal memoirs. It’s the story of a problem he helped fix during the launch of an unmanned Saturn V rocket on November 9th, 1967.
A taste:
Our goal was to enter this two level hermetically sealed, all welded steel coffin called the Mobil Launcher Base topped by a fully loaded 363 ft. high Saturn V, weighing 6.2 million pounds, and the permanently attached 380 ft. high Umbilical Tower, weighing 500k pounds. We finally stopped and left our van to walk up and into the second level of the Mobile Launcher Base. About this time, it came to my mind that during one of our training sessions we were told that one of the fully fueled prototype S-II rocket stages had been exploded out in the desert. The results showed that all buildings better be at least three miles from the launch pads – which they are. We were now within 25 feet of this 363ft tall bomb that sounded like it’s giant fuse had been lit, and we were soon going to get much closer.
Odd more than funny, I find it fascinating to watch this marketing campaign unfold. Stay classy, Ron.
Business Insider:
Both IBM and Adobe are reporting that Apple’s iOS, which powers iPhones and iPads, is destroying Google’s Android in mobile shopping on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Repeat after me: “Market share means nothing if it doesn’t generate revenue”.
Thanks to Velocity for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week. Velocity is the only speed reading app designed and developed exclusively for iOS 7. Using a well-researched speed reading technique, you can breeze through your Instapaper or Pocket queue at superhuman speeds of up to 1,000 words per minute. Speed read websites, documents, or just about any text in one of Velocity’s 3 gorgeous themes and save more time than you know what to do with. See Velocity in action.
Larson-Green, who is executive vice-president of Devices and Studios at Microsoft, said that the aim of Windows RT was “our first go at creating that more closed, turnkey experience [that Apple has on the iPad]…” but that Microsoft now has three mobile operating systems: “We have the Windows Phone OS. We have Windows RT and we have full Windows. We’re not going to have three.”
People are nuts.
This was published earlier this year, but there are so many great Slash quotes, it’s worth a read.
All kinds of examples and code here.
Zakk is the man.
This looks great. It’s a grid setup, so you can place the pedals where they are most comfortable for you and it has eight regulated 9v connections and two regulated 12v connections, so you always have power.
Tesla is a non-traditional automaker and faces a constant battle against lawmakers protecting the existing auto sales infrastructure. This article lays out the Tesla strategy to battle that entrenched mindset.
Tesla Motors was in trouble in North Carolina. Prohibited from opening showrooms there, it was on the way to being unable to sell cars at all when the state Senate voted unanimously to block online auto sales.
Then Tesla turned out a lobbying weapon that, in the home state of stock-car racing’s hall of fame, spoke louder than money: It parked a Model S at the Capitol and invited lawmakers and Gov. Pat McCrory, R, to take it for a spin.
“When you accelerate it, it was the same sort of feeling I got when I test-drove a Mustang Boss back when I was probably 23 years old,” Republican House Speaker Thomas Tillis, 53, told the Raleigh News & Observer.
So ended the anti-Tesla legislation. Tillis’s chamber never voted on it.
If you are interested in travel hacking, this is a good place to get started. Andrew Liszewski talks you through the process he followed to gather huge numbers of frequent flyer miles, all without flying. Lots of helpful links, tips, and hints.
Click around for some great pictures.
This is fantastic. Keep an eye out for the percussion. So well done.