September 6, 2011
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.
You can download UAD 6.0 from the Universal Audio Web site.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Inside Mac Games:
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.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Apple’s claim that the Samsung tablet’s release in Australia will hurt iPad sales may carry little weight if it doesn’t provide the numbers, Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett said in Sydney Federal Court today.“Unless Apple puts on evidence showing the impact in the U.S. or U.K., I can’t draw any positive assumptions,” Bennett said.
So Apple may not be able to get the Samsung Galaxy banned in that country unless it shows the impact on sales figures.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Big thanks to Sidekick by Oomph for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed.
Sidekick is a stealth little Mac app that automatically updates laptop settings based on where you are. It takes care of annoying tasks so you can focus on what you need to do.
By controlling a huge variety of settings, Sidekick makes your laptop more secure, efficient, portable, and personalized. It can automatically change your default printer, connect to a server, run a command in Terminal, lock the keychain, change the system location…the list goes on. Visit the Sidekick website to learn more about what it can do.
Try Sidekick 4.0 for free. It’s super powerful and very easy to use.
Agile Partners on Tuesday released one of the biggest updates to an iOS app that I’ve seen. AmpiKit 1.2 made big changes under the hood, as well as adding many new features for guitarists using the iPad and iPhone.
Perhaps the two biggest improvements are Adaptive Input Compensation and Dual-stage Amp Simulation.
The company said that it noticed a loss of bass frequencies when the guitar signal is captured using the iOS device’s headset interface. The solution is Adaptive Input Compensation. Agile profiled the frequency response from the different iOS devices, adding back the bass into the signal.
The result, according to the company, is “an amazing increase in the fidelity of the incoming guitar signal, and much richer amplified guitar tone, regardless of amp and playing style, but especially noticeable on clean, jazz, and blues guitar as well as bass guitar.”
In AmpKit 1.2, Agile also took advantage of Apple’s newer A4 and A5 processors. Dual-stage Amp Simulation takes advantage of those processors and they doubled the simulation fidelity on all of our amps.
There are a lot of other new features too, including Solo & Mix Output Shaping; Convolutionbased Cabinet Simulation; and a new Noise Gate.
New gear for this release come from Budda, Fargen, Rocktron, and others. New presets help you bring it all together and are included in the app.
Agile has intro pricing to get all of the new gear through in-app purchase for $9.99. Yes, I already bought it. AmpKit 1.2 costs $19.99 and is available from App Store.
September 5, 2011
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Information is all that matters. All the rest is bullshit.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Houston Chronicle:
A committee of lawmakers is reviewing whether to recommend that the state buy the devices for the Legislature’s 50 senators and 100 representatives.State Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Lafayette, said he already uses a personal iPad for legislative business and that broader use of them could make the legislative process more transparent while also making it easier for legislators to respond to constituents.
Consumers, business, government — everyone can find a use for the iPad.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
ZDNet:
TiVo defined the DVR category around the turn of the century, and today the product name has been turned into a verb. If you’re going to record a TV program on your cable company’s DVR, you probably just say you’ll “TiVo it.”*But name recognition doesn’t pay the bills. The TiVo product line is in a steep decline, a victim of fundamental shifts in digital media technology today. Those same trends explain why Microsoft has shifted Windows Media Center into legacy mode beginning with Windows 8.
Ed Bott points to studies and comments from Microsoft and TiVo that suggest that fewer people than ever are relying on TiVos and Media Center PCs to record and play back video, but the numbers don’t make sense. Comcast and other cable providers are pushing DVRs more than ever, and people certainly aren’t using VHS tape machines to record programming.
Maschine Mikro is based on a highly portable controller that provides hands-on control of the central Maschine features at two-thirds of the size and weight of the full-sized hardware. Utilizing a single display and a dynamically assigned high-resolution master encoder to enable its compact footprint, the bus-powered Mikro controller retains the distinctive full-sized 4×4 matrix of pressure-sensitive, dynamically backlit Maschine drum pads with their acclaimed response and feel.
And for iOS music fans:
To further complement the growing Maschine product range, Native Instruments is also about to release iMaschine, an iOS software that brings intuitive groove creation to the iPhone and iPod touch platform. With four tracks, audio sampling, high-quality effects and an expandable arsenal of professional instruments and drum sounds from the regular iMaschine library, iMaschine allows users to sketch grooves on the go, and later transfer them into the full iMaschine software for detailed editing and arrangement. iMaschine is planned for release through the Apple App Store in October.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Bloomberg:
Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) will allow customers to reserve the next generation of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone as of today in anticipation of supply bottlenecks for the device, spokesman Alexander von Schmettow said by phone.
Planning ahead.
Google posted a nice letter about Freddie, penned by Brian May.
September 3, 2011
Written by Jim Dalrymple
A new project from Shawn Blanc that he describes as:
Tools & Toys is a collection of hand-selected items for the pickiest of gadget geeks, software aficionados, snowboard junkies, music lovers, writers, coffee nuts, and all around collectors of fine paraphernalia.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Wall Street Journal:
Boast that you’re going to attack Apple’s iPad with your $499 TouchPad. Then dump your TouchPad in a $99 fire sale and announce you’re just not going to offer it anymore.Telegraph to the world that you are just too dumb to make smartphones.Raise your financial estimates, twice. Then miss them, twice.
There is a lot of stupid going on at that company these days.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Air Users Blog:
A week after starting I had to tell her that I was unable to complete the project. I had more chance of growing tits than giving her an album worth pressing.
Mixing an album takes a lot of talent even if the artist is good, but if they’re not…
Written by Jim Dalrymple
MG Siegler has the scoop:
Again, the device is a 7-inch tablet with a capacitive touch screen. It is multi-touch, but from what I saw, I believe the reports that it relies on a two-finger multi-touch (instead of 10-finger, like the iPad uses) are accurate. This will be the first Kindle with a full-color screen. And yes, it is back-lit. There is no e-ink to be found anywhere on this device.
I think Amazon’s tablet will be successful because of the brand. People trust Amazon, so they’re likely to buy.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
IndustryGamers:
Developers seem confident that Apple will be just fine without Jobs steering the ship. In fact, the timing may have been just right for Jobs to step down, in advance of the iPhone 5 likely being revealed.
Glad to see that iOS game developers share the same confidence I feel that Apple is in good hands with Tim Cook and the rest of the executive team that Steve assembled.
I love Jackson guitars. I currently own two Dinky models, one with EMG pickups and the other with Seymour Duncans. Jacksons have a really flat neck, which seems to suit me for playing metal. The company released 12 new models in all — here are a few.
September 2, 2011
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Macworld:
One in six Macs now runs Apple’s latest operating system, a Web metrics company said Thursday.According to California-based Net Applications, Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion, accounted for 1 percent of all desktop operating systems that were used to connect to the Internet last month.
We’re just over a month since the release of Lion. Lots of people like audio engineers, musicians and other creative pros hold off on upgrading to a new OS until all of their apps are throughly tested. I still haven’t upgraded the Mac Pro in my studio and probably won’t for some months to come.
What a great looking app. This is what I would expect from Apple if they made iChat for the iPhone. Verbs is $0.99 on the App Store.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
SFWeekly:
Dangerfield says that, after conferring with Apple and the captain of the Ingleside police station, he has learned that plainclothes SFPD officers went with private Apple detectives to the home of Sergio Calderón, a 22-year-old resident of Bernal Heights. According to Dangerfield, the officers “did not go inside the house,” but stood outside while the Apple employees scoured Calderón’s home, car, and computer files for any trace of the lost iPhone 5. The phone was not found, and Calderón denies that he ever possessed it.
Does anyone know what’s going on over there?
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Florian Mueller:
I just provided a detailed update on the current state of affairs in the ITC investigation of Apple’s first complaint against HTC, and I saved a true gem for this separate blog post. It’s a story that’s remarkable per se — allegedly, Android started at Apple — and it could also have major legal implications for a future Apple lawsuit against Google or possibly even for Apple’s dispute with Motorola Mobility after its proposed acquisition by Google.
Classic argument by Apple.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Peter Jamison for SFWeekly:
If accurate, his account raises the possibility that Apple security personnel attempting to recover the prototype falsely represented themselves as police officers — a criminal act punishable by up to a year in jail in the state of California — or that SFPD employees colluding with Apple failed to properly report an extensive search of a person’s home, car, and computer.
Uh oh.
So many talented people on Dribbble. Here’s a client for the iPhone called Balllin.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The Next Web:
There has been a misquote being passed around the net like wildfire this morning. According to the quote that is being reported widely by tech and Apple blogs, Eric Schmidt said that he stayed on Apple’s Board of Directors until he “couldn’t stand the board anymore.”But that quote is incorrect, Schmidt actually said: “I was on the board until I couldn’t stay on the board anymore,”
The SF Chronicle has corrected its original story, but the error is still echoing over the blogosphere.
Earlier this year famed Halo game creator Bungie announced the formation of Bungie Aerospace, a new venture aimed at publishing mobile games. The first fruit of that labor, Crimson: Steam Pirates, is now available for the iPad on the App Store. It’s free to download, with unlockable content available through a $1.99 in-app purchase.
Crimson: Steam Pirates is a steampunk take on a rollicking pirate adventure on (and above) the high seas of the Caribbean, as Thomas Blood’s pirate fleet attacks all comers. Ships armed to the teeth with swivel cannons and lightning guns cruise the waves, while zeppelins hunt above with incendiary bombs and submarines stalk from below with torpedoes.
The game features eight voyages, two “pass-and-play” multiplayer scenarios, more than a dozen different unit types, and more than 20 different crew members, each with special abilities. The game’s stats integrate with Bungie.net and Facebook.
Although there’s additional content for purchase, this isn’t a “freemium” game – Crimson: Steam Pirates comes with eight missions playable as soon as you download. A second “chapter” with mission packs costs you $1.99.
Crimson: Steam Pirates was made by Harebrained Schemes, a developer helmed by Jordan Weisman, creator of MechWarrior, Crimson Skies and Shadowrun.
[Updated 3:02PM PT with info about second chapter]
Tricky Software has announced the release of Emma and the Inventor for the iPad. It’s a free download, though unlocking the full game requires a $4.99 in-app purchase.
Emma’s Grandfather Jenkins has completed his greatest invention ever, but the mysterious machine has transported him to an alternate dimension shortly before exploding, scattering its pieces all over his home. Emma must put the machine back together again, then create fuel for it, to get her grandfather back from beyond.
Emma and the Inventor is a “hidden object”-style puzzle adventure game that was originally released for Mac and Windows earlier this year. The game features more than 40 individual screens, dozens of environmental puzzles and achievements that you can unlock and share with your friends using Game Center.
Tricky Software, the game’s original developer, has created an iPad version of the game with gameplay and controls optimized for the iPad. Emma and the Inventor requires iOS 4.0 or later.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
AllThingsD:
In fact, the creation of a $20 million investment kitty that Arrington has dubbed CrunchFund is simply the formalization of a long-standing arrangement that has already been going on since he founded his popular tech blog.That is to say, in which the basic standards of journalism are first warped by calling it newfangled truth-telling and then endlessly corroded by using a wily and unusually aggressive combination of favors and threats to extract, from start-ups and VCs in need of press, both exclusive access and information.
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington was given his walking papers by AOL this week (at least as head of TechCrunch, though he appears still to be employed by AOL Ventures) after it was revealed that he started a venture capital fund; the move violates generally accepted journalistic standards (and indeed goes against AOL’s policy). AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher, already an outspoken critic of Arrington, assembled her thoughts in a particularly vituperative editorial that, for maximum effect, should be read while listening to Gerald Fried’s music from the original Star Trek episode “Amok Time.”
