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.
Good. More choice is better for consumers.
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.
This looks like a great app for those that like to easily apply effects and filters to their photos. They have a pro version too.
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.
Apple gets $6050 per square foot and Tiffany’s, its nearest competitor, gets $3017 per square foot.
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?
Such a great, simple writing app.
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.
Dan Nakaso for the San Jose Mercury News:
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.
The one-stop Apple shop.
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.
50 Years of James Bond – The Movie:
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.
Jeff Carlson takes a look at the iPad mini from a photographer’s perspective. Carlson previously published a book called “iPad for Photographers” so he has some good insight on the subject.
Wired:
Chances are you won’t be present in person during tomorrow’s total solar eclipse, which will only be visible on land from a tiny sliver of Australia. Not to worry — the internet has got your back, and there are plenty of ways to catch the action from the comfort of your own browser.Total solar eclipses over land are relatively rare, with any given region expected to have one every 375 years on average. The next total solar eclipse will take place over equatorial Africa on Nov. 3, 2014, though the region where it will happen in is notorious for clouds. A total solar eclipse will pass through the central and eastern U.S. on Aug. 21, 2017, ending a 38-year U.S. eclipse drought.
Dave Winer at Gizmodo:
By the way, this is why the orchestrated reviews of products are often worthless. I invite Mossberg, Pogue or Gruber to re-review their iPad Mini now, a week after their initial reviews, and let us know if they’re actually using it. And if they still think it’s a winner. I believe it’s not only not a winner, but it signals a new Apple that’s no longer beyond compare, no longer insisting on delighting its users to the point of orgasm.
Dave didn’t ask, but I stand by my review and I’m still using my iPad mini.
PandoDaily:
Best Buy recently announced that it will match Amazon on price this holiday season — a move that will likely further depress its margins at a time it can least afford it. 75 percent of the items offered by Best Buy are cheaper on Amazon, on average by 17 percent.Best Buy is trying to play a game it can’t win in a sport it doesn’t participate in — like a middling veteran basketball player suddenly switching to hockey.
Not many in the US retail market think this Christmas will being anything but bad news for Best Buy.
Speaking on today’s News Hub video show, Lessin reports Apple started a program earlier this year called “Blue Sky” that lets employees take two weeks to work on projects outside their normal responsibilities.
Great move by Apple. As pointed out in the article, this is what Google has done for quite a while.
Though that’s a small dip, the change is noteworthy because for several years, text messaging had been steadily growing in the United States. Mr. Sharma said it was too early to tell whether the decline here would continue, but he noted that Internet-based messaging services, like Facebook messaging and Apple’s iMessage, had been chomping away at SMS usage. He said the decline would become more pronounced as more people buy smartphones.
At this point, I think there is only one person that I’ve texted in the past couple of months — everyone else has been an iMessage. I’ll admit, I’m not sad to see the carriers get screwed with lost revenue after making us pay exorbitant fees for years.
Action-shooter “Halo 4,” released last Tuesday, is on its way to reaching $300 million in global sales in its first week, making it the biggest launch in the decade-old Halo franchise’s history, the company said.
I love my Xbox, but never got into Halo. Still this is one product in Microsoft’s arsenal that is hugely successful.
I still have not tried in-flight Wi-Fi. Every time I fly they tell me it’s not available on that flight or it’s broken.
As you might expect, I’m a “less is more” kind of guy. I don’t understand how some sites think the busy design works for its readers/customers.
I downloaded this over the weekend and love it.
One of the emerging challenges for web designers is creating web typography that works in the mobile environment as well. But it can be difficult, and there are many things to consider. The keys are to focus on readability, contrast, space and responsiveness.
Matt Alexander on what’s he’s learned after his first year of writing.
The NEW Squier Strat Guitar with USB & iOS Connectivity gives you a huge range of tones and all the features you expect from Fender—plus the convenience of direct connection to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. The Squier Strat with USB & iOS Connectivity is available exclusively at the Apple Store.
Good for Fender for doing this.
3Ders.org (via Gizmodo):
“Propshop commissioned us to build three plastic models of the Aston Martin DB5. We could have easily printed the legendary sports car in one piece at a scale of 1:3 using our high-end VX4000 printer, which can build moulds and models in dimensions of up to eight cubic metres. But the British model builders were pursuing a different approach. To ensure that the Aston Martin was as true to detail as possible, and for the purpose of integrating numerous functions into the film models, they decided on an assembly consisting of a total of 18 individual components. The entire body is based on a steel frame, almost identical to how vehicles were assembled in the past,” says voxeljet CEO Dr. Ingo Ederer.
So Voxeljet actually printed individual car components to replicate the vintage Aston Martin DB5 that meets its untimely end in Skyfall. Even then, though, it wasn’t cheap – one of the surviving models was auctioned off for $100,000.
This week I spoke to Jason Bonfig, merchant vice president for computing at Best Buy. Bonfig told me that Best Buy has invested 50,000 hours worth of training to bring employees up to speed.
Very smart move by Microsoft and Best Buy. Microsoft must have known that people would be confused by the new interface, so to combat that they have experts on hand to make it all seem very simple.
Shawn Blanc is searching for a new camera. I’m still satisfied with my iPhone — it’s always with me and takes great photos.