Smartphones and tablets were supposed to be different from what we think of as “computers.” They were supposed to turn us into mindless consumers, concerned only with ingesting the output of “professional” creators rather than empowered to make things ourselves, the way we did with computers. However, there are holes in that argument. In the…
Maybe it’s time to get the band back together. On top of all the other stuff Apple announced today, including a new iPad and Apple TV, the company demonstrated a new version of its Garageband music app that can sync tracks up and down to iCloud, and a new Jam Sessions feature that lets up to…
You’re following the live blogs about Apple’s big press event today. You might even be following Gawker’s live blog of Gizmodo’s live blog. But what do you listen to, assuming you’re not tuned in to these chatterboxes (who have succeeded in restreaming illicit livestreams at Apple events in the past, but appear to be failing at…
Steve Jobs, architect of a shockingly large portion of today’s computing landscape, left us last year. Do you use an iOS device, or even Android? You have Steve Jobs to thank. As it turns out, you can also listen to “Steve Jobs’ iPod” in your web browser and various devices, thanks to some digging from…
I learned my lesson about writing about Apple Genius Bar employees after nearly costing a friend his job, by merely reporting about how Apple rescued John Stewart’s laptop. Apple’s PR machine is tight-lipped, to say the least, and was apparently rather displeased to have it known that any Apple laptop had malfunctioned, let alone the…
Apple’s “velvet rope” policy of allowing only certain apps into its iTunes app store has made it a target of criticism. Ironically, its bungling of that policy might be the strongest argument in its favor. After approving a (supposed) update to the incredibly popular Camera+ app, the 14th-most-popular app in iTunes, Apple deleted it after…
We don’t report much on the action-figures scene, but given that Steve Jobs invented the app as we know it today, we feel obliged to mention that the incredibly life-like Steve Jobs action figure, which was announced after his passing, will not actually go on sale for $99 as had previously been reported. Following what action-figure…
Steve Jobs, the godfather of the app scene (and many others) passed away last October. Jobs was many things, but he was not a fan of bargain-priced hardware, as anyone who has paid, for a Mac, twice what the Windows equivalent would cost. As first reported by Forbes, a company called Inicons (“in icons”?), whose website…
When I heard that everybody’s favorite instrument-wielding, Bachmann-baiting, bona fide hip-hop and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon house band extraordinaires, The Roots, would be releasing an app album, my interest was piqued. This group has spent the last two decades infusing classic, head-knocking rap with jazzy instrumentals (and, lately, spacey electronics), so I was excited…
Android is more popular than iOS among users — most likely because it tends to cost less. In fact, an NPD Group study released on Tuesday found that Android now has 53 percent market share in the United States, as compared with a paltry 29 percent for iOS. If you want the best smartphone, what…
There are plenty of reasons not to buy Apple TV or Google TV, and some of them have to do with the people who hold many of the cards being perfectly happy with the way things are today. You can’t really cut the cord if you like television programming, as many of us do, which is…
The moment feared by developers with apps for recording, producing, and composiong music on the iPhone and iPod Touch has arrived. On Tuesday, Apple announced that its top-notch GarageBand software is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. GarageBand started as a Mac App in 2004 after Apple acquired Emagic/Logic Audio, then found its…
You’re at a party. It’s lame. There’s a laptop in the corner running iTunes, and people are taking turns DJing to try to liven up the crowd. Unfortunately, the guy with the fingerless gloves is hogging the computer, and his circa-1994 drum and bass jams are failing. Somebody sneaks in when DnB-guy isn’t looking and…
In some ways, some critics were wrong, when they said the iPad offers little to creative people who make things as opposed to merely consuming them, as proven by all the innovative recording and sonic fingerpainting apps we’ve seen, among many others. However, when it comes to building apps and programming other software, the iPad appears…
This week marks the tenth anniversary of the device that finally allowed me to explain what I do: “I write about iPods and stuff like that.” And today marks the three week anniversary of the passing of Steve Jobs, who didn’t invent the MP3 player or even the iPod for that matter, but arguably perfected…
