If you’re not doing anything in Boston or Cambridge tonight (Wednesday) and you’d like to get up to speed on the latest on the Mac game scene, feel free to stop by the monthly BMac user group, happening at 7PM at building E51 on the MIT campus. It’s a short jaunt from Kendall Square, easily accessibly from the T.
I’m going to be talking about Mac games – the latest ones to play, where to find them, and what’s going on with the Mac game scene these days. There may be free stuff, too.
Rene Ritchie on why Samsung won’t settle with Apple:
Being Apple without being Apple led to Samsung becoming far and away the leading Android phone vendor by market share, and there’s likely no amount of wrist-slapping that with level the playing field for vendors like HTC and Motorola which chose to go with more unique, more authentic products from the get-go.
Samsung blatantly copied Apple and made billions. They continue to make huge amounts of money, far more than any court settlement could give Apple. Hell, I wouldn’t settle either.
But it appears that the newest Nexus hardware is selling out fast. Both versions of Nexus 4 are now listed as ‘coming soon’ on the Play Store in the U.K., and the 32GB version of the Nexus 10 tablet is also apparently no longer in stock.
That’s great. I can’t wait to hear from Google exactly how many they sold.
Shares of Microsoft Corp slid on Tuesday after the surprise departure of a key executive, who analysts said marks the loss of the driving force behind the company’s biggest product.The shares were down 2.8 percent in afternoon at $27.21.
Wall Street took Apple’s executive changes in stride when they learned that Jony Ive and Eddy Cue would assume some of Forstall’s duties. It had a calming effect on everyone. Microsoft, indeed most companies, don’t have that.
The company said on Tuesday that in the coming weeks it would release a maps app called Here in Apple’s App Store. It will be a free download for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners.
I have quite a few analog pedals in my gear collection, but none quite like Zoom’s Multistomp. It has the form factor of analog pedal, but the guts of a digital stompbox.
The MS-50G is a unique pedal, but I was unsure how I would fit it into any of my current setups. Would it replace some of my analog pedals? Could I use it with my digital amps and cabs? The answer turned out to be yes.
I use the Zakk Wylde Overdrive with my JCM 800 and love what it does for my tone. I didn’t want to replace that pedal, but still wanted to add some of the effects in the Zoom Multistomp. Ultimately, that’s exactly what I did.
Whether you put the Multistomp before or after the ZW Overdrive is personal choice based on the tone you’re looking for and the effects you choose. I tried both, but preferred using the Multistomp before.
The Multistomp did exactly what I was hoping it would — it added to the tone. It didn’t try to overpower the tone that I already had, but rather allowed me to try out a bunch of effects that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. The Multistomp comes with 55 effects and amp models and a tuner, so there is no way I would be able to buy all of that gear.
Here’s the beauty of the Zoom pedal. It has 50 presets slots and you can put up to six effects in each preset. Each preset is like it’s own stompbox.
You can program the pedal to load presets in whatever you order choose, so if you have a song that starts off with a clean tone, then goes to a crunchy tone, and then a lead tone, the Mutistomp can load them in order for you. Just stomp on the pedal and it changes to the new preset.
You can also change the order the effects are loaded in each preset, so you have complete control over your entire tone.
I also plugged the output from the pedal into my audio interface and tried the Multistomp with a number of amp modeling software applications. I disabled all of the effects in the software and used the ones in the Multistomp instead. The only thing I used in software was the amp and cab — it worked great.
Changing the settings for individual effects or global settings is done right on the pedal itself. There are buttons around the stomp pot and three knobs/buttons on the pedal itself. It will take you some time to figure out what button does what, but it’s not that difficult. By the time you set up your first preset, you’ll have it mastered.
Since the Multistomp is digital, Zoom included the ability to update the pedal’s firmware via USB. This is very handy if the company decides to make changes or enhance the pedal down the road.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with the MS-50G, but I’m pleased with what I found. A versatile pedal that added to my existing tone. The Multistomp costs $99.99 at Amazon.
What a great idea Google. A case for your smartphone that protects the edges, but leaves the screen free. And calling it a bumper is simply genius. Why didn’t Apple think of that a couple of years ago.
I think that every site could do with some minimalism. You certainly don’t have to take it to the extent I did with The Loop, but even cleaning up and eliminating those elements that aren’t needed would make a big difference for the visitor.
Metal Guitar Gods is an expansion pack for EZmix 2, focusing solely on amp and cab simulation presets for guitar and bass. It comes with everything from rhythm, lead and clean sounds to settings for acoustic guitar and bass.
EZmix is a great plug-in that makes it quick and easy to get a great sounding mix. Basically, you pick a preset and you’re done. You can fine tune it if you want, but they usually sound pretty good as they are.
BlackBerry or iPhone? It’s been a battle for years, but Apple’s smartphone offering may be the healthier pick for anyone with allergies, according to new research from the U.S.Nickel used in the production of the Canadian Research In Motion product has been found on the device’s buttons and keyboards, where it could cause an allergic reaction such as dry, itchy skin, says a study presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).
What happens next, you touch a BlackBerry and puppies cry out in pain?
CNET got their hands on Steven Sinofsky’s memo to employees announcing his departure. They also received a copy of Steve Ballmer’s memo to employees.
Ballmer doesn’t exactly gush with emotion for the man that lead the Windows team and has been with the company since 1989. Word on the street is that Sinofsky wanted Ballmer’s job as CEO, but it doesn’t look like that was going to happen.
Sources have said the move came amid growing tension between Sinofsky and other top executives. Sinofsky, though seen as highly talented, was viewed at the top levels as not the kind of team player that the company was looking for.
Interesting times when Apple and Microsoft will let top executives like Sinofsky and Forstall walk or be forced out.
John McAfee, the Silicon Valley creator of an antivirus software that bears his name, was being sought Monday by police in Belize as a “person of interest” in the slaying of a fellow expatriate on an island where McAfee lived a high-profile existence, police said Monday.
McAfee left the company he founded in the early 90s, and later expatriated to Belize in 2008. Local police raided his home in April looking for drugs and guns, but released him later without being charged.
The murder victim was McAfee’s neighbor. His body was found by his housekeeper, with bullet in his head. Police haven’t announced a motive for the murder yet.
Microsoft said the head of its flagship Windows division and the driving force behind Windows 8, Steven Sinofsky, will be leaving the company with immediate effect, shortly after the software giant launched the Surface tablet.
This seems odd to me. It doesn’t have the feel of a planned departure.
Approximately five minutes from each of the previous 22 James Bond films have been cut together, in order and in sequence. This new look at the “Bond Formula” begins with the first five minutes of “Dr No”, followed by five minutes of “From Russia with Love” followed by “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball” and continues on through the remaining 18 Bond features.
It’s an interesting experiment and shows how, for better or worse, each films follows the formula.
