Eli Milchman - page 24

Even as a munchkin bolting around on my grandparent’s farm, weeds licking at my calves, my life had its own soundtrack. That the sound came from the single anemic speaker of a heavy, D-cell burdened cassette-radio that loved to lunch on my Queen’s Greatest Hits tape didn’t matter — there was music in the grass, floating through the dust, on my shoes. It was awesome.

Flash forward to our MP3-laden, music-streaming days of wonder where, unexpectedly, Philips’ powerful, Bluetooth-equipped Fidelio DS8550 triggered that same feeling in me — which is pretty impressive, considering my expectations have evolved far, far beyond tinny speakers and misbehaving machinery. In fact, Philips has stuffed so much sound and so many clever features into the DS8550, it’s become my go-to gadget in a way that maybe no other sound accessory has before.

Oh, there’s gonna be a bumper crop of iPhone musicians born this weekend if Frontier Design Group has their way. Practically all their music-slinging iPhone apps are on sale to celebrate the iPhone coming to Verizon, including the highly regarded iShred app — sister app to the free iShred LIVE app required to use Griffin’s GuitarConnect and StompBox accessories — GuitarStudio and PianoStudio, all three of which are normally $5 each, but on sale for a buck apiece.

As musician and fellow Cult of Mac contributor Lonnie Lazar says, these apps won’t turn you into a Rock God; but they’re certainly a truckload of fun and great tools to learn with. Sale ends tomorrow, so don’t mess around if you want ’em.

When I wrangled a brief listen to Antec’s new soundscience rockus 3D 2.1 system at CES last month, I was pretty sure this was a direct challenge to Bose’s venerable Companion 3 system. All the pieces are there: subwoofer, two satellite speakers and the stand-alone volume dial; even the price, $250, is the same.

Antec’s take, though, takes more style risks and adds this: an active system that feigns 3D, giving the impression of a 5.1 system by processing incoming signals and “placing” the sounds in a virtualized 3D soundscape to create the effect. At least, that’s the idea; the little taste I received at CES certainly inicated they might have got it right. Full test coming.

Backpack batteries continue to get smaller and less expensive;  iKit’s new offering, the NuCharge battery case, is $65 and comes with a handy flip-down kickstand for propping up your iPhone. That they’ve managed to stuff 1400 mAh (which iKit says will double the battery life of the iPhone 4) into the case’s svelte-looking body is pretty impressive.

The case ships in March, but it’s available for pre-order.

PhotoCopy looks pretty amazing. It’s a plugin (for all the major editing software — see below) that takes any still image or video clip and applies a special filter that mimics a particular style. For still images, the filters can mimic the styles (included as presets) of 40 photographs taken by well-known photographers, 72 individual paintings from classic artists or 30 unique photographic processes (some of which are pretty unusual — I’ve never even heard of “salt print”). Video can be transformed into styles sampled from famous movies, like Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner or Gone With the Wind. There’s much more — check out PhotoCopy’s details at developer Digital Film Tool’s website.

The photo version of the app is available as a plugin for Photoshop (including Elements), Lightroom and Aperture for $95; the video version is $195 and works with After Effects, Final Cut Pro or Avid.

Computer speakers requiring serious plunking down of dough (we’re going to peg “serious” at over $100 in this particular instance; the Z520s weigh in at an MSRP of $130, well over the threshold) ought to pack really good sound, some sort of neat tech trick or come with a year’s worth of free pizza. The 2-way Z520s try the middle route by offering some design wizardry that almost, but doesn’t quite, account for the price — or make up for an acute case of bass-gone-missing.

Ever had a sudden hankering to crank out a few Real Racing HD laps on your iPad while river rafting? Yeah, neither have I (although that might have something to do with the fact that I’ve never been river rafting). But if the itch ever struck, it’d probably be best if the iPad was vacuum-sealed in a tablet-sized, waterproof DryCASE; luckily the company just added the tablet-sized version to their line at Macworld. The cases start at under $60 and includes a headphones/mic jack.

Oh, and think the whole whip-the-iPad-out-while-rafting thing is laughable? Yeah, so did I — until I came across this in the company’s press release:

“A new buoyant waist band has just been added by many requests by stand up paddle surfers and kayak enthusiasts.” Cool.

What with Apple and TV both as American as pecan pie (which, ironically, is actually way more American than apple pie), you’d think the U.S. would have a chokehold on TV-iPhone innovation. Nope — besides Al-Jazeera now streaming live news on the iPhone for free, last week Germans had a chance to watch and interact with the world’s first augmented-reality TV show.

Viewers of Galileo, a quiz show that airs on the German ProSieben channel, were able to interact with the questions on the TV screen by viewing and interacting with augmented reality versions of the questions on their iPhone screens, courtesy of augmented-reality app Junaio (For a visual demo, suffer through a short ad and watch the cute video). Not to worry though — Metaio, the German-based developer that makes Junaio, says similar stuff is on it’s way to the U.S. soon. Fantastisch!

Another sign I should move to San Diego: After playing around with their 15-watt solar panel and a 6oWh HyperMac battery, the folks at Voltaic have found the two perfectly compatible — meaning a MacBook can be taken completely off the grid, and theoretically used without ever needing to be plugged in. Voltaic says you should get about 45 minutes of runtime for every hour in the sun for a 13″ MB/P (much less for more power-hungry units). You can even use the HyperMac to power your MB while it’s charging.

The 60Wh HyperMac battery is $170, and Voltaic’s 15-watt solar charger is $200; that’s just under $400 to create a MacBook that’s perfectly happy out in the boonies (as long as the boonies are bathed in lots of sun).

Flying is always a bit of a conflicted experience for me. On the one hand, I’m off on an adventure; on the other, I have to deal with unpredictable flight schedules, labyrinthine terminals and $9 burritos. But FlightTrack Pro — with its attractive, clean-looking pages offering an abundance of detailed information — makes everything better (except the burrito prices).

Boom boom, pow — the Black Eyed Peas, already one of the most cutting-edge bands to rock an iPod, may just have made music videos so two-thousand-and-late. That’s because they released an app today that includes a stunning, immersive 360-degree, augmented-reality enabled music video that sticks you in the middle of the action with the ability to pan around and become part of the action. And guess what — it’s only available on the iPhone, with no plans announced yet to make it available for any other platform.

Who wants complete ringtone freedom? Sure, you do. So Johnny Ixe of XVision (yeah, we’re wondering about the name too), the developer behind DataMan, has a new app called GeoRing that’ll play tracks from a user-created playlist whenever the phone rings — no extra ringtone-making fiddling or syncing or and just like DataMan, GeoRing can record where each call was answered (along with when and the call’s duration, of course).

There’s an included custom silent ringtone (so the iPhone’s actual ringtone doesn’t play over the music) and the ability to set where on the track playback starts. Pretty cool; we’d like to see the ability to assign songs to contacts though. GeoRing is a buck, and only works with iPhones 3Gs and 4.

Precorder (on sale now for $1) from Airship Software constantly buffers a few seconds of video before you hit the record button, effectively eliminating “shutter lag.” It’s a brilliant idea that the developers say they borrowed from the Planet Earth team — who used it to film this amazing spectacle of great whites breaching (note: Your results may vary. A lot).

Remember last week, when we reported on Freecom’s 10mm external drive, the thinnest in the world? Turns out Seagate is planning to release their own super-slim USB hard drive that beats Freecom’s by one millimeter. Seagate’s drive will be part of their modular GoFlex system — which means it’ll mesh with USB 2.0, 3.0 and Firewire. Looks like it’ll also be plenty zippy at 7200 rpm, and cost about $100 for 320MB 320GB. Release date? Seagate says later this year.

VoIP service VoxOx thought its rebranding at CES — which includes a massive effort to unify almost every method of communication known to man, and new features like being able to pick your own phone number for free — was such a big deal, they had an army of extras with duct-taped mouths following around an alien who gave away “dozens” (according to VoxOx) of iPhones at the show.

In fact, the PR stunt attracted so much attention it detracted from VoxOx’s actual message about all the neat stuff they’ve bundled into their reworked desktop app, and that they’re well on the way to having an iPhone app out, pending Apple’s approval (and as should be expected, VoxOx says they’ve focused on putting out an iPhone app ahead of any possible Android app).

Here’s the big picture about some of the new features; everything — apart from some outgoing calls — is free:

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — The annual Consumer Electronics Show this year was dominated by 3D TVs and Android tabs, but there was still plenty to see for Mac and iOS fans.

As the show wraps up, here’re our picks for the best gear on display in Sin City this year. Most, but not all, is Apple-related.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — If the brief look we stole of the Altec Lansing lineup is anything to go by, we’re going to  be even more thrilled with their hardware this year than we were last year (when their InMotion Compact garnered a 4.5/5 rating). They’ve kept the key ingredients of intriguing-yet-simple design and cool features, but we get the impression everything seems somehow to be more grownup.

A good example is the just-released InMotion Air: An elegant, steel-grey rhomboid that streams music at a distance of up to a whopping 100 yards with the included wireless adapter, or via Bluetooth (at considerably less range); it also comes with a seven-hour battery. The InMotion Air will be available in February for $200, through Radio Shack or online through Altec Lansing.

AL has some additional tricks up its sleeve, which they revealed to us during a closed-door tour of their lineup; we can’t tell you exactly what they’re up to, because we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement just to get inside. But it’s cool, and it’s coming soon.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — ID8-Mobile is following up on their  MoGo Talk iPhone case/Bluetooth headset — which just won a design award at CES this year — with a wide array of Bluetooth accessories: a MoGo Talk headset that charges inside a tiny, foldable battery case; a Bluetooth speakerphone that converts into a handset; a mini Bluetooth speaker; a Bluetooth remote-control device for presentations and whatnot and (pause to inhale) they’re bringing back their wafer-thin Bluetooth mouse (counterclockwise from bottom right in the photo above). Sitting beneath them is a pre-production Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad. Pricing and release dates on these new goodies not set yet.

If a bag is on display at CES, chances are excellent it’s got some kind of snazzy tech feature. Newcomer Powerbag caught our eye with its line of four handsome bags that all include batteries for charging iDevices (or other peripherals); Voltaic —  we featured their OffGrid backpack in our Holiday Gift Guide — just launched an iPad case with high-efficiency solar cells slathered all over one side.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Griffin has paraded off so much cool new stuff at this year’s CES, you’d be excused for thinking this site’s name is actually “cultofgriffin.com” — this time, it’s their StompBox pedalboard for iPad with swappable effect modules.

If you’ve been following our posts about making music on the iPad, you’ve probably already heard about iShred — who make the free app that pairs with StompBox, for which Griffin originally made the GuitarConnect cable that connects instruments with 1/4-inch jacks to the iPad (or any other iDevice) last year. StompBox is just the evolution of the idea, giving musicians better control over the sounds via the physical switches (rather than using the soft controls of the app).

The app comes with several modules that make different sounds, and more can be collected via in-app purchase for a few bucks apiece. Griffin says StomBox should be available by spring of 2011 at $99, which includes the $30 GuitarConnect cable for free. The pedalboard can also be paired with Griffin’s new $40 Mic Stand Mount for iPad, available in January.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Griffin Technology‘s new Crayola ColorStudio HD ($30) evoked so many bubbly noises while it was being demo’ed you’d think CES had become a popular  3rd-grade field trip destination. And if the fun little gadgapp (yeah, I know, see below) can make a bunch of jaded tech journos grin, you know it’s going to be a huge hit with the kids.

The app works with what’s essentially a jumbo stylus that paints color on the screen in a selected color. Parts of the page are animated, and those animated pieces can be colored in without the color bleeding over the lines. Finished pages can be emailed, uploaded to Facebook or printed.

Oh, about the “gadgapp” thing: So, this year’s CES seems indeed to be the year of the app-enhanced accessory; problem is — as my lamentably lame attempt demonstrates — we can’t seem to come up with a not-dorky term to concisely encapsulate this rapidly emerging new category of gadget. But we think our readers are sharp bunch, and we’re certain one of you can come up with something better. We”ll be announcing some sort of competition with prizes next week, be on the lookout.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Check out this simply stunning 3D-mapping technology from Swedish-based C3 Technologies that elicited a uniform reaction of “holy %$*@!” from us when we saw it. One reason for its precision is that it was developed from recently declassified missile targeting technology originally developed by Swedish aerospace powerhouse Saab.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Mophie’s newest case, launched yesterday, incorporates a credit-card reader and allows business owners to process physical credit card transactions through the iPhone. To interface with the case’s reader, Mophie recruited Intuit’s free GoPayment app, which is compatible with Inuit’s flagship QuickBooks small business accounting package.

Even considering Mophie’s reputation for cutting-edge iPhone cases, this one is pretty remarkable — and a challenge to products like Square’s credit card reader for iPhone. The case is available now, and sells for $180.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — The very next time I hear the term “iPhone-killer,”  I will go absolutely Looney-Tunes nuts. I will tear up telephone books, gargle with raw eggs and Marmite, the whole bit. Seriously.

On the other hand, Samsung really does seem to be taking precise aim at the iPhone 4 with their new Infuse 4G Android smartphone announced yesterday. They’re claiming that, when (if) released, it’ll be the lightest, thinnest phone on the market, and it’ll be equipped with oodles of goodies: a 4.5-inch, “next-generation” Super AMOLED screen (which they say will have better readability in bright sunlight) and a snappy 1.2 ghz processor. And get this — it’ll sit exclusively in the AT&T stable.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — The TRYX could have been designed by Jonny Ive’s evil twin brother: It’s charismatic and completely striking — but in a dark, angular way.  I really couldn’t believe my jaw was dropping over a camera’s looks when I first saw it up close, but that’s exactly what happened. The TRYX’s form factor also has one really cool trick up it’s sleeve: the rim of the case swivels around and turns the whole thing into a sort-of tripod. It’s very slick, and it feels and looks satisfyingly well-designed.

Casio has made sure to back up the good looks with substance, and absolutely stuffed the 12-megapixel point-n-shoot with equally stunning performance too: Ultra-wide angle 21mm lens; HDR; touch-screen controls; the ability to capture seamless, 360-degree panoramic images with a single sweep; some sort of high-speed zoom system (which we didn’t get to try out); even a self-timer that’s motion-activated; and arguably the most impressive function: the ability to capture slow-motion video at 240 frames per second.

It’s coming in April, and it’s yours for $250. Press release with full specs here.