Today, a little company known as Apple, Inc. threw one of their infamous press conferences where they delight in marketing technology that is not earth shattering by any means to the masses who eat it up like warm chocolate chip cookies and milk. Now before you label me a hater of Apple, please look at the title of this post.
Hmm, that’s odd. Someone who is going to not see eye to eye with Apple…or Microsoft. That’s right folks. Microsoft made this box, an Xbox, to be more exact, and this little toy has served to make Microsoft cool. And, they tried to ride that cool train to further ventures, like the Zune marketplace where you can stream HD movies straight to your Xbox. So today, Apple unveils Apple TV, a new earth shaking offering from the company, that has a….HDMI PORT!!!!!!!!!! OMG OMG. So now you can use iTunes and stream HD movies to your TV, something that M$ has offered for awhile now.
What’s the difference. O, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that instead of fully integrating the Zune player to Xbox, they left it at a sleezy menu system when they have a beautiful product sitting over by the wayside. Also, instead of having to go buy points and then buy a movie (think of this as having eight hot dogs and six buns), just link up your freaking credit card and move on with your life (nod to iTunes here). So, Microsoft, get a freaking usability expert who knows what they are doing, integrate your tools that you have, innovate and make something better. Apple, make a product that is actually groundbreaking, not just implementing current technology and calling it new (yes, you do it better a year later I will give you that) and stop acting like you are already.
If you were on the interwebs today, then you may have seen something about Arcade Fire and the house you grew up in. No, they did not play a show at your old house, don’t worry. What they did do, is to make the house you grew up in a featured part of their new video! Wait, how is it possible to have my house (and yours and yours and even yours!) featured in an Arcade Fire video?! The power of the internet is impressive my friends.
By leveraging the force that is Google and HTML5, the band pieced together an absolutely amazing experience for you and I. So, go check out the video here and prepare to have your mind blown. To say this is the coolest single thing that I have seen development-wise on the internet would not be out of the question. So, do yourself a favor and check it out. Here. Now. The Wilderness Downtown by Arcade Fire. (Watch it in Google Chrome)
I watched the first three Star Wars movies yesterday – the first three. As in IV, V and VI. The real Star Wars as far as I am concerned, not to heap unncessary coals upon I, II and III, but just to clarify. They were exceptional, but they were the “Special Editions” with the added scenes and effects which I am not nearly as keen on as the true originals.
I say this because those are the editions of the movies that will be coming to Blu-ray in 2011. The reasoning behind the decision to use the special edition formats of the movies is as follows, according to Mashable citing Lucas himself: The original theatrical editions would cost too much to convert to the high definition format. Much of the needed work was already done for the Special Edition remasters.
Personally, I feel that the originals should have the same attention paid to them, and the doing so would generate far more interest in this Blu-ray release than only the special editions. There are promises of deleted scenes, interviews, documentaries, outtakes and more to sweeten the deal for enthusiasts. Will you be purchasing the Blu-rays when they come out? Seems like a tough call to me personally.
Dead Zebra is offering up a series of collectible Android mascot collectibles for those of us who are crazy about Android and just want to let everybody know it. The collectible figures were created by artist Andrew Bell with the help of some of Google’s Android staff. They are flying through stock of the miniature collectibles but if you are lucky enough to land on the site while they have some in stock, then be sure to grab one or two.
Use the little guys to pledge your allegiance to the Android army on your desk at work or home, or I guess you could carry it around with you but that would be a bit weird. There are a total of 16 different designs currently available for purchase in the shop, including random packs and traditional green and DIY blank for sale individually. Check out the full stock here. Prices range from 6.25 usd for the DIY blank to 112 usd for the entire 16 piece set.
I find it a daunting task to even attempt to keep track of the moves that the President is making, much less all the other political talking heads out there. That’s where I feel most Americans draw an imaginary line and put there political earplugs in and just move on, which is clearly a bad thing to do. Sure, you can view approval ratings and see some of the major decisions that are happening to help you form a political stance, but maybe you would want more if it were easier to digest.
That’s where the website PolitiFact.com comes into play for me. I recently rediscovered this site that I found during the 2008 elections and it is pretty awesome. The best feature of the site in my opinion is The Truth-o-Meter that basically tracks the truth of political statements made by politicians, backing them with some information to support their claims (see the photo). There is also a Truth-o-Meter just for the President which is also very interesting which tracks the promises the President made and how he has followed through on these. Needless to say, this site should be taken with a grain of salt as should any political site, but it seems pretty reliable.
BrewDog Brewery, based in Northern Scotland has recently unveiled their aptly named The End of History beer is now available (well it’s actually sold out at the moment). Why is this beer honored with the title ‘the end of history’? Well, due to its whopping %55 ABV I would assume. The real reason is much more intriguing however and can be found below.
‘The End of History: The name derives from the famous work of philosopher Francis Fukuyama, this is to beer what democracy is to history. Fukuyama defined history as the evolution of the political system and traced this through the ages until we got the Western Democratic paradigm. For Fukuyama this was the end point of man’s political evolution and consequently the end of history. The beer is the last high abv beer we are going to brew, the end point of our research into how far the can push the boundaries of extreme brewing, the end of beer.’
The Scotish brewery has already made a name for itself in the ridiculously strong brew world, with its Tactical Nuclear Penguin coming in at 32% and its Sink the Bismarck! at a stunning %41. You can see and purchase these for yourself right here. As you can see, The End of History is sold out but retailed for £500 and £700 if you wanted the grey squirrel to accompany it.
You probably think this post is about some graffiti artists being forced to remove tags from buildings, bridges, etc to make reparations for some of their handiwork, when that could hardly be further from the truth. Internationally, a new phenomenon is emerging, reverse graffiti, a practice that finds the artists creating their work via removing dirt and grime from their canvases to create in the negative space. Check out the video below for an awesome example.
In the video, the artists are stopped by the police who, when they find out what they are working on actually shield them from traffic to allow them to complete their work. They are removing exhaust dust from the tunnel to spell out “For a Clean Porto Alegre,” a positive message created in a positive and creative way. The police in Porto Alegre helped out the artists, and it would be great if these artists were able to thrive as long as their messages are not offensive to the people who will read them.
I recently read about this documentary (RiP: A Remix Manifesto) that discusses the new era of intellectual property and its affect on creativity and culture in the United States and abroad. The documentary focuses on the argument that remix artists and other would-be art creators are being limited and stifled because of the heavy arm of copyright enforcers and lobbyists for big media.
The film travels through history and seeks to analyze how creativity and culture has evolved and how the past seeks to control and dictate the way in which art is created in the future. You should really check this piece of work out if you have an interest in music, intellectual property, the creative commons or just culture in general – yes that was a pretty widespread plug, but hey, I liked the film. O, and I am even providing you the means to watch the trailer and the full length feature right here. Yes indeed.
A product manager at National Instruments has written up a little piece of software that he uses on the backend of NIs LabView software to automatically filter out the the noise coming from the South African horns known as vuvulezas that are blown constantly during World Cup matches. There are times when the constant drone can bug me, but overall I just chalk it up to the experience of this South African World Cup and move on – maybe in a couple weeks I will feel differently.
The software cuts out the frequency ranges where the vuvulezas live and it has an adjustable number of harmonics that it can cover so that users of computers with varying speeds can adjust them to reduce latency. Just insert your computer as a part of the audio chain when watching matches and boom you’re done. The folks over at Lifehacker said that they did have to install the free LabView engine from NI to get it to run although it is designed to run as a stand alone program – hey if you’re annoyed by this as much as some people seem to be you’re probably willing to try anything that’s free.
Check out the post here to download the software and see how it works.
Google Docs just went live for everyone today with the updates that were revealed a couple of months ago. I am going to run down the list of what I feel are the most important and useful of these updates at first glance.
The first is shared folders – this makes it easier to share documents instantly with the exact group that you want to. No longer do you have to invite the same group of coworkers to a document or spreadsheet – nice!
Next is the bulk uploader – I think that speaks for itself
Import docx format!
Added themes for forms – this is a very welcome update
A lightweight viewer/editor for editing spreadsheets on select mobile devices and under slow internet conditions – I could have used this today on my phone!
CHAT! Well, now chat has come to Google Docs – what a welcome addition – this was a no brainer and they did it. Thanks.
That’s the main points on those. If that’s not enough for you, then check out the full list of updates here.
Today Microsoft came through with their Project Natal, now known as Kinect, and it looks great. However, the company also had a surprise up their sleeve – a sleek new take on the Xbox 360. The system comes in a smaller, sleeker package and boasts some hardware updates that will be sure to please the gaming community. The new system, which ships today, will come packed with a 250GB hard drive and 802.11n wireless. Finally.
One thing that is conspicuoulsy missing is a blu-ray player. Maybe this is to increase use of Netflix and other Xbox live streaming services. I am not sure, but that upgrade could have placed the Xbox into another league from all other consoles, which in many people’s eyes it already is especially with the advent of these new additions. In other Xbox news, the company unveiled new game titles including Metal Gear Solid: Rising, more infor on Halo: Reach, new Fable and Forza titles as well as 15 games that specifically utilize Kinect.
Tech specs for the new 360 include:
A new 45nm chipset with integrated CPU and GPU
Single fan design
2 front and 3 rear USB ports
250gb hdd
Smaller power brick (not interchangeable with the standard Xbox 360)
Overall, it was a strong showing for Microsoft today, and we will be back tomorrow to hear from Sony and Nintendo.
You have probably…well maybe, heard of a Kaoss Pad, the touch screen device that basically allows the user to manipulate any audio signal that passes through it in real time. Now Korg has taken their Kaoss Pad to the next level with the Kaossilator Pro. The Kaossilator comes loaded with synth sounds that can be triggered from the touch interface, basically making the device a self contained synth of sorts.
The over 200 loaded sounds on the device are easily recognizable, using “b” for bass and “l’ for lead for instance. There are four independent internal loop recorders present that allow you to record a phrase in real-time into one of said banks. Even audio coming from line in or mic inputs can be recorded onto these programmable loop banks. Did I mention that the Kaossilator supports tempo-based syncing? Fear not, Kaoss enthusiasts, you still have the ability to manipulate sounds to your heart’s desire with the Kaossilator Pro. Get more info on the Kaossilator Pro here.
Deus is a motorcycle company unlike any other..that I know of. The Sydney Australia-based company creates masterpieces from existing hardware. For this post, I will focus on the motorcycles, but Deus also makes custom fixed gear bicycles! I smell another post.
The bikes are assembled from the ground up, and the shop specializes in the extreme modification of the following models: Kawasaki w650, Yamaha SR 400/500 and TW200, Triumph Bonneville and Thruxton and the Harley Davidson XL1200-883 Sportsters. The finished products hearken back to the era of cafe racers, featuring a beautifully stripped down style that exudes power and classic design.
Check out the photo gallery to see some of these beautiful bikes for yourself. You can also head over to the Deus site and see the build process as well as specs on many of their custom jobs. Its a fascinating place to visit.
Google has announced a new way to spruce up their default search page. You can now add a photo background to the Google Search page from your computer, a Picasa web album or any public Picasa gallery. Google states that you can easily swap back and forth between the Classic home and your new customized photo background. To help spread the word, they are also asking users who utilize the custom background feature to tweet a photo of their new background with the hashtag #myGooglepage. So go forth and customize! Here are a couple sample sites for your viewing pleasure.
Note for today! Google is rotating images on their page today for the next 24 hours. A lot of people are wondering how to turn this off. My suggestion is to just deal with it for a day! If you just can’t do it then here are a couple of suggestions for you. Try using Google SSL (currently in beta) or select white as the background (available from Google’s editorial choice of images). There you go!
So in preparation for World Cup, some pretty spectacular ads have made their way into our hands…er…onto our TVs. You have probably seen the Nike Write the Future ad:
Well now Adidas has stepped into the game and, shall we say, shot for the moon with this one:
I am about as pumped as pumped can be for the World Cup, and seeing to top notch companies throw down on some creative, if not down right entertaining, commercials for the event just whets my appetite even more. In other news, if you are serious about following the World Cup as it unfolds, Mashable offers a complete guide to following the festivities on Twitter; something I definitely plan to do on some level.
Cheers, and look for more World Cup related posts coming up soon.
The Linnstrument, a fully functional multitouch, pressure sensitive instrument that connects to a computer via USB and utilizes a proprietary application to create the audio. The product works similarly to a midi keyboard or other similar device but has some very interesting features including tamber, pitch and other features that work in real time. Check out the video below to see it in action. There is also a photo rendering of what the device could look like one day.
These are some really cool wallets (totes, tags and other stuff too) that are stylish but out of the ordinary as well. They’re crafted from Tyvek (express mail envelopes for instance) making them tear-resistant, water-resistant, expendable and recyclable (according to their site!). But really, these wallets seem really legit. I picked one up the other day and was surprised by how lightweight it felt but how durable it seemed to be as well. Check them out here. I really decided to write about this because I wanted to remember them. Wait, that’s what I do like every time I write something.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed a cover of Neil Young’s “A Maid Needs a Man” at the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year event in LA on January 29. While this is interesting and fun and all, the real news is that this performance revealed a new addition to the RHCP lineup, and perhaps, more importantly in the eyes of the fans, a glaring piece missing from the band.
This piece was long time lead guitarist John Frusciante. It is speculated that Josh Klinghoffer has replaced Frusciante as a full time member of the band, although no official announcement has yet been made. As you may recall, Fruscianted did leave the band officially in December, but this is the first time that the Chili Peppers have made a public appearance since that time. See a video of the performance below.
I have had a couple days to evaluate the iPad, and I have a few more thoughts on the subject. First, it is a big iPod Touch for all intensive purposes. I praised the device for its design and still think that it is very elegant. However, there are some flaws, perhaps planned that I want to address. Apple is making this device highly proprietary to its own software and hardware.
There are no USB ports on the device. Therefore, hooking up your own USB keyboard will not be happening. There is not an HDMI port for playing HD video on a TV. While this device is supposed to combine the best features of a netbook and e-reader, it seems to lack in both areas.
As an e-reader, it is pricey, very pricey if you get anything other than the most basic version that does not come equipped with 3G. Add this to the fact that 3G internet access will cost you $30/month from ATT. As a netbook, the lack of a physical keyboard and the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously is a major drawback.
This device is pretty, but at the same time it is lacking some major features that would really make it worth the high price tag. Apple is touting this as an inexpensive device, but when you look at the features and what this device is capable of versus other devices, the inadequacies seem to become apparent. For 829USD, the price of the top of the line iPad, you could feasibly purchase an e-reader, an iPod and a netbook. Almost at least…You may say that that defeats the purpose of an all-in-one device, but personally I do not think that this iteration or generation of the iPad reaches that goal.
Today Apple made its much anticipated announcement of its tablet device which we now know to be called the iPad. From what there is to see, it looks like this device will take the best features of e-readers, netbooks and even the iPhone and combine them into a single 9.7 inch full touchscreen multimedia device with a native resolution of 1024×768.
The SDK for this device has already been released, so you can start developing apps for it now if you are so inclined. It will also run most iPhone apps as well. How nice. The device comes packed with other features including 802.11n wifi and optional 3G. Now the big question mark for this video playing, internet surfing, music storing, go everywhere device…what kind of crappy battery life can I expect? Well, this is probably what sold me on the device. Apple is claiming that it will get up to 10 hours of battery life while surfing the web on wi-fi, watching video or listening to music. If so, that is impressive, my friends.
How much? I am glad you asked. The device starts at 499USD for a 16gb SSD model without 3G and tops out at 829USD for the top-of-the-line 64GB SSD 3G model. Check out the product page for all of the details. This looks good, and that is not a statement coming from an Apple fan boy.
