Clearly, being able to plug-in on-the-go provides guitarists with a huge advantage in writing songs, practicing or learning new material. However, without a decent tone, it sucks to play and not be able to get the sounds you want.
You won’t have that problem with AmpKit.
AmpKit gives you everything you’ll need to create a massive tone. It can do everything from a nice clean tone to a ballsy metal beast that will make you want to play even more.
I took a couple of the built-in presets and did a quick one-off recording. Obviously, you can make whatever changes you need to the amps and effects, but I left everything alone, plugged in and played.
Atari founder and gaming guru Nolan Bushnell believes that educational video games area potential form of synergy that could revolutionize the educational system in the United States. Bushnell remains confident enough to proclaim that if implemented correctly, the average high school curriculum would only take one year to complete, rather than four years.“I’ve been working on an education project for about ten years now, and it turns out that educating children and computers go together,” he said. “We’ve been in hundreds of classrooms with 40,000 kids. We are currently teaching subjects ten times faster.”
On Tuesday, Bartz was in New York, to speak at Citigroup’s (C) technology conference the next day, when she was supposed to call Bostock at 6 p.m. “I called him at 6:06,” she recalls. When he got on the line, she says, he started reading a lawyer’s prepared statement to dismiss her.“I said, ‘Roy, I think that’s a script,'” adding, “‘Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?'”
Ousted Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz isn’t one to mince words – she famously told recently-fired TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington to f*** off, at his own conference.
Feral Interactive on Thursday announced the release of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 for the Mac. It costs $39.99 and is available from online download services including the Mac App Store. It comes to retailers on Thursday, September 15, 2011.
Colin McRae: DiRT 2 is an rally-style auto racing game that features nine locations around the world, 41 tracks and more than 100 racing events. As you travel the world, you gain experience and win cash, you get promoted and progress to more challenging events.
You get to drive real-world cars like the Mitsubishi EVO X, the Subaru Impreza STI and others, with customization, adjustable assists and difficulty levels.
A “Flashback” feature lets you repeat the last few seconds of your drive so you can correct mistakes that otherwise would have sent you off the course and out of the running. The game also features multiplayer support with head-to-head online play.
Feral noted that the game was previously anticipated for a July launch. Colin McRae: DiRT 2’s Mac release was pushed back to September in order to accommodate support for OS X “Lion.”
In researching my recent story, iTunes U: Educating the world, Apple provided me with some updated figures for its free education portal on iTunes.
According to Apple, iTunes U has had more than 600 million downloads since it first launched in 2007. What’s even more impressive is that they’ve had more than 300 million in the last year alone — a testament to the growing popularity of the service.
Currently, iTunes U boasts more than 1,000 universities with active accounts. Schools contributing to the program range from big to small and include some of the world’s most prestigious institutions like Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, University of Melbourne and University of Tokyo.
As you would expect, a number of universities have a large amount of downloads. Emory University, Harrisburg Area Community College, Ludwig Maxmillians University (Germany) and Oxford University have all surpassed 10 million downloads on iTunes U. Yale University, MIT, University of California Berkeley and University of South Florida have more than 20 million downloads.
Topping the list of universities in downloads are Open University and Stanford University, each with more than 30 million downloads.
While many of us think of iTunes U as being a part of the desktop experience, 30 percent of iTunes U traffic comes from iOS devices.
iTunes U is currently available in 123 countries, which would explain why 60 percent of iTunes U users are from outside the U.S.
Adobe will announce on Thursday that demand for its Production Premium CS5.5 video tools has exploded this year, and they have Apple to thank.
Demand for Adobe’s video creation tools has grown 22 percent year-over-year, but the big news is on the Mac side. The company said that it’s seen 45 percent growth on the Mac.
Adobe says the growth on the Mac is fueled by the large number of Final Cut Pro X users switching to Premiere Pro.
After releasing Final Cut Pro X, Apple faced a backlash from users. Adobe stepped in and welcomed users to its platform. Adobe created video tutorials and published documents to help Final Cut users switch to Adobe products.
Arrington mostly stayed out of the public fray until yesterday when he demanded that TechCrunch either be given full editorial independence or sold back to Arrington and other legacy shareholders (AOL had purchased the site last year).But AOL is not giving TechCrunch its editorial independence. And it is not selling it back to Arrington.Instead, Fortune has learned that AOL executives have decided to terminate Arrington.
Arq backs up the critical files on your Mac to the Internet. Your backups are stored at Amazon S3 (“Simple Storage Service”), the gold standard of reliable online storage in the industry, backed by Amazon.com, a large stable company. Backups of your Mac are complete and accurate, including all metadata.
I met with Stefan at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. He’s a great guy that cares about his customers and his software.
I’ve been using Alfred for many months. On the surface it’s an app launcher, and that’s how I use it most of the time. After assigning a hotkey combination (I chose Command-Space), its main window is only a tap away. From there, start typing the name of the app you’re after and hit Return to launch it. But that’s just the beginning. Here are some of the other useful tasks Alfred performs for me (note that some require the Powerpack, which is a separate purchase).
I must admit, Spotlight has served my needs well over the years, but some people like more functionality.
To celebrate Fashion’s Night Out, Saks and Stylelist.com have partnered to create an interactive storefront at Saks’ flagship 5th Avenue store.
Designed, developed and built by Gin Lane Media the three-window display features 64 iPad 2s in the center window and nine 27-inch Cinema Displays in each of the two side windows.
The display will feature original Stylelist imagery, streaming content, tweets from around the Web and user-submitted photos with the #StylelistatSaks hashtag.
“The iPads are running a native iPad application specifically built for the installation,” said Dan Kenger, Digital Creative Director at Gin Lane Media. “Using a local network, which we setup, we are able to get all the iPads to talk to each other as well as perfect the timing to produce elegant fades and control what device should display what.”
Intuit on Wednesday took off the wraps from QuickBooks for Mac 2012, a new version of its small business accounting software that will be released on September 26, 2011. It costs $229.95 for a single-user license.
More than 50 new features and enhancements made it into this release of QuickBooks, including a redesigned interface and support for OS X “Lion.” An improved search function with keyword support, customer and vendor history panels, and sortable transaction list have been included. You can check over here for more details on using QuickBooks.
You can now import multiple transactions from bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks at once, create “smart rules” to match payees downloaded from online banking accounts, and create multiple invoices from a single estimate to bill for a project over time. Other forms of progress invoicing are also supported.
Intuit has also introduced the Get Started Right program, which provides QuickBooks for Mac 2012 users with a free hour of technical phone support from a QuickBooks expert.
Dexim has announced its AppSpeed Monster Truck, a radio-controlled toy monster truck that uses an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch as its controller. It retails for $69.99.
The AppSpeed Monster Truck works with a free app downloadable from the App Store and a custom-built RF transmitter and quick-charging battery pack. The truck itself is charged via USB. Dexim says it will expand the vehicle line with other vehicles and devices.
The software lets you operate the monster truck from the iOS device’s touch screen, either in a “traditional” mode or tilting the device. The RF transmitter works up to 50 feet away.
Apple’s iTunes software is used by millions of consumers to purchase music, videos and apps for their devices, but the software is also used by higher education institutions to educate people from around the world.
iTunes U is a collection of learning materials donated by over 1,000 universities — and it’s all free. Schools from around the world participate in iTunes U giving users access to research and lectures from some of the top professors in education today.
In fact, digital distribution of content is becoming so important that schools are setting up departments to oversee its challenges and growth.
For Lucas Swineford, Yale University’s Director of Digital Media & Dissemination, iTunes U has proven to be a successful channel in getting the school’s information out to the public. For Swineford, having the media available locally was only part of the longer term goal.
“Yale students are one part of our audience, but they’re not the primary audience,” Swineford told The Loop. “We view iTunes U as more sharing with the world.”
Located in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University is one of the most respected higher learning institutions in the world. Swineford said he looked at how he could share many of the great things that happen at Yale, without having to physically live in New Haven. iTunes U is one of the ways he accomplishes that goal.
While people in the U.S. certainly take advantage of Yale’s iTunes U program, Swineford also knows the information is reaching beyond U.S. borders.
“The feedback that really warms our heart is when we recieve emails from students and teachers from around the world thanking us for providing this content,” said Swineford.
Qiquan Wang, who is in charge of the iTunes U program at HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, said this type of online access to digital files is expected from students these days.
Wang said the school started the program in 2007 when Apple first launched iTunes U and the response has been very positive from the very first report that was done evaluating the program.
Students have said that textbooks are difficult to read and understand, but having lectures and research available digitally makes learning, and understanding the topics, much easier.
Wang also said that faculty have been very supportive of the iTunes U program, often spending their own time creating media to share, because it helps the students.
Regardless of the reasons higher education institutions become involved in iTunes U, the results from students, faculty and people around the world has been very positive.
“We believe in the importance of education,” said Yale’s Swineford. “If you believe a more informed world is a better world, then why wouldn’t you do this.”
MacUpdate on Wednesday kicked off its annual software bundle deal. This year they are offering 11 Mac apps for $49.99 — the apps purchased separately would cost $487. Apps in this year’s bundle include Toast 11 Titanium, Data Rescue 3 and Fantastical, among others.
If you want to purchase the bundle, you can do so using The Loop’s link and MacUpdate will throw me a little kickback.
We’ve gotten an email from an acquaintance of one of the victims of the accident saying that one of the passengers was carrying an iPhone. The relatives of the crash victim logged into Find My iPhone and were able to isolate the coordinates of the last known whereabouts of the plane before it crashed. That information was then given to the Navy who are using it to coordinate the rescue efforts to find the fuselage.
Ultimate Guitar has long been my favorite tablature Web sites and I also downloaded the tab app as soon as it become available. There is an update for one of the company’s apps with another on the way.
Ultimate Guitar Tools combines a Guitar Tuner, Metronome and Chords Library — think of it as a utility app for those that don’t need the tablature functionality. Among the changes is a brand new interface and an improved pitch detection algorithm.
The new version allows you to adjust the microphone sensitivity, and see the input level with a new mic input display. Ultimate Guitar Tools 1.1 features orchestral tuning and allows you to switch between linear and non-linear tuning scales.
To all, I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward. Carol
It’s not a big surprise, they’ve been looking for a while.
But by looking at what Google’s competitors are offering, you can get a sense of what’s in play. As the Financial Times reported this weekend, Yahoo, Amazon and Dish are all expected to offer between $1.5 billion and $2 billion for Hulu, in exchange for the free video site, its subscription service and the rights to exclusive content for at least two years.Google seems to want something much more than that, and is willing to pay much more to get it.
Ironic that the TV networks started Hulu, in part, to compete with YouTube and they are now considering selling it to Google.
“… don’t expect either to be the Great iPad Competitor that leads folks to conclude that it’s possible to compete effectively with Apple’s tablet…But neither one feels generic, either–they’re the sort of tablets you might expect Sony to come up with, and I mean that as a compliment.”
Harry McCracken’s exposure to Sony’s new Android tablets at IFA in Berlin was brief and (as he readily admits) incomplete, but he offers an honest an insightful appraisal about what Sony got right with its new devices.
ProVUE Development has released Appalicious, a new shopping assistant for the Mac App Store.
The Mac App Store is a great new service from Apple that exposes users to lots of Mac application software, but it can be a bit overwhelming. Appalicious helps users navigate the store and find the best deals among available apps. It loads the entire Mac App Store catalog into RAM and provides fast searching, sorting and organizational capabilities.
Features include a customizable spreadsheet interface; searching and sorting that lets users rank apps by name, company, price, discount and other criteria; version and price history, including discount tracking; and the ability to view multiple apps at once.
Blazing fast search is understandable given Appalicious’s pedigree – ProVUE Development is the creator of Panorama, a database with a 23 year history on the Mac – and one that’s known for being quite speedy.
The download is free and includes a seven-day subscription. If you like what you see, subscriptions run $12.95 per year or $19.95 for two years. A limited-time offer drops the one-year subscription price to $7.95.
Very interesting story. Jerry is right handed and played guitar that way until he lost a finger. To continue playing playing he had to switch to being a lefty and then opened the store.
Fox is about to make history by debuting its new comedy series on iTunes before it shows on TV.
In the debut episode of “New Girl,” Zooey Deschanel (“(500) Days of Summer”) stars as Jess Day, a young woman who, after discovering her long-term boyfriend is cheating on her, moves into a loft apartment with three male roommates – prickly bartender Nick (Jake Johnson), womanizer Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and intense personal trainer Coach (guest-star Damon Wayans, Jr.). The guys alongside Jess’ childhood best friend, Cece (Hannah Simone) try to help Jess get back on her feet and into the dating world.
The show can be downloaded on iTunes for free from today until the day of the series premiere, Tuesday, Sept. 20 (9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT).
RIM fans were quite upset when I compared the PlayBook tablet to the iPad. In fairness, it wasn’t a good comparison because the iPad is so much better. They were also upset when I compared the PlayBook to the legendary Etch A Sketch (probably because the PlayBook lost).
Now there is a new competitor from LeapFrog. The best part is that you don’t need a BlackBerry to use the LeapPad. It’s important to note that neither device does email or calendaring.
Oranged Software has released Studiometry 9, a major upgrade to their business management software for Mac and Windows. It costs $199.95, with upgrades available for $59.95. Studiometry helps you organize, plan, track and invoice, providing you with the tools needed to keep tabs both on clients and projects.
New to the 9.0 release are more than 140 new features and improvements. Oranged notes that many of the enhancements are focused on Customer Relation Management (CRM). Direct integration with Apple Mail has been added, and e-mails can now be imported, logged and linked within Studiometry data.
Contact records can now include an unlimited number of customizable fields containing text, dates or URLs. Contact lists have been redesigned. New reporting and summarizing capabilities have been added, including a Project “Quoted vs. Actual” report, new Client Statements and others.
PDF exporting capabilities, cost-rate tracking, Growl support, speed and stability improvements, iCloud and MobileMe calendar support, enhanced Gantt charts and other new features round out the major enhancements.
A 30-day free trial is available for download. Also check out the Studiometry Touch software for iPhone and iPad.
Noting its poor stock performance, lack of innovation and loss of market share, Jaguar Financial is leading the charge to have something done at RIM.
In a statement on Tuesday, Jaguar Chairman and CEO Vic Alboini called on RIM’s Directors to maximize shareholder value. This includes putting the company up for sale and selling off the patent portfolio.
“The status quo is not acceptable, the Company cannot sit still. It is time for transformational change. The Directors need to seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost,” said Alboini.
RIM’s failures, including the disastrous release of the PlayBook tablet, have led the company’s stock to fall over 80 percent since 2008.
Universal Audio (UA) released an update for its UAD powered plug-ins, adding three new plug-ins and giving Pro Tools users significant enhancements.
For Pro Tools users, Universal Audio has removed the VST wrapper and replaced it with full RTAS plug-ins. Among other things, this allows the UA plug-ins to be grouped by category and manufacturer.
The update also improves automation — parameters now properly display and automate in the automation lanes. Support for control surfaces, like the Artist Series, C|24, 003, has been added and support for the ICON has been added.
New plug-ins in UAD 6.0 include the Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder Plug-in. The Ampex is one of the most used and trusted decks in the world, helping to improve recordings for many years. If you have the Studer A800 plug-in, the addition of the Ampex lets you have an analog tape mix from beginning to end.
The Brainworx bx_digital V2 EQ provides precise 11-band equalization and M/S (mid-side) processing — letting you add presence and transparency to mixes.
The SPL Vitalizer MK2-T is an emulation of the popular tube-based hardware unit. This longtime staple works in both the time and frequency domains to effectively unmask overlapping sounds.
Riot Games has announced the cancellation of League of Legends’ Mac beta client, which the company was developing in partnership with TransGaming. Riot cited the reason for cancellation as an inability to maintain consistent parity between Mac and Windows PC versions with the game’s rapid update cycle. Announced last year, the DOTA clone is a session based multiplayer online game which challenges rival teams to compete for victory.
Disappointing news for anyone who was looking forward to this 3D fantasy MMO.
